C7 Corvette may produce up to 700 HP
Motor Authority is reporting that General Motors' VP of Global Product Develpment, Jim Queen, revealed in an interview with Motor Trend that the next-generation C7 Corvette will produce up to 700 naturally-aspirated horsepower in its top trim. We haven't been able to find the interview on Motor Trend's website or in the current March issue of the magazine, and the April issue has yet to arrive in either digital or dead tree form, so we can't corroborate the information at the moment. The news of a 700 horsepower Corvette certainly isn't shocking at this point, considering the 2008 Dodge Viper will be packing at least 600 horspower by the time the C7 arrives, if not more, and GM product czar Bob Lutz told reporters at the Chicago Auto Show that a 600-horsepower Corvette would arrive by summer of 2009. He was most likely referring to the C6-based Corvette SS that's been making news on the internet lately. That car appears to be a supercharged version of the current Vette's motor, so it's interesting that they're going for 700 horsepower in the C7 without the use of forced induction.
Queen also confirmed that rumors about an all-wheel drive Corvette are false and that the iconic sports car, along with the Cadillac XLR, would remain on their own unique platform.
[Source: Motor Authority]
UPDATE: After conferring with Motor Trend and finding the original source, it's clear that GM's Jim McQueen did NOT say the C7 Corvette will produce up to 700 hp. The original article's author, MT's Paul Horrell, merely extrapolated on his own and made an educated guess that the C7 might produce that much power, probably considering that the C6 SS would already be producing in the neighborhood of 600 horsepower. The stuff about no all-wheel drive and maintaining a unique platform still stands, though.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
anthem 11:51AM (2/23/2007)
Any news on how much it will cost?
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WolfgangNC 11:47AM (2/23/2007)
I'm wondering when the government is going to step in and try to stop this horsepower war like they did back in the mid-70's?
I personally would love for the war to keep going.
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Dandy 11:51AM (2/23/2007)
That's a lot of NA power. I think it's a bit optimistic for a 'mass produced' car. I'm sure with some major work you could get 700 crank hp out of the LS7, but it would not be very streetable, nor would it come close to passing emissions testing.
That means they'd need a (much) larger displacement engine. I could see that they'd come close to matching the Vipers power (at or around 600hp), but suddenly jumping and extra 200hp? Seems a lot optimistic. But won't it be great if I'm completely wrong? :)
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Michael Karesh 11:52AM (2/23/2007)
The government never stepped in and directly stopped the earlier horsepower war. Gas prices and insurance rates went up, and manufacturers didn't initially comply with new emissions regs in an effective manner, so horsepower dropped. Put it all together, and customer demand for the cars withered.
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BLS 11:57AM (2/23/2007)
Mandatory diving school. I would hope.
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Nelson 12:22PM (2/23/2007)
I think 700hp N/A is a misunderstanding. While I'm sure GM has the ability to build a 100hp/L N/A engine I don't think it could be done in a cost effective way. On a forced induction 6.2L 700hp should be no problem. That's 112.9 hp/L. The Solstice GXP is already putting out 130hp/L.
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why not the LS2/LS7? 12:25PM (2/23/2007)
This is great. I am hoping the C6 SS is all-motor. There's nothing wrong with forced induction. My car is turbocharged. STis and EVOs are turbocharged. But Vettes shouldn't be supercharged. I hope that those SS mules we saw pics of are just using superchargers to produce the power so that they can test the driving dynamics of the car with that much power and that when it come to the real model, it'll be NA only.
700HP though is going to have to come from a "high-feature" motor I think. The heads on the LS7 flow as much air as one could possibly imagine. And the revs can only go a little higher with OHV technology. It's bored out as much as will go in that package, and I don't see a return of the big blocks.
Honestly though, I can't see 700HP all-motor. Is there a car out there that does it? If there is, it's a Ferrari V12. I mean, I'd love to hear GM developed a 10,000RPM V8, but I don't think that's likely.
I guess that means I'm saying what Dandy is.
Then again, I think the Z06 is already so powerful as to be a ridiculously niche car. Won't a 700HP sports car be even more so?
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sydbot 1:08PM (2/23/2007)
Top trim, so SS level? Maybe they upping each level by 100HP. (base-500HP, Z06-600HP, SS-700HP) Same thinking with the engine, the LS7 wouldn't be very streetable at that level which would mean they must have a new engine design. But then again, we'll see how "streetable" the LS9 or whatever is going into the SS. I just wonder if Chevy can stick with the small-block pushrod V8 for that much power. I have heard rumors of a 3-valve pushrod design; combine that with VVT and a LS7 sized engine might get close to 700.
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Mike 12:42PM (2/23/2007)
Everything I have read about the SS over the last year or so has said it will be supercharged. So I think the test mule photos where actually of the production motor for the most part. But I guess we will find out next year in Detroit for sure.
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Bob R. 12:46PM (2/23/2007)
Wouldn't it be hard to launch a 700hp car for 0-60 mph times?
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Mike 12:50PM (2/23/2007)
Depends on how much torque it has, size of the meats in the rear, gearing etc. But yea, I would like to see them eventually move to an AWD setup in their higher end vettes.
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NOAH 5:59AM (3/04/2007)
I don't understand the displacement vs. forced induction debate (other than turbo lag), but would there really be a backlash by Corvette "purists"? OHV only? NA only? I guess thats up to debate.
I'm not so much interested in the high-end 700 hp version in the C7 as much as I am in the base model. GM is making big changes. Will the C7 have an all new DOHC (affordable)? Or an extension of the LS2? New rear suspension, or is the current setup perfectly suitable? How much of the C6 Z06 will trickle down to the C7?
Anyways, its way too early to speculate, but its always good news when it comes to the corvette!
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EnviroBob 1:04PM (2/23/2007)
The 426 Hemi dyno'd at 650HP (gross) in the mid '60s without the benefit of today's engineering. With all of the advancements in metullurgy, machining, and more importantly, electronics, 700 Net HP out of a minimum of 427CI is not unreasonable.
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CJ 1:10PM (2/23/2007)
I love the idea of 700hp but I would really love to find out how much torque this bad boy may have.
Why does Dodge need to have 10 cylinders to make the same power as GM with 8? Anyone want to tackle that one?
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pd 1:43PM (2/23/2007)
Katech and Lingenfelter already have engines with well over 600 h.p. already with just a mild cam and headers,so 700h.p. shouldn't be that difficult. HEMI engines were rated 425 h.p. gross, not 650!
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EnviroBob 2:04PM (2/23/2007)
Yes, Chrysler RATED the Hemi at 425HP because of the 1HP per CID quota insurance companies utilized. The engines themselves actually produced 650HP gross.
What a manufacturer lists as 'advertised HP' and what it actually puts out are not always the same. GM listed the mid '90s F-Body 350 at 325HP, but it was actually developiung 372HP at the rear wheels as dyno'd by Motor Trend. You can't go by advertised HP.
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EnviroBob 2:15PM (2/23/2007)
Correction:
In editing my copy, a section was deleted. Should read:
What a manufacturer lists as 'advertised HP' and what it actually puts out are not always the same. GM listed the mid '90s F-Body 350 at 325HP, but it was actually developiung 325HP at the rear wheels as dyno'd by Motor Trend. The 345HP 'Vette 350 was producing 372HP. You can't go by advertised HP.
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kal 2:18PM (2/23/2007)
And they wonder why the Big 3 US automakers are floundering these days.
Should they really produce this 700hp C7 just because they can? Sure a couple of thousand white, middle-aged, bald guys will buy this to deal with their mid-life crisis...and then what?
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BOB 2:50PM (2/23/2007)
#17 is partly right......
More important to GM:
make the Corvette world-class in styling and quality. Those guys who fell in love with Vettes in the 60's and 70's are gonna be dead eventually, and GM has done very little to attract new customers,
I personally would enjoy driving one, but I am hiding out with a Mustang, which does not scream my age to the world. Besides, I am not fat enough, yet.
Produce a great car that makes conquest sales, not a nostalgia machine with timid styling, please!!!
Talking about big horsepower numbers to beat another old-guy car, the Viper, that sells in small quantities is simply high school racer stuff, to me.
As for the Cadillac version -- it has not exactly killed the Mercedes, or even the ugly Lexus. Why not? Because it should have been a 4-seater touring car, not an attempted sports car. American cars need to fit what we want from them, and not be attempts to copy Europe.
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Karn 4:06PM (2/23/2007)
#17 is a racist. And a hair-ist.
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