Rinspeed UC Electric Concept Set To Jolt 2010

Rinspeed UC? Picture

The two-passenger UC? electric concept car is slated for a Geneva show debut from Swiss specialty carmaker Rinspeed.
In what may be the first instance of a question mark's use in a vehicle nameplate, Rinspeed on Wednesday previewed its two-passenger UC? electric concept ahead of its debut at the 2010 Geneva Auto Show. The Swiss specialty house said the name is short for "Urban Commuter" or "You see?"

The UC? is described as a "lightweight lovebug" and bears a passing resemblance to a Volkswagen New Beetle. It has a top speed of 68 mph and a range of 75 miles. It is operated with a central joystick and delivers 91 pound-feet of torque, said Rinspeed in a statement.

"The most important aspect of the vehicle is that there is a good chance that it will be built in series production," Rinspeed said.

In an intriguing twist, the UC? is designed to link individual and public transport. Its makers envision that it can be loaded off and onto railway cars "to cover long distances by train, comfortably, without traffic jams and stress-free." Users would book time to recharge the UC? at a mobile carport with an integrated battery charging station.

Rinspeed said it envisions that large-volume manufacturers will build the car and says "intensive dialogues at the highest levels are already well underway" but does not disclose which companies could build the UC?.

Mini Beachcomber

Gah! Are they serious? What were they smoking in the Mini design studio when they came up with this?

What you see here is the Mini Beachcomber Concept, the 1960’s Mini Moke reimagined through what had to have been a purple haze. BMW’s bringing it to the Detroit auto show, though why is anyone’s guess. There’s been a lot of talk about a Mini crossover utility vehicle in the pipeline, and we can only hope this isn’t what it will look like.

“MINI crosses borders, enters new dimensions of driving pleasure, and wins over additional target groups” is what BMW says about the concept car. Sounds like something the marketing wonks at Pontiac could have been saying at an Aztek product review meeting. Seriously guys, WTF? This kinda goes against everything the Mini embodies, no?

It’s not that the Beachcomber is without its merits. It has such usable features as all-wheel-drive (which Mini terms the “ALL4 all-wheel drive”) and the four seats can be shuffled around to allow you to do a variety of tasks. But Mini has seen fit to do away completely with the roof and doors. Mini says it did this so as not to “limit the intensity of the occupants’ encounter with their surrounding world. This makes the driver and up to three passengers one harmonious entity communicating directly with their surroundings – whether cruising through town, enjoying rough tracks in the mountains or breezing along the beach.”

Or getting whacked in the face by a branch, but don’t let us ruin your fun being one harmonious entity.

And this quote from the press release had us chuckling: “Access to the front and rear seats is nevertheless exceptionally convenient and easy thanks to the omission of doors and the entry cutouts extending all the way down to the seat bottoms, allowing the driver and passengers to get in and out in one smooth and flowing process.”

Yeah, notice how smoothly you flow through those entry cutouts when you hit that huge rock in the trail and the Mini Beachcomber comes to an abrupt halt.

But c’mon, that’s not really going to happen, is it? There’s no way Mini is going to produce this, although the all-wheel-drive and such will be in their upcoming production Mini-ute. Seriously, can you just imagine the reaction from other 4X4 owners at the rock crawling competition if you were to show up in the Mini Beachcomber?

Photos: BMW