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Yesterday (yes, right) BMW released their new concept model, GINA. Chris Bangle (head of design at BMW) and his team actually built GINA -- which stands for "Geometry and functions In 'N' Adaptions" -- six years ago, but BMW kept it under wraps until Tuesday. It's built on the Z8 chassis and has a 4.4-liter V8 and six-speed automatic transmission. BMW says the fabric skin - polyurethane-coated Lycra - is resilient, durable and water resistant. It's stretched over an aluminum frame controlled by electric and hydraulic actuators that allow the owner to change the body shape.
Want a big spoiler on the back? Wider fenders? No problem. "The drastic reinterpretation of familiar functionality and structure means that drivers have a completely new experience when they handle their car," BMW says.
On the surface it looks like a modern day BMW sports car, all sculpted taut muscles, displaying an interactive flow of concave and convex surfaces that has become the brand’s signature form language. GINA, however, may look like a typical car, but is in fact made of cloth. The virtually seamless polyethylene-coated Lycra stretch fabric is secured on a meshwork formed from metal wires.
Individual elements of the aluminium substructure are movable. Electro-hydraulically controlled, they change their position to help the flexible fabric skin take on new shapes for a high degree of personalisation.
For instance the driver can activate a sensor to lift the beltline slightly to form a more aggressive stance. Another slowly opens the door triggering almost shark-like creases across the profile. On entering the stark cloth cabin, GINA awakens; the centre console and instrument panel swivel to almost cocoon the driver whilst invisible headrests rise from the minimalist seats.
The car is based on the Z8 chassis, BMW’s first aluminium space frame roadster where the frame carries the crash and structural load so that the rest of the car can have its own purposes. GINA was conceptualised in California at the think-tank studio Designworks, and later made into a full-scale sculpture by head of exterior design Anders Warming in Munich.
By the end of February 2007, GM today officially unveiled the 2007 Saab Aero-X Concept. The Aero-X "harnesses the power of Saab's aviation and Scandinavian roots to make a unique statement in performance car design," the company said. Conceived as a study to explore future design directions, its innovative features preview the development of an enhanced design language that will inspire future Saab products. "As one would expect from Saab, this dynamic two-seater sports coupe breaks with automotive design convention both outside and inside." The car also features a 400 horsepower ethanol-powered V6 engine.
First, there are no doors or windshield pillars. That's because the Saab Aero X adopts a cockpit canopy, just as you would see on a jet aircraft. It offers the Aero X pilot full 180 degree vision, and also facilitates entry and exit from its low-slung cabin.
Thrust for the all-wheel-drive Saab Aero X also comes from a powerplant with a difference. The 400-hp, twin-turbo, BioPower V6 engine is fueled entirely by ethanol, a sustainable energy source that is kinder to the environment by cutting fossil CO2 emissions. The "green power" of this advanced engine gives new meaning to the phrase "performance with responsibility."
Inside, the Saab Aero X's cockpit also adds a new dimension to clean Scandinavian interior design by completely eliminating conventional dials and buttons. Instead, Saab has applied techniques derived from Swedish glass and precision instrument making, displaying data on glass-like acrylic 'clear zones' in graphic 3-D images.
All exterior and interior lighting is by LED (light-emitting diode), which has given the design team new freedom to exploit the compact packaging benefits of a technology that will be featured increasingly in future Saab products.
With weight-saving carbon fiber bodywork, a lightweight powertrain, electronically controlled suspension and all-wheel drive, the Saab Aero X is an exciting driver's car that promises a level of performance to match its looks. Computer simulations anticipate zero to 60mph/100 kph in just 4.9 seconds and a top speed of 155 mph/250 kph (limited).
Despite being so tightly driver-focused, the Aero X still offers surprising practicality, again, a quality you would expect to find in all Saab designs. That dramatically sculpted tail conceals a useful twin storage facility, with a conventional hatch opening and sliding drawer underneath.
Saab's aviation roots go back almost 70 years to 1937, when Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (Swedish Aircraft Company Limited) was founded in the town of Trollhättan, 45 miles/70 km north of Gothenburg, where Saab cars are still built today on the site of the original aircraft factory.
The company supplied military aircraft to the Swedish Air Force and began diversifying into civil aviation in 1944 and the automotive business in 1947, when its first car, the Saab 92, was unveiled (Saab 91 was a light aircraft used for pilot training). The 92's streamlined, teardrop-shaped bodywork was clearly the work of aircraft engineers and radical for a small production car of the time, as was the use of wind tunnel testing during its design.
Children build vehicles like this out of their Legos, but Nissan's Terranaut is the real thing: a rolling laboratory. It looks like a normal sport utility vehicle on which someone plopped a glass dome. But beneath that dome, Nissan says, is a fully functional laboratory, making the Terranaut "Earth's equivalent of a lunar rover."
The Terranaut can seat three (not counting lab rats) and, sticking with the space theme, its occupants are called the pilot, copilot and lab technician/scientist. The flight crew sits up front, while the scientist gets a fancy rotating seat that allows access to all the computers, touch-screens and lab equipment.
The Terranaut is said to be equipped to permit analysis of biological, geological and chemical samples in the field, and Nissan wants you science folks to know the glass dome over your seat doubles as an escape hatch.
Suzuki unveils the progress of the new project, a concept car called the Concept Kizashi, at the 2007 IAA Frankfurt show.
Kizashi is a Japanese word meaning "prelude" or "foretaste". The name symbolizes the change within Suzuki.
The Concept Kizashi represents Suzuki's passion for challenges (this is a major aspect of Suzuki's corporate culture), its future direction, and the competitive strengths that are unique to Suzuki.
To fulfill this mission, the design theme for the Concept Kizashi is a dynamic athlete in motion. This is because its D-segment ideals are summed up by the attributes of a great athlete: dedication to sporting challenges, physical strength that comes from hard daily training, a honed physique with no superfluous weight, and the presence and dignity of a champion.
Suzuki made a particular effort to express the car's credentials as a highway athlete:
Overwhelming presence that breaks the D-segment mould The body brings to mind the lean, muscular physique of a top-class athlete, and a strongly protrusive front end communicates a dignified character.
An energetic look that immediately gives an idea of the car's dynamic performance Large wheels and wide treads express a capacity for high performance. The bonnet shape hints at abundant engine power. And the body hints at aerodynamics that enable the car to punch through the air while firmly gripping the road.
A sense of character and status befitting Suzuki's flagship car The detailing of individual parts gives a sense of exquisiteness and quality.
The Concept Kizashi is a clear sign of the great things to come from Suzuki as the D-segment initiative continues to take shape.
The Dodge ZEO is a muscle car concept vehicle built by Chrysler under the Dodge brand. The ZEO is powered by a single 268-horsepower electric motor. The car was first displayed on January 14, 2008, at the 2008 North American International Auto Show.
