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Most of us motoring buffs know about local boy Gordon Murray making it big in F1 design a few years back. Friend Gordon then left the racing scene to focus on something more .., well … affordable. After starting Gordon Murray Design (GMD) in Surrey, England, his team of 29 set out to revolutionise the way we think about small cars.

What has been called the T25, the GMD designed city car is punted for a 2009-10 debut. The site paultan.org has listed “five things we know about Gordon Murray’s T25,” namely:
- its really tiny, about four fifths as long as a Smart ForTwo
- it beats the American CAFÉ emissions standards by a mile, as these are calculated on the size of the vehicle’s wheelbase
- it will almost certainly be a one-seater based on available dimensions, though might have a passenger seat
- it will have four wheels and be driven by two of them, more than likely through a rear mounted engine
- it will go public in July 2009

From information that has become available more recently, GreenCars can add five more things we know for sure about the T25:
- a base price of £5,500 - £10,000 can be expected
- with a “flat-packed chassis” up to six different body designs will be available eventually
- a lower parts count will reduce assembly and servicing time, reducing costs
- safety engineering will see at least a four star Euro NCAP rating
- exhaust emissions will be at least half of the UK average

Relevance for South Africa: With the initial public announcement of the T25’s development, GMD said that it would like to design the vehicle and have it manufactured by one of the big automotive names. If they are able to sell the concept to a Korean or Japanese (even Chinese these days…) company, we could see it on local shores.

By Christie Viljoen

Sources: Gordon Murray Design; CarBodyDesign; Autocar