2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible Images Released

DETROIT- General Motors Co. released images of its highly-anticipated 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray convertible ahead of its world debut.

The vehicle is scheduled to make its world debut Tuesday at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show.

The 2014 Corvette Stingray convertible is expected to go on sale later this year, after the coupe version, which debuted in Detroit in January.

“Nothing will be sacrificed,” GM said in a statement on the vehicle’s website. “The Stingray convertible will deliver the same balance of technology, design and performance as the coupe.”

The Detroit-based automaker said it's fitting to introduce the new convertible on the global stage at Geneva because “Corvette is the face of Chevrolet the world over.”

"It is an icon that has long been recognized and admired even in countries where it's never officially been offered," said Susan Docherty, president and managing director of Chevrolet and Cadillac Europe, in a previously released statement.

GM said the Corvette Stingray convertible will deliver the same balance of technology, design and performance introduced on the coupe.

Chevrolet will auction the first retail production model of the Corvette Stingray convertible at the Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach collector car auction to benefit the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit.

The first two-seater sports car -- with the Vehicle Identification Number 0001 -- was sold for $1.1 million at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale collector car auction last month in Scottsdale, Ariz. to NASCAR team owner and avid Corvette collector Richard Hendrick.

The vehicle features an all-new small-block,LT1 6.2-liter V8 engine that delivers an estimated 450-horsepower and achieve 0-60 in less than four seconds.

GM resurrected the iconic Stingray moniker for the seventh-generation Corvette, which features a modern, more defined look.

The Stingray, or “Sting Ray” from 1963-67, has only been used on two other generations of production Corvettes in the vehicle’s 60-year history.

Stingray was last used four generations ago on the Detroit-based automaker’s generation 3 Corvette from 1968-82. The name was first used on the 1959 racing car and again for the second-generation Corvette from 1963-67.

(courtesy of MLive)