IM Airo – the pollution-busting Chinese concept
The 2021 Auto Shanghai show was full of unusual Chinese car brand names most people on these shores will not be familiar with. Ever heard of Arcfox, Hengchi, Xpeng or Zeekr? But another equally mysterious Chinese brand, IM Motors, only officially formed on Christmas Day 2020 by co-founder SAIC Motor which also owns Brit brand MG, caught our eye for partnering up with acclaimed UK designer Thomas Heatherwick for its latest concept. That the IM Airo is fully-electric and autonomous is no surprise for a future-facing concept, but its pollution-eating capability and distinctive aesthetic is. The basic idea is that the concept has a High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filtering system which can clean up the pollution of other vehicles around it when the air passes through its undercarriage, while producing no tailpipe emissions of its own.
Distinctive exterior
If you ask a non-car designer to create a vehicle you should be seeking different thinking compared to a regular car designer, and the IM Airo’s exterior certainly reflects that. The surface of its lower half is not smooth like most modern cars, but made up of a series of closely-packed ridges wrapping around the front and rear wheels arches and resembling windswept natural forms. Above this area, the Airo’s contrasting cabin features large and smoothly glazed surfaces with sliding doors on both sides.
Transformative interior
The rotational seating inside the concept looks a little late-60s or early-70s-inspired with four wide, horizontal-ribbed loungers a world away from the usual bolstered car seats. This approach reflects the car’s purpose as more of a moving lounge which the Heatherwick Studio envisages could accommodate use cases as diverse as dining (via a fold-out table), gaming (via a foldaway screen) and sleeping (with seats that recline to make a double bed). Using hi-tech glass already available for domestic homes that can turn opaque on command, the normally light and airy space can just as quickly become private too.
Designer charging post
Not wanting to re-charge at any old charging station, the Heatherwick Studio has also designed a new charging post for the Airo. Made of weathered steel and with a retractable wire and ergonomic handle for easy connection, the charging post design seeks to be an elegant fit within the existing street furniture, rather than adding to the visual clutter.
IM Airo for production?
Perhaps most surprising of all, given the Airo’s radical design and intent, is the news that this intriguing vehicle is intended for production as early as 2023. That date sounds very ambitious, unless significant design changes are made, but it’s still interesting that IM Motors is looking to put the car into production at all. As always with these conceptual projects, we’ll just have to wait a few years to find out.
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