What It Is: A high-performance iteration of the seventh-generation Chevrolet Corvette, which we expect to be called Z07 and replace the outgoing Z06. Earlier this year, our spy photographers snagged some blurry shots from afar of a similar-looking test car. These are our first close-up, high-def images of a Z07 mule being tested—and the car’s poor fashion sense hasn’t improved. Still, these clearer photos reveal a few visual details that will separate the Z07 from the Stingray, as well as hint to the performance boiling beneath the baggy plastic.

Why It Matters: Besides marking a shift from the Z06 name—which was utilized for high-performance iterations of the C5- and C6-generation Corvettes—we expect the Z07 will carry GM’s ultimate sports-car torch for most of the C7 Corvette’s product life. (A ZR1 based on the latest Corvette isn’t likely to join the lineup until late in the C7’s cycle, if at all.) Plus, as with all hot new cars, the base Corvette Stingray’s appeal is bound to cool at least somewhat in the next year or two. The Z07 should keep consumer interest and intrigue humming along.

Platform: Frame rails rendered from aluminum instead of steel differentiated the last-generation Z06 from lesser Vettes, but today’s Stingray features a complex cocktail of aluminum extrusions, tubes, and castings for improved localized stiffness and weight optimization. Since this results in the Corvette Stingray’s chassis being plenty stiff, we see no reason why Chevrolet would change the basics for the Z07. But, as is clear from the car in these spy photos, you can expect larger Michelin tires and Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes. Look closer, and you’ll spot a sizable vent ahead of each rear wheel opening, ostensibly for brake cooling; the same goes for a pair of ducts stuffed into each side of the front lower intake. And is it just us, or are the exhaust outlets on this mule even larger than the bazookas that poke out from behind the Stingray?

View Photos CHRIS DOANE AUTOMOTIVE, ROBERT KERIAN, THE MANUFACTURER

Powertrain: Save the Manuals! fans, take note: The Z07 likely will be available solely with the Tremec seven-speed manual transmission. GM’s eight-speed automatic should make it to regular Vettes by the time the Z07 is introduced, but the car’s performance-is-job-one mission should keep the auto-shifter off the options list. Although the Z07 will be powered by a small-block V-8, it likely will feature less than that model’s 6.2 liters of displacement yet should be capable of putting out more than 600 horsepower. This feat will come by way of—you guessed it—turbocharging. Given GM’s recent interest in turbocharged engines for the Cadillac CTS lineup—the 4.5-liter twin-turbo V-8 in the Elmiraj concept likely gives us a glimpse of what we can expect underhood of the Z07—and ever-more-stringent fuel-economy standards, there are precious few options for the General to reach stratospheric output outside of forced induction.

Competition: Audi R8, Ferrari 458, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT, Nissan GT-R, Porsche 911 Turbo, SRT Viper.

Estimated Arrival and Price: Look for the Z07 to debut at the 2015 Detroit auto show before arriving in showrooms later that year as a 2016 model. The price difference between the Z07 and the Stingray should expand compared to the C6 Corvette and mid-$70K Z06, with the Z07 liable to cost $100,000 or more.

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