Recently, General Motors applied for the “Corvette Manta Ray” and “Manta Ray” trademarks for use on “motor land vehicles, namely, automobiles, engines therefor and structural parts thereof.” Of course, such a filing primes excitement and speculation. And we’re here to feed the animalistic desires to do so. Below are four possibilities that could carry the Manta Ray name.
1. A sexy SEMA concept
Chevrolet has been attending the SEMA show in force for quite some time now, with no shortage of performance vehicle concepts, truck concepts, factory accessories, crate engines and even some surprises. In terms of Corvettes last year, Chevrolet showed off the restored “Blue Devil” C6 ZR1 Corvette — a healed victim of the NCM sinkhole. There was also Jimmie Johnson’s Pro-Touring C3 Corvette, a Z06 pull-down accessories concept, and the so-bad-we-can’t-forget-it-but-wish-we-could Paul Stanley Corvette. This year’s SEMA could be more of a focus on the C7 Corvette as a whole from Chevy, and thus, opening room for more concept cars. If this is the case, we hope it shows off a glorious two-tone color pattern blended at the middle, paying homage to the original concept car pictured above.
2. A new, significant variant of the C7
The Corvette team has no shortage of awesome nameplates that can be dusted off and renewed, and Manta Ray is one of them (let alone, Mako Shark). Though only a concept car once upon a time, the Corvette Manta Ray remains a favorite among enthusiasts and historians, and a production model has long been overdue. As for what that entails — powertrain changes, suspension changes, et all — that would be anyone’s guess.
3. The new name for the rumored mid-engine Corvette
Zora… ZR1… Manta Ray? A mid-engine Corvette has been highly anticipated over the past year or so, with rumors/expectations of it being called Zora, ever since we originally broke the story on a trademark filing for that name. However, with the Manta Ray trademark filing, we wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the name Chevrolet stuck with instead.
4. A styling package
The Corvette Manta Ray could simply be the latest limited run appearance package of the C7 line. Like the Atlantic, Pacific and C7.R Editions before it, a Corvette Manta Ray could host unique styling features and accessories that will make it a must-buy for collectors.
If you have other ideas, sound off in the comment section below, and let’s talk about it.
Comments
I still think “Zora” will be attached to the mid engined one somehow. If they don’t call the actual car the “Corvette Zora” then I definitely think the platform will be called that.
I means we will see a new model.
We are going to see many more new things mid engine and Twin Turbochargers are just a start.
I think its a name for the new mid-engine Corvette. Chevrolet could make a nice family of Corvettes with names like Stingray, Manta Ray, and even Mako Shark if they wanted to expand to a third model.
Here’s an idea thats been thrown around…make Corvette the main Make just like Chevrolet, Cadillac…you would now have Corvette. Corvette would have it’s own models such as the Zora, the Stingray, the Manta Ray. Move the Corvette out of the Chevrolet dealerships and into either their own stand alone dealerships or as a combo Cadillac/Corvette Dealership.
Raise the level of service to an expert professional level with thoroughly trained sales specialists so you don’t have the guys that are eating cheeseburgers at their desks dripping ketchup down their ties who are selling the latest chevy spark and sonics trying to sell a corvette.
Kerbeck is the largest Corvette dealer and they are one of the few Chevrolet dealers that have a separate Corvette only showroom with sales people specializing in the corvette. Using their sales model as the basis for this suggestion would elevate the Corvette nameplate to a new level.