Rinspeed shows ZaZen ahead of Geneva debut

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Designer Frank Rinderknecht has been freebasing the styling clay again. Or perhaps not. Either way, the eccentric and his posse at Rinspeed have come up with yet another wild and wacky concept, the "zAZen," which apparently is Rinspeak for "automotive enlightenment on four wheels."

Either way, the Porsche-based 997-based concept, set to debut on February 28 in Geneva, was produced in partnership with the polymer prodigies at Bayer Materialscience. The result is a gigantic transparent canopy made of Makrolon®, which turns 'into a luminous holographic area' that projects the third brake light 'as if from nowhere.' Why, we're not quite sure... but Rinderknecht's mad scientist creations have been about gloriously blue-sky thinking, and we're not about to start arguing now. Swarovski detailing, clear seat inserts, and bespoke body paneling ensure that extrovert owners will likely never encounter a similar car on the road.

(More photos and details after the jump)

For those interested in more visceral than visual drama, the zaZen weighs just under 3,300 lbs. and is motivated by the 355 bhp six-pot boxer powerplant, donated (along with many other bits) from Porsche's 997 Carrera S, all of which is lashed to a '4x adjustable chassis' designed by KW Automotive.

A small production run is being toyed with.

[Source: Rinspeed]

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