BMW GINA Light Visionary Model in motion

The automotive community has clearly been impressed with the GINA Light Visionary Model concept that BMW unveiled this week. The fabric-covered concept with its winking headlights, blinking gauges, mouth-like hood, and unique ability to shape shift by moving its metal-and-carbon-fiber skeleton via electro-hydraulic actuators is marvelously creative and practically ingenious at the same time. We around the Autoblog offices had a big discussion about the car after it was revealed and were amazed with the out-of-the-box ideas BMW is exploring, though some were doubtful that a fabric skin could ever be used for an actual production vehicle. While it was fun perusing the dozens and dozens of images that BMW handed out showing the GINA in various states of fold, the video above shows you exactly what the concept can do. Keep your eyes peeled for the headlight wink, disappearing gauges, pop-up head rests, a magic spoiler and much more. We reiterate, this thing is about as cool as concepts get. Thanks for the tip, Joe!


[Source: BMW]

Click above for high-res gallery of the Toyota Aygo Crazy

What happens when you take a mundane Toyota Aygo microcar and mate it to the go-fast parts of a Toyota MR2? You get the Aygo Crazy (Get it? I-Go-Crazy). While this one-off concept will never see production, it does offer us car nuts some insight as to what fun manufacturers can have with automotive inbreeding and some serious coin.

At best, the stock Toyota Aygo putts around with a 1.0-liter gasoline engine under its front hood that is good for about 67 horsepower, and a 14-second crawl to 60 mph. The engineers at Toyota spent about £100,000 (close to $200,000) ripping the wheezer out and replacing it with a mid-mounted turbocharged 1.8-liter engine. With the new powerplant cranking out 197 horsepower, and a manual transmission sending it to the rear wheels, the 2,200-pound Aygo Crazy sprints to 60 mph in less than 6 seconds. If the go-pedal is held to the floor, the genetic experiment will top out at an estimated 127 mph.

Not to leave the job half-done, Toyota flared the bodywork and added a wheel/tire package to accommodate the power. The interior has been fitted with a cage, racing seats, harnesses and a Sparco steering wheel. The seats and doors have also been trimmed in suede and leather. According to those who have driven the Aygo Crazy, the balance of the car has been upset with the engine now mounted over the rear wheels. Snap oversteer is the rule -- much like in another econocar-turned-mid-engine-monster from 1990.

UPDATE: Full gallery of high-res pics and official press release from Toyota added.

[Source: Toyota]

If leaked documentation, which you should avoid if you don't want to read any plot spoilers, regarding the upcoming Transformers sequel is accurate, it appears that Mr. Bay may be bringing a motorcycle-based female robot to the big screen. We've heard that the character known as Arcee was considered for the initial film but was discarded so as not to confuse the audience with multiple gendered robots. If the rendering seen above is any indication, though, we'd imagine that Arcee's pinky-purple coloring would get that point across right away. There are two female riders listed on a leaked Call Sheet for the upcoming movie, and it appears that they are to be riding the oddly-colored Buell in the film.

Also revealed in the leak is information that leads us to believe that a certain Decepticon may make an appearance as an SR-71, along with what could either be the shapely Audi R8 or the mystery car we showed you yesterday. If the German supercar did show up, it would end the all-GM lovefest and be rather interesting to see morph on-screen, as well. Consider our interest piqued, as if we already weren't.

[Source: Comic Book Movie]

To all of you Autoblog sleuths out there, it's time to go to work. The silver car in the picture above was spotted on the set of Transfomers 2 filming in Pennsylvania. The wheels (cartoonishly large out back) and lines, and the fact that GM is a major player in the film, would seem to suggest it's some sort of GM product or concept -- although not the Corvette ZR-1, as some have claimed. It's also got the same concept mirrors that GM loves to use and kind of looks like Bumblebee's evil Decepticon twin. The shooter also said that the car has scissor doors like a Lamborghini. Follow the link to see more pictures from the filming, and let us know what you think the mystery car is.

[Source: Transformers Live via Shoot for the Edit]

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.

UPDATE: In addition to the 84 images in our high-res gallery, we've also added a video of the GINA Light Visionary Model produced by BMW after the jump. We highly recommend watching it to understand how unique this concept is.


[Source: BMW]

Today is a movie day, it seems, and once again, it's General Motors in the thick of things. Via HISSTank comes a new set of photos from the G.I. Joe movie set. There, we see a couple of the modified HUMMER H2s that will be used, as well as the Saab Aero X concept. No word on which character's driving the latter. Storm Shadow, maybe? At least it'd match his threads. As for the HUMMERs, they are apparently equipped to traverse hedgerows. At least that's what we gather from those tacked-on rhino-style bumper mods. See more pics at HISSTank and mourn with us for the wholesale destruction of our childhood memories.

[Source: HISSTank]

The 2003 Lancia Fulvia Coupe concept that tantalized showgoers at the Frankfurt Motor Show with its crisp lines that strongly evoked its namesake predecessor was presumed dead after Fiat canned the idea due to financial woes and want of a modern platform. It seems that plans for a new coupe carrying the Lancia badge is resurgent inside Fiat, though the clearly retro styling of the 2003 concept will likely fall by the wayside instead of getting mired in a retro rut.

It's rumored that we'll see a Fulvia riding atop the MiTo's chassis at this year's Paris Motor Show. Rather than relying on the work of 40 years past, the new Fulvia will share nothing but a name with its predecessor. The car may follow the current trend of other Euro coupes and incorporate a folding hardtop, but there are conflicting reports that it may also be a conventional fixed-head-coupe. We certainly wouldn't complain about giving the MiTo an appropriate coupe roofline, so please send some our way.


[Source: Autocar, Photos: ultimatecarpage]

Click above for a gallery of screen shots.

BMW is gearing up for the online unveiling of its latest design study, the GINA Light Visionary Model. Unlike the BMW M1 Homage concept, this one's actually a runner, as evidenced by the video posted below the fold, showing the concept being driven from the studio into a car carrier then unloaded at the BMW Museum in Munich.

No details about the roadster are available from the BMW-web.tv site, but judging by the open cockpit and massive width, we're expecting something akin the M1, sans roof and sporting many of the design cues found on the homage. Check back for more when the BMW GINA Light Visionary Concept is unveiled on June 10th.

Click above for more images of the HX in Transformers 2

These may not be the happiest of times at HUMMER, but it looks like the brand's bitchin' HX concept is going to get some silver screen love. No, not in G.I. Joe, but in Transformers 2. "Destro," a Joe fan over at HISStank.com, posted some TF2 set pics that clearly show the HX on hand in the role of a military vehicle. This is further confirmed over at Slashfilm, where you can see it in yet another batch of photos. While GM decides what to do about HUMMER, the tough-looking, flex-fuel HX concept is going to get some play in what's likely to be next Summer's big event movie. And because it's cool, people are probably going to want to know more about it, just like the first movie made the still-unreleased new Camaro a star in the eyes of the general public. Unfortunately, any plans to turn the HX into the production H4 are now, in all likelihood, very much up in the air at best. Not that it wouldn't be a good starting point for a HUMMER reinvention or anything.


[Sources: HISStank, Slashfilm via The Movie Blog]

With last week's news that BMW will begin producing the new X1 at its Leipzig facility, it was just a matter of time before the Bavarian boys gave us an indication as to when its compact CUV would be unveiled. As suspected, the wraps will be pulled off an X1 concept at the Paris Motor Show this September, but as is often the case with BMW, the "concept" is almost exactly what we'll see when it goes on sale in the fourth quarter of 2009. The new model will be built off the 1-series platform (a shortened 3-series) and according to an unnamed source quoted by Automotive News, "will use the two highest spec gasoline and the two highest spec diesel engines from the 1-series."

The source also confirmed earlier reports that the MINI SUV/CUV will debut in Paris with power provided by the Cooper S' turbocharged 1.4-liter or the Cooper D's oilburner. Sales of the MINI 'ute will begin in the second quarter of 2010.

[Source: Automotive News – Sub. Req.]