Two Chevy concepts in bid to woo the kids

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Curious Giugiaro

The Chevrolet stand at this year's Detroit motor show had two rather interesting concepts on it.

Both are coupes, and both are targeted squarely at young people: bristling with connectivity and sporty styling, but with four seats apiece and insurance-friendly engines.

The white one - named the Tru 140S - is powered by a 1.4-litre turbo engine and based on a FWD Cruze platform. Think of it as GM's VW Scirocco or Honda Civic coupe.

The other's called the Code 130R, which leverages the Corvette and especially Camaro heritage, though it was actually penned by Brit, Joe Baker. He says it's not retro, but does nod to those cars.

See the pictures of both Chevy concepts from the Detroit Motor Show

Code 130R's RWD - there's a Cadillac ATS platform underneath - is slightly bigger than a 1-series coupe, though Joe tells us: 'We'd be less premium than that. And cheaper'. Like the Tru 140S, it's also got a 1.4-litre turbo Ecotec engine. And they're already talking prices.

But they're just concepts, right? Well, yes. But Chevy's undertaken a lot of market research to come up with the outlines. Mark Reuss, head of GM North America says: "Who knows if there's a way of getting the young to fall in love with an automotive brand like they do with their phone brand? But if there is, Chevrolet will find it."

While neither car has an interior. GM wants to 'crowdsource' (ugh) what the target market wants in terms of trim, configuration and especially connectivity options - but these are very finished concepts.

We'd say it's very likely that one or other of these would make production (our guess is the FWD Tru 140S for cost reasons) in about three years.

Would you drive - or indeed help GM design - one, TopGear.commists?