Toyota NORI

Fuel economy, nil emissions, use of green materials, and state-of-the-art design: you just name any of these features, and you will find them all in the Toyota NORI concept car. Recently showcased at the LA Auto Show’s 2010 Design Challenge, the concept car contains several solar cells within its PODULAR form to capture and generate supplemental solar energy for the 4-wheel motor.

Contrary to current generation automobiles, the NORI concept features a Podular form that plaits the body and chassis into a single entity, and helps in reducing the overall body weight. The next-gen car, conceived by Craig Kember, Erwin Lui, and Kevin Hunter, makes profuse use of bioplastics technology for strength that uses “nori” (the Japanese word for seaweed) and a carbon fiber weave.