BMW presents GINA, a new take on car design, materials, and flexibility. The GINA replaces the traditional metal/plastic skin with a textile fabric skin that’s pulled taut around a frame of metal and carbon fiber wires. Even the shape of the car can change. Fascinating and creative design study.
The rear lights just shine through the skin:
Here’s a video of the design in action.
Jason Fried wrote this on Jun 10 2008 There are 62 comments.
Brenton 10 Jun 08
It’s in Munich. Rats.
Peter Urban 10 Jun 08
BMW is a great company in terms of design. They are willing to take risks with new ideas and take them to the public instead of hiding them in their basement like so many other car manufacturers. Check out Cosmic Motors at http://cosmic-motors.com/ this guy created a fantastic book s a creative outlet for an automotive designer and he reveals a lot about working int the industry.
David Andersen 10 Jun 08
Very, very cool.
GeeIWonder 10 Jun 08
Interesting. The shapes and folds are very reminiscent of some origami.
Don’t know about the wisdom of basically driving a sail though. Might be good to know how much downforce comes from underneath.
Interesting stuff.
Benjy 10 Jun 08
Wow!
That’s about the coolest things I’ve seen in a long time. My only question is concerning the crash worthiness of something like this.
Ben Rasmusen 10 Jun 08
BMW ’s have long been my car of choice, though as of yet I have been financially unable to own one. :) Amazing cars and amazing R&D. Thanks for sharing!
Sean 10 Jun 08
I wouldn’t worry about crashes as much (the frame protects you more than the skin).
I’d be interested in what happens when you scratch your doors against another car—especially one that has a more standard metal skin. Can the skin of your car tear open?
Jonathan 10 Jun 08
So instead of someone keying your car, they can give your car a run in its stocking…
Michael Davis 10 Jun 08
I wouldn’t think this would impact that crash safety. The conventional metal skins are aesthetic more than structural.
I also wonder since the car can change forms easily, if it could also “react” more to a crash than simply deploying airbags.
orc 11 Jun 08
@Sean
probably, but i would hope the skin isn’t too expensive or difficult to replace
@Michael Davis
i remember hanging with some buddies, having fun talking about a car just like this. we imagined it being parked somewhere and another car getting too close, causing our car to instinctively send spikes from its skin like a puffer fish
another idea was programmable geometry/color (something that may become quite easy with OLED )
Don Schenck 11 Jun 08
I’d rather drive (and look at) and A3.
That’s just my opinion.
Jake 11 Jun 08
The concept is amazing.
Though I’m freaked out by it’s heavy reliance on electronic components.
I have a 2000 7-series and for the past 3 years I’ve spent over 10K fixing up the electrical components. Very, very frustrating…
Andrei Gonzales 11 Jun 08
This car has done wonders for BMW – it’s been made public only less than 48 hours ago, and the youtube and bmw-web.tv sites are getting hit like crazy.
Well done BMW . Now make the car so we can buy it.
Jonathan 11 Jun 08
Man… bummer when you wrap that thing around a tree.
Deepa 11 Jun 08
Absolutely beautiful, although I don’t see it making it into the production lines any time soon. The concept, however, is lovely.
hello 11 Jun 08
when do u think itll come to america.?
Yesbut 11 Jun 08
Amazing design. But…
That video would have been much better if that voiceover hadn’t been so pretentious. I’d forward this to many more friends except I know they’ll all be disgusted by it.
The 37signals folks have always been great at keeping design discussions down to earth. BWM copywriters, take note!
Raj 11 Jun 08
Nice, very nice. Should be a very light car.
Do you fix a rip with duct tape?
Jeremy Ricketts 11 Jun 08
“Context over dogma. That’s it.”
nice.
V 11 Jun 08
Looks angry and offensive.
Hartvig 11 Jun 08
Love it. Chris Bangle is my hero
zimbatm 11 Jun 08
How does the skin react to wind ? I imagine it to start flappering on the highway
Cormac 11 Jun 08
What if you get in one of those shootouts where you use the door of your car to protect you from flying bullets? You’d be in trouble then wouldn’t you?
website design 11 Jun 08
Sweet.Thats one slick design, BMW always comes up with innovative ideas. The best thing for me was, in the video when the head lights of the car open like human eye in the video. My concern is, will it pass the crash test; Is it too flexible for safety?
Julia 11 Jun 08
Wow! Now that’s classical elegance and forwardthinking combined! Amazing.
Emerson 11 Jun 08
Perfect Design, everything perfect, dream of consumption!
Jarred 11 Jun 08
I’d be interested to see how the fabric withstood the elements: wind, snow, mud, gravel, rain, etc.
Mark Juchau 11 Jun 08
Well done BMW !! It’s nice to see a leading car manufacturer developing ‘blue sky’ ideas. I agree with the comments regarding the car being safe due to the space frame technology, I just don’t see how the skin will work at speed. If the skin has to be flexible/compliant enough to allow it to deform into various shapes, what stops it deforming when it encounters air resistance??
But at the end of the day even if just promotes discussion and forward thinking from consumers / developers then it has been a worth while exercise, nice one BWM !
Clark 11 Jun 08
Why do most cars always look so aggressive?
shatterproof 11 Jun 08
wow. amazing stuff.
there are some serious design concerns… like what happens if air gets in under that material? heh. But dang! what a design. Would love to see it made feasible. I hope this is the future—throw a carbonfiber frame with compression points under there, and some sort of safety bubble for the cockpit and it’s enough to make me switch from Audi :)
L8xxx 11 Jun 08
Nice to see kind of latex fetish in the car industry. Wow! Congratulations!
James 11 Jun 08
Creases, wrinkles, tears, stains, stretching. And who’s going to repair it after a fender bender? Looks pretty cool, though.
Ronie 11 Jun 08
i wonder if it will crumble up if it to hot, sort of like a hot pocket does in a microwave
ivo 11 Jun 08
What about aerodynamics? I don’t think a fabric skin is the best election.
tom 11 Jun 08
Can you imagine someone flicking a smoke onto that? poof!. now go buy another one.
Hamilton Wallace 11 Jun 08
The type of thinking that led to this can inspire us all take the next step. I’m reminded of Bucky Fuller’s quote:
“If you are in a shipwreck and all the boats are gone, a piano top. . .that floats by makes a fortuitous life preserver. But this is not to say that the best way to design a life preserver is in the form of a piano top. I think that we are clinging to a great many piano tops in accepting yesterday’s fortuitous contrivings.”
Stovepipe 12 Jun 08
Er, I don’t think it could go very fast… ever seena an umbrella in a windstorm? :)
Melvin Ram 12 Jun 08
Fascinating! If it can stand 10+ years of weather or can be easily replaced, I would absolutely love this approach. I’d get red, black, and dirt-brown skins.
AndyC 12 Jun 08
Would have been perfect if they’d used that 80’s colour sensitive cloth. Imagine, you’d be able to tailor the shape of your car against the windchill caused by drag at speed…
JC 12 Jun 08
Can anyone say knife of jealousy +10 damage?
SD 12 Jun 08
i think some people are missing the point. this is not a finished design its a discussion point and a starting point for development based on whats available today.
the current material is obviously not up to the job of cladding a performance sports car or any other car but that throws out a challenge for material development. for instance there are some fluid materials already in existance that can harden on impact to absord some impact. thay have already been introduced into snowboard jackets and ski suites.
heres a concept maybe sometime soon the technology will catch up.
Jürg Rupp 12 Jun 08
Hi folks, amazing. I’m a professional textile journalist and i’d like to know who produced the fabric. We’re keen to do a story about it.
regards Jürg Rupp
Ken 12 Jun 08
Interesting, we went from cloth airplanes to metal ones then metal cars to cloth ones.
Brent 13 Jun 08
The aerodynamics won’t be compromised due to the carbon fibre frame. The cloth is stretched across the frame and therefore will remain taunt, actually will probably become more rigid, when the air passes over it.
The car’s design, angles and curves, will prevent much of the ‘air drag’ you are talking about.
There are ways of making cloth that stretchs in precise ways, and I bet dollar to dollar BMW isn’t using cotton fleece for the ‘skin’, most likely this is some form of spandex/carbon fibre/silicone hybrid.
Light weight, incredibly strong frame, bet this puppy would get awesome fuel mileage as well as performance! Can’t wait to have one parked in my garage!
yukyuk 13 Jun 08
Can I get mine in leather?
bmw 13 Jun 08
this is a batmobil ? :)
Austin Hastings 13 Jun 08
Very cool. This is an inspiring example of how you can approach something which has become common, but from a different angle. Sure, there are probably issues inherent with this car becoming a reality, but I imagine it’s in this creative process that real break-through ideas occur which can and will be applied in the creation of future vehicles. Seeing this definitely energizes me to look at my own design in a different way and discover new approaches. I’m definitely curious to know how this thing looks when going down the highway – how does the fabric react to wind?
Jonathan 14 Jun 08
Aircraft used to be built as wooden and metal frames with a coated canvas skin, moving to a mostly aluminium construction after World War I.
Fabric under tension behaves similar to what we would expect from a surface made of metal or plastics. It is the shape of the car that provides downforce and such, not the weight of its skin.
bmw 14 Jun 08
soon BMW will begin to make spaceships :)
whocares 14 Jun 08
guys, i wouldn’t worry about the car making the crash test. if the car is flexible, that means that it can absorb the impact of the crash, and thus there is less force exhibited upon it. During a collision if the car bounces back it is worse.
it’s probably not even gonna be released for 15-25 years anyways.
BJ 15 Jun 08
Some of the worries brought up here seem contrived to me. We already have ragtop cars. The fabric roof of a convertable car performs well at high speeds. Sure, someone can slash your top with a knife, but it rarely happens, and no more often than someone keying your paint. The fabric of a convertable top lasts a long time; and although it looks more worn after many years, so does paint on metal show its age. If your current car gets dinged by an adjecent door, the paint gets nicked; the fabric would have some give and would bounce right back. As for the question of crashworthiness, protection of the frame or rollbar protects occupants of a ragtop car, not the fabric, and likewise for this car, the frame, not the fabric, would protect. If a panel did need replacing, fabric would be easier to replace than metal, just as replacing a torn ragtop is easier than replacing a smashed fender.
BMW Gina fan 16 Jun 08
I remember I saw this type of car in cartoons when I was younger and I was always wondering when this will be available in real life. It seems to be so distant future… I think the future is here with this BMW Gina:)
Anonymous Coward 16 Jun 08
Really sweet idea! I agree with Whocares in that it will probably be at least fifteen years before the car is released. Also, even if the car is easily destroyed, it will also be easily replaced. The fabric that they use will be much less expensive than any modern metal. Good point on the electronics (Jake, 6/11), but you’re going to get that no matter what “futuristic car” you buy! I wonder if they’ll combine this concept/technology with the idea of fabric made from spider’s web? They’ve already learned to extract the silk from genetically-altered goatmilk (I’m not joking), and spider silk is supposed to be stronger than steel. Common (theoretical) applications are bulletproof shirts, and super-strong cords. If they did make it practical, it could be just the thing BMW needs! the current problem is that the extraction process is long and inefficient, and the resultant strands aren’t as strong as genuine spider’s silk. I say place spider silk into genetically altered silk worms. Opinions (on this and the car)?
Dmytro 16 Jun 08
I think there is no reason to talk about such practical things like air-dust-mud-etc. resistance. That designers are not fools – all the problems we can and even can’t imagine are solved in some ways, because that’s what is called Design. It’s left only to amaze such a marvelous concept )))
ehsan 16 Jun 08
WoooOOOooooOOOooOOOooOooOOOW
WooOOooW 16 Jun 08
yeaaaahhh!!! WoooOOOOooooOOOOooooWW
Henri 16 Jun 08
JUST WONDERING IF THIS RIDE WILL NOT FLY SOMEDAY
Dmitry 16 Jun 08
I hope, that is my future car
foxy 16 Jun 08
It is an alien technology, flying saucers are made up of skin like that, definitely more advanced than GINA but it’s a start.
Steve 17 Jun 08
Does anyone know the name of the material used to cover GINA ?
Brad 17 Jun 08
Kevlar skin and a convertible roof. That’s all it needs.
Jason Lomo 17 Jun 08
How easy is it to fix the the skin scratches or crashes.
This discussion is closed.