HONDA’s wondrous soft glow-in-the-dark egg of a concept car with the dirtiest name of all time, the “PUYO,” has been making the car show rounds for a minute now but our fascination remains undiminished. Created entirely without hard edges, inside and out, the new Japanese family commuter pod operates without a steering wheel (a gamer-friendly joystick handles the “directionality”), runs on an advanced hydrogen fuel cell, is enclosed by a totally transparent dome, is surrounded by a silicone “gel body” that literally glows in the dark, and contains an interior that spins a full 360 degrees so that the car never needs to reverse. It also flys and swims underwater. Not really, that doesn’t kick in till the 2011 model. HAVE A LOOK:

In the words of HONDA:

PUYO is a Japanese onomatopoeia that expresses the sensation of touching the vehicle’s soft body. It is meant to convey a warm, friendly impression.

The PUYO represents a new idea in mobility that brings together ‘clean’, ’safe’ and ‘fun’ functionality in an environmentally responsible, people-friendly minimalist design featuring an ultra-high efficiency, small frame and fuel cell technology to please both users and onlookers alike.

EXTERIOR DESIGN
The development theme for the PUYO exterior was to create a cornerless, ‘Seamless Soft Box’ form that is kind to both people and the environment. The goal was to create a personable design with the feel of an adorable pet, while taking advantage of the maximum spaciousness of the box-shaped design. The PUYO’s ‘gel body’ features soft materials to promote greater real-world safety. Moreover, the body has been made luminescent to guide people into the proper operating position and notify them of the vehicle’s condition, facilitating a more intimate relationship between people and their cars.

INTERIOR DESIGN
Developed to have a ‘Silky Feel’, the PUYO’s interior is designed to provide a refreshing, people-friendly space imbued with a feeling of transparency. Features such as an instrument panel monitor, controls that take advantage of the elastic qualities of cloth to rise up when the vehicle starts up, luminous fluid meter displays, and a joystick for intuitive operation are all designed to gently support occupants’ senses and sensibilities.

The joystick controller steers the giant gel egg and doubles as a Wii console…

The interior rotates to more easily facilitate “happy, happy, spin, spin time”

“!!!????????????????!!!”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 at 7:27 am and is filed under Autorama, Design, Japan, Kustom Kulture, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.