OK, it’s not quite as foldable as the space vehicle that cartoon figure George Jetson pops into his briefcase as he heads into the office. But the EN-V concept car, GM’s ‘automobile solution’ for the future, just might fit into an apartment foyer. The space age electric car has been designed to avoid accidents by automatically swerving around other cars by communicating with them. General Motors and its Chinese partner SAIC showcased the ‘Electric Networked-Vehicle’ yesterday in their joint pavilion at the Shanghai Expo, which opens May 1 and runs for six months.
Baby, you can drive my car: The EN-Vcar, pronounced ‘envy’, is show-cased in Shanghai. Five of the EN-Vs fit in the parking space needed for one conventional vehicle, claim GM. The EN-V, pronounced ‘envy’ is GM’s latest effort to burnish its credentials as a future-focused, environmentally friendly company and shed its image as the bastion of the gas guzzling Hummer.
The automaker is in the process of winding down Hummer after a deal collapsed to sell it to a Chinese heavy equipment maker. The Detroit car manufacturer is hoping the helmet-shaped vehicle will help establish it as a significant player in fuel-efficient vehicles after emerging from bankruptcy last July.
GM is not alone in viewing China as the ultimate landscape for tiny urban vehicles. Daimler introduced its Smart ultracompact here in 2008, though few of them can be seen yet on Shanghai streets. The concept behind the car has already been seen in Hollywood blockbuster films including Minority Report and I-Robot, starring Will Smith. The two-wheel, two-seater EN-V, which looks something like an oversized vacuum cleaner, is not just about making vehicles small, lightweight and emission-free, the company says.
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