Rinspeed comes up with another odd, evocative concept for the upcoming Geneva Motor Show.
About this time of year, as the sun starts to vanish earlier and earlier and the snows begin to fall, you might understand why the teaser we received from RinSpeed, the quirky Swiss design house, generated so much interest.
A familiar name to anyone who has attended the annual Geneva Motor Show, Rinspeed has a history of coming up with wild and wacky automotive designs – cars that can fly, or transform into submarines. Last year’s UC? electric microcar could slot into a specially-designed train like a weary traveler into an old-fashioned Pullman bed for long-distance journeys.
And now comes the BamBoo, which like we sun-starved Detroiters, is “longing for sun, summer, lightness and easiness, the desire to be at the beach,” according to a provocative press release. And yes, as it continues, we probably can imagine “Brigitte Bardot behind the wheel with playboy Gunther Sachs at her side heading towards Tahiti beach.”
In keeping with the name, this safari-style concept vehicle makes extensive use of bamboo for its interior componentry. The basic design is as simple as it gets, and actually brings to mind some of the delightfully odd and retro machines that Nissan brought to the Japanese domestic market in the 1990s, such as the snail-like – and appropriately named — S-Cargo.
A bamboo interior and an electric driveline.
Rinspeed doesn’t provide many details. It does appear that BamBoo is intended to use an electric drivetrain, something the Swiss firm has incorporated into a number of its recent models. And manpower, as it suggests there’s a stowaway “two-wheeler” onboard for the “last mile” of bicycling down the beach.
The firm lists a variety of partners involved in the development of the BamBoo prototype, including Henkel, Goodyear, Continental, Harman and A.T. Kearney, so some serious thought went into its development. But, as typical with Rinspeed’s Geneva concepts, we don’t expect to see any serious production efforts. Just an evocative design that we’ll pin to the wall for the next few months until the seasons change again and the sun returns to Detroit. Like Rinspeed, we can always dream.