The 2014 auto-show season has kicked off with the North American auto show in Detroit opening for public today.

For me the star of the show is C7 Corvette Stingray Z06. I very well remember the "shock-wave" that C6 Z06 caused across the supercar stage in 2005. Suddenly there was a car worth less than half the price of "status quo" supercars, but with exceeding straight line speed and matching track performance.

If the C7 Z06 brings as much industry-disrupting improvements as the predecessor, it will become another "hall of fame" American car of the modern era.

The good news is that provisional numbers leave no doubt about Z06 Stingray's future prospects. In an interview with AutBlog, Z06 chief engineer Tadge Juechter casually admitted that Z06 test mule has done only few timed laps on proper road course, and in those few it already managed to beat Corvette C6 ZR1 record.

Bad news is that GM couldn't finish the car in time for this year's Detroit show, so it is not a true production launch. Rather, what you see on the showroom floor today, is a development mule with production ready exterior.

There is no clarity about exact performance numbers and engine specifications either. However, GMs provisional power guideline of "at least 625" supercharged horsepower is enough encouragement to keep me excited and looking forward for full factory specs and first media test results.

At least Chevrolet are sticking to tradition of massively increasing power output of each upcoming generation. This is something Porsche, BMW, Subaru and others have abandoned recently, and are looking for performance gains elsewhere, much like Japanese JDM manufacturers were doing in 1990s and early 2000s.

There is certainly no "gentleman's agreement" for Chevrolet these days. And we should be happy about it.