Corvette C7 coming in 2012

If you like Corvettes, this is going to make you smile. Fresh out of bankruptcy court, General Motors announced its two-year product plans for Chevy, Caddy, Buick and GMC. Included are go codes for the new C7 Corvette. The plan is to introduce the C7 in April of 2012 as a 2013 model — a big improvement over the old plan to not reinvent the Corvette until 2014. Let’s just state this up front — almost nothing at all is known about the new Corvette. It appears as if plans for a mid-engine Corvette have been put aside. Like all Corvettes before it, the C7 will feature an engine up front driving the wheels out back. Other than that…

The rumors are that the C7 will be smaller and lighter than the current welterweight C6. There’s talk of using more advanced materials like carbon fiber, aluminum and magnesium as well as smaller engines. Calm down, calm down — as the ZR1 showed us, less displacement doesn’t always mean less power. Especially when a positive-displacement Roots-type supercharger’s in the mix. There’s chatter that the C7′s design might be based on the Stingray Concept from the 2009 Chicago Auto Show, but we’re hoping it’s not. More details as they become available.