2013 Chevrolet Corvette

2013 Chevrolet Corvette

2013 Chevrolet Corvette

2013 Chevrolet Corvette

2013 Chevrolet Corvette

If you like today's Chevrolet Corvette, a.k.a. C6, you should like the next one. That's because the upcoming C7, which reportedly starts production in April 2012 for model-year '13, is shaping up as a lighter, more-aerodynamic C6. The object: Better fuel economy to help Chevy and parent General Motors meet tough new federal mpg standards.

If emphasizing fuel efficiency seems odd for this muscular all-American sports car, consider that the post-bankruptcy GM is still 61-percent owned by the government--meaning us taxpayers--so it's under pressure to show some social responsibility in most everything it does, not least in the kinds of vehicles it sells. Showing fiscal prudence is another of GM's new musts, and that's why C7 will not be the racy high-tech, mid-engine V6 Corvette that was being eyed pre-bankruptcy. That plan has necessarily been deferred by more urgent priorities and by development costs GM can't afford now, so it's still years from reality--we'd guess model-year 2018 at the earliest. Even then, it's not a sure thing. Though GM has all but promised a production midships Corvette with the C8, enthusiasts have been hearing that line since the 1960s, so there's reason for skepticism.

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The C7 may be the "last of the traditional, old-style Corvettes," as a GM official recently confided to AutoWeek magazine, but it won't soft-pedal performance. Indeed, sources say the redesigned models will not only add horsepower, as new Vettes usually do, but drop some 300 pounds in curb weight versus comparable C6s. The engines themselves remain classic overhead-valve Chevy "small-block" V8s, but there's talk of displacement being reduced as another mpg enabler, though sources are not agreed on that point. Styling, of course, is vital to Corvette's persona, and that should be another C7 attraction. In fact, the new look reportedly borrows many cues from the menacing 2009 Stingray Concept that played Autobot Sideswipe in "Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen." Among those elements is a retro "boat-tail" treatment for the hatchback coupe, complete with a split rear window a la the iconic 1963 Corvette Sting Ray [sic] coupe.