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July 5, 2005

GM to enter The Super Car Ranks

 Recently spied at the Nurburgring test track was a Corvette that GM calls the Blue Devil. This corvette looks a lot like a Z06 but with some very important changes. The Z06 has a 505 horsepower 7.0 liter V8; the blue devil will feature a fully blown, supercharged version of the same engine. This engine should produce a touch over 600 horsepower. For this beast GM will also replace the Z06 body with one built out of carbon fiber. This change will reduce overall weight to a mere 2900 lbs. When you consider that with 505 horsepower the Z06 rockets to sixty in under 4 seconds this car with more power and less weight will clearly have Enzo like speed.

   When you consider the highly successful Subaru WRX STI a street legal race tuned factory built barnburner based on the Subaru Impreza, why not a factory tuned Corvette. There are many companies that currently specialize in aftermarket Corvette tuning. With the standard Vette currently at around $50,000 and the Z06 that will start selling this fall at around $70,000 it is predicted that the Blue Devil will join the Hummer A1 as the only GM cars priced over $100,000.  This shouldn’t be a problem when it comes to finding buyers; a new Viper currently lists for $90,000 and comes with only Z06 speed.

   One advantage GM has in there first modern era super car is that it is based on a model that is currently in production. In contrast Ford with the GT had a hard time bringing a auto all the way from the chalkboard to market. The GT is already involved in a costly recall and Ford has never been able to produce enough cars to meet the demand.

    The only concern I have for this vehicle is that the Z06 won’t be in the showrooms till September, and rumors of an even faster Corvette, like the Blue Devil may cause would be buyers of the Z06 just to wait for the Blue Devil model. There are many Corvette enthusiasts who only buy a new Vette every 5 years or so, so when they buy a new Vette they want to be sure they really have the latest model.

- Auto-Car-Transport .com