Louis Vuitton Designs Carbon Fiber Luggage for the Revolutionary BMW i8 Plug-In Hybrid.

Buy a BMW i8 and you not only get a sleek, sexy, plug-in hybrid with gullwing doors, but also a trunk full of luxurious luggage. Louis Vuitton has teamed up with the automaker to create a tailor-made set of luggage for the new revolutionary vehicle.


above: The revolutionary BMW i8 plug-in hybrid features gullwing doors

The innovative collection of luggage comprises two travel bags, a business case and a garment bag. To ensure optimal use of space, the luggage items have been tailor-made to fit perfectly into the interior of the revolutionary BMW i8.



“BMW and Louis Vuitton share both a profound appreciation of tradition and a commitment to constant further development,” says Adrian van Hooydonk, Senior Vice President BMW Group Design. “The use of CFRP in the revolutionary BMW i8 sports car is indicative of an intelligent lightweight construction philosophy. And Louis Vuitton has demonstrated a similar belief in innovation, aesthetics and lightweight design in creating an exclusive luggage collection tailored perfectly to the new BMW i8.”



The understated carbon-black of this luggage range matches the colours of the BMW i8. Its sophisticated look comes courtesy of the unmistakable checkered Damier pattern – a Louis Vuitton hallmark – and a laser-etched Louis Vuitton signature. Black and electric blue used in the microfibre lining take their cue from the trademark brand colours of the BMW i8 and bag handles are made from dyed natural leather, a sign of Louis Vuitton quality. All items in the collection come with leather name tags and the iconic Louis Vuitton padlock with the exception of the garment bag.




Patrick-Louis Vuitton, Head of Special Orders at Louis Vuitton and great grandson of the House’s founder, says, “This collaboration with BMW epitomises our shared values of creativity, technological innovation and style. Our craftsmen at Louis Vuitton have enjoyed the challenge of this very special project, using their ingenuity and attention to detail to create a truly made to measure set of luxury luggage. This is a pure expression of the art of travel.”




Inspired by the visionary design of the BMW i8, the bags and cases – like the sports car’s innovative passenger cell – are made entirely from carbon fibre. This particularly lightweight yet extremely sturdy high-tech material has been used by Louis Vuitton to create a special textile. It provides great robustness and strength, and as such is made for the rigours of travel – no matter how long and arduous the drive.



The exclusive luggage pieces created by Louis Vuitton fit snugly into the BMW i8. The Weekender GM i8, with both hand and shoulder carry straps, is custom-designed to go into the boot (trunk), while the Garment Bag i8is a perfect fit for the rear shelf of the BMW i8. The sturdy hardshell Business Case i8 which is also ideal for carrying laptops, matches the shape of the rear seats; while the small Weekender PM i8 is designed to rest on its surface.



The Louis Vuitton luggage series will be available upon request in a selection of Louis Vuitton stores worldwide (Munich, Milan, London, Paris, Moscow, Dubai, New York, Los Angeles) starting April 1st 2014.

About the BMW i8:





The BMW i8 is the most progressive sports car and is the BMW Group’s first plug-in hybrid vehicle and the second model from the BMW i brand. It is a 2+2-seater boasting visionary design and intelligent lightweight engineering. As a plug-in hybrid, the BMW i8 unites the advantages of innovative electric drive and the latest combustion-engine technology. The upshot is an extraordinary driving experience that delivers the dynamics of a sports car (0 – 100 km/h / 62 mph in 4.4 seconds) along with fuel economy and emissions figures of a small city car (2,1 l/100km / 49 g CO2/km). This means not just purely electric emission-free driving around town but also sporty performance on inter-urban routes. The athletic personality of this revolutionary sports car is patently manifest in its design: classical sports car proportions, spectacular gullwing doors, clean, minimalist lines and a low-slung silhouette all imbue it with its powerful, dynamic shape. The sporty character of the BMW i8 exterior makes a seamless transition into the interior’s future-focused design.

all information and images courtesy of the BMW press group

The Evomobil. Ora-ïto Collaborates With Citroën For An Imaginative Vehicle.

above photos by Romina Shama

Evo Citroën - The Evomobil



Paris, France, April 2011 — Cit­roën has al­ways been con­sid­ered as the most in­­no­­vat­ing brand of the car in­­­dus­try. The brand has cre­at­ed some of the most sym­bolic cars be­­come the clas­sics as the DS. The lo­­go is al­­so an in­­sti­­tu­­tion.



Af­ter more than 3 years of col­lab­o­ra­­tion with Cit­roën on the de­vel­op­­ment of ar­chi­tec­­tu­ral pro­­jects, Ora-ïto turned to the man­u­­fac­­tur­er to de­vel­op his first ar­tis­tic pro­­ject. The icon­o­­clas­tic artist wasn’t dream­ing about another con­­cept car but a ge­net­ic tran­s­­for­­ma­­tion. An un­u­­su­al cre­a­­tion re­u­nit­ing more than 400 years of his­­to­ry, a re­flec­­tion on the evo­lu­­tion of the mo­­bil­i­­ty and the le­g­endary know-how of Cit­roën.



The ge­net­ic tran­s­­for­­ma­­tion is a fact re­­sult­ing from er­rors of copies dur­ing the cel­lu­lar di­vi­­sion. When they are caused by in­­ter­ven­­tions, they be­­come ex­tre­me­­ly rare. The monu­­men­­tal sculp­­ture cre­at­ed by Ora-ïto is the cross­ing of two ty­polo­­gies, a ma­­chine of the past and a cur­rent car, a sub­­­tle his­­toric and so­­ci­o­log­i­­cal tes­ti­­mony on the func­­tio­n­al mo­­bil­i­­ty of the XVI Th cen­­tu­ry mixed to the mod­­ern world.



On the edge of the hy­poth­e­­sis and the con­tem­po­rary art, this hy­brid ob­­ject is based on the ful­­fil­l­­ment of child’s dream with an ob­vi­ous com­mit­­ment for the ecol­o­­gy. In the vo­­cab­u­lary of Ora-ïto, we find a re­al as­ser­­tion ex­­press­ing and re­al­iz­ing the imag­i­­na­­tion.



This cre­a­­tion be­­comes by de­f­i­ni­­tion a vi­­sion in op­po­si­­tion with the ag­­gres­­sive uni­­verse of the car in­­­dus­try. In­­spired by the first Cit­roën car and based on his de­sign­er’s com­pe­­tences, Ora-ïto won­ders about the er­­go­­nomics of the in­­te­ri­or of the first mo­­bile mo­d­ule. He has worked on the codes, the DNA and the phi­lo­­so­­phy of this in­­­dus­try to mod­­ern­ize it with the pos­si­­bil­i­ties and the ex­ist­ing tech­nolo­­gies. As­­so­­ci­at­ed to the re­search and in­­no­­va­­tion de­­part­­ment of the dy­­nas­tic Cit­roën, he has de­vel­oped a sur­pris­ing and un­ex­pec­t­ed sculp­­ture join­ing all the pa­ram­e­ters and the tech­nolo­­gies ap­pro­pri­ate for the uni­­verse car man­u­­fac­­tur­ers, part­n­er of the in­­ter­­na­­tio­n­al fair of con­tem­po­rary art of Paris (FI­AC).





Bap­­tized “Evo­­mo­­bil” he cre­ates a mono­­typ­ic kind, which pos­sess­es on­­ly sin­­gle spe­­cie. The term “ge­net­ic tran­s­­for­­ma­­tion” is used to in­­di­­cate an ir­re­v­er­si­ble mod­­i­­fi­­ca­­tion of the ge­net­ic and hered­i­­tary in­­­for­­ma­­tion. If the tran­s­­for­­ma­­tion ar­rives up to cells then, it is passed on to the de­s­­cen­­dants of the mu­­tant in­­di­vi­d­u­al. This change can get a se­lec­­tive ad­­van­­tage. This is the base of the pro­cess of the evo­lu­­tion.




Ora-ïto has na­t­u­ral­­ly imagined others mo­d­ules to join the in­i­­tial pro­­ject. A con­t­i­nu­i­­ty of the imag­i­­na­­tion al­low­ing to mul­ti­p­­ly new ac­­tions and us­es of “Evo­­mo­­bil” as car op­­tions. He has named this “plugs” which are in­­de­pen­­dent and can be con­nec­t­ed on the front and the back of the ve­hi­­cle. In case, sev­er­al ge­net­ic tran­s­­for­­ma­­tions com­bine, we can say they share a com­­mon an­ces­­tral ge­net­ic pool. Ev­ery pod is orig­i­­nal and unique as a sculp­­ture that al­lies the dream to the for­­mal, the past to the tech­nol­o­­gy. The idea to work sev­er­al en­ti­ties al­lows all the “ge­net­ic tran­s­­for­­ma­­tions “ to spread an uni­ver­sal mes­sage on the evo­lu­­tion of the mo­­bil­i­­ty and gives to the car in­­­dus­try new di­rec­­tions nev­er in­­vesti­­gat­ed.


above: ORA-ÏTO is the la­bel and the name of the French de­sign­er who cre­at­ed, at the age of 19 the very first vir­tu­al brand.

Ora-Ito
Citroen

Big News For A Little Car: The First Electric MINI Has Arrived

The new, and first, electric Mini, named the MINI E, has just been released. With zero carbon emissions and powered by a 100 % electric motor, it accelerates to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 8.5 seconds and has a top speed of 152 km/h (95 mph).




Up to 500 MINI E will hit the streets in the US shortly and you could be one of the first people to get a chance to drive it if you're lucky enough to reside in Southern California, New York City and/ or New Jersey.

Additional photos (exterior):





Interior:





Some technical specs of the new MINI E (click to enlarge):





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