Consider it the ultimate example of automotive sibling rivalry: Shortly after the announcement of the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Convertible—destined to set new performance benchmarks for a Camaro drop-top—big brother is answering with the fastest, most capable convertible Corvette to ever come down the production line: The 2013 Chevy Corvette 427 Convertible.

It’s a reincarnation of a classic that also celebrates some notable landmarks for Corvette.

“The 2013 model year will be historic for Corvette, marking its 60th Anniversary and the final year for the current ‘C6’ generation,” said Chris Perry, vice president, Global Marketing and Strategy for Chevrolet. “We couldn’t think of a more fitting way to celebrate these milestones than bringing back one of the most-coveted combinations in the brand’s history—the Corvette convertible and a 427 cubic-inch engine.”

For the metrically inclined, that means the latest Corvette gets a 7.0-liter heart transplant, with the donor being the hi-po Corvette Z06. And keep in mind: This hand-built LS7 engine pumps out 505 hp and 470 lb.-ft. of torque. Installed in the 427 Convertible, the results include a 0-60 time of 3.8 seconds, a quarter-mile time of 11.8 seconds and top speed north of 190 mph. Lateral acceleration is an impressive 1.04 g.

The only choice in transmission is a six-speed manual, but there is one unique option available car’s powertrain: Corvette 427 Convertible owners can enjoy the Corvette Build Experience, in which they travel to GM’s Performance Build Center in Wixom, Mich., to assemble their car’s engine themselves.

Also included are other core elements drawn from the high end of the current Corvette lineup, like the driveline and rear axle system of the Z06, ZR1-style Michelin PS2 tires wrapped around the lightweight, machine-faced wheels that debuted on the 2012 Z06, standard Magnetic Selective Ride Control—one of the fastest-reacting suspension enhancers in the world—and plenty of carbon fiber body work.

In fact, thanks to a carbon-fiber raised hood, Z06-style fenders and floor panels, with an available carbon-fiber front splitter and rocker panels that are standard on the 60th Anniversary package, the 427 Convertible weighs a mere 3,355 lbs. That’s good for a power-to-weight ratio of 6.64 (each horsepower is driving 6.64 lbs. of Corvette) and good enough to beat drop-tops such as the Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet, Audi R8 5.2 RSI Spyder, Aston Martin DBS Volante Convertible and Ferrari California Convertible.

The rest of the new 60th Anniversary package, which will be available on all 2013 Corvette models, adds an Arctic White exterior/Blue Diamond interior, a cabin swathed in leather and suede, a ZR1-style rear spoiler, 60th Anniversary badging and logos, gray-painted brake calipers and, for convertible models, a blue top. Chevy also will offer a graphics upgrade to the package for further flair, courtesy of full-length Pearl Silver Blue racing stripes, including, for convertibles, a stripe stitched right into the top.

Both the Corvette 427 Convertible and the 60th Anniversary package are set to reach dealers this summer.

The new year is just days old, but demand is already starting to build for two all-new Chevy products that are set to debut in the coming months—and not just among shoppers: The team at Forbes magazine just named both the Chevy Malibu and the Chevy Camaro ZL1 Convertible among its “Most Anticipated Cars of 2012.”

The first entry in the reinvented Malibu lineup—the 2013 Malibu Eco—will launch in the first quarter of the year, with the rest of the gang expected to follow soon after. All will offer a fresh, highly aerodynamic new shape, a premium interior displaying high levels of attention to detail, and plenty of other customer-satisfying content, including:

• Chevy MyLink—The brand’s high-tech connectivity/infotainment system, with easy access to apps like
• Pandora and Stitcher Internet radio, as well as a full-color, high-res touchscreen.
• Fuel-efficient powertrains—Showcasing an all-new 2.5-liter I4 engine, as well as the available eAssist light-electrification system, which enables EPA ratings of up to 25 mpg city/37 mpg highway in the Malibu Eco.
• Numerous safety measures—10 airbags are available, including dual-stage driver and front passenger air bags, driver and front passenger pelvic/thorax side-impact air bags, driver and passenger knee air bags, roof rail air bags with rollover protection, and second-row head/thorax side-impact air bags.

As for the 2013 Camaro ZL1 drop-top, when it launches late next year it will be nothing less than the most powerful Camaro Convertible ever offered as a production model. That’s courtesy of a supercharged 6.2-liter V8 engine that leverages a Roots-style blower to unpack some 580 hp and 556 lb.-ft. of torque. And while that’s enough to overpower supercar convertibles like the 2012 Aston Martin DB9 Volante or 2012 Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG, it won’t discompose the Camaro ZL1—the architecture underlying the car was designed right from the start to provide a stable platform for drivers, with significant underhood and underbody bracing.

“The Camaro ZL1 convertible will be one of the most powerful and most capable, convertibles available at any price,” said Al Oppenheiser, Camaro chief engineer. “This is a car that is guaranteed to put a smile on your face every time you drop the top—or hit the gas.”

“I have a pretty acute sense of hearing,” says Frank Delekta, a development engineer for General Motors. “Outside of work, if I ask someone ‘Did you hear that?’ the answer is almost always ‘No.’ I hear noises that others don’t.”

But Delekta’s not complaining—and neither are drivers of the Chevy Cruze: Thanks to the former’s sharp hearing, the latter enjoy one of the quietest cabins on the road. Extensive efforts by Delekta and the crew at GM’s Squeak and Rattle Lab made sure of that.

Their work throughout the Cruze’s development process led to the use of a number of volume-reducing measures, including an innovative “Liquid Applied Sound Deadener.” This material is applied to key areas of the Cruze’s body structure, then melts into place as the car’s body travels through the paint oven. In addition, the Cruze’s doors are triple sealed and feature fiberglass “blankets” that act as barriers to noise, water and disruptive airflow.

Extensive real-world and in-lab testing was done as well, with engineers driving thousands of miles in a wide variety of different road conditions in all markets where the Cruze is sold, and putting the car through its paces in special GM labs specifically designed for extreme conditions. Among them: A climactic anechoic chamber used to evaluate sounds at temperatures ranging from -20 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

“A component may squeak or rattle at 100 degrees but not below freezing or vice versa,” explained Delekta.

All that testing resulted in improvements to some 74 different components to help create a significantly quieter interior for the Cruze—and a significantly more enjoyable driving experience for hundreds of thousands of Cruze owners.

Winter weather can make for tough sledding in many of today’s crossovers, but not the 2012 Chevrolet Traverse with all-wheel-drive. That’s the verdict from Kelley Blue Book’s KBB.com, which recently added the Traverse to its list of Top 10 Winter Cars for 2012.

Website writers unleashed a blizzard of compliments on the Traverse, noting that: “Fitted with a torquey 3.6-liter direct-injected V6 that makes 281-288 horsepower and a six-speed automatic transmission, the Traverse integrates its torque-managing intelligent AWD with the standard StabiliTrak dynamic control system and anti-lock brakes plus hill-start assist to help reduce driver stress under less-than-ideal road conditions.”

Other standard and available stress reducers include a rear-seat DVD entertainment system, 10-speaker premium Bose sound system, navigation, rearview camera, Bluetooth functionality for hands-free calling, heated front seats, tri-zone climate control, remote start, heated and power-adjustable outside mirrors, head curtain side airbags with rollover protection for all rows, and a complimentary six-month subscription to GM’s OnStar Directions and Connections service with Turn-by-Turn Directions.

Plus, with seating for up to eight and a best-in-class maximum cargo capacity of 116.4 cubic feet, the Traverse can handle plenty of winter gear, too.

All that makes the Traverse “A popular choice anytime of the year for anyone needing a full-size crossover with style, space and a bounty of features,” according to KBB.com, while “the 2012 Chevrolet Traverse with optional all-wheel drive really shines when the sun doesn’t.”

The 2012 Chevrolet Traverse—chosen as a Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS)—is on sale at local Chevy dealerships now.

The all-new Chevrolet Cruze has made a big splash in the U.S. auto industry, but on water-logged roads? Not so much. That’s because Chevy engineers developed an innovative underbody splash shield to protect key Cruze components from potential road hazards.

Said Dave Schoener, a splash-test engineer with GM: “With the Cruze, you have a very comprehensive splash protector on an entry sedan that you typically wouldn’t see except in high-end luxury vehicles.”

He first suggested deploying the shields after extensive Cruze testing at GM’s new “Flooded Road Lab,” which was recently added to the automaker’s Milford (Mich.) Proving Ground at a cost of $1.4 million. The facility lived up to its name by allowing Chevy engineers to put the Cruze through its paces on a flooded road covered with up to 12 inches of standing water, while traveling at up to 35 mph.

According to Schoener, the underbody protection helps keep water, grit, salt and other potential contaminants away from the Cruze’s powertrain, and it’s a noticeable contributor to the Cruze’s high fuel-economy marks, too. The added aerodynamic benefits of the underbody shielding help the Cruze Eco reach a best-in-class 42 mpg with a fun-to-shift six-speed manual transmission or 39 mpg with GM’s advanced six-speed automatic.

Perhaps more importantly, it also represents another example of GM’s commitment to quality for the long haul, something Schoener—a marathon runner—knows all about.

“Just as I train to build endurance before each race, achieving long-term vehicle durability comes from putting the Cruze through its paces here at the Proving Ground,” he said. “We do intense durability testing to ensure our customers get top-quality vehicles they will enjoy for many years.”

Although the all-new 2013 Chevy Malibu has yet to travel its first mile with a retail customer behind the wheel, the car already has racked up more than a million of them at the hands of Chevrolet engineers from around the world. It’s part of an extensive program of on-road development aimed at ensuring a top-notch driving experience for everyone.

“You learn a lot about a car when you spend so much time in it—and that’s exactly the point,” said Mark Moussa, global chief engineer for the vehicle. “In the last year and a half, during every minute of the day, a 2013 Malibu has been driving somewhere around the world—all to make it the best car it can be.”

The million miles of driving—equivalent to two trips to the moon and back—included:

• Air-conditioning tests during the peak of the Death Valley summer
• High-altitude evaluations atop the Rocky Mountains
• Long-distance driving through the hills of North Carolina
• Hundreds of miles of rush-hour traffic in busy metropolises like Chicago

And because the completely redesigned Malibu will be Chevy’s flagship in markets around the world, plenty of testing also was done internationally. For example, to prepare the Malibu for extensive driving during the monsoon season in southeast Asia—where deep grooves are often carved into road surfaces to channel away water—Chevy engineers put 11 different tire designs through their paces before finding the one that best reduced road noise without sacrificing performance.

“We’ve got to test not only the big things,” said Moussa, “but the seemingly small ones, to make sure we are building a quality product that meets the needs of all these different markets and uses.

“You never know about those fine details until you get the vehicle on the road. Our million miles in testing should inspire confidence for anyone who considers buying a 2013 Malibu.”

As Chevrolet continues to extend its global reach by launching cars like the Chevy Volt and all-new 2013 Chevrolet Malibu in Europe, the brand also continues to extend its global reputation for safety: Each of those vehicles earned 5-star ratings—the highest possible—in the latest round of the European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP). Similar to those of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 5-star program, the Euro NCAP ratings provide valuable information for potential buyers.

“The results confirm that both vehicles meet today’s highest safety standards,” said Wayne Brannon, president and managing director of Chevrolet Europe, who also noted: “The Volt’s safety performance and propulsion concept highlight the reliability and practicality that is inherent to this outstanding design.”

In fact, the Volt became the first EV from any U.S. automaker to receive five stars in all facets of the Euro NCAP evaluations. It’s yet another notable accomplishment for the car, which, in this country, also has been named a Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and achieved a 5-star rating in NHTSA’s NCAP testing.

The completely redesigned Malibu—which will become the first Malibu ever to be sold in Europe—has not been tested yet by the IIHS or NHSTA, but Chevrolet has high expectations for its U.S. safety performance, too. That makes sense, because also high is the level of standard and available safety equipment on the U.S. Malibu, including:

• Standard dual-stage driver and front-passenger air bags, driver and front-passenger pelvic/thorax side-impact air bags, driver and front-passenger knee air bags, and roof-rail air bags with rollover protection
• Standard four-channel anti-lock brakes with full-function traction control, four-corner electronic stability control, electronic brake force distribution, brake assist system, corner brake control, hydraulic brake fade assist and drag torque control
• Available second-row head/thorax side-impact air bags
• Available lane-departure warning system with forward collision alert
• Available rearview camera system

And GM’s OnStar safety and security system, with Automatic Crash Response, is standard as well.

The 2012 Chevrolet Volt, featuring an EPA-certified all-electric driving range of 35 miles and the ability to go hundreds of more miles relying on its onboard internal-combustion range extender, is on sale now. The 2013 Malibu Eco, which relies on GM’s eAssist light-electrification system for expected EPA ratings of 26 mpg city/38 mpg highway, is slated to launch in February of 2012, with the other members of the new Malibu family to follow in the summer.

No, you haven’t stumbled onto Flowers in the News.

In addition to offering cars like the Chevrolet Volt and upcoming Chevy Spark—both capable of providing drivers with the ability to enjoy all-electric, zero-emissions driving—the brand has recently expanded its emissions-reduction efforts beyond the auto industry entirely. This includes committing to spend up to $40 million on 16 projects across the country, with the goal of preventing about 4.6 million metric tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere in the next five years. Among these projects: Helping Metrolina Greenhouses in Huntersville, N.C., switch its main energy source from fossil fuels like natural gas to sustainable biomass—in this case, waste wood from land clearing.

“As a large-scale operation delivering approximately 70 million plants a year, we’re committed to activities like this that help us become a greener greenhouse,” said Abe VanWingerden, co-CEO of Metrolina Greenhouses. “When our biomass boilers are burning these wood chips, you can’t even tell they’re running.”

The bottom line, according to Chevrolet: “The total carbon-reduction goal for all these projects is estimated to equal the 2011 emissions created from driving the 1.9 million vehicles Chevrolet expects to sell in the United States between Nov. 18, 2010 and Dec. 31, 2011.”

Consumers can help make a difference, too. Along with supporting Chevy EVs like the Volt and Spark, Facebook friends who visit the Chevrolet Facebook page can plant a “virtual” tree on their own wall; the brand will respond by planting a real one—and up to 175,000 in all—in a U.S. forest next year (via a partnership with the National Forest Foundation).

Consider it another example of how Chevy is branching out to find new ways to help the country achieve a greener, more sustainable future.

How’s this for doubling your pleasure: Not only does the 2012 Chevy Camaro family offer the fastest, more powerful production Camaro ever—in the form of the awesome ZL1—but now that lineup also includes the safest Camaro yet. That’s because the 2012 Camaro Coupe recently became the first vehicle of any kind to attain the highest possible score—five stars—in every single facet of the revised National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) New Car Assessment Program.

(It’s an especially notable achievement, as NHTSA deployed a new, more stringent testing regiment for the 2011 model year. This included adding a number of advanced crash scenarios, including a side barrier impact test and side pole impact test.)

Helping keep Camaro occupants safe and sound are features such as:

• Six standard air bags, including head-curtain side units specifically designed to help protect outboard passengers during side impacts
• Standard StabiliTrak electronic stability control, which can automatically apply the brakes or adjust the throttle to help drivers maintain control of the car
• Standard four-wheel disc brakes, with SS and ZL1 models boasting Brembo components
• Standard seatbelt pretensioners and load-limiting retractors as part of the Camaro’s front-seat restraint system
• A new Rear Vision Package with a rearview camera; the package is standard on the Camaro 2LT and 2SS, and optional on the 1LT and 1SS trims
• Standard remote keyless entry with a panic button
• GM’s award-winning OnStar safety and security system

“Camaro has always been about performance, and that includes safety performance,” said Al Oppenheiser, Camaro chief engineer. “We always strive for five-star ratings, and the fact that we achieved them under more rigorous requirements is a great accomplishment.”

(Note: While the 2012 Camaro Convertible did receive a five-star NHTSA rating for rollover crash protection, it has not yet been fully tested under the government’s new standards.)

The lowdown on the upgrades to the 2012 Chevrolet Equinox?

“Since this generation went on sale in mid-2009 we have sold every Equinox we can build, but we aren’t counting on that momentum to carry us,” said Russ Clark, director, Chevrolet marketing. “We have carefully selected technologies that our customers will find valuable and are able to offer them at very attractive prices.”

Those technologies include Chevrolet MyLink, the brand’s highly regarded in-car infotainment and connectivity system. Leveraging the safety and security—and functionality—of GM’s OnStar system, MyLink provides both touchscreen and hand’s-free/voice-enabled access to online services like Pandora Internet Radio and Stitcher SmartRadio, along with stereo audio streaming, wireless control over Bluetooth-enabled smartphones, and a high-res seven-inch color touchscreen.

In addition, the new model year will see the Equinox add GM’s exclusive one-camera crash-avoidance system to its long list of available equipment. Significantly undercutting the price of rival systems, with an MSRP of $295, the Equinox’s technology relies on a high-resolution digital camera that is mounted just ahead of the rearview mirror on the windshield. The camera is able to detect the shapes of other vehicles and lane markings and alert the driver—with both visual and audible warnings—if the Equinox is following too closely to another vehicle ahead of it or leaves its lane without the driver signaling, or if a collision is imminent. And if a potential collision scenario arises, the system ensures the Equinox’s brakes are pre-charged for optimal braking performance.

The 2012 Chevrolet Equinox is slated to go on sale later this year.