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Under the direction of Design Chief Chris Bangle, the BMW team came up with the clumsily titled Geometry and Functions In "N" Adaptions (GINA). Conceived as a design tool rather than a concept per se, the car is underpinned by a defunct Z8 Roadster chassis. Bolted to this is a flexible skeleton framework with a textile 'skin' instead of body panels.
This ingenious idea allows the car to shape itself according to the driver's wants and needs. For example, headlights can simply fade away when not needed. A spoiler can rise up in the bodywork at speed, or fade away in city traffic.
The fabric bodywork also makes the car amazingly graceful, with seamless edges set at unusual angles. In order to create this appearance, it was necessary to move beyond all previous conceptions of car body configuration, design and materials. Therefore, BMW dispensed with the usual body elements found on production vehicles such as front apron, bonnet, side panels, doors, wheel arches, roof, trunk lid and rear deck. Instead, a new structure with a minimum amount of components took their place. A special, highly durable and extremely expansion-resistant fabric material stretches across a metal structure.
The most striking example of the opportunities this presents is in the headlight design. In normal position, when the headlights are not active, i.e. when there is no necessity to illuminate the road, they are hidden under the special fabric cover. As soon as the driver turns on the lights, the contour of the front end changes. Activated by the metal structure that lies beneath it, the previously closed fabric cover opens to the right and left of the BMW kidney grille and reveals the BMW double headlights.
The turn indicators and the taillights function without changes to the shape of the outer skin. Their position, however, is only revealed upon activation. The emitted light shines through the translucent fabric cover, which is permeable to light but not transparent.
The filler caps of the engine oil, cooling and wiper water tanks open for servicing. Opening and closing is similar to the mechanism on a doctor's traditional medical bag, where clip-lock fasteners are held together in the middle by a rail.
When the car is parked, the steering wheel and the round instruments - rev counter, speedometer and fuel gauge, which are vertically arranged on the centre console, are in idle position. This provides the driver with maximum comfort upon entering the car. Likewise, the seat only assumes its optimised functional position and shape if and when the driver sits down on it.
The innovative GINA approach to design has already led to a variety of innovative concepts and production vehicles in ways that are completely new and unprecedented by any other car manufacturer, says BMW.
This ingenious idea allows the car to shape itself according to the driver's wants and needs. For example, headlights can simply fade away when not needed. A spoiler can rise up in the bodywork at speed, or fade away in city traffic.
The fabric bodywork also makes the car amazingly graceful, with seamless edges set at unusual angles. In order to create this appearance, it was necessary to move beyond all previous conceptions of car body configuration, design and materials. Therefore, BMW dispensed with the usual body elements found on production vehicles such as front apron, bonnet, side panels, doors, wheel arches, roof, trunk lid and rear deck. Instead, a new structure with a minimum amount of components took their place. A special, highly durable and extremely expansion-resistant fabric material stretches across a metal structure.
The most striking example of the opportunities this presents is in the headlight design. In normal position, when the headlights are not active, i.e. when there is no necessity to illuminate the road, they are hidden under the special fabric cover. As soon as the driver turns on the lights, the contour of the front end changes. Activated by the metal structure that lies beneath it, the previously closed fabric cover opens to the right and left of the BMW kidney grille and reveals the BMW double headlights.
The turn indicators and the taillights function without changes to the shape of the outer skin. Their position, however, is only revealed upon activation. The emitted light shines through the translucent fabric cover, which is permeable to light but not transparent.
The filler caps of the engine oil, cooling and wiper water tanks open for servicing. Opening and closing is similar to the mechanism on a doctor's traditional medical bag, where clip-lock fasteners are held together in the middle by a rail.
When the car is parked, the steering wheel and the round instruments - rev counter, speedometer and fuel gauge, which are vertically arranged on the centre console, are in idle position. This provides the driver with maximum comfort upon entering the car. Likewise, the seat only assumes its optimised functional position and shape if and when the driver sits down on it.
The innovative GINA approach to design has already led to a variety of innovative concepts and production vehicles in ways that are completely new and unprecedented by any other car manufacturer, says BMW.