REPORT: Gordon Murray's T25 to seat three; be larger inside that iQ, Fortwo
There's no guarantee that Gordon Murray's innovative T25 microcar will ever see the light of day. The designer has no intention of actually building the automobile himself – instead, Murray hopes to sell the rights to build the car using his equally impressive (or so we hear) iStream production method to a number of third-party assemblers. Still, development of the machine seems to be moving full steam ahead.According to Autocar, the T25 will seat three occupants with the driver front-and-center behind a mid-mounted steering wheel in an arrangement Murray calls iCentre. Out back, two seats flank that single drivers perch. That puts the T25 directly between the two-seat Smart Fortwo and four-seat (or, 3+1 as Toyota puts it) iQ.
Despite seating one fewer passenger than the Toyota iQ, the T25 will reportedly sport more total interior volume (750 liters) and luggage carrying capacity than either of its main competitors. To access the vehicle, there will be two doors, one in the traditional hatchback location and another echoing the old BMW Isetta by opening on a hinge at the very front of the car. Sounds interesting, we look forward to seeing the rest of Murray's interesting ideas take shape.
[Source: Autocar]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Chris M 5:28PM (9/02/2009)
Front and back doors? Sounds like the Loremo, but Loremo actually has production plans and a decent looking vehicle.
It is very rare that any manufacturer will buy an existing design to manufacture. More likely that they will custom order a design to their specs, or have another company make it for them.
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Throwback 6:56PM (9/02/2009)
I could see a Chinese or Indian firm going for this. If the production method is as ground breaking as he claims, it would a good way for a company to get a small car up and running.
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mike 12:19AM (9/03/2009)
What has been done and is most often done and likely will be done are all well and good.
But it still leaves a huge future gap for what will be done.
We just don't know.
I could see apple or somebody like them getting into the car business with something like this if they thought they could.
I could also see somebody like bmw or whomever trying to buy it and all rights.
The guy putting it forward is not exactly some unknown tinker in his garage, ey?
I for one am quite curious to see just what happens with it.
I think there is plenty of room outside the box for personal transportation thinking.
The car industry is worse than hollywood when it comes to actually trying something new as opposed to just slapping a coat of paint on what sold well last year and 10 years ago.
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