Is it a car, a bike or a speedboat?
BMW has revealed a pair of concept cars - called Simple and Clever - that hint at the company's 'Project I' city car series, plans for which could become a production reality by 2015.
The three-wheeler concepts, which look like a cross-breed of boat, jet fighter and motor bike, have just gone on display at BMW's museum in Munich.
The Simple, a bizarre Stealth fighter-scooter combination, is intended to combine the safety of a car with the agility and compact dimensions of a motorbike in a super-frugal package.
The 'Sustainable and Innovative Mobility Product for Low Energy consumption' (Simple - geddit?) concept is powered by a 48bhp petrol engine that should be theoretically good for 0-62mph in 'under ten seconds'. A spectacularly slippery drag coefficient of 0.18 also helps to give the Simple a fuel consumption figure of 2l/100kn - equivalent to 120mpg.
Don't expect to see a Simple on the streets anytime soon, though. BMW marketeers reckon that tandem seating isn't an enticing prospect for buyers, so although the project was completed in 2008 it has never been shown at a major motor show.
Do expect to see some elements of the Simple's design and powertrain reappear in a Project I product, however.
BMW Simple is good for 120mpg
The Clever is a slightly older version of a similar concept to the Simple, the project having been first started in 2002. According to BMW's press information, "Being CLEVER means sitting one behind the other in a three-wheeled vehicle driven by a low-emission natural gas engine. And that adds up to low aerodynamic drag, minimal weight and a small road footprint."
Sounds rather like the Simple to us. So does that mean that BMW thinks Clever is the same as Simple? We're confused... and BMW's next few comments confuse us still further: "Being CLEVER also means enjoying the riding fun of a motorcycle coupled with the safety of a passenger car. To this end, the driver and passenger sit in a crash-optimised aluminium space frame with computer-controlled tilting during cornering, offering occupants a typical two-wheeler ride experience.
BMW Simple gets ready for takeoff...
The Clever is, however, a more minimalist proposition than the Simple, with a 17bhp 230cc single-cylinder motor running on compressed natural gas and providing a top speed of around 60mph for the 400kg vehicle.
There's only one thing that's not so smart about the Clever - its spelling. Clever, apparently, is an acronym for 'Compact Low Emission Vehicle for Urban Transport'. No, we can't work that one out either...
 Clever is a, er, simpler version of the Simple |
 Marketing men not a fan of tandem seating |
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