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PostPosted: January 30, 2012, 10:18 am 
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http://autos.yahoo.com/news/fold-up-car-of-the-future-unveiled-for-europe.html

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A tiny revolutionary fold-up car designed in Spain's Basque country as the answer to urban stress and pollution was unveiled Tuesday before hitting European cities in 2013.

The "Hiriko," the Basque word for "urban," is an electric two-seater with no doors whose motor is located in the wheels and which folds up like a child's collapsible buggy, or stroller, for easy parking.

Dreamt up by Boston's MIT-Media lab, the concept was developed by a consortium of seven small Basque firms under the name Hiriko Driving Mobility, with a prototype unveiled by European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.

Demonstrating for journalists, Barroso clambered in through the fold-up front windscreen of the 1.5-metre-long car.

"European ideas usually are developed in the United States. This time an American idea is being made in Europe," consortium spokesman Gorka Espiau told AFP.

Its makers are in talks with a number of European cities to assemble the tiny cars that can run 120 kilometers (75 miles) without a recharge and whose speed is electronically set to respect city limits.

They envision it as a city-owned vehicle, up for hire like the fleets of bicycles available in many European cities, or put up for sale privately at around 12,500 euros.

Several cities have shows interest, including Berlin, Barcelona, San Francisco and Hong Kong. Talks are under way with Paris, London, Boston, Dubai and Brussels.

The vehicle's four wheels turn at right angles to facilitate sideways parking in tight spaces.
The backers describe the "Hiriko" project as a "European social innovation initiative offering a systematic solution to major societal challenges: urban transportation, pollution and job creation."

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PostPosted: January 30, 2012, 10:38 am 
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I hope they give it one large, center-mounted headlight... Stan Mott would be so proud.
Attachment:
Cyclops.jpg


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PostPosted: January 30, 2012, 12:33 pm 
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Does that really say rallye Monte Carlo on that bumper plate?


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PostPosted: January 30, 2012, 1:16 pm 
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krepus wrote:
Does that really say rallye Monte Carlo on that bumper plate?


Yes, it does... But, like the car itself, I'm sure it was less than factual. "Cyclops" was a cartoon, drawn by Stan Mott, that appeared in Road & Track for decades. That's him at the wheel of his creation in the picture, circa 1959.

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PostPosted: January 30, 2012, 1:32 pm 
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I had no idea who he was at first... I looked up the car and found a site devoted to his drawings and cartoons... Pretty interesting! Most of it seemed directed towards skewed Russian design initiatives... Lol


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PostPosted: January 30, 2012, 2:00 pm 
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I had to look up Stan Mott too. I can see how JD would be a fan......

To bring things home a bit more, it seems that Stan was a fan of the Se7en. He has a unique take on how to keep other cars away from his Se7en while on a Sunday blat:


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PostPosted: January 30, 2012, 2:34 pm 
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I was just about to post that... Lol

Regarding the op, what do they consider city speed? That's 45 mph around here...


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PostPosted: January 30, 2012, 3:44 pm 
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I had to look up Stan Mott too. I can see how JD would be a fan......


Why, Chuck, whatever could you mean by that??? :shock:

Look up "Cyclops Night Out" and check out the big hairy version, with the clamshell fenders and some Bugatti Royale DNA.
Wonderful stuff... (And Slotus inspiration????)

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PostPosted: January 30, 2012, 9:07 pm 
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But I still don't get how you enter & exit. It says no doors and when the front folds up there doesn't seem to be much room to get out.

I also hope the mechanism is more reliable than those on the strollers they reference. Ours always refused to fold up when we wanted to and would fold up on their own sometimes. That's be a biyatch if it happened while driving.

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PostPosted: January 31, 2012, 12:06 am 
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carguy123 wrote:
But I still don't get how you enter & exit. It says no doors and when the front folds up there doesn't seem to be much room to get out.

I also hope the mechanism is more reliable than those on the strollers they reference. Ours always refused to fold up when we wanted to and would fold up on their own sometimes. That's be a biyatch if it happened while driving.


Opens from the front.
Attachment:
hiriko-electric-car-launched-european-20120124-081034-986.jpg


That thing looks sweet but Im not getting one. The Smart car gets a 3 star crash rating for a vehicle impact of its own size... now they can get a 3 star in a crash instead of a 1 since this looks to be the same size from the pics


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