BMW's Cloth-Skinned Car Makes a Splash

BMW's cloth car known by its concept name GINA is an amazing piece of design. The GINA philosophy is Geometry and Functions In “N” Adaptions; the “N” stands for infinite possibilities. I admit, I got so bedazzled by the video of the cloth car (after the jump), it took me a second to step back and think about why GINA is worth mentioning on ecogeek. The GINA model features a virtually seamless outer skin made of a textile fabric that stretches across a movable substructure. Functions are only offered if and when they are actually required. While BMW touts that reducing the car to its “essentials and adapting it to the driver's requirements enhances the car's emotional impact,” the reality is that the cloth car at its most basic is reducing the hard structure of the car to only what is necessary.

This brings into question all the current realities of what is set in stone in today's car market. For example, does a car roof really need to rest on pillars and be bordered by pillars and are there any possible alternatives to the rigid body shell of steel or plastic?

By re-evaluating the hard body of the car, BMW figures that the lightweight design will require far less energy to produce than traditional BMW models. The overall car weight is significantly reduced, which in turns makes the vehicle far more fuel efficient.

A car of cloth is far off into the future, but BMW hopes that the philosophy behind its concept: of exploring new possibilities and focusing on actual function rather than relying on the tried-and-true model, that eventually cars can be made to suit individuals.

In an interview with Wallpaper magazine, Chris Bangle, head of design for BMW says GINA forces BMW designers to look at things differently.

“If we free our minds, then we can perhaps start to look at methods that use less energy, require less chemicals, cause less waste and are more flexible in getting products that customers want,” he says.

Via: Inhabitat and Wallpaper.com and

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written by Ken Roberts, July 17, 2008

Very cool.

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written by EV, July 17, 2008

For example, does a car roof really need to rest on pillars and be bordered by pillars and are there any possible alternatives to the rigid body shell of steel or plastic?

Depends. Does the car have to pass the rollover tests?

This is a vandal's wet dream
written by Temu, July 17, 2008

This car will make keying obsolete. The enterprising vandal will now need box cutters.

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written by Clinch, July 17, 2008

Well it's lighter, and looks more aerodynamic than conventional car-shells, and dents in the car don't seem like they'd be a problem.

Although it would take time to get used to, and will be interesting to see how well it works on other (i.e. smaller) cars, and if it would also be applicable to lorries and aircraft.

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written by Scott, July 17, 2008

For example, does a car roof really need to rest on pillars and be bordered by pillars and are there any possible alternatives to the rigid body shell of steel or plastic?

Uh, yeah it does need these things. Cars usually carry human beings, and human beings need to be protected. That means crumple zones, rollcages, etc, all of which require very strong, solid material.

Okay, so maybe the "skin" of the car can be fabric, but certainly not the frame. A flying piece of metal could probably rip right through fabric and hit the driver though.

flying pieces of metal
written by The Food Monster, July 17, 2008

http://thefoodmonsterblog.blogspot.com
while we are on the subject of flying pieces of metal, what happens when a rock from a semi kicks up and goes into the car. Then the wind that would normally float right around the car rips off it's skin?

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written by Tracy, July 17, 2008

Okay, the real question is - do you wash it by throwing the skin into the wash with the sheets?

Tearing?
written by Culture Shock, July 17, 2008

So how do you keep the body from tearing? And what happens when there's an accident?

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written by Clinch, July 17, 2008

No, a car roof doesn't need to rest on pillars, and there are cars are built as such, they're called convertibles.
And for that matter, many convertibles have effectively been using fabric as partial car covering for years (although this new development is the first complete fabric covering).

And as crumple zones can be a structural feature, they can easily be incorporated in to the car's frame (unless you though the fabric could just float over the car without being supported).

And how many news stories do you hear a year of convertible drivers getting killed from flying pieces of metal tearing through the fabric roof?
So unless you live near Ninjas, or in a very bad neighbourhood, it's not going to be a problem (and if you were commonly in situations where it was a problem, you could just use a fabric cover that has similar properties to kevlar).

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written by Matt, July 17, 2008

Amen Clinch.
I was thinking the very same thing about those comments.

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written by MarkR, July 17, 2008

first the only reason it could be far off is they don't think it will sell. Second I already have a tacoma with a partial cloth shell. my camper shell made by bestop.com has a long line of soft top shells for various trucks and jeeps. This way I only put it up when i need it.

I love it, I'd love for some of my other truck shell parts to be made of cloth. Particularly the hood and qtr. panels. Also think about the potential for modifying the shape to be more Aero.

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written by alma, July 17, 2008

I think thisc ar's pretty cool, but then saftey has been brought up and maybe this car isn't about safety as a normal car is. What I realy liked though was the fact that this would save on gas, being the ridiculous prices they are these days, I would love a car like this as my first car. Then I wouldn't have to experience the killing gas prices, plus the car looks fli and i think I'd be a bad biatch in one of these! 8) 8) 8) 8)

8) 8) 8) 8) :D

This thing will be a shredded mess
written by john, July 17, 2008

As soon as you let human beings, road grit, animals and weather anywhere near it, that will be it. Is it even waterproof?

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written by Ben, July 17, 2008

So many naysayers on this site. I have a BMW Z4 convertible that's now 5 years old and has just hit 100,000 miles. The cloth top is still in perfect shape, while my windshield was cracked, the body's been scratched, etc, etc. And the car is perfectly safe in rollovers because of the strong frame and rollover protection bars. I think this is a great idea. It's probably not quite ready TODAY, but it probably can be in the not-too-distant future, as lightweight but strong materials, including fabrics, continue to be developed and made less expensive. Not to mention what a pleasure a trip to the body shop could become if it DID get damaged. I've been avoiding getting some of the scrapes and dings fixed due to the cost, but if they could just yank off the car's "skin" and slap a new one on? It'd probably never be over $1,000. Hell, they could probably even make them to be replaceable by the owner, so you could get a different color for every day of the week. Honestly, any brash new idea is at least worth CONSIDERING, no matter how crazy it seems. Obviously some will work and some won't, but don't dismiss it out-of-hand.

rant
written by Clinch, July 17, 2008

I'll say it again.

It's safe!
-It's not the car's shell that protects it, it's the entire structural support, and seeing as this has a frame, there's no problem.
-There are laws regarding car safety, they wouldn't be allowed to sell it if it was a death trap, and people wouldn't buy a death trap, so it make very little sense to design a car that wont sell.
-BMW have been in this business for almost 100 years, and have top men working for them, so they're not going to make a mistake like that.

As for the fabric cover, again, the people at BWM aren't stupid, they're not going to forget to make it waterproof, or make it so it falls apart because of a sharp stone, they actually want to sell cars, so wont make it so people wont want to buy it. And as anyone with a convertible will tell you, fabric damage isn't much of a problem anyway.

My Vote is for GINA
written by stevee0506, July 18, 2008

Wow.......Open up your minds and you will get a lot of ideas for designing a car in a innovative way...cool...i don't know how practically it works out for GINA but it is an excellent step to reduce the fuel consumption...My vote is for GINA BMW...Worth a try.....http://www.buyingadvice.com/

Great idea, but.
written by Zed2Six, July 19, 2008

How do you clean it? I highly doubt a conventional car-wash will do the trick.
What happens when someone wants to 'key' your car? Of course driver side door dents will become non-existent but how well can the 'skin' hold up to sharp object. If the 'skin' is damaged, how much will it cost to replace?

Answers!
written by Clinch, July 20, 2008

Apparently the material used on the pictured car is polyurethane-coated spandex (although it doesn't say what type of polyurethane [but it's not the type they use for insulation foam], and future designs may use better materials).
Properties of polyurethane include
-Cut resistance (so NO, you can't be key'd)
-Water resistance (so YES, it can withstand rain)
-Chemical resistance (so YES, it can be washed)

As for replacement costs, I think the fabric is in 4 sections (panels), rather than just one big piece, and I expect the price would be similar to that of furniture covers, so my guess is ~$100 per panel, or $500 for the entire car, but that's just a guess, and it could easily be lower, or much more than that, depending on the exact Polyurethane they use.
How much does replacing a piece of normal car exterior cost? And is it easy enough to do yourself?

Aircraft Skins
written by John, July 21, 2008

Amazing how old ideas come around again. Remember all those early aircraft from almost 100 years ago had cloth skins, even cloth skinned wings.

Putting the same concept to work in cars is a great idea, and modern fabrics should help achieve whatever is needed. I do wonder about the wind resistance difference between polished, smooth metal/plastic panels and stretched fabric, but then again top athletes wear special resistance reducing clothing, so perhaps that's already solved.

Finally a mainstream company is breakin
written by Shu, July 21, 2008

I've thought about this a while back, the best things is having a seamless, and flexible body. As for safety measures. If everyone drove a lighter vehicles, the impact in collision would be less devastating. Flexible body maybe able to less the impact too(car-car/object, as well as car-human collision).

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written by Z, July 22, 2008

One more questioning the puncture resistance.

Having been in a car when a lugnut came off the wheel of an oncoming transport truck and bounced off the top of the windshield, I won't touch one of these until I see how it handles an projectile travelling at 250 km/h.

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written by Clinch, July 22, 2008

If it's just a nut (or something else small and not sharp) it shouldn't be a problem, but as I said earlier, it would depend on the exact polyurethane blend they use (but presumably, they'd use one of the best [or perhaps in future models, a better one that hasn't been invented yet].

Unfortunately though, most of this discussion may be for naught, as it's only a concept car, and there have been (as far as I know) no plans to put it in to production (I haven't even seen it on any other "green" concept cars).

Price?
written by Kasey, October 05, 2008

How much does this "GINA" cost?

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written by design, February 18, 2009

i think everyone is missing the point. this concept is just a goal which BMW might proceed towards in the future. it doesn't mean they are going to produce the thing anytime soon. it is just purely conceptual to give more inspiration for next generation models in coming years. it is a way to test for new materials applications and challenge existing production methods. I don't think this was meant to be something practical and something you can drive now. that's why it is called a concept car not production model.

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written by design, February 18, 2009

they can also take some styling elements from this concept and implement them into more practical use later on...just think of it as an art sculpture for now if u don't understand concept.