ZIP up your GINA (BMW)

[underpants]

http://www.foxnews.com/photoessay/0,4644,4181,00.html#4_0

The BMW GINA Light Visionary Model that was seen via video being installed in the BMW Museum in Munich last week has finally been revealed, and the futuristic design study shows how BMW designers are thinking outside of the box when it comes to the materials that make up a car and also how the car relates to the driver. GINA stands for "Geometry and Functions in 'N' Adaptations", which basically means that designers from both BMW and BMW Group DesignworksUSA were allowed to throw out the rulebook. This is most evident in the GINA Light Visionary Model's outer skin, which is made entirely out of textile fabric that's pulled taut around a frame of metal and carbon fiber wires. The skeleton of the car is controlled by electro-hydraulic devices and can actually move and change shape beneath the fabric skin. For instance, the headlights of the concept can be exposed or hidden by the car's skin just like blinking eyes, and the hood opens from the center as the fabric parts to expose the engine. This idea extends to the interior, where BMW designers have made visible only those instruments that are required at a certain time, while the rest of the time the same fabric interior "blinks" them out of view. The car itself looks somewhat like a Z4 Roadster, though after viewing the extensive gallery of high-res images below, you'll be amazed how much the outer skin looks like normal sheetmetal. Until, that is, you see how the doors open. They lift up in a semi-scissor fashion and since there are no exposed hinges, the fabric artfully binds up as the door swings open. While the design of the GINA Light Visionary Model is very Bangle-esque with concave and convex surfaces intermingling everywhere you look, it looks appropriate and natural here. The car is very much a concept, meant more to inspire BMW's own designers and engineers rather than excite the public, but now we're excited about shape-changin, fabric-covered cars, anyway.
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/06/10/bmw-gina-light-visionary-model-revealed/

[Richardo]

1. please tell me it's not pronounced 'JI-na'

:-|

[underpants]

2. Well

the Swedes make a "Vulva"

[Richardo]

8. ...

[Buzz Clik]

5. Just look at the hood. What else would you name it?

[underpants]

6. Why am I thinking about "Aliens"????

:shrug:

[Richardo]

11. Speaking of hood, take a look at the gearshift...

...talk about a concept car.

[Buzz Clik]

14. No kidding. I wonder if they suggest you wear a latex suit before entering.

[Schema Thing]

15. heh...... just got that

[DCKit]

20. ",,,take a look at the gearshift..."

Only the best of male drivers will be able to find it. The rest will just end up sitting there frustrated and unfulfilled, thinking their car is, somehow, angry or disappointed with them.

[Richardo]

25. .

:D

[BlooInBloo]

23. I'll call it a "jay-jay".

:rofl:

[dubeskin]

3. So it's fabric on the outside?

I really would not park that anywhere. I wouldn't trust anyone, because someone could just come along and take a knife to the fabric, then you're screwed. Unless a security guard comes with the car, that'd be one just to keep in the garage and brag about.

But cool car nonetheless.

[underpants]

4. I was wondering about crash safety

or are they just assuming that everyone will stop to check out your BMW

???

[dubeskin]

9. Good point, unless the fabric can tranfsorm into fiberglass

Or something that will actually protect it.

Actually, if you're driving this car, I think you're going to be watching pretty well NOT to get into a crash.

[underpants]

16. Also-I don't think there is any top

the mirrors are permenantly on the windshield and no compartment for a convertible top

[AlCzervik]

7. Michelle Duggar's uterus on wheels.

[Richardo]

10. .

:spray:

[underpants]

13. This is not your mother's clown car

[Buzz Clik]

12. "...how the car relates to the driver." Groan!

I don't want a relationship with my car. I want it to rumble when I turn the key, go when I push the accelerator, and stop when I depress the brake. That's it.

Geez.

I intentionally take turns not suggested by my GPS system just to piss it off and demand that I "make a u-turn at the earliest, safest location."

[Buzz Clik]

17. BMW's answer to Mr. Garrison's (of South Park) bicycle:

[LeftHander]

18. Brother car "Richard" to be unveiled next week.....

Muscle three wheeled car with a single central headlight.

As speed increases the car automatically lengthens and the chassis stiffens for stability when penetrating heavy traffic.

[Buzz Clik]

24. Robert Smigel has a prototype:

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

19. This car is definitely not a phallic symbol! It looks like a tribute to

Georgia O'Keeffe

[dysfunctional press]

21. i can't wait for the VA edition of this car to come out.

nt

[Indenturedebtor]

22. Don't know what it is

But there's something I really like about that car....

Hrmmm wonder what this guy thinks of it:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article21242.ece