Royal Dutch Shell and Gordon Murray will partner on a new city car project, based heavily on Murray’s T25 city car project. The vehicle, dubbed Project M, is described as a “simple, practical global city car”.
While Shell will provide expertise in engine lubricants for the project, the oil major is now the T25 project’s most high profile backer. Under the parameters of Project M, the vehicle will retain the T25’s three-seater layout, the iStream production process and an internal combustion engine. The powertrain will be designed by ex-Honda F1 engineer Osamu Goto. Murray himself was a former McLaren engineer and the father of the McLaren F1, widely considered to be the greatest road car of all-time.
AutoExpress reports that the ultimate aim will be to sell a similar concept in emerging markets, where rampant traffic congestion and an increased demand for cars could present a major infrastructure issue for developing economies. Just months ago, the T25 concepts was rumored to be licensed to Yamaha for an all-new city car that would be built with iStream’s manufacturing principles.
This isn’t the successful city car you’re looking for.
I don’t if it will work as a city car, but I’m sure every airline is drooling over this design.
No doubt. I have my money on the airlines working with IKEA on ways to flat-pack passengers. Arrive at airport. Take sedative. Lay down prostrate in your box. Get stacked like cargo in the plane. Get revived at destination. You still pay to have a bag checked.
I might actually pay more for this. There’s nothing to see from the plane, and consuming most any form of media is challenged at best. I might as well fly like a wild animal: hit me with a dart in the terminal, pack me in a crate and revive me when we reach our destination. As a tiny plus, if the co-pilot goes nuts and slams the plane into a mountain I’ll not have to experience it with him.
Wanna go in together on this one? You make a strong business case…
Airlines *are* looking at ways to switch from seats to ‘saddles’ so passengers can essentially stand instead of sit, thus permitting tighter packing.
However, crash safety may be a problem, especially for passengers lying down.
Flying coach gets more like this with every trip! I just hope the seats don’t recline.
Is this really a Top Gear joke???????
I SEE THE STIG!!!!
That’s the crumple zone made to look like The Stig. The new Murray-Shell project is not meant to culminate in a production-ready car. It’s to demonstrate how Shell lubricants can contribute to boosting fuel efficiency. And Murray can once again show the world what a magnificent little machine his T-25 might mean, particularly since Yamaha practically pulled the plug.
People stacked on top of each other? Sure that will work. Hey are you gonna finish your Soylent Green?
I love the left passenger in the top hat. Pure class.
Sorry, I don’t want a car that was designed after watching The Human Centipede.
We already have a city car……..Uber.
the Uber a lot of cities (at least up in Canada) are taking to court for the sake of defending the taxi drivers? That Uber? :)
The proliferation of city cars makes me wonder if this is what we’ll be reduced to, with traffic congestion, parking limits, and environmental/mileage restrictions killing off all other modes of individual transportation, at least in cities. I can imagine owners of larger cars forced to keep them in storage lots on the periphery of cities, like mobile home owners. I can imagine it, but I don’t like it.
This is what TTAC should have run for April Fools Day. It’s so obviously stupid, it shows Murray at least has a weak sense of humor.
Ha, ha.
Not to mention misspelling of the name: “Gordan” Murray.
Check the date on the drawing.
even more stupid than the foam car?
The man in the helmet has two noses.
That’s light reflection, not noses.
You sure that’s not a take-off on Jezzy Clarkson’s little city car?
Derek, the drawing refers to the car as a “6-seater”, not 3. Presumably, there are 2 seats in each row?
And people mocked Clarkson’s P45. Seriously, he should be pissed as it’s similar.
Best part of that episode is when he told the Scottish guy that he couldn’t understand him. I laughed because this is true; Scottish people are difficult to understand.