New Corvette crash photo surfaces on Internet

UPDATED WITH GM STATEMENT: A photo of a crashed 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray has captured the attention of the Corvette fan universe.

The photo of the Laguna Blue Stingray coupe was posted on the Facebook profile of allvette.net on Feb. 12 and is also posted at a large number of auto enthusiast sites on the Internet. The photo shows the car parked against a rock wall with scrape marks along the left side of the body.

The photo appears to first have been posted Feb. 12 at DigitalCorvettes.com. Poster gpetry included this comment: Got this picture e-mailed from a friend in Arizona last week with the following description: "Driving through some mountains in Arizona about 30 minutes ago. In some tight switchbacks when we passed this '14 Vette. Cop had just arrived. Car is in worse shape than looks. Hit guardrail on left and bounced back to rocks."

On Wednesday General Motors released this information: "We can confirm that during routine testing, a Stingray was involved in a one-car accident. During evaluation, the car's inside tire caught the edge of the pavement during a tight corner, leading to the accident. Thankfully, no one was hurt, the car received only minor damage, and no citations were issued."

The Laguna blue Stingray is one of three coupes -- the others are black and Velocity yellow -- that have been frequently spotted in public in Arizona. The manufacturers' license plate number matches the plate from earlier photos posted on Internet sites.

Check out all the latest Corvette news at Autoweek.com/corvette.

By Rory Carroll