Chevrolet Corvette news - Western powers - 2007

It's no wonder George Dubbya was dancing on the White House lawn last week: he'd just heard that Corvette was upping the power of its all-American sports car icon.

Not content with a 6.0-litre 400bhp engine, Corvette's men in brown coats have come up with a 430bhp 6.2-litre version of the car's V8 motor.

Opt for the two-mode exhaust and you get another 6bhp to give a total of 436 Yankee stallions. 

Corvette makes a cursory nod to the environment by saying fuel economy is unchanged from the old car's, while 0-60mph drops to 4.3 seconds and top speed eases up to 190mph.

That's very close to the full-house Z06 model, which remains unchanged for the time being.

Production of the Corvette with the new engine cranks up in July and UK customers benefit from the same upgrades, although no prices have been announced as yet.