Innovative approach and optical expression of creative freedom.
The key to affecting the development of tomorrow's mobility lies in our readiness to challenge what is established and in the ability to present new options. In order to meet these objectives, BMW Group Design taps into the potential of the GINA principle (Geometry and Functions In "N" Adaptions) which promotes innovative thinking by allowing maximum freedom of crea-tivity. GINA produces dramatically different solutions that affect the design and functionality of future cars. The GINA Light Visionary Model is an optical expression of selective, future-oriented concepts which provide an example of the manner and extent of this transformation.
BMW Group Design is not just interested in answering the question of how
the car of the future will look but primarily wishes to explore the creative freedom
it has to offer. Both of these aspects are affected by the requirements that
future cars are expected to meet. All ideas that the GINA Light Visionary Model presents are therefore derived from the needs and demands of customers concerning the aesthetic and functional characteristics of their car and their desire to express individuality and lifestyle. The GINA Light Visionary Model has an almost seamless outer skin, a flexible textile cover that stretches across
a moveable substructure. Individual functions are only revealed if and when
they are needed. With this model, BMW Group Design initiates a fundamental discourse about the characteristics that will affect the development of cars
in future. It is therefore fundamentally different from concept cars, which reflect what is expected of them by implementing as many elements as possible
in a future production model. In contrast, the GINA Light Visionary Model is
a vision of future cars and serves as an object of research.
The seamless car body of the GINA Light Visionary Model.
Putting its visions of tomorrow's car into practice, BMW Group Design has developed a two-seater roadster with the unique dynamic proportions that are typical of its brand. The GINA Light Visionary Model takes the sculptural design that has already been established by a number of production cars to a new, unparalleled conclusion. The car's front and sides, including the doors, create one single uninterrupted, seamless whole that converges to form an optical
as well as a structural unit.
In order to create this appearance, it was necessary to move beyond all previous conceptions of car body configuration, design and materials. Therefore, the GINA Light Visionary Model 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. A special, highly durable and extremely expansion-resistant fabric material stretches across a metal structure. This new material offers designers a significantly higher level of freedom
of design and functionality.
The body consists of only four elements. The largest component extends from the front of the vehicle to the edge of the windscreen and down the sides to the rear edge of the doors. The large side panels start at the front where the rocker panels emerge and run across the rear wheel arches into the rear. The fourth component is the central rear deck element.
An innovation breaks new ground: car with a flexible outer skin.
The innovation of a flexible outer skin breaks new ground in automotive engineering. This revolutionary solution opens up new design, production and functionality potential. It has a major impact on the interaction between
driver and car and enhances it by offering a variety of entirely new options. Some elements of the substructure are moveable. The driver can move them by means of electro and 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, i.e. when there is no necessity to illuminate the road, they are hidden under the special fabric cover. As soon as the driver turns on the lights, the contour of the front end changes. Activated by the
metal structure that lies beneath it, the previously closed fabric cover opens to the right and left of the BMW kidney grille and reveals the BMW double head-lights. The rear and the rocker panels of the GINA Visionary Model can also adapt both the shape and function to the driving situation in hand. Both can change the shape of their outer skin to meet the driver's requirement for particularly dynamic motoring. This concept also takes into account a potential interaction with aerodynamic requirements. The design of the rear element allows for automatic lifting of the rear spoiler when a certain speed is reached, thus creating extra downforce on the rear axle at higher speeds. Due to the
fact that the entire rear end, including the spoiler, is covered by a single sheet
of material that reaches as far as the rear compartment of the interior, the homogeneous shape of the car's rear will not be affected by changes to the spoiler position. The mechanical system that moves the elements remains concealed.
The turn indicators and the taillights function without changes to the shape
of the outer skin. Their position, however, is only revealed upon activation. The emitted light shines through the translucent fabric cover, which is permeable
to light but not transparent.
The rocker panels demonstrate the formal versatility of the GINA Light Visionary Model with an equally impressive performance. The air duct can be optimised
if required. A corresponding movement of the metal structure results in an adjustment of the rocker panel contour to allow for better airflow. At the same time, an additional protruding rocker panel line emerges. The aerodynamic optimization and the length of the line can be infinitely adapted to the driving situation at hand.
Special fabric cover ensures accurate reproduction of material folds.
The fact that the body surface is designed by means of a flexible fabric cover
that stretches across a metal substructure means that the materials used must
meet exacting requirements. Industrially produced hybrid fabric made from
a stabilizing mesh netting support and an outer layer that is both water-repellent and resistant to high and low temperatures is suitable for this application. Another essential material property is a maximum level of dimensional stability.
It must remain dimensionally stable irrespective of the temperature and air humidity it is exposed to even after severe and constant expansion. The dimen-sional stability helps retain the cover's surface tension for a long period of time. The movement of individual body elements creates accurately reproducible
folds in the material. In its choice of material BMW Group Design was inspired
by exterior and interior architecture. The expertise of seat pattern designers working for BMW Group Interior Design was successfully applied in order to cut the fabric webbing to size with maximum precision, determine the strategic position of attachment points and stretch the material. As a result, the surfaces are remarkably well balanced and due to the steady tension that is retained between any two clearly defined points, the lines are extremely accurate.
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. They are used predominantly for round, moving contours with a particularly narrow radius.
I am easily satisfied with the very best.
"It is a very good looking car, If you have cataract" - JC about the Alpine A610
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