Brand New Corvette Kicks Off Detroit Car Show

A sparkling new Corvette with as much Italian flair as American dash kicks off the annual North American Auto Show, the first makeover in eight years for the iconic US sports car.

Published

5 months ago

Categories

Technology

Topics

Auto

Places

United States of America, Michigan, Detroit

Companies

General Motors

Transcript

SHOTLIST : DETROIT, MICHIGAN, JAN 13, 2013, SOURCE: AFPTV - VAR Corvette on stage SOUNDBITE 1 Tadge Juechter (man), Corvette Chief Engineer (English, 14 sec): "Through all the up and down in economic times, we're always thinking about what we can do for a new Corvette. So we're really happy to be part of a thriving and revived General Motors and bring out a car that is so special." - VAR Corvette on stage - Photographers taking pictures of new Corvette SOUNDBITE 2 Tadge Juechter (man), Corvette Chief Engineer (English, 14 sec): "To bring out an all-new car, only two parts carried over from the previous generation car, means that we really got to do a lot of things from scratch and got to a lot of revolutionary things that make the car very transformed in the way it drives." - VAR of motor SOUNDBITE 3 - Ben Larabee (man), Corvette enthusiast, owner of two different models (English, 16 sec) : "Hopefully it will bring a younger generation in as Corvette enthusiasts because they've kind of got the reputation of being a grey-haired crowd. Hopefully this will inspire a lot of younger people to get involved with the Corvette community." - VAR Corvette on stage /// ------------------------------------------------------ AFP TEXT STORY: US-auto-GM-Chevrolet-Corvette Brand new Corvette kicks off Detroit car show DETROIT, Michigan, Jan 14, 2013 (AFP) - A sparkling new Corvette with as much Italian lines as American dash kicked off the annual North American Auto Show Sunday, the first makeover in eight years for the iconic US sports car. Six decades after the Chevrolet speedster came on the market, the new Corvette easily earned the respect of the Detroit automotive press, with one saying its "Italianate lines" suggested the class leader Ferrari. "The soul of our company is sitting right here in Corvette," said Mark Reuss, president for the Americas of Chevrolet parent General Motors. "This car is the reason I work at GM." GM, pulling out of an industry wide recession in 2008 to 2010, ordered a sweeping redesign of the current C6 model: a new platform, new 450 horsepower motor, and new exterior and interior, held together with a good dose of carbon fiber to keep it light and fast. The company said it was the moat powerful base model Corvette it had ever launched, capable of reaching 100 kph in 4 seconds flat. But it is also, the company said, the most efficient Corvette ever, its emissions lower than the C6. It should hit the market in the third quarter of 2013. END