Korean Supercar

First Look: 2008 Spirra S

Korea's first supercar

By Angus MacKenzie

It has a mid-mounted, quad cam supercharged engine, forged alloy wheels, carbon fiber body panels and Brembo brakes. Claimed top speed is 190mph. It's a fast, good looking supercar with the sort of spec sheet you'd expect to find on something made in Italy. But the Spirra S is built near Seoul. Yup, meet Korea's first ever production supercar. It was only a matter of time.

The Spirra S is powered by a supercharged version of Hyundai's 2.7-liter V-6. Claimed output is 391hp at 6000rpm, with 256lb ft of torque available at 4500rpm. The engine drives the rear wheels through a six speed manual transmission. Claimed 0-60mph acceleration time is about 4.6 seconds.

The Spirra's race car-style space frame chassis is fairly conventional, with double wishbones and coil-over shocks at each corner. The five spoke forged alloys are 18in diameter front and rear; front tires are 235/40ZR18, while the rears are 275/40ZR18. Front brake rotors are 14in, gripped by six piston Brembo calipers, while the rears are 13.8in with four piston calipers.

Carbon fiber body panels help keep the Spirra's claimed weight to just 2376lb. The body design is relatively generic mid-engined supercar stuff, but that's no bad thing - the Spirra S looks neat and handsome. The interior is also fairly conventional, although the center console boasts a sophisticated touch screen on-board computer system.

That's because Oullim Motors is part of Korean IT and electronics giant Oullim Group, which got into the auto business when it acquired Protomotors in 2007, the company which has been developing the Spirra for almost a decade. A concept version of the Spirra, the PS2, was first shown in 2001, and subsequent protoypes were revealed in 2003 and 2005.

Oullim sources say production of the Spirra S is scheduled to start next month. As the car will be hand-built, volume will be limited to 300 vehicles a year.

Even so, Oullim has plans to release even hotter versions of the Spirra, including a Turbo with 591hp and 350lb ft of torque, and a Bi Turbo model which retains 591hp, but churns out 401lb ft. The Spirra Turbo will be available with the choice of a conventional six speed manual, or a sequential shift transmission, which Oullim insiders claim will cut the 0-60mph time to just 3.4 seconds. The Spirra Bi Turbo will only be available with the sequential transmission, and will hit 60mph in 3.2sec.