Porsche’s new 911 is the first production car to use a seven-speed manual transmission, and according to a tweet by Edmunds’ Inside Line, the upcoming C7 generation of the Chevrolet Corvette will follow suit, and get one of their own.
“A trusted source tells us the C7 Corvette will be offered with a 7-speed manual gearbox. Yes, seven.”
The Corvette’s current manual transmission already offers a super-tall overdrive as its top gear; Inside Line says it’s still unknown whether the additional gear will mean Chevy can close up the ratios between the first six cogs, or whether the C7 will just offer an even taller top gear to give the Corvette nigh-unbelievable highway gas mileage.
As for the engine details, Inside Line’s source says that the C7 will likely have a pushrod V8, hopefully ending with the small-displacement turbo V6. It is also very likely to receive a serious dose of upgrades such as direct injection and variable lift. The LS3 already makes 430 horses and 424 lb-ft—is it too much hoping for 500 horsepower on the entry-level Corvette.
The new C7 Corvette is believed to be unveiled in 2013, and until then we can only wait and see if any of these rumours and assumptions are real.
Source: AutoEvolution
