The launch of the seventh-generation Chevrolet Corvette was an all-American affair
You have to be in America, and Detroit for preference, to see just how important the launch of a new Chevrolet Corvette is to Americans.
Even representatives of rival companies understand perfectly when you tell them you can't be at their event because you've never seen a Corvette launched before and just want to savour experience. This is what I did today at the Detroit Auto Show, when the firm launched the latest muscular, knife-edged and quicker – but also cleaner – Corvette C7.
Over here, a press launch isn't a press launch. It seems to be more a gathering of seasoned, somewhat overweight Corvette enthusiasts and their wives, whooping, American-style, at every modest fact that's revealed. This latest iteration of the 6.2-litre small block V8 has direct fuel injection (whoops), variable valve timing (louder whoops), and a cylinder shut-off system (yet more whoops) to make it both more economical (muted cheers) and more powerful (cheers fit to bust). This is going to be a slowly emerging story, thought the journalists in the audience. Fortunately it was all written down…
Yet the ’Vette looks terrific, similar in proportion to its peers (long, low, spade-shaped nose with a wide, roomy cabin and short, high boot), yet its details, like the little quarter window and the lines on the body, make it look quite different. But I got the feeling only a few of us in the audience cared about such details, or whether the car actually represented progress.
Most just knew it would be great because it was the latest Corvette. How could it be anything other than fantastic? A great American tradition was continuing. Enough said. On this occasion, few – even those wearing Chevy badges – knew much of the boring stuff, such as pricing, specification and launch dates. Which was fine, because even fewer seemed to care.