The Avion is a prototype

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

car that achieves over 100 MPG. The Avion car is based on a simple concept: fuel economy is largely determined by aerodynamic drag and vehicle weight. The Avion uses existing automotive components, an existing high-efficiency automotive diesel engine and marries them to a lightweight aluminum frame and highly

aerodynamic Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...

composite body. The Avion was an official contender in the

Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE (PIAXP or AXP) was a set of competitions, programs and events, from the X Prize Foundation, to "inspire a new generation of super-efficient vehicles that help break America's addiction to oil and ste ...

History

The Avion was developed in 1979 by Craig Henderson and Bill Green after graduating from

Western Washington University Western Washington University (WWU or Western) is a public university in Bellingham, Washington. The northernmost university in the contiguous United States, WWU was founded in 1893 as the state-funded New Whatcom Normal School, succeeding a pri ...

in Bellingham, Washington where they had worked at the Vehicle Research Institute. The prototype was completed in 1984 and set the Guinness world record for fuel economy in 1986 at 103.7 mpg. The plan, at the time the car was designed, was to manufacture the Avion in limited quantities and sell into the car enthusiast market. But the real price of gasoline fell steadily from 1979 through the 1980s and interest in highly fuel-efficient cars disappeared along with the interest of potential investors. The dramatic increase in real fuel prices from 2000 to 2008 has renewed interest in automobile fuel economy. The original Avion was taken out of storage and an updated version was entered in the Progressive Automotive X Prize competition. Recent testing, using the original body and replacing the original

Volkswagen Rabbit The Volkswagen Golf () is a compact car/small family car (C-segment) produced by the German automotive manufacturer Volkswagen since 1974, marketed worldwide across eight generations, in various body configurations and under various nameplates ...

diesel engine with the Smart Car ForTwo diesel show 80 MPG at and a remarkable 114 MPG at .

Vehicle

The car was designed to be manufactured in small volume using existing automotive components, including a small automotive diesel engine. A lightweight composite body of highly aerodynamic design is attached to an aluminum frame, and features

Butterfly doors Butterfly doors are a type of car door sometimes seen on high-performance cars. They are slightly different from scissor doors. While scissor doors move straight up via hinge points at the bottom of a car's A-pillar, butterfly doors move up a ...

Notes

External links

The official Avion site

New York Times blog article

Sept. 2010 Wired Autotopia piece
{{DEFAULTSORT:Avion (Car) Green vehicles