2010 BMW GINA

The BMW Design team created the GINA Light Visionary Model for display at the automaker’s museum in Munich, and believes that the radical piece may portend a market in which consumers demand the utmost in personalization from their vehicle. To that end, GINA (which stands, awkwardly, for Geometry and Functions in “N” Adaptations) uses a textile skin pulled taught over a framework of movable wires. This malleable form provides near limitless possibilities for BMW designers, while allowing a driver to interact with the car in a far more human way than is possible with traditional vehicles.

Functionality is offered if and when it is required, with lights that are hidden until switched on, a rear spoiler that “grows” out of the deck lid, and headrests that emerge from the backs of seats. GINA’s interior also works on demand, with instruments and gauges appearing as their services are required by the driver.

GINA is certainly a concept-only vehicle, meant to incite new ways of thinking about how and why BMW builds cars. And while a fabric-skinned production roadster may not be in the offing, the idea of engineering tailored to meet driver demand is one that may very well have lasting merit.