Spirra: A mid-engined supercar from South Korea

Spirra is the first supercar from South Korea, that has been in development since 2001. There have been many setbacks for the company, but finally the car is production ready with first cars reaching their owners already this summer.

Using a 2.7-liter V6 engine with four choices Hyundai energy. First, the very bottom, the engine generates 129 kW (175 PS) and torque 245 rpm Nm@6.000. The second option, a small turbo equipped engines that could power a 243 kW (330 PS) and 472 Nm of torque.

A third version with the highest use of turbo power 294 kW (400 PS) and the highest torque of 490 Nm. And, most powerful, using larger size turbocharger, produces 309 kW (420 PS).

The base Spirra N will run from 0 to 60 miles per hour in a ho-hum 6.8 seconds, but obviously, that number decreases as you add more power, and the EX will run that same jaunt in only 3.5 clicks, on its way to a top speed of 193 mph. And when you consider that the top-rung model only weighs in at 2,646 pounds, it means that this thing is certainly poised to be a real stunner when pushed hard.

The slick carbon fibre body is enveloped around a unique spaceframe chassis, so it certainly looks like a supercar should. The gearbox is a six-speed manual only, which keeps costs down both initially and from a long-term, servicing point of view.

There's no word yet on what the price tag for the Spirra will be, but having so many engine configuration options will likely complicate matters for Oullim. As for the release date, the carmaker plans to debut production this summer, meaning the roads might see the Spirra in the fall at the earliest.





Press Release

Introducing the Spirra

Overview

• Ultra stiff tubular spaceframe structure
• Lightweight full carbonfiber bodywork
• Midengine layout for optimum weight bias
• Bespoke handcrafted assembly
• Genuine racing technology adapted for road use
• Lightweight, high performance V6 Turbo engines

History in brief

The history of the Spirra dates back to the beginning of the 1990s when Han-chul Kim and his wife Ji-sun Choi, both talented automotive experts, quit their jobs in leading Korean car companies to establish 'Proto Motors'.

Proto Motors was an automotive R&D firm specializing in developing advanced automotive concepts with industry clients and soon after settling down as a startup, ideas for a domestic developed supercar started to blossom.

Over several years, what began as an enthusiastic set of ideas developed into a full blown development project. In 2001, the 'PS-II' prototype was presented to the press with full commitment to bring it into production.

The difficulties in establishing a small scale, hand built production line of such exotic cars in an industry purely adapted to mass production was so great, the project saw several crisis that would nearly force it to a halt.

In July, 2006, Dong-hyuk Park, CEO of Oullim Group established Oullim Motors, absorbed Proto Motors and reshuffled the project to keep in on course for launch. In the end, it took a decade, 4 generations of complete re-engineering, certification and rewriting of legislature to bring our dream to the road.

As of March 2010, all legislature, homologation and certification was cleared for full production. We are expecting our first cars to be delivered this summer.

Why venture into volatile territory?

The geographic distance from Europe means that the European supercar ownership experience here is quite different to what manufacturers originally intended. It is marred by limited number of servicing centers, significantly higher repair costs due to shipping parts and having to ship the entire car to Europe for extensive damage repairs. This is inconvenient regardless of cost.

As of 2009, Korea is the fifth largest car manufacturing company in the world. But despite the history and technology in the auto manufacturing sector, we never did and still don't have a proper performance car that represents our country. Therefore, we set to establish a supercar brand of our own by introducing bespoke car manufacturing and servicing in Asia and become a permanent player in high performance Asian supercars.

Unmistakable presence

There's no point in speed if a supercar is unable to make people's heart race. Supercars are irrational, emotional cars and from the very first glimpse, a supercar shouldn't look ordinary. It should look extraordinary.

A dominating presence is the key to supercar design and we worked hard to achieve a look like nothing else from Korea. A new standard to which future Korean performance cars would be judged against.

The Spirra's design is aggressive in stance and proportion, but less aggressive in the details. This look is intended to inspire excitement, but not completely shout that it is a supercar. An elegant and natural looking supercar design was what we were looking for.

Full carbonfiber bodywork over tubular spaceframe

To meet our own performance standards, the Spirra had to be constructed as light as possible through a full carbonfiber body over a tubular spaceframe. Both are technologies beyond the realm of mass manufacturing due to high costs and difficulties in automation essential for mass manufacturing. The entire process is done by hand by our team of professional craftsmen and mechanics.

The benefits from all this effort is a very light and stiff construction which is useful for responsive high performance capabilities as well as providing superior impact protection to match the performance the Spirra is capable of. This type of technology is adapted from racing for the road and is a completely a unique approach to vehicle development compared to the existing Korean auto industry.

V6 Turbo engines for superior power to weight ratio

The stiff lightweight construction meant that we could rely less on the engine's power for performance to become a more efficient kind of performance machine. During development, the engine was changed from a naturally aspirated V8 for a turbocharged V6.

This would keep the engine's weight down to a minimum and still provide V8 levels of power as well as being kinder to the environment. Combining the lightweight construction with our turbocharged V6 results in an astonishing 2.4Kg/HP power to weight ratio. This design not only yields very quick straightline performance, it absolutely dominates in the corners with less weight to throw around. Extra grip is provided by 225/40R 19 front tires and 275/40R 19 rear tires.

Motorsports proven performance and engineering

Many of the technologies incorporated in the Spirra are derived from racing technology. The Spirra was developed with serious performance in mind and in order to make sure this design is completely functional, racing was part of the car's development program.

We took one of our prototypes with minimal homologation changes to race in the domestic GT Masters Championship taking two consecutive wins against such rivals as fully race prepared Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs, BMW M3s and Nissan 350Zs.

Experience from racing was applied back in our roadcar development by improving various aspects of the car such as suspension tuning, engine mapping and cooling.

Sophisticated Craftsmanship to ensure quality and precision

The same design principle applies to the interior where one can find full leather treatment throughout to maintain a high quality feel but without inhibiting the joy of driving. The driving feel is a higher priority than speed or luxury. The interior is designed to retain that balance between luxury and function.

Each Spirra is completely hand assembled by our team of professional craftsmen and mechanics in our dedicated production line. This production method ensures that each car meets our strict requirements in quality and precision.

The Spirra is our first of many future generations of supercars. Therefore, our efforts are concentrated in ensuring that our standards meet the expectation of our clients who are eagerly awaiting to be among the first to sit behind the wheel.