Green is the new frontier for car designers
Click above for more shots of the Lotus Eco Elise concept
Toyota's Prius has always been a love-it or hate-it design, and as it was restyled in 2002, the machine took its now iconic shape to even further extremes. To many a car designer's surprise, its polarizing styling has found plenty of buyers. In fact, many now contribute a large portion of the Prius' success to its unique and easily identifiable 'green' look. With that in mind, auto stylists have become more interested than ever in eco design, with green aesthetics and building materials now seen as being just as important as the green powerplant underhood.
Alec Moran, a student at the Créapôle design school in Paris, has gone so far as to design an electric car with a chassis made of bamboo that's reinforced with spiders' silk and plant resin. A bit closer to reality are composite bioplastics and eco-friendly fabrics, as seen on the recent Lotus Eco Elise concept which will be shown later this month in London. Another example of innovative green thinking is Ford's soy-based seat foam.
Gallery: Lotus Eco Elise
[Source: NY Times]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
radhoo 3:23PM (7/10/2008)
I read some place that in 15 years max, some countrys from Europe will no longer have gas and oil. So the designers must come fast with some eco engines or we'll see cars only on exhibitions....
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Serge 3:40PM (7/10/2008)
Judging from the background of first picture they made use of some hemp too.
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Hugo 2:37AM (7/11/2008)
I hope designers don't take the 'butt ugly and shaped like a deformed brick = environmentally friendly' bit the Prius offers seriously.
The last thing I want to be driving in 10-15 years is a hydrogen-fuelled shed.
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