C7 Corvette Stingray (2014–2019): The Complete Guide

The Overview

The C7 Corvette Stingray was built 2014–2019, 120,334 cars by GM’s counts. The seventh-generation Corvette in its base form: the 455-hp LT1 with direct injection and cylinder deactivation, a seven-speed manual with rev matching or an eight-speed automatic, a removable-roof coupe and a convertible, and the Z51 package.

This page has every model year of the C7 Corvette Stingray in its own section with the year page’s account, the specs, the numbers and the posts; the figures by year; the colors; how it compares to its siblings; the site’s guides, videos and news; and a buyer’s guide: which year to buy, what to pay, how to verify one, what goes wrong and the site’s market reports. The C7 hub has the whole line across every generation.

The C7 Corvette Stingray Story

The C7 brought the Stingray name back after thirty-seven years, on a car with a new aluminum frame, the direct-injected Gen V LT1 and an interior that answered thirty years of complaints. The 2014 Stingray coupe was North American Car of the Year; the convertible followed within months, the eight-speed automatic for 2015 and the C7 ran six years with the Z06, Grand Sport and ZR1 built around it.

This page is the base car year by year — the 2014 launch, the 2015 automatic, the 2017 and 2019 changes — with the Stingray’s figures, prices, production and colors; the Z06, Grand Sport and ZR1 have their own pages.

MORE: THE C7 HUB

2014 C7 Corvette Stingray

The 2014 Corvette Stingray was revealed on January 13, 2013, the night before the Detroit show, and went on sale that September as the first all-new Corvette since 2005 and the first to carry the Stingray name since 1976. Everything under the angular new body was new: a hydroformed aluminum frame built in-house at Bowling Green for the first time, 57 percent stiffer and 99 pounds lighter than the C6’s steel frame, so that the convertible, revealed at Geneva in March, needed no extra bracing; a carbon-fiber hood and removable roof panel, composite fenders, doors and quarters and carbon-nano underbody panels; and the Gen V small-block, the 6.2-liter LT1 with direct injection, variable valve timing and cylinder deactivation, SAE-certified at 455 horsepower and 460 lb-ft (460 and 465 with the dual-mode exhaust), behind the first seven-speed manual in a Corvette, a Tremec TR6070 with Active Rev Matching, or a six-speed paddle-shift automatic. Chevrolet quoted 3.8 seconds to 60, 12.0 at 119 in the quarter and 1.03 g for a Z51 manual, and the EPA 17/29 mpg.

The Z51 Performance Package ($2,800) brought an electronic limited-slip differential, a dry-sump oiling system, firmer Bilstein suspension with Magnetic Selective Ride Control optional, bigger slotted brakes, closer gear ratios, differential and transmission coolers, an aero package and 19/20-inch wheels, and 21,111 of the year’s 37,288 buyers took it. Inside were two eight-inch screens, a five-position Driver Mode Selector, GT or Competition Sport seats on magnesium frames and an interior that finally matched the price, in 1LT, 2LT or 3LT trim at $51,995 and $56,995 delivered. Two Premiere Editions marked the launch, 500 Laguna Blue 3LT Z51 coupes on their own 300001 VIN series and 550 Lime Rock Green convertibles at $77,450, and a Laguna Blue Z51 coupe paced the 2013 Indianapolis 500 with Jim Harbaugh driving.

MORE: THE 2014 RESEARCH PAGE

2015 C7 Corvette Stingray

The seventh-generation Z06, revealed at Detroit on January 13, 2014 and on sale from January 2015, was the most powerful production car General Motors had built: a 6.2-liter LT4 with a 1.7-liter Eaton supercharger, direct injection and titanium intake valves, SAE-certified at 650 horsepower and 650 lb-ft, in a body 2.2 inches wider in front and 3.15 behind to cover 19 x 10 and 20 x 12-inch wheels on 285/30 and 335/25 Michelins, with Brembo six-piston brakes, Magnetic Ride and an aluminum frame 20 percent stiffer than the C6 Z06’s, which is why it came as a convertible as well as a coupe for the first time since 1963 and with a removable roof panel. The Z07 package ($7,995) added carbon-ceramic brakes, Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires and adjustable aero that made it the highest-downforce production car GM had tested; with it Chevrolet claimed 2.95 seconds to 60 and 10.95 in the quarter with the automatic, 1.2 g and 99.6 feet from 60 to 0. The Z06 coupe listed at $78,995, the convertible at $83,995, and 8,653 were built, 1,673 of them convertibles and 3,378 with Z07.

The Stingray’s news was the Hydra-Matic 8L90 eight-speed automatic ($1,725), GM-built, eight pounds lighter than the 6L80 it replaced and quicker-shifting than the Porsche 911’s PDK at full throttle, which went into 68 percent of the year’s cars and lifted the automatic’s highway rating to 29 mpg; the Performance Data Recorder, developed with Cosworth, which recorded HD video with telemetry overlays to an SD card and came with the navigation as RPO UQT ($1,795; 25,803 cars); OnStar with 4G LTE and a Wi-Fi hotspot; Valet Mode; two new colors, Shark Gray and Daytona Sunrise Orange, replacing Cyber Gray and Lime Rock Green; and two SEMA-inspired packages, the Atlantic for Z51 convertibles ($6,350; 17 built) and the Pacific for Z51 coupes ($7,090; 97). The Z51 package rose to $5,000 with the performance exhaust included, and prices climbed three times: $53,995 at launch, $54,995 from August 2014 and $55,995 for coupes from February 2015.

MORE: THE 2015 RESEARCH PAGE

2016 C7 Corvette Stingray

The third-year C7 was the one everybody bought: 40,689 Corvettes left Bowling Green for 2016, 6,449 more than 2015 and the only C7 year over 40,000, with the Z06 taking 35 percent of it, 11,543 coupes and 2,732 convertibles. The news on the Stingray was a flat-bottom steering wheel, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in the MyLink screen, a front curb-view camera on 2LT and 3LT cars, two-tone GT seats, yellow or red stitching, a power-cinch hatch, Magnetic Ride for cars without Z51 (FE2), the ZF1 wheel-and-spoiler look, a carbon-fiber hood with a visible-weave center (B92), three new colors in Corvette Racing Yellow, Long Beach Red and Admiral Blue, and in place of a special edition three color-themed design packages for 3LT and 3LZ cars, Twilight Blue, Spice Red and Jet Black Suede, which found only 1,360 buyers. Prices rose $400: $56,395 for the coupe, $60,395 for the convertible, $5,000 for Z51, $80,395 and $84,395 for the Z06.

The Z06 got a Brownstone 3LZ interior, a chrome starter button, the Blade accessory wheel and the year’s special edition, the Z06 C7.R Edition: a 3LZ Z06 with the Z07 package, in Corvette Racing Yellow or Black with a Jake-on-the-hood graphics package, Spectra Gray grilles and vents, black wheels with a yellow stripe, yellow calipers, visible carbon ground effects and hood section, a Jet Black and sueded-microfiber interior with yellow stitching, Competition Sport seats with the C7.R logo and a numbered plaque, on its own VIN series from 700001. Chevrolet announced 500 for the United States and built 650, 570 coupes and 80 convertibles, at $112,395 and $117,490. Carbon-ceramic brakes became an option on Z06s without Z07 (J57, 120 cars), and 73 Z06 buyers built their own LT4 at the Performance Build Center.

MORE: THE 2016 RESEARCH PAGE

2017 C7 Corvette Stingray

The 2017 Corvette was the Grand Sport, revealed at Geneva on March 1, 2016: the Z06’s aluminum-framed wide body (2.2 inches wider in front, 3.15 at the rear), its 19 x 10 and 20 x 12-inch wheels on 285/30 and 335/25 Michelin Pilot Super Sport ZPs, its Brembo six-piston brakes, Magnetic Ride, electronic limited-slip differential, dry sump, differential and transmission coolers and the Z07-style FE6 suspension, with the naturally aspirated 460-hp LT1 and the performance exhaust in place of the supercharged LT4, for $66,445 as a coupe and $70,445 as a convertible, $14,000 under the Z06. For the first time a Grand Sport could have Z07 ($7,995; 1,422 cars): carbon-ceramic brakes, Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires and the carbon aero package, for 1.2 g and, Chevrolet said, a Milford lap within a second of the old ZR1. The Heritage Package (Z15, 3,863 cars) brought hash marks in six colors, and the Collector Edition (Z25, $4,995 on a 3LT) Watkins Glen Gray with Tension Blue hash marks, satin-black stripes, black wheels, a Tension Blue leather-and-suede interior, the 1963 Grand Sport embossed in the headrests and a numbered plaque: 1,000 planned, 935 built, 784 coupes and 151 convertibles. Buyers took 11,958 Grand Sports, 36 percent of the year, more than the Stingray coupe.

The Stingray and Z06 carried over at $50 more ($56,445 and $80,445), with red seat belts (3F9, 2,010 cars), the hash-mark and center-stripe options, the Z06’s revised hood and supercharger cover for better cooling, carbon-ceramic brakes alone on 1,301 Z06s (J57, up from 120) and three new colors, Watkins Glen Gray (5,822, the second best seller), Black Rose (1,333) and Sterling Blue (921, dropped after February 2017), in place of Shark Gray, Laguna Blue, Daytona Sunrise Orange and Night Race Blue. The design packages went on 808 cars, the eight-speed into 78 percent, and production fell to 32,782 from 2016’s 40,689 as the Stingray halved: 11,253 coupes and 2,298 convertibles, with 6,197 Z06 coupes and 1,076 convertibles. An Arctic White Grand Sport with Z07 paced the 101st Indianapolis 500 on May 28, 2017, the 14th Corvette pace car, with actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan driving.

MORE: THE 2017 RESEARCH PAGE

2018 C7 Corvette Stingray

The 2018 Corvette was a short model year with a long shadow. Bowling Green built 2018s from June 5, 2017, stopped for three months while the new paint shop was finished, and ended the run on January 28, 2018 to start the 2019 ZR1 the next day, so only 9,686 cars carry the J in their VINs, the fewest since 1959: 3,068 Stingray coupes and 735 convertibles (913 with Z51), 2,569 Grand Sport coupes and 512 convertibles, 2,353 Z06 coupes and 449 convertibles. The news for the 65th anniversary was the Carbon 65 Edition (RPO Z30, $15,000 on a Grand Sport 3LT or Z06 3LZ): Ceramic Matrix Gray, a new color, with visible-carbon ground effects, hood section, rear spoiler and quarter ducts, black machined-groove wheels (Cup-style on the Grand Sport, Blade on the Z06), blue calipers, fender stripes and door graphics, a blue top on the convertibles, a Jet Black suede-wrapped interior with blue stitching, a carbon-rimmed wheel and Competition Sport seats, and a numbered plaque. Chevrolet built 650, 297 Grand Sports (262 coupes, 35 convertibles) and 353 Z06s (281 and 72), 162 with Z07 and 158 with the manual; 213 were exported.

Prices rose $45 ($56,490 Stingray coupe, $66,490 Grand Sport, $80,490 Z06, all delivered), and the changes were small but real: the Z51’s 19 and 20-inch wheels became standard on every Stingray, five new wheel designs arrived (the Torque and Motorsport patterns, yellow-stripe wheels for the Z06), the Performance Data Recorder gained Cosworth channels for wheel speeds, suspension travel, yaw and air temperatures, the rear camera was sharpened, HD radio became standard, Gray interiors came to the Z06, a Spice Red top and interior and the suede-wrapped Jet Black 198 interior with blue stitching arrived, and the design packages, the Collector Edition, Sterling Blue, Dark Gray, Twilight Blue and the engine-build program went away. Arctic White led again (1,966), Ceramic Matrix Gray was fifth (1,099) on the strength of the Carbon 65s, Sebring Orange arrived late with the ZR1 (85), and 78 percent of buyers took the eight-speed.

MORE: THE 2018 RESEARCH PAGE

2019 C7 Corvette Stingray

The 2019 model year was the C7’s longest and its last. Bowling Green started it on January 29, 2018, the day after the short 2018 run ended, and built 34,822 cars before the final one, a black Z06 coupe, came off the line on November 15, 2019: 11,499 Stingray coupes and 2,192 convertibles (2,052 with Z51), 9,496 Grand Sport coupes and 1,745 convertibles, 5,965 Z06 coupes and 972 convertibles, and 2,441 ZR1 coupes and 512 ZR1 convertibles. The ZR1 was the reason to remember it: revealed in Dubai on November 12, 2017 and in Los Angeles as a convertible sixteen days later, it carried the LT5, a 6.2-liter small-block with a 2.65-liter Eaton supercharger (52 percent larger than the Z06’s), port injection alongside direct injection for the first time at GM, and 755 horsepower and 715 lb-ft, the most of any production Corvette or Chevrolet, through the seven-speed manual or, for the first time in a ZR1, the eight-speed automatic. A carbon-fiber “halo” hood let the supercharger through, four more radiators made thirteen heat exchangers, a front underwing and a standard low wing gave it 212 mph, and the $2,995 ZTK Track Performance Package (2,077 cars) added the two-way-adjustable high wing, a splitter with carbon end caps, Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires and stiffer Magnetic Ride tuning for about 950 pounds of downforce, 2.85 seconds to 60 and a 2:37.25 production-car record at Virginia International Raceway. Prices were $119,995 and $123,995 including destination, $10,000 more for the 3ZR group (2,761 cars) and $6,995 for the Sebring Orange Design Package (758).

The rest of the range carried over at the same base prices with the destination charge up $100 to $1,095 ($56,590 Stingray, $66,590 Grand Sport, $80,590 Z06), two new colors, Shadow Gray (2,519) and Elkhart Lake Blue (2,166), and Sebring Orange on 2,980 cars, 841 of them ZR1s. Two small editions marked the year: the Drivers Series Grand Sports, revealed at the Rolex 24 in January 2019 with a color-and-graphics package for each Corvette Racing driver (Tommy Milner in Elkhart Lake Blue, Oliver Gavin in Shadow Gray, Jan Magnussen in Arctic White, Antonio Garcia in Corvette Racing Yellow; 21, 35, 25 and 14 built), and the Hertz 100th Anniversary Z06, 100 Corvette Racing Yellow automatics with black stripes and yellow calipers for the rental company’s airport fleet. A Long Beach Red Grand Sport paced the Indianapolis 500 on May 26, 2019 with Dale Earnhardt Jr. driving, the 16th Corvette pace car and the last with its engine in front. Arctic White led the colors (6,789), Black was second (6,164), and 78 percent of buyers took the automatic.

MORE: THE 2019 RESEARCH PAGE