“For 60 years, the Corvette has represented the state of the art in performance cars. To put it simply, this car is the reason I work at General Motors,” said Mark Reuss, North American president, as he stood on stage next to a fire-alarm red model, the tarp just pulled off. “It’s presence, the performance, the history and the heritage — everything it stands for — always raises the hair on the back of my neck.”