Now this is an interesting concept… a car with no sheet metal skin. The 2-seater BMW GINA’s dodgy name actually stands for “Geometry and functions In N Adaptations”, with N adaptations referring to the flexible outer skin of the car that is made out of cloth!
Under all that cloth is a special chassis structure which includes movable sub-frames to vary the outer layer of cloth according to the functionality needed. The cloth itself is a special highly durable and extremely expansion-resistant fabric material. The material remains dimensionally stable irrespective of the temperature and air humidity.
The cloth covers the structure seamlessly, and can adapt to various driving needs. For example, during the day when headlamps are not needed they are completely hidden away behind the cloth. The closed fabric cover over opens to the right and left of the BMW kidney grille and exposes the car’s headlamps. As for indicator lamps and rear brake lamps, they simply shine through the cloth.
The shape of the rear of the car can also be changed for different aerodynamic needs. A spoiler hidden under the cloth can be raised when needed, but still remains covered by the cloth. The rear just changes shape because the cloth now covers a raised spoiler.
The overall contours of the car morphs depending on how wide the kidney grilles at the front of the car is opened. The kidney grille size can be varied according to engine bay cooling requirements. The widening mechanism at the front of the car adds tension to the cloth on the rest of the body, and the result of this are character lines that change depending on the grille opening.
Will we ever see a car like this being made? What’s known is BMW designers have really thought out of the box when they thought up this concept. I think Chris Bangle himself can explain the GINA Concept better than I ever can, so watch a video of him explaining the BMW GINA Concept after the jump.
VIDEO: BMW GINA Light Visionary Model Concept
After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history. An avid electronic gadget aficionado as well as big-time coffee lover, he's also the executive producer of the Driven motoring TV programme.
If it’s (ever) to be implemented… when all metal based vehicles are extincted & on road speed is limited to Segway top-speed
An ‘Ikan Bandaraya’ on the road.
an option to evade increase in iron/metal cost? Wonder how this car look like if kena calar dgn pisau : )
cloth? what’s the safety level? what happened when scratched?
unless if they could built an indestructible cloth, then this is possible.
as a concept, this is probably the most original one in a long time.
Custom made for Latex fetishists?
lol.
Good concept though. Cars don’t need metal skins.
BanyakMasukWorkshop said,
June 12, 2008 @ 8:36 am
as a concept, this is probably the most original one in a long time.
—
second that.
I really love the way front light appear.
transformer huh!..
btw.. Omg! my car is ‘koyak’!.. i need a ‘tukang jahit’ then.. hehe
It looks like a pitbull terrier!
yaaa…no need go to the car wash anymore…just send the skin for a quick dry clean..hehehe…
Do we need an iron if it get crumpled? And will the cloth withstand extent heat from engine bay? Imagine under the red hot sun and a terrible jem. Suddenly engine on fire and burn the cloth. Whole car gone.
Or mabbe if someone throw their cigarettes tip on this car, and it burnt a few holes or mabbe whole car on fire again.
Never drive this car with a cigarettes on your hand.
I don’t think BMW is that stupid to produce a fabric material that is not durable or even not to withstand extreme temperature. So koyak or cigarette burns should not be an issue here.
Believe it or not they got the inspiration from umbrellas… thanks Rihanna for that.
Paultan writes,
“The cloth itself is a special highly durable and extremely expansion-resistant fabric material. The material remains dimensionally stable irrespective of the temperature and air humidity.”
Which part of these you guys don’t understand and keep making remarks on the durability of the fabric?
So next time we can buy more clothes for the car as well. If we go dinner, we make dinner dress to the car, if we go sea side, we give her a nice bikini to wear.
Wait! we still need the bra, g strings……OMG! what else…
Jusk kidding, great job BMW
VIDEO: BMW GINA Light Visionary Model Concept
Dude, the main point is this^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
See the “ambient light”? It will be metal based head/rear light..Meaning, when the head/rear light were switched on, there will be light, and it will turn back to metal look when it’s off..
The happiest part was, it was one of my expected imaginary future car that will come into live instead of changes on body streamline only.
then all the “makkat lou” will need to change their job, lol..
Raining then the car will shrink like Mr Bean’s teddy bear goes bathing inside the washing machine… Hehe…
Anyway, really cool and awesome idea from BMW. Very fashionable!
Any idea how light is this car? And how fast can it go? Imagine you’re driving a 200km/h. How will you feel?
If you crash this car, I think you have to buy a new 1. Or mabbe the driver will end up like the car. OX
nice job BMW resercher.. keep it up.. may be for the next few year.. this concept car will gliding in our road?? jz but the t-shirt at the supermarket if u wanna change the color..
No more Ironman next time, it’s Clothman’s turn…
COOL!!!
So creative!! Next; the cloth will be able to display image like the LCD..so that people can change the appearance of their car instantly, just like the display of handset…
carsut said,
June 12, 2008 @ 5:17 pm
nice job BMW resercher.. keep it up.. may be for the next few year.. this concept car will gliding in our road?? jz but the t-shirt at the supermarket if u wanna change the color..
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Then there will be pirated “cloths”..lol….u know Malaysian, right?~
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP_1oPFQ1PI
Can you imagine how much it will be to replace that cloth. Imagine koyak here and there. Must change the whole skin as its one big unit.
Another thing is that they have to make the car even more lightweight and lightweight moving parts to pull the cloth into place. I can imagine someone trying to rest on the hood and crash into the engine. Nice idea, way way into the future
This reminds me of the 1st world war fighter as it was fabric covered. But this one is going to be seriously for non-smokers.
the structure n chassis is still using metal la
if not how 2 hold all the part 2gather
oni the skin is cloth
hehe
mayb in future reli can change car ‘clothes’ to suit my daily waredrob
I think they will use Kevlar in the future for chassis durability.
DAMN!, the way the eye opens up, its as if the car was alive!
freaky!
but pretty cool at the same time.
cheaper,faster to make, easier to replace, lighter. more fuel efficient.
kudos to the Brings Me Women brand.
the fabric is neoprene…
try look in wikipedia to understand more
hohoho~~
Gina blinks its eyes in tat video~~
why u guys so naive n bunch of fools…
this is purely a concept…
to practice the design n shape of a car…
for me it’s damb blardy cool…
koyak lah, burn lah, crumple lah…
u guys think they gonna built it without thinking on the safety issues…
apalah…
Hey this is one great concept that doesn’t even cross my mind!
Truly original and cool.
BMW in gown! No wonder its name is GINA… feminine intuitive.
Could this be the new Z8 generation??I don’t think our Malaysian wheather will do any good to the cloth though..
Damn.. I saw the trailer at you tube.. cool eh..
Reall like how the front headlight open up.. but at the back why dont they do the same..haiya..
Can proton do like this? Make a batik or kain pelekat car sure cool! patriotic hahaha