Gordon Murray Design reveals modular seating of T.25
by Jeremy Korzeniewski on Sep 4th 2009 at 4:59PM 
Gordon Murray's iCentre - Click above to enlarge
Gordon Murray hopes his developing T.25 minicar will offer something unique to attract buyers away from cars like the Smart Fortwo and Toyota iQ. To that end, the diminutive machine will seat three occupants with the driver front-and-center behind a mid-mounted steering wheel in an arrangement Murray calls iCentre. Out back, two seats flank that single drivers perch, which puts the T.25 directly between the two-seat Smart Fortwo and four-seat (or, 3+1 as Toyota puts it) iQ. This is a similar arrangement to that of the iconic McLaren F1 that Murray also designed, and that's good company to be in.
There will be six different seating and cargo arrangements to choose from that can be configured in under 30 seconds. Despite seating one additional passenger than the Smart, the T.25 will reportedly offer more total interior volume – up to 750 liters in "Shopping Mode" without the rear passengers – and luggage carrying capacity than its main competitor. To access the vehicle, there will reportedly be two doors, one in the traditional hatchback location and another echoing the old BMW Isetta by opening on a hinge at the very front of the car.
There's no guarantee that Murray's innovative T.25 microcar will ever see the light of day. The designer has no intention of actually building the automobile himself – instead, Murray hopes to sell the rights to build the car using his equally impressive (or so we hear) iStream production method to a number of third-party assemblers, possibly even brands like Apple, Virgin or Sony. Click past the break for an official press release.
PRESS RELEASE:
GORDON MURRAY DESIGN REVEAL T.25 CITY CAR SEATING LAYOUT
Gordon Murray Design's T.25 City Car is not only designed around a central driving position but an MPV package offering 6 internal layouts within the same vehicle, each layout being easily achieved within 30 seconds.
The T.25 City Car has been packaged to accept three 95th percentile occupants and the central driving position has been named 'iCentre®', although the actual concept dates back to 1966 when Gordon Murray first came up with the idea during his Mechanical Engineering studies at Durban Institute of Technology in South Africa. The three-seat configuration was put into production with the McLaren F1 and then resurrected in 1999 during the original study for Murray's City Car - then known as Project 3.
The central driving position gives unparalleled control and visibility whilst supporting the ultra-flexible interior space. This gives the T.25 a potential market advantage over the Smart Fortwo which is purely a two-seater with a small luggage capacity. In maximum 'shopping mode' the T.25 can be driver only but offers 750 litres of stowage space which is equal to 6 shopping trolleys in volume!
The two pedal vehicle does not have a gear lever but instead relies on push buttons with the options of fully automatic or manual using Forward, Reverse & Neutral.
Gordon Murray Design are currently in discussions with several interested parties to move the car into production using the iStream® Manufacturing process. iStream® is a unique, innovative method of producing cars invented by Gordon Murray Design which, amongst other things, reduces the area and investment of a typical car factory by 80%.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
220v 5:10PM (9/04/2009)
I'm not spacial expert, but that looks best suited for children and amputees, just like the Lexus SC.
"Since you don't have a right leg, you sit on the left."
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Aprime 5:15PM (9/04/2009)
Of course you're not an expert, and that's why you haven't considered that your left/right leg could be 'stored' underneath the seat, especially if you're sitting like you're on a bed and not a chair.
zamafir 5:23PM (9/04/2009)
No. you're not. Murray built the greatest car the world's ever seen over a decade and a half ago. What were you doin?
James 5:24PM (9/04/2009)
T25....isn't that a name of a tank.
why not the LS2LS7? 5:48PM (9/04/2009)
Just because a person has one great idea doesn't mean every idea he has is great.
Rich 6:41PM (9/04/2009)
James: T25 is twenty five Ts:
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
T.25 is quarter of a T:
-
David 7:06PM (9/04/2009)
Aprime - if the rear passengers sit under the driver, then why put the driver in the center and not make it a four seater instead?
zamafir 7:21PM (9/04/2009)
@why not the LS2LS7? - very true, but the does possesses a scope and grasp of car design I have yet to year any designer or engineer from any car company articulate in a conversation. To essentially envision the McLaren F1 from the bolt up to the finished product, himself, and have a complete and unadulterated grasp of how all aspects of said design will come into play is utterly astounding.
220v 7:28PM (9/04/2009)
Sounds to me like Zamafir wants to give someone a very nice blow-job, metaphorically speaking of course.
zamafir 1:21AM (9/05/2009)
ride in a McLaren F1... or hell drive one... and you'll be there too :). I wish i'd done the latter.
click.kas 5:15AM (9/05/2009)
Mr. Murray let go of the "driver in the center " idea! it was perfect for the F1 , lets not make it a cliche!
http://www.indianautotalk.com
James 12:01PM (9/05/2009)
@ Rich,
"James: T25 is twenty five Ts:
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
T.25 is quarter of a T:
-"
Corny, Rich....nice try, but corny the same.
MikeW 5:51PM (9/04/2009)
Where is the V12 at?
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tgriffith 5:16PM (9/04/2009)
You know, I kind of like it. Seems like the kind of modification that is actually useful in the auto-biz. Nice out-of-the-box thinking. Not like some of these past their prime mods:
http://www.cargurus.com/blog/2009/09/04/worst-car-modifications-ever
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Kip 5:17PM (9/04/2009)
I only count four seating positions. The top three images carry the same amount of people and cargo, just with different size occupants. I can appreciate that the interior is configurable for people or stuff, but the marketing department for the T.25 needs to stop working the math. By this math, your typical 5-seat sedan carrying two adults in front and three occupants in back has four seating positions.
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Rich 6:42PM (9/04/2009)
You've seen booster seats and infant seats, right?
Isellbeachhomes 5:20PM (9/04/2009)
Well you can throw safety out the window in one of these things. I can tell you i would not catch myself doing anything but driving in these things. Comfort comes into play at some point. and there is no comfort in this car.
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zamafir 5:39PM (9/04/2009)
Do you live in the US? Great! This thing's been Non-US bound since it's inception, and is forecasted to stay that way. It's not even worth fretting over :).
mike 8:25AM (9/05/2009)
What have you caught yourself doing in your other cars?
Seriously... I'm tired of this constant "you'll be killed", "it isn't safe" argument.
Look around at all the motorcycles on the street.
Do you think the smart or the iQ or this potential little city car is less safe than a bike?
There is plenty of market for small efficient vehicles.
zamafir 5:20PM (9/04/2009)
Looks great.. well, i'd be saying that if autoblog updated the photos from CAR:
http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/Secret-new-cars/Search-Results/Spyshots/Gordon-Murray-gives-CAR-a-guided-tour-of-the-T25/
Very excited about this, esp if it begins production.
*rear-mounted 660cc variable-valve-timing Mitsubishi engine available in turbocharged and normally aspirated forms
*The sub-600kg supermini will carry three people and more luggage than a Toyota iQ or Smart ForTwo while giving 80mpg and a dynamic drive Murray says rivals are missing.
(dynamic, Murray? I trust 'em)
*'We’ve had 20 inquiries from 15 different countries; only seven are existing car producers,' he said. 'We’ve had governments saying "we need a car for our cities". But equally you could start seeing cars coming from brand owners like Apple or Virgin or Sony.'
Sounds very cool.
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