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BMW Z4 very similar to GINA concept.

9K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  mikeross 
#1 ·
BMW Z4 very similar to GINA concept:

Z4 Image Link

GINA concept Image Link

I really hope some automakers adopt flexible skin architecture for their limited run vehicles - they are better looking and far more economical.
 
#2 · (Edited)
That looks pretty sick. But besides the seemless body, I wonder if it's got any practical advantages too. The paint on my car is all chipped and scratched and there are a few rust spots under the paint here and there, but a new paint job is ridiculously expensive. Depending on how durable the skin is, this would probably solve all those 10-15 year old car looking horrible problems.

I have never heard of this flexible skin stuff but if they could make the cost of the skin competitive with paint, it seems like it would be more rust resistant, more likely to retain it's luster and could be easily replaced or even upgraded later on. It might even make collision repair cheaper.

If ever we have EV vehicles running on ultra capacitors (or some kind of near unlimited charge cycle technology battery), probably the only limiting factor to the life of the car is just the body and paint wearing out. This could solve that problem. It's crazy how cars lifespans have improved with better engineering in the last 30 years and I wonder if in 30 years more, the vehicles on the road will put a 300,000 mile vehicle to shame.
 
#3 ·
omnimoeish,

I love this flex skin approach, as it allows much shorter design to production time schedules. Absolutely no expensive and long lead time tooling is required. Moreover, female car owners could drive into a dealership, have them change out the skin and head to social functions in matching shoes and purse.

I hope car designers will use this approach to reskin some of the more bland vehicles on the road. Fisker Coachbuild (prior to becoming Fisker Automotive) already reskins vehicles, but they do it with "soft" (low volume) tooling. Now they can come up with support bars and associated skins to make them look beautiful.

I really expect Fisker Coachbuild to offer this flexskin for some of their "upgrade" packages.
 
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