BMW GINA new concept exclusive

This is the GINA Light Visionary Model, BMWs new research vehicle,and the fruit of a project that has been shaping the brand in termsof design, research and development, and manufacturing for nearly adecade. Click here to see more On the surface it looks like a modern day BMW sports car, allsculpted taut muscles, displaying an interactive flow of concaveand convex surfaces that has become the brands signature formlanguage. GINA, however, may look like a typical car, but is infact made of cloth. The virtually seamless polyethylene-coatedLycra Stretch Fabric is secured on a meshwork formed from metalwires. Individual elements of the aluminium substructure are movable.Electro-hydraulically controlled, they change their position tohelp the flexible fabric skin take on new shapes for a high degreeof personalisation. For instance the driver can activate a sensor to lift the beltlineslightly to form a more aggressive stance. Another slowly opens thedoor triggering almost shark-like creases across the profile. Onentering the stark cloth cabin, GINA awakens; the centre consoleand instrument panel swivel to almost cocoon the driver whilstinvisible headrests rise from the minimalist seats. The car is based on the Z8 chassis, BMWs first aluminium spaceframe roadster where the frame carries the crash and structuralload so that the rest of the car can have its own purposes. GINAwas conceptualised in California at the think-tank studioDesignworks, and later made into a full-scale sculpture by head ofexterior design Anders Warming in Munich.