BMW's (nanotechnology?) shape-shifting car

(Nanowerk News) It seems that reality is catching up with science fiction fast. On TV, the latest Knight Rider series features a car that embraces nanotechnology to change colors and morph into similar car forms temporarily.

Yesterday, BMW introduced it's "GINA Light Visionary Model".

The car has a flexible outer skin, making some elements of the substructure moveable.

The GINA Light Visionary Model takes the sculptural design that has already been established by a number of production cars to a new, unparalleled conclusion. The car’s front and sides, including the doors, create one single uninterrupted, seamless whole that converges to form an optical as well as a structural unit.

The body consists of only four elements. The largest component extends from the front of the vehicle to the edge of the windscreen and down the sides to the rear edge of the doors. The large side panels start at the front where the rocker panels emerge and run across the rear wheel arches into the rear. The fourth component is the central rear deck element.