We were expecting the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible to be unveiled any day now. What we weren’t expecting, however, was for Chevrolet to unveil it in Europe. But that’s exactly what it’s planning to do. Chevrolet announced this morning that the drop-top version of its iconic sports car would be unveiled in Geneva, Switzerland.
Truthfully this seems like a bit of a strange move. The Corvette has never been officially offered in many European countries. Although the new Corvette is a global vehicle, its market size won’t increase much. We figured Chevy would wait for the New York Auto Show in March. We were wrong.
When we pressed Chevrolet to tell us why it chose Geneva for the Stingray Convertible unveiling, Monte Doran of Chevrolet Communications had this to say, “We believe the Stingray delivers world-class levels of design, technology, and performance. By showing the Stingray at Geneva, we are putting the world on notice that the Corvette is worthy of consideration among the best cars in the world.”
Other than telling us that it will be unveiled, Chevrolet hasn’t said much about the ‘Vette ‘Vert (the above photo is a rendering of what a drop top Stingray could look like). We know it’ll feature the same 6.2-liter V8, producing 450 horsepower and 450 pound-feet of torque. This might be the time for Chevy to announce the seven-speed automatic transmission option because what’s more American than an automatic, convertible, V8-powered convertible sports car?
In its press release Chevrolet said, “Every Corvette is designed at the outset as an open car.” That – to us – means that designers pre-tensioned the new aluminum frame and designed reinforcements to keep the convertible from going too floppy.
The first Corvette Stingray Convertible will be auctioned off at the Barrett-Jackson on April 4th in Palm Beach, Florida. The proceeds of the sale will go to the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute.
Though we’ve never been big fans of the Corvette’s looks, we freely admit the new one is stunning and we’re eager to see the drop-top version as we expect it to be even more striking.
