GM Reveals 2015 Chevrolet Corvette C7 Z06 Convertible

[King T]

Originally Posted by AZCamaroFan

Pretty cool. Obviously they feel there is a market for it. If it performs great, doesn't matter to me if it has a roof or not. Or an automatic.

I agree! As long as there is an hard top and manual option, then having a convertible or automatic option doesn't bother me at all.

That is just Chevy covering a lot of bases this time around. For the C5/C6 you only had a hardtop/manual option. Now you have:

-hardtop/manual
-hardtop/automatic
-convertible/manual
-convertible/automatic
A little something for everyone

At the end of the day, it's about sales

You knew this was eventually coming. Finally, with the chassis and transmission pieces of the puzzle Tetris-ing themselves into place, we have reached the inevitable—the holy grail of GM business-plan PowerPoint decks. I speak, of course, about the 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Convertible.

Imagine the celebration the some glassed-in RenCen conference room when this thing got the green light.

Think about it. It's the ultimate ride for the core Vette customer (pun very much intended).

You know it annoyed the 50-something guy who had the scratch to buy a Z06, but wanted, at minimum, the luxury of the removable roof and required an automatic transmission. These guys have traditionally been forced into loaded, but "lesser" cars. Never mind that they'd likely never drive a Z06 in real anger; that they couldn't get The Best One had to be a source of relentless irritation.

Enter the C7. Here's a car whose chassis is so much stiffer than the old model that the new Z06 already had the removable roof panel, standard. The new 8-speed automatic all but ensured that GM would now get those guys who would have happily spent the extra money but didn't because self-shifting is not something they were interested in doing.

These days, Chevrolet engineering is working overtime to eliminate barriers to Corvette ownership. They've replaced its low, flexy, uncomfortable chairs with proper magnesium-framed buckets offering a choice of sport or competition levels of support. The Fisher-Price dash plastics have given way to rich, soft-touch, stitched materials wrapping practically every surface. And now, with the introduction of the Z06, a single Corvette can meet the needs of less-than-identically matched couples. Chief engineer Tadge Juechter explains: "I know many, many customers who, between a couple, couldn't agree on a Z06 because one of the two didn't want a manual transmission or one wanted a convertible for the parade or Friday-night rides or whatever. They just could not agree."

Juechter also acknowledges that not everybody will embrace this bigger Z06 tent. "Some hard-core owners liked the idea that it was track-specific, only manual transmission, and you had to be pretty macho to step up and buy one. It created a little bit of an exclusive club. But we are in the business of selling cars to people who love cars, not creating clubs to exclude people." That's a sentiment GM's shareholders and formerly bickering couples can applaud.

[King T]

Originally Posted by Number 3

I thought the press release said the original Z06 also came in a convertible.

Yes one did

2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Convertible Shown in New York
First drop-top Z06 since 1963.

If Chevrolet Corvette chief engineer Tadge Juechter didn’t already prove he deserved our 2014 Man of the Year award for his work on the new Stingray, he’s now completely outdone himself. Following the introduction of the stunning 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 at the Detroit auto show in January, we will now be treated to a Z06 convertible at the 2014 New York auto show.

Chevrolet says that this is the first factory-built Corvette Z06 convertible built since 1963, when just one of 199 Z06-equipped Corvettes rolled off the line as a drop-top. Although the 2013 Chevrolet Corvette 427 Convertible had a 505-hp, 7.0-liter LS7 V-8 engine from that year’s Z06, the 427 did not share the Z06’s aluminum frame. Because of rigidity issues, the 427 came instead with a steel frame and thus didn't share the Z06 name.

Last year Juechter told us just how hard it was to get the 2014 Chevrolet Stingray just right, in part because of the culture at GM. "The corporation is structured around mainstream vehicles, and the Corvette is idiosyncratic, which makes some people uncomfortable,” he told us. Judging by what we’ve seen so far, anyone who drives the new 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 convertible with the top down on a sunny track day will likely change their tune.

[motorhead]

People get too hung up on labels. I would love a Z06 automatic convertible. I would take that car even if they named it chevette. WGAF.

[Camaro_Corvette]

Is there an echo in here?

[Number 3]

So if it had a DCT that drives like an automatic that would be ok but having an 8 speed auto that GM says actually shifts FASTER than Porsche's own amazing auto shifting transmission that is a bad thing?

Heritage and history can kill you. You have to adapt to the changing world. So few of these cars will ever be on a race track yet everyone is going crazy because GM just announced their most awesome road going car.........OF ALL TIME!!!!! Because it has an automatic transmission and convertible top.

Oh my gosh they would never do this for the Z/28! Go look for all the threads on how GM should make sure the Camaro and Corvette are different cars with different customers. This is how you do it.

[AZCamaroFan]

NYC unloading.

[mikeyg36]

Don't like that chrome stripe on the vert rims.

[camaro2lt]

New York press event is happening now

[Manbearpig]

That is going to be an absolute beast, hardtop or no hardtop.

[AZCamaroFan]

...

[Q'smuscle]

sick! The convertible has a different design than the coupe! I like this better than the yellow Z06! Love the yellow but the Z06 coupe don't look as good!

[Steve Dallas]

Kind of makes me wish I didn't already have a normal Stingray on order...though I would not get the convertible.

[Camaro_Corvette]

Originally Posted by Steve Dallas

Kind of makes me wish I didn't already have a normal Stingray on order...though I would not get the convertible.

I would. Just out of the sheer ridiculousness of it. A 600+HP&TQ track ready convertible? Why not