Rinspeed eXasis Powered by Weber Motor® MPE 750World premiere at the Geneva Motor Show 2007"Glass" concept car to mark Rinspeed's 30th birthday - 40 years after Bayer's first "all-plastic" car
Zumikon / Leverkusen – "There's never been anything like it" were the words used in the online edition of an acclaimed international news magazine to describe its editor's reaction when the first sketches of the new Rinspeed concept car, "eXasis", appeared on the Internet, "and it looks like no other vehicle before it". In fact, the illustrations could only hint at what Swiss automotive visionary Frank M. Rinderknecht had thought up in collaboration with the experts from Bayer MaterialScience AG – one of the largest plastics producers in the world – to mark his company's 30th anniversary: a drivable "glass" car with a completely transparent body and floor made of Makrolon®. Once again, this Rinspeed creation has been built by the Swiss engineering specialists Esoro, and will be shown to the public for the first time at the Geneva Motor Show (March 8-18, 2007), 40 years after Bayer presented the first "all-plastic car" at the K67 Plastics Fair in Germany in 1967.
Frank M. Rinderknecht used highly advanced technology and a Swiss-based network of top automotive specialists for his project. Although there is no automobile production in Switzerland, there is a very active automotive supply industry there. Many highly innovative prototypes have been developed and manufactured in Switzerland. engineered by Esoro - What you dream is what you get.
So is it just a clever 3D projection, a fata morgana or perhaps a four-wheel ‘objet d'art’? In any case, the third vehicle to emerge from the cooperation between the two companies differs fundamentally from the other two: the futuristic-looking "Senso" and the pure-blooded "zaZen" sports car. The eXasis is a completely new development, in other words it is not based on a production-line vehicle. The insect-like, shiny yellow body with the exposed wheels looks like a mix of the legendary Auto-Union racing cars from the first half of the last century and an off-road vehicle, offering room for two people, one behind the other. The reinterpretation of the frequently cited cigar form is crowned in the "sexy" rear section with an attractively integrated ventilator and a superb matching, highly polished Remus exhaust muffler. And the transparency also provides an unrestricted view of the compact 2-cylinder 750 ccm Weber engine, which, very unusually, sits above the transmission.
The "eXasis" is powered by an extremely lightweight, 150 bhp Weber engine driven by CO2-emission-reducing bioethanol. In view of the fact that the car weighs only 750 kg because of its lightweight plastic construction, one horsepower has to shift only 5 kg – and that is about the same as a very nippy Porsche.
Trotz schön gezogener Karosserie-Linien, die sich in der Transparenz verlieren, hat der „eXasis“ Ecken und Kanten und will polarisieren. In einem werden sich aber alle, die das Vergnügen haben, ihn einmal zu fahren, einig sein: Der kurze Blick nach unten durchs durchsichtige „Bodenblech“ sorgt während der Fahrt für einen Thrill der ganz besonderen Art…
Rinspeed eXasis Powered by Weber Motor® MPE 750
Integrating such a powerful turbo charged engine into the Rinspeed product version eXasis was an outstanding technical challenge. Along with the minimized package and rear engine position, challenges are linked to the thermal and dynamic performance capability. The vehicle is capable of running on conventional gasoline as well as Bio-Ethanol (E85).
The answer to this technical challenge is to position the gear box underneath the engine. Thus an extremely short drive train is realized. This ensures, in combination with the small installation height of the turbo charged engine, an outstanding vehicle weight distribution.
In respect to the dynamic performance capability, this engine is also a sight for sore eyes: with turbo charging, double throttle body and intercooler a 110 kW (150 hp) engine with comparatively low 7.000 rpm is attained and this engine’s performance is equivalent to that of a 147 KW/l (200 hp/l) engine!
Every engine assembled in the Weber Motor Manufacturing Center is done so according to the highest quality standards. This is documented through the hand signed engine plate combined with the serial number found on each engine. |  |
