2015 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray is Quicker and More Efficient

Whether you pick the 7-speed manual transmission or the 6-speed automatic transmission, the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray is a remarkable sports car and the monster sales numbers since it reached showrooms late last year have shown that the American sports car market recognizes just greatness of the new Stingray. However, with the announcement that the new 8-speed automatic that was originally introduced in the 2015 Z06 would be available in the 2015 Stingray as well – GM has made a great sports car even better.

"The Corvette Stingray is a great example of how we are leveraging engineering and technology to improve both efficiency and performance," said Mark Reuss, GM executive vice president, Global Product Development, Purchasing & Supply Chain. "No other car can match 460 horsepower, 0-60 mph in better than 3.7 seconds, and 29 mpg on the highway."

The Numbers for the 2015 Stingray 8-Speed Transmission
The 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray fastback with the new 8-speed automatic transmission is expected to return 16 miles per gallon in the city, 29mpg on the highway and 20mpg combined. For comparison, the 2014 Corvette Stingray with the 6-speed automatic transmission offered the same 16mpg around town and 20 combined, but only 28mpg on the highway. Yes, that is a pretty minimal improvement considering that the Stingray has picked up two more transmission gears along with a rear differential gearing drop down to 2.41 (2014 models used a 2.56 rear gear), but when you are talking about a high performance sports car like the Corvette – every little bit counts.

Considering the gains shown by other automakers that have gone to an 8-speed gearbox, I’m a little surprised that the 2015 Corvette Stingray didn’t see a bigger fuel economy improvement…especially with the new rear gear ratio. I really expected to see the Corvette hit the 30mpg mark, but with several automakers dealing with bad publicity over exaggerated fuel economy figures, GM has likely stayed on the conservative side of things. After all, the last thing that General Motors needs right now is more bad publicity.

2015 Corvette Galleries:
The Debut of the 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
The First Images of the 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Convertible
The debut of the C7R Chevrolet Corvette race car

The 8-Speed Also Makes the Stingray Quicker
In addition to making the 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray fastback a little more fuel efficient, the new 8-speed automatic makes the Stingray quicker…at least in Z51 form. The 2014 Corvette Stingray with the 6-speed automatic “officially” dashed from 0-60 in 3.8 seconds while running through the quarter mile in 12 seconds flat. The 2015 Stingray with the new 8-speed automatic gearbox gets to 60 in just 3.7 seconds and it will conquer the quarter mile in 11.9 seconds – accounting for an improvement of one tenth of a second in each category. Again, a minimal improvement but in a game in inches – every little bit matters.

Ultimately, a slight improvement for the 2015 Corvette Stingray in fuel economy is good and a slight improvement in performance for the 2015 Stingray is good…but an improvement in both areas makes the addition of the new 8-speed automatic transmission that much more important.

The C7 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray is the bestselling premium sports car in America – trailing only the Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger in the overall sports car sales race – and having an automatic transmission that makes the Stingray quicker and more efficient will only help to continue the sales success of the C7.