Chevrolet Miray (2011) concept first official pictures

Chevrolet has unveiled the Miray hybrid speedster concept today at the 2011 Seoul motor show in Korea. Created as a Chevrolet centennial celebration and marking increased globalisation of the Chevrolet brand, the new two-seater Miray concept looks set to be the star of the 2011 Seoul motor show.

Good question. The exciting-looking Miray would certainly have drawn a larger crowd than the Cruze hatchback. But don't forget that GM Korea (formerly Daewoo, and bought by GM in 2001) develops many of Chevrolet's products these days. It makes sense to keep something special for Chevrolet's adopted hometown show. 

The official word from GM Korea is that the Miray (it means 'future' in Korean) represents a new possibilities for the brand, which is officially launching in Korea in 2011 to replace the home-grown GM Daewoo nameplate. It is a fresh look at sports cars for Chevrolet, who currently offer the Camaro and Corvette but lack a small sports car offering.

The Miray is built on an aluminium spaceframe chassis and clothed in carbon fibre panels. Miray's power comes from a 1.5-litre four cylinder turbocharged engine, coupled to a dual-clutch gearbox driving the rear wheels and mounted transversely behind the passengers.  Up front the Mirai packs two 15kW electric motors and a 1.6kWh lithium-ion battery pack to drive the front wheels, offering a hybrid power boost and part-time all-wheel-drive. Double-wishbone suspension at each corner interacts with the road via a showcar-massive wheel and typre package: 245/35x20 up front, 295/30x21 at the rear. Elise & MX-5 owners can feel free to shake their heads in disbelief at this point.

Outside, the styling is influenced by modern combat aircraft, but also incorporates interpretations of the Chevrolet family grille and tail lights. Those front fenders are also intended to evoke links with previous generation Corvettes, as is the 'waterfall' effect of the exterior flowing into the cockpit.  Movable exterior flaps hide a charging point for the plug-in hybrid power cell, and a conventional fossil fuel filler.

Scissor doors grant access to the cabin, which boasts a twin-cockpit design and plenty of carbon fibre trim, along with the usual show car digital displays behind that low speedster screen. The seats integrate with the surrounding carbon-fibre shell, which wraps around into the instrument panel. Those speedster fairings behind the headrests also have an air scarf climate control system for driver and passenger. As well as rear vision cameras in place of traditional mirrors, there's a forward-facing camera which turns the sat-nav screen into a real-time video overlay.

Information displays are back-projected through the dashboard panel in front of the driver and passenger. Miray drivers can live out their fighter pilot fantasies when they start the car, with a steering column-mounted instrument panel rising up and the interactive projection system displaying data akin to a combat aircraft's head-up display.

The Miray is 3991mm long, 1865mm wide, and just 1100mm high. Nice for conceptcarland where it's always sunny and the wind never ruffles your hair but a taller screen would be necessary if the Miray ever makes production - so don't set your heart on the speedster look. There's no word of weather protection either.

GM has not announced plans to build the Miray, but as an unexpected attention-grabber the edgy little speedster has accomplished its mission with flying colours.

By Mark Hamilton