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On February 17, 2009 Swiss’s auto company Rinspeed released the world’s first car whose body adapts to the number of passengers in the car. The car is called iChange because with a push of a button  the rear end of the car slides up. The iChange can go from a sporty one-seater to a luxury three-seater.

The teardrop shaped concept car is extremely aerodynamic so it’s good on gas, and uses less electricity from it’s electric motor.

In seconds a streamlined one-seater sports car transforms into a comfortable car with ample room for three. The trick: At the push of a button the rear end of the teardrop-shaped car magically pops up. “We have designed and built an extremely flexible vehicle. In it we have brought the themes of versatility and continually changing energy demands to their logical conclusions.” The result is a streamlined, lightweightzero-emission car with dramatically reduced energy consumption.

The basic idea behind the ‘iChange:’: The energy demand of a vehicle depends mostly on its weight, the type of engine it uses, and its aerodynamic properties. The engineering-services company Esoro that traditionally builds Rinspeed concept cars has built an extremely lightweight car weighing in at only 1’050 kilograms. To power the car, the Swiss specialists chose an electric motor. The idea of the pop-up rear end was conceived to account for the sizeable effect aerodynamics play in fuel consumption.

Hopefully this is the start of a new automotive era. With cars like the iChange, it’s clear that the only cars that are going to compete are the one’s who are coming up with innovative ideas. I can’t wait to see this on the streets.

via [pressportal]