Next Generation Car Design from BMW

[K9]

I know concepts are always ridiculous eye candy, but this is different.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTYiEkQYhWY&eurl=http://buzzfeed.com/chris/crazy-shape-shifting-bmw

I love the retro split windscreen and the way the lights work.

[bhodi]

And yet their car still has a huge gasoline engine in the front.

[Oban]

Fabric skin cars... this just seems like a really bad idea. 

However, I will finally have a use for the Swiss Army knife I am no longer allowed to travel with on airplanes.

[bhodi]

Fabric skin cars... this just seems like a really bad idea. 

However, I will finally have a use for the Swiss Army knife I am no longer allowed to travel with on airplanes.

You'd say that it's silly but it's just as easy to damage the paintjob of a normal car with a knife as it is to damage a fabric one.

And very likely, much less expensive, since the fabric is cheaper than sand, prime, base coat, paint.

[K9]

What bhodi said; the fellow in the video says they can reskin the car in 2 hours, and I'd bet that it would be a lot cheaper than a respray after someone keys your car. There's the added bonus that you could potentially change the colour of your car on a whim.

I'm interested to see the aerodynamic possibilities; top-end cars like the McMerc and Veyron already have features such as air brakes and auto-adjusting spoliers, but having a flexible skinned car would take this to a whole new dimension.

That said, I think this is going to be more difficult to transition over to MPVs/Minivans than it would be over to sports cars.

[Oban]

I think there is a minor difference between me scratching your paint and me literally tearing apart your car and getting at its shiny/gooey insides.

[bhodi]

I think there is a minor difference between me scratching your paint and me literally tearing apart your car and getting at its shiny/gooey insides.

You can still compare it to soft top convertibles. The only thing that would suck is cutting it open in the rain.

You may get significant mileage or handing improvements if the car can actually mold itself depending on what speed the car is going. I do think it's a good 'next step'.

[Brogarn]

Possibilities for vandalism aside, that's a pretty kick ass concept.

[K9]

You may get significant mileage or handing improvements if the car can actually mold itself depending on what speed the car is going. I do think it's a good 'next step'.

Another potential advantage would be that it would be much easier for emergency services to get into a car in the case of a crash, less stuff the have difficulty cutting through the better. This without compromising overall safety for the driver. The only people who's risk I think might go up if this took off could be pedestrians, as hitting a fabric covered space frame is probably going to be worse than hitting a bonnet, which quite often now are designed to minimise impact damage to the pedestrian as best they can.

[IainC]

You may get significant mileage or handing improvements if the car can actually mold itself depending on what speed the car is going. I do think it's a good 'next step'.

The Bugatti Veyron does this already. The engineers found that they could either create a shape that would go very, very fast or one that would go very fast and be able to turn corners. Because they'd already promised the crazy top speed, they had to build the car so it could redesign itself for different modes.

[stu]

Good Lord, that car is sexy.

[Yegolev]

I thought it looked like a zeppelin before I got the fabric skin part.  Seems like a bad idea.  People with convertibles have trouble with keeping things in their car due to knives, so this will just make it very easy for them to also steal your spark plugs.

[Merusk]

Convertables, & Jeep Wrangler soft-tops.   I've known folks with both, I've known none who didn't get broken into/ randomly vandalized.   Something about cloth makes people want to cut it, imo.

Also, what's the drag of a fabric, even an exceptionally tight weave vs a solid sheet of enameled material?  I suppose it'll work out at least evenly, with all the seams and channels in a steel/ plastic body, but I'd still like to see a comparison.

The lights were REALLY sexy, though.  The first thing I thought when I realized what the body was made out of was, "Oh sweet you could project things onto the body from INSIDE.. or even use that LCD/ projection cloth that's being developed.  It'll be like Rolling Myspace Sites all over the highway and it will be FABULOUS.

[Aez]

They could always replace fabric by chainmail.

[Oban]

They could always replace fabric by chainmail.

Or sheets of steel.

(Former soft top owner that went to the hardtop convertible dark side.)

[Nerf]

My BMW has a ragtop, and aside from the fact that its 12 years old leaks a bit on the edges, I've never had any issues.

Srsly, you have a hard time keeping things because people can easily break into it? Like a window is going to stop them from stealing the canvas sack on your passenger seat with a giant $ emblazoned on it?

[SurfD]

My BMW has a ragtop, and aside from the fact that its 12 years old leaks a bit on the edges, I've never had any issues.

Srsly, you have a hard time keeping things because people can easily break into it? Like a window is going to stop them from stealing the canvas sack on your passenger seat with a giant $ emblazoned on it?

To a degree, yes.

Most criminals are looking for easy targets, that require less effort / attract less attention when they are trying to steal stuff.

Chances are, if you have something that looks interesting in the back of your car, someone who would have no problem slashing your soft top to get it may think twice about loudly breaking a glass window and not go for it.

Of course, if you are carrying bank vault style $ bags in the back seat of your car, and leave it unattended, it wouldn't matter if you had bullet proof glass on the windows, if the criminal wants it that badly, he will come back with a crowbar and a blow torch and take the doors off.

Its all about the risk vs reward mainly, and a soft top is obviously less risky then glass windows.

[Signe]

Gina is obviously short for Vagina which is what it looks like when you open the bonnet. 

I would need new shoes if we bought that car. 

[Oban]

Gina is obviously short for Vagina which is what it looks like when you open the bonnet. 

I would need new shoes if we bought that car. 

I suggest a pair of these:

[Signe]

Aren't these more appropriate?



(Yes, I'm making a fish/vagina joke.  Still, I'd wear them.)

[Oban]

That vagina has teeth.

[Venkman]

That care is positively alien. Nice.

[Oban]

That care is positively alien. Nice.

Which one?