Rinspeed Inc. is a Swiss concept car builder and mobility visionary. Since 1991, they have also designed exotic

concepts Concepts are defined as abstract ideas. They are understood to be the fundamental building blocks of the concept behind principles, thoughts and beliefs. They play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied by s ...

and special vehicles for the CES in Las Vegas, the Geneva Motor Show and other car shows each year, but do not enter into production. Rinspeed Inc. was founded in 1979 by Frank M. Rinderknecht (born 1955) and works with many Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers as Harman, Osram, ZF, SAP, Borbet, Dekra, Harting and many more. Their latest concept car presented at the CES Las Vegas 2020 - the "MetroSnap" - is a close to serial production modular vehicle.

Concept cars

zaZen

Rinspeed zaZen is a Rinspeed

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...

shown for the first time at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show. It is based on the Porsche 911 (

997 Year 997 (Roman numerals, CMXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Japan * 1 February: Empress Teishi gives birth to Princess Shushi - she is the first ...

) Carrera S platform and developed in collaboration with Bayer MaterialScience. The zaZen is powered by a

flat-6 A flat-six engine, also known as a horizontally opposed-six, is a six-cylinder piston engine with three cylinders on each side of a central crankshaft. The most common type of flat-six engine is the boxer-six engine, where each pair of opposed cy ...

engine that has a displacement of and develops a maximum power of 355 bhp (261 kW) at 6600 rpm. The car is able to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds and reach a top speed of 182 mph (293 km/h).

sQuba

Built around a

Lotus Elise The Lotus Elise is a two-seat, rear-wheel drive, mid-engined roadster conceived in early 1994 and released in September 1996 by the British manufacturer Lotus Cars. The Elise has a fibreglass body shell atop its bonded extruded aluminium chas ...

, the

Rinspeed sQuba The sQuba, developed by Swiss company Rinspeed, is the world's first car that can be driven both on land and under water. The original idea by Rinspeed founder and CEO Frank M. Rinderknecht was inspired by the 1977 James Bond film '' The Spy Who ...

is a concept car that can 'fly' underwater and has zero emissions. It debuted at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show, 30 years after its inspiration: the movie '' The Spy Who Loved Me''. The sQuba was featured in the first episode of 14th season of UK motoring show ''

Fifth Gear ''Fifth Gear'' is a British motoring television magazine series on Discovery+. It is a continuation of the ''Fifth Gear'' format originally broadcast on Channel 5 from 2002 to 2011, afterwards moving to Discovery Channel in 2012, and then in ...

''.

Splash

The Rinspeed Splash is a concept amphibian vehicle with hydrofoil design capable of 45 knots on water or nearly on land. Propelled by a 750 cc two cylinder

turbo-charged In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

burning

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

which supplies at 7000 rpm and weighs just , this strange-looking vehicle can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.9 seconds. It premiered at the 2004 Geneva Motor Show. The Splash was featured in an episode of ''

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...

''. In 2006 it set a record for crossing the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

in a hydrofoil car, making the journey in 3 hours 14 minutes.

iChange

The iChange is a concept car that changes shape and configuration based on the number of passengers inside, up to three. It was unveiled at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show. The car features are controlled by an Apple iPhone and it is powered by a electric motor. The iChange has a 0–100 km/h (62 mph) speed of slightly over four seconds, and can hit a top speed of .

UC

The Rinspeed UC is a micro concept electric car that was presented at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show. The name UC stands for "Urban Commuter" or "You see". It is a 2.5 metres long micro vehicle, operated with a central joystick. The electric motor delivers of torque. The concept car can reach a top speed of , and on-board batteries enable the car a capable of range in one charge.

Budii

The Budii concept displayed at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show is worked around the future possibilities of self driven cars. Budii displays experiments to include vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X) radio-based communications, radar and motion sensing systems including advanced camera monitoring. It is also equipped with telescoping laser scanner on the roof called TrackView which can be raised by 70 centimeters and delivers a precise 3D perspective by combining data from all the various sensors to map the surrounding terrain.

Ʃtos

Concept Ʃtos is a concept presented in the Consumer Electronics Show in 2016. It is based on the

BMW i8 The BMW i8 is a plug-in hybrid sports car developed by BMW. The i8 was part of BMW's electrified fleet and was marketed under the BMW i sub-brand. The production version of the BMW i8 was unveiled at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show and was rel ...

Oasis

Announced late in 2016 and first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January 2017, the Rinspeed Oasis concept car takes Rinspeed's 2015 Budii and 2016 Etos concept cars farther, integrating state-of-the art autonomous vehicle technologies, social media, and

Mobility as a Service Mobility as a service (MaaS) is a type of service that, through a joint digital channel, enables users to plan, book, and pay for multiple types of mobility services. The concept describes a shift away from personally-owned modes of transportation ...

into a compact car described as a "living room" on wheels. It also features floor to ceiling glass doors, a battery-electric engine, retractable steering wheel, solar panels integrated into the roof, and an augmented reality display. An unusual feature, for a car, is the dash-mounted garden with sensors to advise the user when to feed the plants. It was also shown at the

Detroit Motor Show The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), also known as the Detroit Auto Show as of 2022 and prior to NAIAS, is an annual auto show held in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., at Huntington Place. The show was held in January from 1989 to 2019. I ...

. Partners on the project included Kostal (electronics), Harman (electronic controls),

WayRay WayRay is a deep-tech company with offices in Switzerland, United States, China, Hong Kong, and Germany. It develops holographic AR technologies for connected cars. WayRay's in-house R&D center and prototyping facilities create holographic ...

(infotainment system) among a wide range of other firms.

Modified / tuned cars

*In 1993, Rinspeed modified a

Dodge Viper The Dodge Viper is a sports car that was manufactured by Dodge (by SRT for 2013 and 2014), a division of American car manufacturer FCA US LLC from 1992 until 2017, having taken a brief hiatus in 2007 and from 2010 to 2012. Production of the two- ...

with electronically controlled nitrous injection and various other modifications to create the Rinspeed Veleno *In 2005, Rinspeed modified a

Subaru Forester The is a compact crossover SUV that has been manufactured by Subaru since 1997. The first generation was built on the platform of the Impreza in the style of a taller station wagon, a style that continued to the second generation, while the thi ...

to make it appear more feminine
Forester Lady 2006
*In 2007, Rinspeed offered a modified

911 Turbo that has been transformed into a

Le Mans 600 The Rinspeed Le Mans 600 is a rear-engined sportscar built by Rinspeed and based on the Porsche 997 911 Turbo. Model Information Released in 2007, the Le Mans sports a new front fascia, a large rear wing, reshaped air intakes, modified side skir ...

References

External links

Rinspeed Official siteRinspeed Editorial Video
West Coast Midnight Run, Vol. 2009, The International Frankfurt Automotive Show {{Automotive industry in Switzerland Auto parts suppliers of Switzerland Swiss brands Automotive motorsports and performance companies Rinspeed vehicles