Protein^®

This video about a new concept car from BMW shows GINA - a car with a fabric rather than metal skin (direct video link). It has a metal space frame of struts underneath. Among other things, it is claimed this approach can be much lighter than conventional cars.

The concept looks great as the material peels open to reveal the headlights, or stretches to let the doors open. But it's all to easy to start thinking of practical problems.Commenters on the youtube video and elsewhere on the web are arguing back and forth over questions like how the material could protect people from objects small enough to get through the gaps in the frame, or resist vandals.All good points - and probably ones that could be got around in one way or another. But since this car is heading straight to the safety of a museum, it's not worth worrying too much. It's best just to appreciate GINA as a nice bit of original thinking.Earlier this week I saw pictures of a Toyota concept car with airbags that deploy on the outside to protect pedestrians. They look out strangely out of place on a metal-skinned car but would blend in nicely with a fabric skin.Tom Simonite, online technology editor