New Corvette Z06, Subaru WRX STI, and Lexus RC F break cover at NAIAS 2014
If you’re a fan of performance cars, this year’s North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) — which runs January 13-26 at the COBO Center in Detroit — is serving up a steaming plate of red-blooded vehicle reveals. In addition to the already announced 2015 Mustang, several iconic performance vehicles are getting major revamps in 2014, including the 2015 Corvette Z06, the 2015 Subaru WRX STI, and the 2015 Lexus RC F.
2015 Corvette z06
image / source: Left Lane News
The days of the Corvette being lampooned as the plastic fantastic chariot of choice for polyester suit-wearing men going through a midlife crisis are (thankfully) dead and buried. The Corvette C6 (introduced in 2006) brought the ‘Vette into the modern era, and that model’s Z06 and ZR1 permutations proved that Corvette could compete with (and beat) European exotics costing three times as much.
Pratt and Miller Engineering and the Corvette Racing team also racked up an impressive record of class wins with the C6.R Corvette in the 24 Hours of LeMans and the American LeMans Series, and Chevrolet was quick to fold all the lessons learned from their hard-won racing efforts into the new 2014 Corvette Stringray, aka the C7. On the first day of the 2014 NAIAS, Chevrolet will not only unveil the all-new 2015 Corvette Z06 based on the new C7, but will also take the wraps off their new C7.R race car, which will race for the first time in the new United Sportscar Championship in the Rolex 24 at Daytona on January 24-25, 2014.
The live unveil of the new 2015 Corvette Z06 and the new C7.R begins at 9:30AM ET on Monday, January 13th. I’ve embedded the live video feed of the event below.
2015 Subaru WRX STI
image/source: WorldCarFans
While the new 2015 Subaru WRX doesn’t look quite as hot as the WRX concept vehicle that everyone drooled over, the new 2015 WRX STI will likely have enough to make all but the most jaded WRX STI fans happy. The image above comes to use via WorldCarFans, who came across the images posted early pre-NAIAS embargo on the Terra Autos website. The new WRX will feature a 2.0 liter DOHC turbocharged mill with around 268hp, but the new 2015 WRX STI is rumored to have a larger 2.5 liter version of that engine that should produce more than 300 hp. Subaru plans to formally unveil the new STI at NAIAS on January 14th, which you can find more information about on a dedicated 2015 WRX STI page on the Subaru site.
2015 Lexus RC F
image: Lexus
Lexus may be a relative newcomer to the market for luxury automobiles, but it quickly made a name for itself as a purveyor of quiet, ultra-reliable vehicles that boast quality ratings that their rivals still envy. Lexus has made some recent forays into the performance end of the luxury car market with their LFA supercar and the Lexus IS F, but their new 2015 Lexus RC F is arguably the most substantive effort yet from Lexus to challenge BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Â and Cadillac on the performance end of the luxury market. The new RC F is powered by a 5.0 liter V8 making around 480hp, and 8-speed automatic and manual transmission options will be available.
