BMW GINA Light Visionary Model, Gloss White

GINA stands for Geometry and Functions In 'N' Adaptions, and the unwieldy acronym hides a serious idea. Under Chris Bangle, BMW's designers asked what a car might become if its form were not fixed: if the body could change shape for different situations, and anything the driver did not need at that moment could simply disappear beneath the surface. Bangle said the project allowed his team to 'challenge existing principles and conventional processes'. Begun in 2001 and shown in June 2008, it was a research tool for questioning how cars are designed and built, not a preview of a production model.

A solid gloss white with a white and light grey interior shows the form plainly. With no metallic flake and no contrasting cabin, the eye goes straight to the shape: the hollows behind the front wheels, the ridge running back from each headlamp, the rounded tail. The steering wheel is white-rimmed around a BMW roundel, the dials sit stacked in the centre console, and the split-spoke wheels and paired tailpipes are bright silver against the paint, with a carbon-weave diffuser below. The plaque on its stitched grey base marks it as one of 7. Built at 1:18.