A skirt-lifting teaser of the much-anticipated T.25 City Car has been released accompanying the announcement Gordon Murray Design is now officially entertaining franchise buyers of the super-secret microcar.
We still don't know when the car will be officially unveiled (Geneva perhaps?) but Gordon Murray Design is now taking orders from parties interested in distribution, with twelve companies in fifteen countries already interested. In addition to the actual car, GMD is licensing the "iStream" technology and techniques that have been developed to simplify manufacture and assembly of the affordable and pint-sized little car. Go HERE for the full resolution image, and check out the currently available details below.
GORDON MURRAY DESIGN officially ‘On Sale' with their T.25 City Car & iStream process.
Friday 27th February, 2009: Gordon Murray Design announces that they are officially ‘On Sale' with the T.25 City Car & licenses for their new iStream manufacturing process.
The T.25 is a radical, innovative design for a new type and class of personal transport vehicle that offers solutions to reduce congestion and parking problems whilst addressing the issue of full lifecycle CO2 damage. It is designed and packaged to protect mobility, personal freedom and driving ‘fun' whilst greatly reducing the environmental damage from vehicle manufacturing.
The iStream assembly process is a complete rethink and redesign of the traditional manufacturing process and could potentially be the biggest revolution in high volume manufacture since the Model T. Development of the process began over 15 years ago and it has already won the prestigious 2008 ‘Idea of the Year' award from Autocar who were given privileged access in order to make their assessment.
The simplified assembly process means that the manufacturing plant can be designed to be 20% of the size of a conventional factory. This could reduce capital investment in the assembly plant by approximately 80%. Yet the flexibility of this assembly process means that the same factory could be used to manufacture different variants.
The iStream design process is a complete re-think on high volume materials, as well as the manufacturing process and will lead to a significant reduction in CO2 emissions over the lifecycle of the vehicles produced using it, compared with conventional ones. The design process has therefore been built around the mantra of ‘Think Light' and all materials for each variant are carefully selected to be as light as possible whilst being ‘fit for purpose.'
In short, the T.25 architecture, packaging, materials selection and manufacturing process promises to be the biggest revolution in the mass production of cars in the last 100 years.
Whilst the T.25 is only officially on sale this month, Gordon Murray Design have already been approached by 15 potential clients based in 12 different countries. Gordon Murray says "This is an idea that began in 1993 and, with the hard work of the team and help from our investors, it's great to finally see it coming to fruition. I believe the timing is perfect given the current situation within the automotive industry.
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