Meet the Mi-ray hybrid concept, a comely wasp of a roadster/speedster concept that debuted today at the Seoul auto show. Why Seoul? It’s Chevy’s newest market; you may recall that the bowtie recently replaced the domestic Daewoo nameplate in Korea. (You also may not remember this event, which we completely understand.)
The car’s name means “future” in Korean, and its powertrain fits that bill (more on that in a minute), but GM says the Mi-ray pays tribute to the past 100 years of Chevrolet design, and specifically the 1962 Corvair Super Spyder and 1963 Corvair Monza SS concepts. We confess to not seeing much more than the slimmest of ties to the older show cars, but all three are speedsters, so there’s that. Inspiration also came from jets, so apparently there were a few Saab brochures still kicking around the design studio.
1963 Chevrolet Corvair Monza SS Concept
The Mi-ray’s chunky front end combines an aggressive splitter, a bulging take on the Chevy grille, and Opel Ampera–esque slits that we imagine feed air to the front brakes. The rear fascia is blunt and pretty boring, but there is still plenty of visual interest back there, with fairings that flow back from the cockpit, the panels that rise from the rear haunches like insect wings, and a snazzy light-up Chevy emblem. The body is constructed from carbon-fiber, including the scissor doors, which take slices out of the wraparound windscreen when raised. The wheels—20s up front, 21s at the rear—are made from carbon-fiber and aluminum, and yet more carbon was used to construct the passenger cell. Like every recent concept, cameras function as side mirrors, although these perform a new trick by retracting into the side glass.
Like, Mercury or Molten?
1962 Chevrolet Corvair Super Spyder Concept
Inside, both seats are mounted to an aluminum rail that is then fixed to the passenger cell, and a Mercedes-Benz-style air scarf warms cold necks. The press release says that the cabin “contains a mélange of brushed aluminum, natural leather, white fabric, and liquid metal surfaces, for an overall effect of sculptural velocity”, to which we say, “okay,” “cool,” “won’t that get dirty?,” “seriously, don’t touch that,” and “we like turtles.” The instrument cluster is displayed via rear projection, just like your neighbor’s state-of-the-art TV twenty years ago, and is divided into three sections: vehicle performance info sits front and center, powertrain info is to the left, and navigation and mileage sit to the right. A forward-facing camera allows real-time video to be integrated with GPS information.
Now, about that powertrain. The Mi-ray can be front- or rear-wheel-drive at the driver’s discretion, thanks to its front-mounted electric motors and mid-mounted turbocharged four-cylinder. Output for the 1.5-liter gas engine is undisclosed, but the electric motors are each good for 15 kW (20 hp) and are fed by a 1.6-kWh li-ion battery pack the lives beneath the driver. Recharging is accomplished through regenerative braking or a port (with charge-level display) accessed via a sliding panel on one side of the car; a similar panel hides the fuel filler on the opposite side of the car. The transmission is a dual-clutch unit. Fuel economy is claimed to be around 60 mpg.
The Mi-ray has dimensions pretty similar to those of the late Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky roadsters—and the Sky was in fact sold in Korea as the Daewoo G2X—but don’t expect GM to start dishing up speedsters to the paying public any time soon. (And yes, between the title of this post and today’s report on the Kia Naimo concept, we’re trying to get hellaciously catchy songs stuck in your head. Did it work?)
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