BMW have taken the veil off their new concept car and with it asked an interesting question - why does the skin of our vehicles have to be made of a rigid metal?
The new car is called the BMW Gina, with Gina being an acronym for Geometry in N Adaptations. The model is based on a Z8 Roadster, but the concept is very different. Gone is the shiny metallic surface, the door handles and lights, and instead you have a silver flexible fabric covering the entire car.
(Image courtesy of TopGear.com)
In many ways the car looks exactly the same, but seems to be missing elements a standard car would have such as the lights. But this doesn’t mean they aren’t there. If you step on the brakes the lights shine through the fabric at the rear of the vehicle, flick an indicator on and the flashing light blinks from beneath the skin.
Using fabric suggests less weight and potentially lower costs, but also means you can play with the way the standard fittings work. As the video below demonstrates, the door no longer has to rigidly open outwards; instead sliding up and rippling the fabric in the process.
Although the car may never see a release, BMW are using the ideas from the concept in their existing range as new models are released.
Read more at TopGear.com
Matthew’s Opinion
If you think about it the actual skin of the car does very little. All of the safety measures are underneath the skin such as the crumple zones and strength bars surrounding the inner workings. Replacing the metal exterior with fabric would not require any changes to the underlying car, am I right?
The advantages of doing this are clear. You would save a significant amount on the weight of the car therefore improving performance and saving fuel. Your manufacturing costs would also be cut as fabric is going to be cheaper than steel or aluminium.
For the actual car owner a scratch in a metallic car means a treatment with your favorite polish to cover it up, or in the worst case an expensive trip to the garage for a repair. With a fabric any damage would just mean getting a new cover. Depending on the fabric and how it is fitted this could also be significantly cheaper.
So, an interesting idea, but one we won’t likely see on the roads any time soon.
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