The designer of the legendary McLaren F1 has announced the first details of his proposed new city car.Dubbed the Type 25, Gordon Murray's city car is intended to be even smaller than a Smart, sell at around £5000 a copy, go into production within three years at an annual rate of 100,000 units, but still preserve driving pleasure in an increasingly economy-conscious world.Murray is reluctant to reveal T25’s precise mechanical layout, but describes it as an MPV with up to 14 potential body variants. It is completely different from all other small cars, even bubble cars, he claims. “You don’t sit normally in it, you don’t get in and out normally, and you don’t load luggage in the normal way,” he says.Murray’s plan is to keep the details secret — if he can — until the project reaches the prototype stage in about two years’ time, and has hopefully attracted a big-company partner that can manage full-scale production.First cars will use an economical small-capacity petrol engine, Murray admits, but flexible design ensures that other powerplants — diesel, electric or hybrid — are possible. When developed, Murray claims the T25 will be so cheap to run compared with conventional cars that it will recoup its £5000 purchase price within four years. Not only that, it will create far less CO2 than conventional cars in the building and recycling phases.Murray’s T25 is the first project of his newly established, Guildford-based company, Gordon Murray Design.
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