With the release of the C7 Corvette in 2014, owners, enthusiasts, and the public in general knew it was only a matter of time before there was going to be some high-performance versions surfacing. With monikers like Z06, ZR1, Grand Sport, Z51, and more added to special edition C6s, hopes ran high as enthusiasts patiently awaited the release of information that would lead them to believe something was in the works.
[1]In a recent article [2], we posted the 2015 Z06 power figures taken from a GM press conference all about where GM was taking the Corvette next. What was also suggested that night, was an even higher performance edition of the 2015 Z06 dubbed the Z07. While details are currently not concrete, rumor has it that the Z07 will have even more power than the Z06, feature carbon-ceramic brakes, and have even wider Michelin [3] tires. To wet our appetite, Car and Driver [4] recently released some spy photographs of what appears to be the 2016 Z07 – appropriately draped with mis-matched wheels, body masks, and everything possible to keep onlookers from knowing exactly what it will look like when it reaches production. [5]
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Since the ZR1 was the “end all be all” of the C6 generation, will the C7 Z07 be the pinnacle of performance for the seventh generation Corvette? While some Corvette enthusiasts hold out hope for a ZR1-level C7, others suggest that the production costs of achieving that level of performance may not be worth the investment for GM. This theory actually makes sense considering the Z07 is estimated to have a price-tag over the $100,000 mark and will be GM’s most powerful Corvette to date. How much more money could GM add to the MSRP if they were to make a C7 ZR1 and still have appropriate sales numbers to support it? Have we reached the pricing ceiling for high-performance Corvettes? Let us know what you think in the comments section below!