Most if us will have named our car at one point and even given it a gender – perhaps even shed a tear when the time came to part with it.
Well, the car industry, more specifically Nissan, has decided that your car should show its emotions.
The Smiling Vehicle was jointly developed by the Hara Design Institute Nippon Design Center and the automaker. To be honest I don’t care about any of the other details because just look at how cute this Nissan Cube is!
The concept Cube is covered with ROICA, a “polyurethane elastomer fiber” produced by Asahi Kasei.
ROICA is very flexible and can deform by up to 900% and is normally found as shoes, clothes or car interiors.
Just a few animatronic motors and bosh – you have a car with facial expressions.
Nissan sees this technology as an extension of the driver’s character, meaning it can be used to express your current feeling when you sit in the car (and that’s a good thing?).
This involves being able to share your feelings with other drivers, thereby “communicating” with other people while on the go.
Hmmmmm………. not sure about that – I can only imagine a bunch of cuddlesome cars mouthing expletives at each other.
So, smiling cars is next on the list -I’m guessing that zero emission transport has been sorted then
Check out the vid and fall in love with the Smiling Cube – Awwwwwwwwwwww!
Everyone, even gadgety boys and girls, would describe Santa’s mode of transport as being wood-based and reindeer-powered.
Even though he has to travel at 1,000 km per second to get to each and every home of every good boy and girl on this planet.
You’d think that someone that can get all those gifts to all those people could afford to splash-out a little and get a leading car designer to create his next generation Cringle-mobile.
Well, those at Car Magazine are running a week-long competition doing just that.
Kicking off with a Jag and going through many a marque.
I’ve selected my personal favourites but feel free to click the link and head over to see them all.
Land Rover’s design includes height adjustable suspension and a particle accelerator. They say that the:
“Land Rover Design with Santa Claus reveals the Christmas sledge of the future – designed to meet the ever-increasing delivery timetable. It boasts all-terrain capability, is powered by particle accelerator technology and has optional laser guided present delivery. There’s even CRS – chimney recognition software!”
The team of creatives at Aston Martin Design sketched out theirs including some of the Aston design cues in particular the Vantage-effect rear end and they’ve rummaged around in the world’s most expensive parts bin to recycle the gorgeous One-77 rear light clusters. Check out the alloy front wing that’s designed to cut through the snowy air more efficiently and the slipstream is carefully managed so as not to disrupt Santa’s beard when flying across the chimney tops at 200mph.
Personally I reckon that Ol’ St. Nick would be more inclined to opt for some more luxurious surroundings – the kind offered by Bentley. Plush trim, large gift/luggage area, effortless travel with that classic nod to the brands heritage. Nicely done.
Bentley designers John Paul Gregory imagined a futuristic Santa Azure Sleigh (complete with rifled tailpipes and exposed Bentley Blitzen powerplant), while Yunwoo Jeong turned the Continental GTC cabrio into a sleigh with quad-outrigged headlamps and begoggled Santa. ‘This includes a classic piece of Bentley form and function with Rudolph’s nose providing extra illumination!’
The final one was actually the first submitted to the site and was designed by 25-year-old Jaguar exterior designer Thomas Smith. He graduated from the Royal College of Art in June 2009 and joined Jaguar this summer, after a placement in Coventry’s advanced design studio where he penned a luxury flagship coupé blue-sky project.
His version of Santa’s sleigh reveals a push-me-pull-you, very modern take on what a Jag could be.
Other designs from Audi, Nissan, Ford, Vauxhall and a classically Reindeer-powered Rolls Royce number all can be found at Car Magazine.
Correct me if I’m wrong.
Most GPS devices are portable. They’ll slip into your hand/man bag, pocket, or at least into your cars locking glovebox.
The fact that even when people remove their TomTom or Garmin and shove it under their car-seat (yeah – I know your secret hiding place!) they leave the dock on their windscreen. [...]
Mmmmmm……….. peeeeeeeeeeeeeanuuuuuuts……. Peanuts and beer……. beeeeeeeeeer…..
Ahem – you’d better not be thinking beer if you’re going to use this P-NUT from Honda.
Yup – The Honda P-NUT.
This is the Japanese manufacturers glimpse into the future and there’s not even a snack-tray in sight.
The Honda P-NUT (Or Personal-Neo Urban Transport) has just been unveiled at the LA [...]
Some people see cars as a fashion statement.
Others buy into the heritage of a certain marque.
If you’re looking for a ride that mixes futuristic design with the name of high fashion then look no further!
Designed by Jinyoung Jo, a car student designer from South Korea this is the Chanel Fiole.
Jo said that she was [...]
If the Terrafugia flying car is a bit…. odd looking and you’d rather have something a tad more Mad Max – say hello to the British-developed Parajet Skycar and its groovy redesigned self!
Better still; it’s available for pre-order with a release date pencilled in for 2010!
A previous incarnation of the Skycar was actually flown 6,000 [...]
My dream of owning an Aston Martin may, at least, become attainable – not because I’m on the verge of signing a huge recording contract (wish!!) – Rather, Aston Martin is planning to go from one extreme to another – with the introduction of a tiny city car.
The renowned luxury car maker has [...]
Diseno-art.com designers have worked their magic and have come up with something that would tick all of the boxes was I in the market for a two-seater eco-friendly car that would be able to put a big-ol’ smile on my face
The Lotus Electrive is obviously not a daily-driver but has been tailored to meet the demands [...]
It’s been a while since I slid over to Yanko.
This is a cool concept that I’d vote for to go into production.
The days of owning 2 or 3 cars has long gone – well for me anyhow so having one that transforms into three different vehicles has to be a winner!
The CarGo vehicle concept has [...]
Fancy yourself as a young Hoff?
Got a black leather jacket and a smart-ass car?
Splash out $100 and get yourself one of these 15″ LED strip designed by Auto Indulgence, the same team that created KITT’s grill lights for the ‘re-boot’.
How sweet will your Fiat 500 look with one of these on the bonnet?
You get a [...]
University designers have come up with a Formula Three racing car that’s powered by chocolate oils with body work made from potatoes. Oh and the steering wheel is made from carrot fibres and the seat from soybean foam.
Yum!
Dr Kerry Kirwan, of Warwick University, said the aim was to design something “fun, fast and exciting”.
Unfortunately [...]
Something lacking in your in-car entertainment set-up?
Have a hankering for HD movies when stuck in traffic?
Well has Panasonic got something for you!
They’ve only gone and sorted out an in-car Blu-Ray player!
The CN-HX900D is a Windows powered GPS, CD and DVD player with a 5 channel amp that also sports Bluetooth, a One-Seg tuner, 7 [...]
The British start-up company ‘Bee’ has just released details of its new electric car, the One.
This affordable and adorable five-door doopher will have a top speed of around 80 miles per hour and a max range of 200 miles before needing to be rejuiced.
The cute car will run on two battery packs stowed under the [...]
Gear Live has received a survey asking whether or not they’d be interested in Twittering whilst driving around in their car.
Recently YouTube got in on the action and now you could be sending and receiving Tweets on the road.
The setup works via hands-free calling, voice-to-text, as well as text-to-speech so you can in fact hold [...]
I’ve made no secret of the fact that I really dig the Fiat 500.
It’s more faithfully retro than the BMW Mini in my mind (I know; that’s a strange place to keep a Mini) and, let’s face it, the Italians know a few things about style.
Well, to add a little something to the 2008 design [...]
Terrafugia.
Remember that name – especially if you want to own a true convertible.
Fancy having a car that turns into a plane?
The company has successfully taken the ‘Transition’ flying car out on its first flight in New York.
The Terrafugia Transition runs on regular petrol so you can pull into any station and watch those jaws drop.
The [...]
Courb’s C-Zen is, in my book, a definite step-up compared to a beat up scooter.
It’s even green!
It was spotted at the Pavillon Vert at the Geneva Motor Show and comes from the French company Courb.
C-Zen actually stands for ‘C’est Zéro Emission Nocive’, or ‘No Harmful Emissions’ and that’s achieved by it running on a 12kW [...]
The Sbarra Orbital Hybrid is one of the many reasons I want at least one of my bands to make serious money!
Unveiled at the Geneva International Motor Show and has been dropping jaws by the sounds of things.
One reason, or, rather four reasons, is/are the orbital wheels, aka rim riders, which are totally finky hubless [...]
Chances are that you’ve left the house without your keys.
Chances are that you’ve never forgotten your iPhone.
Well, under this premise Rinspeed should be onto a winner.
Say, “I want” to the Rinspeed iChange concept.
This cool car can adapt itself to accommodate a varying number of passengers depending on the need of the driver.
So, if you have [...]
Seems to be a day for GPS.
GPS maker Telenav is bringing a rather good-looking turn-by-turn navigation app to the Android loving G1 this month.
The service, which will cost Americans $10 a month, looks like it’s got what you’d expect from a standalone GPS unit: You get voice-recognition for hands-free control, live traffic updates, a hefty POI database [...]
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Most if us will have named our car at one point and even given it a gender – perhaps even shed a tear when the time came to part with it.
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