Automotive

Mercedes-Benz is hard at work on phasing out its reliance on petroleum in a move that could leave its lineup gas-free by 2015. In the next several years, Mercedes will continue the ongoing development of alternative fuel technologies including electricity, fuel cells, and advanced biofuels. The multi-billion dollar plan is set to be delivered gracefully and could begin producing results as early as this year. Continued

BMW’s latest breakthrough highlights a proprietary design that frees the frame from the limits of steel - replacing it, instead, with a space-age material that allows the exterior of the car to remold itself in response to a variety of situations.

As if the mere existence of a functional vehicle with the ability to change itself on-the-fly isn’t cool enough, BMW’s engineering and design teams took their efforts one step further by integrating a number of potentially useful features into their highly conceptual design. Not only do the doors open in a similar fashion to moving a blanket, but the car’s spoiler protrudes from the back of the car only at the speed at which the car’s engineering team has determined its necessity. Unlike the myriad of other vehicles that possess this technology, the GINA is able to fluidly show and hide the spoiler without physically touching the frame of the car. Instead, a mechanism beneath the fabric simply stretches it to create the car’s spoiler before your eyes. Perhaps the sleekest feature on the GINA is the sheer sense of personality confined within each of its headlights. Much like the eyelids of a person, the car’s headlights reveal themselves following quick shift in the tightness of their surrounding skin. The result is something truly spectacular.

Though BMW’s GINA may be one of the hottest models ever to roll off of their production line, the chances of seeing this vehicle in a showroom one day are rather slim - to say the least. It’s far more likely to spend its days in BMW’s Design Museum in their homeland of Germany. If you’re ever in Munich, feel free to stop by and say hello to GINA; you won’t be disappointed. To really get a feel for GINA beyond the pictures, BMW has graciously provided a video of the concept in action.