There’ll be some high octane thrills from Chevrolet at this year’s Paris Motor Show, with the debut of an all-new concept car designed to celebrate the brand’s motor sport heritage and push Chevy’s styling language to the extreme.

The WTCC Ultra will be the focal point of the Chevrolet stand in Hall 5 at the Paris Expo, and is much more than just a styling study.

For beneath the bold, muscular exterior, styled by 25-year old designer Ewan Kingsbury, is a fully working vehicle, that’s not just ready for the road, but raring to go on the racetrack.

The concept clearly illustrates Chevrolet’s commitment to using GM’s global resources. Kingsbury himself works for GM in Australia, while development work on the concept was carried out in the UK, Germany and Switzerland. The Ultra’s engine was built in Korea, and the prototype was assembled in Japan.

It’s equipped with a 190PS common rail turbodiesel engine, based on the 2.0-litre unit that will debut in the Captiva SUV and Lacetti models next year, and unlike most motor show styling studies is a fully-working vehicle, with performance to rival high performance petrol cars.

The concept exists as an extreme vision of future Chevrolet design using a WTCC car as the theme. Chevrolet’s WTCC race team took its second victory of the season earlier this month at Brno in the Czech Republic. British driver Rob Huff successfully held off championship leader Andy Priaulx in his BMW, and set the fastest lap time, to lead from the first lap.

Also drawing the crowds to Chevy’s stand at Paris will be the new Captiva SUV, which will reach UK showrooms in the first half of 2007, powered by a 150PS version of the 2.0-litre diesel engine or a 2.4-litre petrol unit.