Automotive

Chevrolet Miray hybrid Sportser for Frankfurt

Chevrolet Miray hybrid Sportser for Frankfurt
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Chevrolet's Miray concept is propelled by two front-mounted 15-kW electric motors for quick acceleration and zero emissions in urban driving. It can switch from the electric motors to the 1.5-liter four-cylinder turbo-charged gas engine mounted behind the cockpit, and it can employ all of the above for maximum sporting performance.

The entire body is carbon fiber, as are the Le Mans racer-style scissor doors. Throw in a dual clutch, and in our mind, you have a sports car that makes sense. The car was originally debuted at the Seoul Motor Show in Korea earlier this year, but today's news that it will appear at Frankfurt suggests it has a lot more chance of seeing production than it did yesterday.

"Miray" is Korean for "future" and lightweight hybrid sports cars are without doubt where sports performance will need to go in the mid-term future of automobiles. We're less than a decade away from phenomenally high fuel prices (IMHO), so it's unlikely that large capacity, ultra-high-power sportscars will be in vogue at that stage. Hence the Miray could prove to be a future competitor for the likes of Mazda's MX5.

No weight has been specified, but even the Le Mans racer-style scissor doors are plastic reinforced with carbon fiber, while the wheels are carbon fiber and ... there's no roof, so the overall weight of the car can be expected to be minimal - our guess is way less than 1000 kg. All-in-all, that makes for some pretty exciting performance. This is also suggested by the dual clutch transmission.

The interior of the Miray is equally as interesting, particularly in the information display area which utilizes back projection of the instrument panel with a center touch screen.When the centrally-located start-button is pressed, the column-mounted retractable meter cluster rises like the canopy of a single-seat aircraft and "interactive projection" appears on the white surface.

There are also retractable rearview cameras which extend from the side glass electrically when the car is started and when driving in urban areas, the forward-facing camera operates in conjunction with the GPS to overlay navigation information with real-time video.

This is one worth waiting for.

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8 comments
8 comments
TogetherinParis
AERODYNAMIC? Carbon fiber cars can be made with lots of strange shapes because it is easy to make strange shapes with carbon fiber. That is no justification, however, since aerodynamic drag is increased with every zoom-zoom cavity. The open wheel wells, lack of boat tail, and probably no belly pan make these inefficient vehicles.
voluntaryist
TogetherinParis: Amen, brother! And what about the weight? One thousand kilos is heavy for a small car like this. Does it have drive-by-wire? A joy stick instead of a steering wheel? When I hear \"aerodynamic\" but no specs I suspect propaganda. Oh, when, Oh when are we going to get a serious attempt to build an efficient platform?
Neil Larkins
Production? For who? Another toy for the fat wallet crowd. And what\'s Korea got to do with it? Your tax dollars at work, folks.
Adrian Akau
I agree with TogetherinParis. This car was designed to sell because of its looks. I may have a fair Cd but it is pretty blunt in the front (not much slope) and flat in the back where it should be sloped down to reduce drag. Also, the sides do not taper inwards from front to back where, for Cd purposes, the entire back portion of the vehicle could act as a boat tail.

Looks take precedent over aerodynamics in this case. There should be a cover for the top or this car cannot be driven in rainy places.
professore
At last a reviewer who understands that a forward-facing camera looks in the direction of travel, most of the time the driver is also looking forwards too. I comment on this because because there are millions of people who review, and use, mobile phones who apparently think that the forward-facing camera is the one that looks back at the user, while the rear-facing camera is the main lens which looks forward. What is so difficult about this? When you sit down are you sitting on your back-side or your front-side?....\"Can I get back to you on that?\"
Randy Meinert
I understand all those who complain with suspicion about \"hear[ing] \'aerodynamic\' but no specs [suspecting] propaganda\" and I agree. it remains that the body style is absolutely secondary to the \'guts\' [read: drivetrain etc.] in these types of cars. For an auto show the body must hyper-sexy in order to turn heads, and Americans always seem to think more is better. I look forward to vehicles that, like this one, have two front-mounted or rear-mounted electric motors. It is the most energy efficient drivetrain.
Rob Krebs
This lightweight "sports car that makes sense" (Great way to put it, Jack Martin) exemplifies the car of the future - one that is both high-performance and fuel-efficient. The abundance of carbon fiber in this vehicle's body, wheels, and doors can reduce weight while allowing for the same safety and speed that one would expect from the sports cars of tomorrow.
Get more on plastics in cars on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/plasticcar and www.plastics-car.com
Rob Krebs, Market Innovations, American Chemistry Council
Gargamoth
Attn to Chevy:
Please make make sure this car has a hard top option and is rear wheel drive and keep it corvette height, I hate how these new cars are coming out tall (seriouslyWTF). Ford mustang needs to drop some height from 55.9 to 50" even and camaro may appear from a distance to be chopped, but it's nearly as tall. I'm not a basket ball player , so car I buy won't be land yacht sized..