From an established automaker, an electric sports car with a roof that can be set in two different positions depending on the number of people aboard might seem kind of radical, even as a concept car.
From habitual freak-out artist, Frank Rinderknecht's Rinspeed outfit the concept, called the iChange, barely registers on the scale of weirdness. It's a scale Rinderknecht has set for himself with past Geneva show concepts such as a submersible Lotus Elise called the sQuba, a convertible with a variable-length wheelbase named the Presto and a vehicle that senses its driver's biometric data called, naturally, the Senso.
The idea behind the iChange, other than a chance to use the popular lower-case "i" prefix that people seem to love these days, is that a car should adapt to the number of people in it at any given time. What this means in reality (or at least the reality within Rinderknecht's mellon) is that the front-hinged canopy roof is set in a low position when there's only the driver in the car. When the two rear seats are filled with people (people who will apparently be wearing orange construction hard hats according to the pictures) the roof will lock in at a higher setting, thus providing head room for the rear passengers.
The thinking is that the lower roofline will be more aerodynically efficient when there's only the driver aboard. We're not even really sure that's true exactly. But there you have it. Expect attractive models to be demonstrating this thing at the Geneva show in a couple of weeks.
Oh, and the name? Well, apparently you can use your iPhone in place of a key to start up the car because, well, because why not?
jederino says:
01:08 PM, 02/17/09
I'm not really seeing how the roof changes, but it is an attractive design. Looks like an interesting sports car application, for sure!