About a year ago we brought you news on a fuel-efficient car project undertaken by Shell and Gordon Murray Design.

The result is the Shell Concept Car unveiled today, a three-seat city car that's said to be capable of returning up to 90 mpg.

The Shell Concept Car isn’t intended for production. It’s meant to inspire thinking about maximizing personal mobility while at the same time minimizing energy use—not just on the road but also in the design and manufacturing phases.

The concept is based on the design of Gordon Murray Design’s own T.25 city car concept from 2010 and developed using iStream production principles where pre-formed parts made from lightweight composite materials are utilized. The car weighs a little over 1,200 pounds and is powered by a three-cylinder gasoline engine.

What’s unique about the Shell Concept Car, however, is that every element from the body to the rear-mounted engine to all necessary lubricants were created together. This type of design, called co-engineering, is said to dramatically reduce energy use over the life of the vehicle.

This is actually the fourth concept we’ve seen built using Gordon Murray Design’s iStream production principles. In addition to the original T.25, there’s been Yamaha's Motiv and Sports Ride concepts. So far, though, only niche sports car marque TVR has announced plans to actually use iStream for a production car.

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