The Corvette gets a new look as the shift lever gives way to the touch screen

General Motors stands out by increasing the production of its new Corvette, even as the sports car market shrinks.

According to Edmunds, the demand for hot rods has been reduced to 2.3% of the US vehicle market, about half of what it was ten years ago. And GM's new car, whose starting price is under $ 60,000 (220,350 Dh), will not be much cheaper than the existing Corvette. Despite this, GM is adding 400 employees and a second shift to the model making plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

GM's strategy is to appeal to both younger buyers and sports car enthusiasts with a radical transformation of its 1950s icon to compete with exclusive high-performance European models at a fraction of the price. By transplanting the engine into the center of the car, GM says the new Corvette will perform better on the track and compete against Porsche, Ferrari and Lamborghini. But, priced at a quarter of the price of these supercars, GM sees an opportunity to develop sales of a niche vehicle with attractive profit margins.

"It's very important for us financially," said Mary Barra, GM's general manager. "He was – and this car will be."

GM is hoping to find a new generation of buyers with its entry-level Stingray and appeal to the wealthiest sports car collectors currently driving European models. The risk is that older customers and larger buyers may be upset by changes such as GM's decision to replace the traditional manual transmission of the Corvette, favored by purists, with a high-tech dual-clutch transmission.

While few other vehicles sold today offer a manual gearbox on the US market, 15% of Corvette buyers have chosen one: a good share of the customer base.

"One of the things that worries us is the lack of manual transmission," said Jon Thorn, editor of the Corvette Club of America's newsletter, before seeing the new car. .

In its place, the Stingray will have an 8-speed automatic transmission with shift paddles. It has become the active transmission par excellence of high-end European sports cars.

The new Corvette allows drivers to use paddles and choose a specific gear, rather than going up or down one by one. So it works like a manual, with no clutch pedal and no gearshift between the seats. With the mid-engined car, a real manual was more difficult to install, and suppliers are reluctant to manufacture it because the volumes are low. The electronically controlled double clutch is also changing better, said Tadge Juechter, chief engineer of the Corvette.

"The transmission is smoother and faster than any human being," said Juechter.

The latest incarnation also packs more punch. The Stingray goes from 460 to 495 horses. And with the Z51 performance, the car will reach 60 miles at the hour in less than 3 seconds.

It's the fastest Corvette of all time and about as fast as the Lamborghini Huracan, which sells for about $ 240,000.

"This is the Corvette version of a supercar that we have always wanted to see," said GM President Mark Reuss. The exact price was not revealed, but Reuss said the Stingray model would start at less than $ 60,000.

The biggest improvement for sports car nerds is the layout of the central engine. With the engine installed behind the driver, which is located almost above the front axle, the car should have a better balance. GM needed to do this to improve driving, Reuss said.

Corvette is also taking a page from Tesla's game book with live updates, although GM has not specified the improvements it could make to the car remotely.

The car also has a dashboard display that can be reconfigured to display gauges and driver information in a different order. This is another nice touch for a generation that has grown up using smartphones and playing video games.

Still, removing the stick shows the tightrope that Chevy is working on trying to fill a generation and keep older purists happy while attracting the younger ones.

Rumors had circulated for months before confirming that the gear lever was a story.

"If they do not have a manual, it's professional misconduct," said Eric Noble, president of The CarLab, a consulting firm based in Orange, California. "It's always a lot of buyers that they could potentially lose."