Detroit Auto Show: Polarized reaction to new Corvette Stingray

DETROIT — With the paint barely dry on the all-new 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, the reaction to the seventh-generation icon has been swift and polarizing.

The style on the C7, as this model is known, deviates from Corvette traditions more than any other model in the car’s history. Notably, it’s the first model of the car since 1961 that does not feature the iconic four round taillights.

In a move that General Motors says it hopes will pull in a younger, more global audience, the rear of the car now features a quartet of squared-off lights not unlike those on Chevy’s Camaro muscle car.

FULL COVERAGE: 2013 Detroit Auto Show

Facebook, Google Trends, and Twitter have all lighted up with reactions. Some love the car, praising it as a bold step in the Corvette’s evolution.

But not everyone is behind the change, charging that it’s a cheap ripoff of the lesser Camaro and too great a departure from a storied design.

None of this comes as a surprise to Ed Welburn, General Motors’ vice president for global design.

The new Corvette “needed to be a leaner, very fresh design that departed from some of the traditions,” Welburn said in an interview Monday. “Is it at all controversial? Probably a bit. And that’s OK. I think if we would have played it safe there, it would have caused us to play it safe with a host of other things.”

For a closer look at the details of this new Corvette, check out these videos. What do you think? Is this a necessary and bold move by Chevy? Or has the design team gone too far in this next generation of an American icon?

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Full coverage: 2013 Detroit Auto Show