One doesn't usually associate Hungary with cutting-edge automotive design. That's about to change, or could change at least a little bit, with this Hungarian-designed Antro Solo eco-car.
Built mostly with carbon fiber composite materials, the Solo weighs in at a featherlight 270kg. The seating is McLaren F1-like arranged like with the driver sitting in the center, flanked by a passenger on each side...
The light weight and hybrid design allow it to achieve fuel efficiency between 1.5L and 2.0L/100km (117-157mpg US) while also attaining a top speed of 140km/h (87mph). The car gets its power from a variety of technologies, including solar power, human power and a standard combustion-electric hybrid system.
Production is planned for 2012, with the price of the Solo to start around US $18,000. There may also be a larger model in the works, called the Duo and offering room for six. There are even plans to make the Duo capable of being split into two Solos with just 10 minutes of work. Now that would be cool!
Sound too good to be true? I guess we'll see in four years time.
Full story here.
Production is planned for 2012, with the price of the Solo to start around US $18,000. There may also be a larger model in the works, called the Duo and offering room for six. There are even plans to make the Duo capable of being split into two Solos with just 10 minutes of work. Now that would be cool!
Sound too good to be true? I guess we'll see in four years time.
Full story here.
estreka says:
08:39 AM, 06/19/08
Very slick car. I wish they had real pictures of the interior. Labor is cheap in eastern Europe, so $18K might be achievable.
jederino says:
04:20 PM, 06/19/08
I like it! Should be safer than a motorcycle, but crash worthiness may not fair well against contemporary cars. When ultra-light cars are the norm, that will be better!
steve_ says:
05:36 PM, 06/19/08
Looks like they left a window open and some plans for a wireless computer mouse blew in and landed in the pile of design sketches. Maybe they can get some additional funding from Logitech. :-)
vmisi says:
02:30 AM, 06/20/08
A picture gallery (including real pictures of the interior) is here: http://index.hu/gal/?dir=0806/tudomany/solo/
The engineers have already done some crash-test simulation, but only simulation. Some pictures of this are here, but the site is Hungarian only: http://www.solo-duo.hu The car is made of magnesium carbon-fibre composite, which is very hard, and you can forget the rust, too. They claim it'll be as safe as a car today. It means 4-5 stars in euroncap. We'll see...
estreka says:
10:31 AM, 06/21/08
Wood grain interior? Wow.
addisonbrown says:
08:48 PM, 06/23/08
Its basically look like a solar powered egg shape cart. I doubt it have passed safety requirements. But its a cool concept. The Car Geek will surely be surprise with that.