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Honda's "Micro Commuter" Features Swappable Bodies
Zothecula writes "Further evidence of the coming fragmentation of personal transportation came today when Honda released details of the next iteration of its electric 'Micro Commuter' prototype which we first saw at the Tokyo Motor Show last year. The new version is close to production-ready, and concentrates the battery and functionality of the micro EV below the floor, enabling the vehicle's body to be easily changed to accommodate different functionality."
GM was working on something like that yonks ago.
rewriting history since 2109
When can I freakin' get one???
3-wheeler, covered, a bit of seat heat and minimal climate control, and a cheap base price like other tiny cars.
Hello..... I've been waiting at least 5 years and seeing an endless stream of cool non-production car-show concepts and test prototypes.
"Show me the MINI !"
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
It's important that the "cool" factor be removed from cars. They need to be reduced to the status level of grocery store shopping carts. The very concept of "a pleasure drive" needs to disappear and become as irrelevant to modern life and as hoary-sounding as a hayride or the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Honestly I would just be scared to drive one if *all* other vehicles on the road were not exactly the same. Think about what would happen if you pulled out in front of a Hummer, or a Semi. They'd have to pull out the fine toothed comb just to gather bits and pieces of you to send along to your family.
I noticed in the article that one group that may benefit from this tiny commuter car was senior citizens. Really? Can you imagine a senior citizen getting in or out of that tiny thing? I'm a 6' 250 lb 59 year old with arthritic knees and artificial hips, and I have trouble getting in an out of a Volkswagen Jetta. By the time I'm 70 I'll have trouble getting in a Cadillac!
Pure car-show fodder.
Not quite, in a lot of places people want a small personal commuter that is easy to park and wont use much fuel. Not everywhere is like the US where everyone drives massive mum-tanks (SUV's) across multiple lanes whilst on the phone and stuffing their face.
However this is a concept car by the looks of it.
I can see this becoming big in Asia, in Japan Kei Cars are already popular because they are cheap and small. This concept is perfect for a single commuter to go to and from work in, a good alternative to riding a motorbike and getting changed at work (no matter how much you prepare, it still sucks getting rained on). With a rising middle class in China and India and already congested streets, a smaller one man commuter would be very much in demand. Honda see's this (not to mention other companies like Tata)
But the swappable bodies would be more of a manufacturing boon. Build one wheel base, then 3 bodies. you benefit from having increased economies of scale with the wheel base production and fewer factories required to produce 3 different cars.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
We can't help it that you're a big fat oaf. These cars care made in Japan with the average Japanese as their target market. Not fat Americans, stuffing their fat faces with big macs and acting like the world owes them 3 tons of steel meant to hold 8 passengers so they carry their singular fat asses around in.
When you stop treating vehicles like fashion statements maybe the rest of us will start to give a fuck about what you think.
It's important that the "cool" factor be removed from cars...the very concept of "a pleasure drive" needs to disappear.
Agree, I'm writing to my polycritter while we speak! We must stop this pleasurable activity immediately before people start enjoying themselves! What's next on our anti-vainity hit list? - Hair gel? - I hate smarmy barstards with shinny hair, who the fuck do they thing they are!
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
95% of all maintenance Saturn S series parts are the same from 1992-2004. Things like the body panels are not interchangeable between all models, but i suspect a lot of them are (92-97 front ends, and 98 and later front ends). It's really a shame saturn basically packed up in 2004-2005 when they became mostly a GM re-badger.
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I don't know if anybody here remembers the Volkswagen Thing. Modular body for different purposes. The vehicle is probably older than most here..
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In Brave New World everybody had a social life, regular sex, drugs if they wanted them, free medicine and organised games. Huxley thought he was describing a dystopia, but for 95% of the population at the time he wrote he was describing an unattainable paradise. Who would worry about dick-extendermobiles when all the women are beautiful and forever young?
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."