"There's never been anything like it" was the title of an article
in the online edition of an international news magazine when the first
sketches of the new Rinspeed concept car, "eXasis", appeared on the
Internet, "and it looks like no other vehicle before it". A drivable
"glass" car with a completely transparent body and floor made of
Makrolon(R). This Rinspeed creation will be shown to the public for
the first time at the Geneva Motor Show (March 8-18, 2007), 40 years
after Bayer presented the first "all-plastic car" in 1967 at the K67
Plastics Fair in Germany. In fact, the illustrations could only hint
at what Swiss automotive visionary Frank M. Rinderknecht had thought
up in collaboration with the experts from Bayer MaterialScience AG
(NYSE:BAY) (GER:BAY) (LSE:BYR) - one of the largest plastics producers
in the world - -to mark his company's 30th anniversary.
"Everyone who sees the eXasis for the first time raves about the
glass car, but they actually mean our transparent high-tech plastic,"
says Ian Paterson, the member of the Bayer MaterialScience Board of
Management responsible for Innovation, describing the typical reaction
to the prototype. It was the plastics experts from BMS with their
Makrolon(R) polycarbonate who were responsible for the transparency of
the eXasis. Frank M. Rinderknecht: "In this ethereal transparency, the
true spirit of the eXasis becomes visible. An abstract idea becomes
material, visions become a tangible car. Yet the eXasis still doesn't
seem to have quite arrived in our material world."
So is it just a clever 3D projection, a fata morgana or perhaps a
four-wheel 'objet d'art'? In any case, the third vehicle to emerge
from the cooperation between the two companies differs fundamentally
from the other two: the futuristic-looking "Senso" and the
pure-blooded "zaZen" sports car. The eXasis is a completely new
development, in other words it is not based on a production-line
vehicle. The insect-like, shiny yellow body with the exposed wheels
can accommodate two people, one behind the other. And the transparency
also provides an unrestricted view of the compact 2-cylinder 750ccm
Weber engine, which, very unusually, sits above the transmission.
The eXasis is a real eyecatcher with nothing to hide: A glimpse
through the outer Makrolon(R) shell, coated with a tinge of yellow,
reveals the vehicle's load-bearing aluminum chassis. The two
transparent indicator and function displays are an absolute delight,
both technically and optically. They seem to hover on both sides in
the driver's field of vision. By touching them, various functions can
be displayed and controlled. Each of the touch-panels is made of a
transparent CD/DVD Makrolon(R) blank that has been coated with
electrically conductive Baytron(R) from H.C. Starck to trigger the
switch functions.
Despite the attractive sweeping contours that blend smoothly into
the car's transparency, the eXasis is 'edgy' and definitely has a
character of its own. But everybody who has the pleasure of driving it
agrees on one thing: glancing down through the transparent floor while
the car is moving gives a very special kind of thrill ...
Information for editors::
Extensive information and illustrative material are available
online on:
www.rinspeed.com and www.presse.bayerbms.de
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements based on
current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer Group management.
Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could
lead to material differences between the actual future results,
financial situation, development or performance of the company and the
estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in our
public reports filed with the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and with the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (including our Form 20-F). The
company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these
forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or
developments.
