Beyonce to Get New C7 Corvette at Super Bowl

It’s easy to forget that there’s actually a football game going on during the Super Bowl, what with all the attention paid to the high-profile commercials and the big name acts that anchor the annual halftime show.

But Chevrolet is hoping that it can be a real Super Bowl stand-out despite General Motors much-publicized decision to yank its ads from the upcoming event. In a creative compromise with the NFL, the Detroit maker plans to place its all-new 2014 Corvette on the 50-yard line during the halftime show and present it to this year’s celebrity performer Beyonce, sources tell TheDetroitBureau.com.

GM officials would not confirm for the record their involvement in the 2013 game, Chevrolet spokesman Mike Albano only noting that, “We’ve got a history of being involved with the Super Bowl.”

That involvement was originally set to end, however. Last May, former GM global marketing czar Joel Ewanick announced that, due to rising costs he called unjustifiable, the maker would not advertise during Super Bowl XLVII.

Ewanick, who built a reputation as a marketing maverick, also pulled GM’s advertising off Facebook immediately prior to the social media site’s closely-watched IPO. Some experts believe that move played a significant factor in Facebook’s unusually poor performance after that initial stock offering.

Since then, GM officials have signaled a willingness to rethink some of the moves made before Ewanick’s controversial ouster. A return to Facebook is reportedly under study though, until now, there had been no indication the automaker would return to the Super Bowl fold.

Part of the problem has been the steady rise in pricing, a 30-second spot expected to net around $4 million this coming year.  But the other problem is that the game is now overloaded with other automotive advertisers, making it more difficult for a company like GM to stand out.

Over the years, the Detroit maker has sought out alternatives during similarly “noisy” events, such as placing some of its vehicles on the field during previous Olympic opening ceremonies.

While technically such product placement wouldn’t be considered advertising it is nonetheless a potentially effective marketing technique, especially if it gives a product like the all-new Corvette a link to a high-profile pop star like Beyonce who, GM sources report is expected to get to keep the sports car.

A well-placed insider noted that a one-off version is in the midst of being all but hand-built for the event.

The seventh-generation Chevrolet Corvette – known to aficionados as the C7 – will make its formal debut at the upcoming Detroit Auto Show.  The maker has been keeping a tight wrap on details, though a few details have begun leaking out.

(For a look at top-secret renderings of the new C7 ‘Vette, Click Here.)

Among those GM has confirmed, an all-new LT1 V-8 engine is expected to produce 450 horsepower and 450 lb-ft of torque – which would make it the most powerful “base” Corvette ever and the fastest, with 0 to 60 times expected to come in at under 4 seconds.

That could get Beyonce out from the sidelines to midfield in record time.