Why Corvette C7 Stingray and Z06 lack front air intake active shutters-a sad testimony to the General Motors lack of vision

Active air intake shutters are a very neat invention-a very simple measure that increases fuel economy and improves aerodynamics while adding minimum weight while having no negative impact on overall performance of a car.

Due to its simplicity and low cost, more and more car manufacturers employ this device on their current cars. 

2015 Ford Mustang is a great example of this car design philosophy.  When combined with extensive use of aluminum and other weight saving measures, the results are right down impressive, yielding both performance improvements and fuel economy gains.

So why Ford gets it and +General Motors finest, Corvette chief "engineer" +Tadge Juechter does not?

Simply put,  people like Juechter lack the intelligence needed to preserve performance nature of sports cars, filling them up to the brim with corporate "inventions" while failing to account for the main objective of a sports car:  PERFORMANCE.

Could Stingray benefit from air intake active shutter system?  Of course it could, active shutters open up at lower speeds to improve cooling ability.  As the speed increases, smaller air flow is necessary to cool the engine.  As the speed increases, so does the pressure build up under the hood, resulting in front end lift increase, certainly not a beneficial scenario for a sports car or any car at all.   At the same time, as the speed increases, so does the front drag, affecting both top speed and fuel economy.

Active shutters minimize these issues by redirecting the air flow to the sides of the car, along the side curtains (which of course Stingray lacks, as expected). 

The whole system is very light and very cheap to design and produce.

Now, what is very frustrating is watching someone like Tadge Juechter bragging about all the revolutionary technologies the Stingray has, courtesy of GM pick up truck division while "forgetting" to include something as simple as active shutters on the new Corvette.

Who knows, maybe both top speed of the new car and its Nurburgring lap time could improve to the point where they actually could be disclosed to the public?  Of course nobody will ever know since simple and light are excluded from Corvette design dictionary and Juechter rather be bragging about super complex, weight adding and oil consuming Active Fuel Management than strive to really improve Corvette and make it a real 21 century car.

The fact that the upcoming Corvette C7 Z06 lacks this feature is no surprise at all, God forbid the new so called "supercar" would include some actual beneficial technologies that cannot be found in the pick up track parts bin.

As it is right now, to call Tadge Juechter a short sighted and narrow minded idiot would be an insult to real idiots, they seem to be smarter than Tadge Juechter and the Stingray buyers.

Here is a challenge to Tadge Juechter:  why don't you explain why Stingray and Z06 lack the active shutters?  Seeing the extent of ground effects options for the new Z06, it is beyond obvious that this car could certainly use it, especially since it comes with those ghetto rigged side air curtains already. 

Go ahead Tadge, explain why the simplest things escape you and the rest of the Corvette design team.