pet connection

Because our emphasis here is strictly canine, I don’t pay a lot of attention to vehicles that aren’t dog-friendly … sports cars, for example. Case in point: While waiting in the doctor’s office yesterday, I eagerly grabbed the latest copy of Motor Trend magazine, flipping quickly past the spread on “muscle cars” and looking for the “first look” feature on the redesigned Honda Pilot (they liked it, and from I could read, I’m guessing we will, too).

That’s my excuse for missing this little bit of automotive news until a friend mentioned it to me:

BMW has unveiled a “concept car” named … Gina. From AutoBlog:

The BMW GINA Light Visionary Model that was seen via video being installed in the BMW Museum in Munich last week has finally been revealed, and the futuristic design study shows how BMW designers are thinking outside of the box when it comes to the materials that make up a car and also how the car relates to the driver. GINA stands for “Geometry and Functions in ‘N’ Adaptations”, which basically means that designers from both BMW and BMW Group DesignworksUSA were allowed to throw out the rulebook. This is most evident in the GINA Light Visionary Model’s outer skin, which is made entirely out of textile fabric that’s pulled taut around a frame of metal and carbon fiber wires. The skeleton of the car is controlled by electro-hydraulic devices and can actually move and change shape beneath the fabric skin.

Sad to say, the Gina is completely worthless as a DogCar, and for all its advances and tweaks of the technology, looks like just another phallic-symbol-you-can-drive to me.  Room for a dog? Maybe a small one. Room for a crate? Don’t make me laugh.

Hey BMW, I want my name back. I’m giving it to a company who’ll make a car we can actually use.