Offbeat Swiss design company Rinspeed, and Bayer MaterialScience, one of the world’s biggest plastics producers, will together unveil a revolutionary new transparent concept car – the zaZen – at the 2006 Geneva show.
Offbeat Swiss design company Rinspeed, and Bayer MaterialScience, one of the world’s biggest plastics producers, will together unveil a revolutionary new transparent concept car – the zaZen – at the 2006 Geneva show.
For the past few years, Rinspeed has wowed the Geneva Motor Show crowds with its off-the-wall creations. There was the Presto that could transform itself from a two- to a four-seater in 2002, and the Bedouin Porsche 911 turbo “estate” that could transform itself into a pick-up within 10 seconds a year later. More recently, Rinspeed unveiled its amphibious (and very confused) Splash and, at last year’s Geneva Show, the three-seater Senso that could adapt to its driver’s mood.
The 2006 show will see the world premiere of the “zaZen” concept, which is based on Zen principles and marks the beginning of a new era in lighting technology in vehicle design according to Bayer MaterialScience.
The entire roof area down to the shoulder line is composed of a single sheet of transparent polycarbonate that can be made opaque at the touch of a button. Like the zaZen’s transparent roof, the additional knobs and information displays can also be faded out at will, so that the driver can concentrate on functions that are more important to him/her.
The large third brake light shines out of the state-of-the-art polycarbonate teardrop-shaped rear window that doubles as a luminous holographic area.
Glass-like plastic seats in a right orange give the interior a pleasant and friendly environment.
The “organically designed” concept’s white paint finish is achieved through the use of millions of tiny Swarovski crystals which are fitted to the bodywork and coated with a self-repairing clear polyurethane finish.
The zaZen is currently being prepared at the workshops of Swiss engineering specialists, Esoro, and will make its first appearance at the Geneva Motor Show at the end of February.
