2013 C7 Corvette Speculation, Musings and Renderings
Well, the internet is alive with the buzz and rumors of the next generation Corvette, and so far the speculation is wild. The imaginations of the artists are running with the theme of the Corvette Stingray concept from the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie. Which albeit a great looking concept, there were many things about that particular concept that could not realistically (in GM's current budget state) be put into production. The split window design on the back window is a neat touch, but the Lamborghini style doors and self lifting race style one piece front fascia just aren't a realistic goal along with many other minute touches. Basically what we can gather from the host of speculation are a few concrete things which we'll discuss today. IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT GM HAS NOT PUBLICLY RELEASED AN OFFICIAL PHOTO OF THE C7, SO ALL PICTURES ARE PROPERTY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE ARTISTS AND ARE NOT OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHS-SIMPLY DIFFERENT ARTISTS RENDERINGS, INCLUDING A MID ENGINE RENDERING (BOTTOM) AND THE STINGRAY CONCEPT.
In the current state of affairs that GM is in recovery from, their budget for development has been shifted dramatically towards the finishing production touches for the long range hybrid Volt. The shift for most of the big American car companies has been towards the increasing of fuel economy (as the Corporate Average Fuel Economy-CAFE- standards are enforced), and as a rule of thumb, most V-8's aren't notorious for the best gas mileage. But don't fret, the 
Corvette hasn't been forgotten or written off as an antique. The talk of late has been surrounding the engine that will be occupying the space under the hood. But before we get there we'll nip this one in the bud as well: the new 'Vette almost certainly will NOT be mid engine. The time and resources that it would require to change the platform so drastically would cost far too much for the Corvette development budget that is allowed for the next couple of years. So, with the Corvette remaining a FR car, the engine that seems to be the most likely will be a smaller displacement V8, probably the 5.5 liter V8 that Chevy has in the works. It will be an aluminum block with aluminum heads, sporting revised combustion chambers, retaining the pushrod overhead valve configuration. This engine will greatly resemble the one that debuted in the C6.R, with a few minor tweaks to improve fuel efficiency and probably be a bit milder on the performance side-as it is not a racecar. Needless to say, the team in Michigan hasn't been bored as of late and if rumor serves correctly the C7 has been in the works since late 2007. The car is supposedly to be ready for the 2013 model year, meaning a slated release should take place sometime 
around April of 2012.
The final product will no doubt be lighter, and possibly slightly more compact. The limiting factor in weight reduction would be material cost. I'm sure the Corvette design team would love to construct the entire body out of carbon fiber and titanium, drastically reducing weight and increasing gas mileage significantly, but astronomically increasing the price. Their goal, I imagine, would be to drive the gas mileage up by reducing gross weight and increasing efficiency, while keeping the price a constant-or very close to it. Fiberglass and aluminum are already in great use on the vehicle but how far can they push weight reduction? It's a typical engineering quandary, and probably the bane of every automotive engineer on the planet.
But, until Chevy comes out with a release, we will all sit and ponder the specifics of the new 'Vette, and wait with the 8-year-old-on-Christmas eve kind of anticipation on what the future holds for the Corvette.