General Motors’ design center in Seoul, South Korea, has unveiled its first concept car, and it is a “future” we definitely can embrace. This carbon-bodied, aluminum-framed plug-in hybrid is one slick ride we’d like to see the General build.
The Mi-Ray, Korean for “future,” showcases a lot of the advanced tech General Motors already offers in vehicles like the Chevrolet Volt. It’s making its debut at the Seoul Auto Show and almost certainly will be a star of the show.
The styling celebrates Chevrolet’s 100th anniversary and pays homage to its racing heritage, looking back at cars like the 1963 Monza SS and various Corvettes while also looking ahead. We love the race-inspired scissor doors. The angular bodywork, also inspired by fighter jets, is made carbon fiber and carbon reinforced plastic.
Ditto the interior, which is awash in aluminum, leather and “liquid metal surfaces,” along with a lot more carbon fiber. Push the Start button and the instrument cluster rises from the steering column. Sounds cool but seems superfluous.
The car rides on an aluminum chassis and huge aluminum and carbon-fiber wheels. The front wheels are propelled by a pair of 15-kilowatt (20-horsepower) motors that draw power from a tiny 1.6-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery. Range? Recharge time? Who knows. GM didn’t say.
The motors are for tooling around town. Stomping on the accelerator awakens the mid-mounted 1.5-liter turbo’d four that drives the rear wheels.
GM claims the car is good for 60 mpg city and 63 highway. Odds are we’ll never see the Mi-Ray in showrooms, but GM says it “points to the future of Chevrolets around the globe.”
Images: General Motors
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2011/03/chevrolet-mi-ray/
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