Wednesday, September 3, 2008

VW Solar Power Vehicle

nickmcglynn: An idea that started way back in 1994 and sadly never went anywhere is designer Alexandre Verdier’s Westfalia Verdier Solar Power vehicle. Like VW’s fabled Magic Bus, Verdier hoped to build a culture around a recreational vehicle that would attract the countercultured. Features of the VSP: - Rooftop sun-tracking solar panels - Pneumatic suspension for better stabilization in a stationary position. - Sliding half-door on the passenger side with integrated folding staircase - Passenger seat that mechanically transforms into stairs to provide access to second-stage area - Swivel cooking range enables both indoor and outdoor cooking - In the second stage area, a dividing wall with a sliding door and multiple windows - Multimedia computer The design won Germany’s Caravaning Design Award in 2006…and promptly dropped off the face of the Earth. Their poorly-done media kit, filled with grammar errors, typos, and bad layout, serves as a reminder that these days, having a good concept without the business acumen behind it just isn’t enough. Would love to see something like this become a reality, though multimedia computer?? Interesting, too, that my ‘65 VW has a lot of these features (swivel cooking range, awning for outdoor seating), plus wood interior, ice box, and a little wardrobe. And why the white Wassily chairs? I’d like to get the folding Tripolinas the DWR included in their Airstream package.

An idea that started way back in 1994 and sadly never went anywhere is designer Alexandre Verdier’s Westfalia Verdier Solar Power vehicle. Like VW’s fabled Magic Bus, Verdier hoped to build a culture around a recreational vehicle that would attract the countercultured. Features of the VSP:

- Rooftop sun-tracking solar panels

- Pneumatic suspension for better stabilization in a stationary position.

- Sliding half-door on the passenger side with integrated folding staircase

- Passenger seat that mechanically transforms into stairs to provide access to second-stage area

- Swivel cooking range enables both indoor and outdoor cooking

- In the second stage area, a dividing wall with a sliding door and multiple windows

- Multimedia computer

The design won Germany’s Caravaning Design Award in 2006…and promptly dropped off the face of the Earth. Their poorly-done media kit, filled with grammar errors, typos, and bad layout, serves as a reminder that these days, having a good concept without the business acumen behind it just isn’t enough


via Scott Lamb

Posted by Madame Lamb on Wednesday, September 3, 2008 at 6:39 AM

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