It's small, tightly sculpted and very, very sporty - and no Meneer, the Bowtie Badge on this little roadster is no April Fool's joke.
This is neither a Lotus nor an Italian design studio creation - this is the Chevrolet Mi-ray concept, just unveiled at the Seoul motor show.
According to GM Korea president Arcamone,”'Mi-ray' is Korean for 'future'. As GM rolls out Chevrolet across Korea, the Mi-ray concept offers an exploration of future possibilities for the brand. It strengthens the bond between car and driver, creating a fresh look at what sports cars of the future might be.”
The brief to GM's Seoul design studio was to combine cutting-edge hybrid technology and advanced styling, balancing iconic Chevrolet design cues with a future design vision to celebrate Chevrolet's centennial in 2011.
The Mi-ray's carbon fibre body has a wedged profile divided by an angled character line with ambient lighting underneath to create a sweeping line of light when the car is moving. Le Mans-style scissor doors open up and out of the way.
The front treatment has a signature Chev dual-port grille, and LED headlamps with fashionable daytime running lamps; there's more than a hint of Corvettes past and present in the sweep of the front and rear fenders, while carbon-fibre spoilers at the corners provide clean downforce.
Retractable flaps - like the air brakes on a jet fighter - help control airflow and also provide access to the charge port (which has its own external battery-charge indicator so you don't have to look inside the car to see when the battery is amped up) on one side and the fuel filler on the other. Each rear fender also has a small storage compartment.
The Mi-ray runs on aluminium-carbon fibre composite rims, 20” in front and 21” at the rear, with a turbine pattern so they evoke movement even when the car is standing still.
The interior is also inspired by jet-fighter design and finished in brushed aluminium, natural leather, white fabric and liquid metal surfaces in a twin-cockpit layout drawn from the original 1955 'Vette - and also used to amazing effect in George Barris' iconic 1966 Batmobile! Ambient lighting flows from the upper instrument panel to the seat back area.
Each seat bolster and headrest are connected by a lightweight carbon-fibre shell and mounted on a single aluminium rail, with an integrated air scarf for open-air driving.
Information is displayed using back projection on the instrument panel and prioritised into three zones: revs and speed are in the middle, with range on the left and navigation and fuel-consumption figures on the right. The centre touch screen flows down to an aluminium support intended to evoke a jet aircraft nose with the landing gear down.
The centrally located start button is also inspired by a jet aircraft; when the button is pressed, a column-mounted retractable meter cluster rises like a jet fighter canopy. Retractable rear-view cameras replace traditional mirrors and an forward-facing camera operates in conjunction with GPS to overlay navigation information with real-time video.
The Mi-ray has an experimental “mid-electric” drive train located primarily behind and beneath the seats - but it's not all science fiction.
GM powertrain engineering director Uwe Grebe said: “Many of the components in the Mi-ray's propulsion system are logical extensions of GM's current technology portfolio - the concept shows the potential for reconfiguring, rescaling and extending today's propulsion technologies.”
It has two front-mounted 15kW electric motors for quick acceleration and zero emissions in urban driving, powered by a 1.6kWh lithium-ion battery that's charged by regenerative braking energy.
Then, for performance driving, there's a 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbopetrol with auto stop-start and a dual-clutch transmission driving the rear wheels through an electronically controlled differential.
The Mi-ray is unlikely ever to get anywhere near a production line (there's no provision whatsoever for a roof) but, to borrow from its name, it points to the future of Chevrolet - and a long-overdue move away from Detroit's ingrained conservatism.