Budget Airline graphics illustrationAccording to
Car Design Research (CDR — a UK-based agency that has worked with the design groups of 11 of the world’s top 20 car companies over the last 20 years), in the future there could be a new type of car for the many people who ‘do not want to be close to hundreds of people in airports and aircraft cabins, and who do not want to travel by environment-damaging short-haul flight’.
Conceived by the company during lock-down last year, Budget Airline Car is a concept for a new type of car that would produce only 2% of the emissions per passenger compared to a short-haul flight. It would seat six people in three rows; and as passengers may not know each other (just as on a flight), each would have a dedicated seat with their cabin baggage securely stored within easy reach, and greater privacy and space than afforded by existing cars’ second and third row seats.
This three-seat row layout can be achieved within an overall length of 5m, despite each seat space being equally large, because electric motors can be particularly compact. The two-person-wide layout also contributes to a reduced frontal area compared to a car designed to seat three people side-by-side.
The car’s electric power would be developed for long-distance cruising (rather than high performance), and its design focused on aerodynamics and shared access. Passengers would share the driving, with good driving incentivised by the ‘shared-economy digital platform that they access the service through’. A suite of advanced driver assistance systems would aid safety, and ultimately fully autonomous driving could be incorporated.
The core concept for Budget Airline Car was developed in conjunction with CDR design associates Yichen Shu in China and Aditya Jangid in India, both of whom then designed subtly different exterior design themes and illustrated how the car might be offered as an alternative to flying by today’s budget airline brands.