Consider that there are currently three primary reasons why the Corvette is looked down on by the global world of automotive performance sophisticates. First, it has a "plastic" body. Second, it has a "plastic" interior with poor ergonomics. Third, it has seats unfit for a Volkswagen.
It should be noted that while the ZO6 beat virtually every high performance sports car in the world around Laguna Seca by about 2.5 seconds in last years R&T drivers car showdown, it was ostensibly eliminated from the finals because of the cheap and unsafe seats. Rumors are that Chevrolet will address the seat issue and the impact it has had on high G cornering safety with the C7, if only as an option. If so, that criticism may substantially go away.
It should also be noted that while the mid 1990's Corvettes like the C4 ZR-1 had a perfectly acceptable high quality performance driver's seat, Chevrolet thereafter intentionally chose to regress to a cheaper non-performance oriented sports car seat while catering to the largest percentage of potential Corvette owners who had no desire to whip the car through an autocross course, let alone a twisty mountain road. The surveys said that comfort and ease of ingress/egress were the primary criteria of seat design desired by the masses. Chevrolet could have at least had a performance seat option, especially on the ZO6 and the ZR1, but they chose not to do so. Inexcusable.
An improved leather interior with better ergonomics may also be an option on the C7 line. If so, that criticism may at least measurably lessen.
The "plastic" body? We will likely never see a high end aluminum body on a Corvette. However, the increased utilization of aluminum framing with magnesium components as well as body panels of carbon fiber and soon perhaps composites will help to offset those criticisms somewhat, and may, someday, ultimately lead to ground breaking technology that will make aluminum bodies passe.
However, if Chevrolet in the foreseeable future tosses a V-6 into a true Corvette, even if it is turbo charged, that will be a stigma in the world of sophisticated sports cars that may will undo much of what has been wrought by the dramatic performance evolutions led by the ZO6 and the ZR1.
Could there be a successful Corvette vehicle with cheap seats, a cheap interior, and a V6? Perhaps, but it had better have a different body design, perhaps a sedan, and a marketing name like the Porsche Panamera or, perhaps more likely, a smaller more compact design and name like the Porsche Caymans. Those might be smart moves.
But, if they put a V6 in the real Corvette, that move coupled with the other stigmas mentioned above, could ultimately be the death knell of a wonderful American automotive performance icon. Heritage is everything. You'll never see a V6 in a high end Ferrari, Lambo, or Aston Martin. A Corvette V6, using current or foreseeable technology, would constitute a retreat, a concession to "properness."
An iconic vehicle like the Corvette cannot stand still nor regress. The Corvette must continue to advance or risk returning to insignificance in the high performance automotive realm.
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