If there is one great thing about a cold Canadian winter it is that the Big 3 Detroit automakers don’t have travel to far to complete their winter testing.  We have come across some new images of the 2014 Chevrolet C7 Corvette during a snowy winter testing day in what the photographer called Northern Canada.  Judging from the amount of snow on the ground it could be Barrie ON or Whitehorse YK so who really knows where?

The big news is really that the car world is expecting big things out of this new C7 Corvette and the rumor mill has been going crazy churning out stories on how all of the engine option s will be force feed to moving the engine entirely from the front of the car to the middle.

2014 C7 Corvette - Spied during winter testing

We have previously learned from GM’s global head of design, Ed Welburn; that the car will be attempting to shift its appeal to a younger demographic.  Gm is hoping that people who are younger than 50 will become interested in buying a corvette however much like Buick it will be difficult to shake its grey hair appeal.

Ed didn’t release any details on how this will be done however he did rule out the possibilities that the car will have a mid mounted engine.  He also let the world know that they will not be moving to a forced induction V6 engine.  These two confirmations however now seem to be in jeopardy as there are some odd shaped air intake vents flanking the rear window.  These air vents suggest to us a similar venting design to that found on the Ferrari 458 Italia which would then mean that the car’s engine is mid mounted.  Sure it could just be more cleaver camouflage but we hope not as a mid engine design would allow for perfect weight balance and would equal one hell of a ride.

2014 C7 Corvette - Spied during winter testing

The glass half empty personality in me, may win out in the end as a total redesign this close to GM’s government bailout may not be possible due to cash flow issues.  Road and Track is stating that a total car redesign would be too costly to manufacture forcing the cars price to rise putting it out of the financial reach of it new younger target demographic.  Just think of it as the same reason the Ford Mustang continues to have an out dated solid rear axle.  Let’s hope the GM car enthusiast will win out over the bean counters because we’re not sure if we can wait for a 2020 C8 mid engine Corvette.

What he did confirm was that the C7 will likely have a 5.5-liter V8 version of Chevy’s tired and antiquated pushrod, small-block V-8 engine looks to be making its way under the hood of the C7.  This rumor also saddens us it means that other fuel saving technologies like cylinder deactivation and variable valve timing will not be available on what could be a very thirsty car.  The new engine will include direct injection and a higher compression ratio should guarantee this new small-block has the same power output and possible more than that of the outgoing 6.2-liter V8.  The Z06 models and ZR1 models are on track to receive a forced induction version of the engine with GM favoring supercharging over a twin turbo setup.  We will have to see how the Corvette Race teams like the idea of replacing their 7.0-liter V8 for a forced feed small displacement.

One rumor that GM is trying to distance themselves from is that the car will received a supercharged or turbocharged V6 engine option.  We have to think that this has more to with satisfying their traditional chest thumping V8 client as we think that this would be a fantastic idea.

2014 C7 Corvette - Spied during winter testing

No matter which engines will be found under the hood or mounted behind the seats sand that will be connected to a new 7-speed manual transmission, similar in design to the one that Porsche just announced in the new 911.  On the Automatic side of the equation we are expecting a 7 or 8 speed dual-clutch transmission to be included in the new C7 Corvette.

The all-new Corvette is still a ways off, as it will likely be late 2013 before we see the car in one form or another.  We would estimate that the official C7 car launch will be at the 2013 North America International Auto Show in Detroit.