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BMW Gina Concept Car Made From Textile Fabric
BMW unveiled the GINA Light Visionary Model concept car on June 10, 2008 and shows the direction of how BMW’s design may take. The concept car uses fabric as the skin over a wire frame and carbon fiber and allows drivers to change the shape of the car at will.
The flexibility of car can be seen when the car door or bonnet opens and it is also much lighter as it is made out of light weight materials. The BMW Gina Visionary Model concept car may or may not find its way into production but it may be the precursor of new material alternatives that are lighter and more fluid.
In the video, Chris Bangle gives us a first impression of the ideas behind the process of sculpturing an experimental study.
6 more pics of the BMW Gina Concept Car and 1 videoclip after the jump.
Source: Design Boom
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June 13th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
[...] it’s unlikely I’ll ever buy one. This does not stop me dribbling onto my desk about their new concept car for two reasons. 1) It’s it probably the most threatening looking fucker I’ve seen in [...]
June 17th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Does this mean we’re going to have to dress the car as well as the children in the morning?
June 21st, 2008 at 3:07 pm
The concept aims to bring the gap between car and driver much closer together with its ability to take on a number of different shapes and designs from the touch of a button.
June 27th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Do you take the car to the car wash or laudromat?….And uhm….how safe would that piece of fabric be in a crash?……DUH
June 27th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
uh thats LAUNDROMAT……..And there is no way that would pass USA safety standards…..that BMW against a MACK truck……You guys get paid to make that stuff up?……..sad world
July 24th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
It’s not made to be driven on “real” roads …. it’s a concept car . Concept cars never go into production directly; most of them are only made to be admired not driven.
This concept is very elegant and it identifies with the BMW brand and attitude.
Great post. Stumbled it !
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:35 am
Who else started out drooling and then got thrown headfirst into the uncanny valley when the hood and headlights opened up? The headlights were kinda cool but the hood actually made me shudder. Nonetheless this is an awesome concept.
March 18th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Auto/ Designer accuses BMW: they copied me. The Public Prosecutor’s office in Rome is investigating
28-02-2009 11:52
“The ‘Gina’ concept car covering was patent protected ”
Rome, 28 Feb. (Apcom) - The ‘Gina’ BMW is a prize-winning concept car, but the idea of using a fabric covering for the bodywork is now said to have been copied from an Italian. This is the subject of the lawsuit initiated by fashion designer Giuseppe Bianco, owner of a number of young fashion labels, and filed with the Rome Public Prosecutor a few days ago. Public Prosecutor Marcello Monteleone is believed to be assessing the case presented by lawyer Carlo Cirillo, which contains allegations of counterfeiting under articles 473 and 474 of the penal code and under the provisions of the so-called ‘industrial property code’, as defined in the law of 10 February 2005, number 30, article 127.
Specifically, according to the lawsuit, Bianco designed an exclusive procedure in 2005 by which any covering material, from leather to fabric to more technical materials, could be applied to the external body of cars and other motor vehicles, “making the covering impermeable and resistant to atmospheric agents”. After registration of the patent, exhibition at the 2006 Bologna Motor show, and coverage on the Tg5 Italian TV channel, Bianco was confident, happy in the knowledge that he had invented something innovative. Then, in the middle of 2008 he discovered that BMW had presented a concept car with a fabric body: the Gina, acronym for ‘Geometry and functions in ‘n’ adaptions’. So Bianco felt that there was nothing for it but to assert his rights.
The battle between this small inventor from Italy and the German colossus began last August, when lawyer Carlo Cirillo informed the legal offices of BMW that his client was the “owner of the rights following the filing of a formal application to register the patent for a fabric covering for motor vehicles” and warning the German company to “cease any activity in conflict with this”. After further contacts between lawyer Carlo Cirillo and the legal consultants from BMW’s patents office, and despite all the documentation presented in support of Bianco’s case, the Gina was exhibited at the museum in Munich and from 11 to 15 February of last year at the Salon Concept Car Hotel National des Invalides Plauce Vebaun, in Paris.
As reported in the newspapers, at that event in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, the Gina won the award of ‘Grand prix du plus beau concept car de l’annèe 2008′. But Bianco was not willing to let matters lie. He made a video with his accusations and posted it on Youtube. The process involved in this work on the car and the application of the materials, as shown on the carbodydesign website, source BMW press office, is exactly the same as the one he designed. In his lawsuit, the designer also refers to a visit by a BMW manager to his stand at the Motorshow. Lawyers Carlo Cirillo and Pamela Baglivo, who presented his case with the collaboration of lawyer Micol Cupo Pagano, explain: “Our client hopes that this will throw light on the matter.”
Lawyer Carlo Cirillo adds: “It is clear that if the judicial authorities recognize this as a violation of Mr. Bianco’s patent rights, we are looking at damage on a huge scale, taking into consideration the enormous publicity potential of the internet coverage used in handling this issue. So I hope that this will bring protection to the offended party, the small businessman, against a multinational company with great economic resources.”
March 18th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Designer in battle against BMW for “Gina”
COVERING SYSTEM CONTESTED: CASE FILED AGAINST THE GERMAN CARMAKERS AT THE ROME PUBLIC PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE.
Source: Corriere della Sera 01/03/2009 - Michele Manno
Rome
It is certainly a strange case that has ended up on the desk of the Public Prosecutor in Rome.
You could almost say that the two contestants are the present situation and the future.
The present situation is represented by designer Giuseppe Bianco; the future by the well-known BMW car manufacturers.
Why future? Because BMW recently won an award in Paris for the most beautiful “Concept Car of 2008”.
The car has an unusual name: ”Gina”. And we know for a fact that, like Gina Lollobrigida and all other women, Gina loves elegant clothes. So much so that she has been called the “Light visionary model”.
She is a car that we will never actually see on the road, like all “concept cars” which, by definition, propose new ideas destined to take shape on the roads of everyday life some time in the near future. The idea is in the composition of the car body, consisting principally of an elasticized fabric stretched over the frame which can be modified at the touch of a button, depending on the driver’s tastes. So it is a fabric to suit all occasions, from a simple meal in a pizzeria to a Gala evening in Monte Carlo. It is a kind of travelling haute couture wardrobe.
But this is where the present, with its laws and regulations, impacts on “Gina’s” destiny. Fashion designer Giuseppe Bianco has initiated a case against BMW, alleging counterfeit and the violation of the industrial property law, claiming that it was he who, in 2005, invented the exclusive procedure by which it is possible to apply any type of covering (leather, fabric and technical materials) to the body of a car or motorbike, thus making “the coverings themselves impermeable and resistant to atmospheric agents”. Before turning to the justice system, in this case public prosecutor Marcello Monteleone, Giuseppe Bianco’s lawyers warned BMW not to continue any activities connected with the use of this process. But the car was still presented.
Whatever the truth of the matter – and legal battles over patents are usually complex – perhaps one day we will hear the verdict. It is up to the judiciary to decide who is right and who is wrong: but for once the case does not concern murder, disputes or violence, but the future of a car; and the prosecution and defence have to make a decision about “Gina”.
September 21st, 2009 at 9:57 pm
this is some weird some shit . i dont see how this is safe what if something catches on fire and the fabric will burn faster than metal will. good try just dont think this is safe.