A few more are up... looks like new seats and new interior...

 

I hate the whole more/bigger is better mentality with car design in recent years.

 

About time!

 

yes sir!

 

The two tips on a vette suck. I had 4 tips on my B&B catback on my Z.

I'm surprised at the hate. The only thing I hate is it's a GM and GMs suck. The vette has always kinda sucked, but it's still an awesome car.


They leak water inside, interior sounds like rubbing plastic every time you move, plastic interior falls apart, the steering wheel has always been way too big. Etc


But they are fast, sound good and look great. But the quality just has never been there . I hope the c 7 is a step up

 

Seriously? All three of the examples you give were rehashed from designs that were decades old.

The Corvette's design might be evolutionary, but there needs to be some lineage, or there's no connection to the past, nothing that makes it "look" like a Corvette. The Camaro, Mustang and Challenger designs were all retreads and now no one knows what the next generations should look like. Will we see "new" 70-81 Camaros for the next generation?

With those three, they've broken the evolutionary lineage, and now like Acura will be hunting around for some kind of design language to re-identify just what they are.

Reports are that the new Mustang will be somewhat of a culture shock because Ford realized that the latest desgin can't be evolved any further. Complaints have already started that it doesn't really "look" like a Mustang.

 

I don't often chime in on American muscle car posts. That said, if you want to see the next Corvette look to the last 5 series Ferrari. Not to say they'll directly rip this one off like they did the 550/575 in the C6 (tell me that wasn't a copy and paste; really look at the side by side). But, ultimately that doesn't matter really, does it? We auto enthusiasts are drawn to much of the same design language as the car's designers themselves. If this has 599 elements (and I do hope in some way it does)I will once again have great looking car to see frequently pass by me here in the states.
Four exhaust pipes are pretty Corvettecentric. They belong. While this mule looks a bit silly w/ that tip size, perhaps it is also a form of camouflage (nervously hopeful)?
Lastly, while I love automotive design progress, I do not see how this car in anyway speaks to its earlier predecessors. This in no way embodies the original car. That is all well and good. But, what I appreciate about the other Ameri-muscle commented on above, is that they went (to some degree) back to their roots. Yes, perhaps this was the easy way, a short cut even for the designers (an argument I've heard but do not subscribe to). But, they are now resembling what made them the "great" cars they are today.

Bottom line: they don't make the vette for me. They just don't. It, to me, is a constant attempt over the last couple of decades to produce an american flavored, Italian inspired (though, they'd likely not own up to that) sports car. In many respects its a success. Just not my glass of beer. All in all, I'm betting you'll look to the 599 for the 'new' vette styling cues.

 

I'm more excited about the new Gen V Small Block than the car itself. Direct Injection, VVT, and more(?) on my favorite engine platform! *hopefully*

 

Car looks great in the spy photos, can't wait to see the actual production car in person.

 

The point I was trying to make is that the Corvette has evolved to what it is now over a normal progression of modernization. Any new Corvette designed today couldn't possibly echo a car first built in the 50's. But if you look at the generations over time, you can see how it got to what it looks like today -- remember it's taken 60 years and 7 generations!

So to me those that are lamenting that it doesn't look that much different than the previous one aren't quite getting it. Look at how the mid-engine V8 Ferrari has evolved in a similar vein. To throw away everything that the car has been and then start all over doesn't really make any sense.

And what makes even less sense is for someone to say, "They should have tried something new, like the Camaro or Challenger", when there is virtually nothing new about either design. The first four generations of Camaro show a pretty natural progression, and styles and tastes change over the years. The desginers blew a chance to show what a Camaro would look like in 2010, had they never stopped building them. Instead they went backward to make us remember the original, instead of what it most recently was. Maybe the '69 is more fondly remembered than the '02, but the current car to me just doesn't look all that modern, and I'm bored by it.

I can't imagine Ferrari putting out a car today that looks just like one of their cars from the 50's, and it's probably exactly the reason Lamborghini never built the Miura revival.

Anyway I'm sure the new 'Vette will be a great car. If nothing else the new Viper has put the interior guys on notice.