The GINA has an almost seamless outer textile skin that stretches across a movable metal substructure. The car’s front and sides, including the doors, create one single uninterrupted, seamless whole that converges to form a structural unit.
To create this flexible body, the GINA has 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 has taken their place.
The special fabric is supported by a metal wire structure. At specific points, the high-strength metal is enhanced by carbon struts with a higher flexibility. The design of the frame has also been optimized to support the aspects of crash-safety, stiffness and ride handling, entirely without an outer surface.
The driver can move parts of the substructure by means of electro-hydraulic controls. This will also change the shape of the outer skin, which can thus be adapted to suit the current situation, the driver’s requirements and can also enhance the car’s functional range. The most striking example of this is the headlight design. In normal position, when the headlights are not active they are hidden under the special fabric cover. As soon as the driver turns on the lights, the contour of the front end changes.
BMW has a tradition of revealing its future technologies with eccentric concept vehicles and the new construction methods previewed in the GINA could make it to production one day. However, for now, the GINA is strictly a research model designed to present new ideas.
Reader Comments
Thu Jun 5 2008 1:48 PM
Roy says
Consider our appetites whetted. I thought it odd that they would show someone driving it onto the truck but then have it pushed/towed up the ramp at the end. Did it lose an engine half-way through the video? Perhaps they just didn't trust their drivers...
Thu Jun 5 2008 3:11 PM
roman says
man i have a feeling that thing is going to be good, i would pull a fast and the furious on that trailer, and hijack that x5 just to see what this thing is.
Thu Jun 5 2008 4:03 PM
lynda says
@ roman i have the samme feeling :D
Thu Jun 5 2008 5:21 PM
Roy says
I want rights to the sequel, where you'd have to drive it away 2 fast and BMW would be 2 furious!
Fri Jun 6 2008 7:35 AM
Alan says
Could this be another concept leading up to a R8 competitor?
Sun Jun 8 2008 6:08 AM
daydaychu says
this car's photos was shown on uk's CAR magazine month ago.
it looks pretty cool!
Tue Jun 10 2008 4:22 AM
lynda says
in love whit this concept :X
Tue Jun 10 2008 4:59 AM
Raptor says
Yes, I like it. Like it a lot.
Tue Jun 10 2008 5:31 AM
HECTOR says
I see flame surfacing is alive and well...
Tue Jun 10 2008 6:08 AM
bambam says
I'm impress with the new prototypes around even with hybrids and super car.
But will I ever see them on the road?.
This is not bad by BMW, what did you wrap the car with?
Tue Jun 10 2008 7:31 AM
Turkle says
I really like some of these design elements, the shape looks enough like a Z4 that you know it is a BMW, but I wonder about the overall size. It looks bigger than a Z4. The cloth "skin" is simply impractical. Could you see coming out of your favorite store to find some kid with a pair of scissors cutting away your car's hood? Also, at speed, I would expect this cloth to flap, regardless of how tight it is pulled over the frame.
It would be cool to be able to change the color of your car's exterior though. You could have several colors and spend a Saturday morning putting a new color cloth exterior on your car.
Tue Jun 10 2008 7:51 AM
chris says
turk, there were rumours a while back about a Z8 or Z10.. regardless... Id like to see this styling applied to any and all Z's. the only problem that i have with the Z4 is that they're trying to appeal to a male audience by doing a polarized design, but it still looks "girly" in a market that is dominated by feminine looking cars. make that Z4 look like the spawn of satan, complete with fire and all.
I love it. the hood bulge is a little bulgey, and the bangle butt still shines through,... wish they could make it look more like an integrated spoiler rather than LITERALLY a "trunk" hanging off the back end of the car.
Tue Jun 10 2008 10:21 AM
JVC says
Talk about increasing wind noise due to excessive breaking lines in the body flow. It seems BMW got inspiration from the Audi TT Clubsport Concept to develop the styling (minus the ugly creases in the body).
Tue Jun 10 2008 11:03 AM
Gus says
I don't know. Just doesn't hit me the way the Saleen does, for example.
I guess I'm more of a fan of British and American styling than the German or Japanese styling. Just looks too "mechanical" or "robotic" for me most of the time.
Italian styling is usually the best...
Tue Jun 10 2008 11:07 AM
SMC says
As a concept, I have to say it's surprisingly fresh and impressive. As for practicality, some points would have to be addressed first. Like, is that material resistant to puncture by a sharp object? Or the first punk with a knife leaves you with a skeleton car.
Tue Jun 10 2008 12:07 PM
Roy says
It sounds like if you don't like the creases you can just press a button and, presto, they disappear! That's the first button I would press (I think I liked it better when it was under wraps), but this has to rank as BMW's most ingenious design effort since the Z1.
Sun Jun 29 2008 3:47 PM
BOb says
Like the form just put some solid panels on it.
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