Every year at the Geneva Motor Show, Swiss carmaker Rinspeed shows off its latest confusing concept to the assembled crowds.
In 2012, it displayed the Dock+Go--a lightly disguised Smart Electric Drive with a docking system to accept a larger battery pack. In 2011, it was the Bamboo, a beach-buggy style electric car.
For 2013, it will preview the MicroMAX, intended to "revolutionize urban traffic".
We've heard similarly utopian phrases before, but Rinspeed's vehicle works on the theory that people will share the MicroMAX to their place of work, not only saving space in a relatively small vehicle, but reducing the quantity of commuting traffic.
It's somewhere between a bus, taxi and personal vehicle on the transport scale, yet offers a unique interior courtesy of its tall, 86.6-inch height.
Six passengers sit (or should that be perch?) on upright seats, but each has its own safety belt for a little more security than offered in the average bus. At just under 12 feet long it's no longer than a MINI, but the upright seating affords each passenger surprising space.
Rinspeed microMAX concept car
As you may expect, the MicroMAX is also an electric vehicle. The more people who use it, the greater the saving on harmful emissions and greenhouse gases.
As a pie-in-the-sky concept no details on its specification have been released just yet, but we can expect a little more information when the Geneva Show starts on March 7, 2013.
