New York 2009: Counter Balance - the batmobile of yellow, expandable trucks

Sometimes the words fail me. Here in the press room at the New York Auto Show, though, people had all sorts of things to say about the Counter Balance, um, truck ... thing ... concept ... vehicle. The best of the bunch: "that's what happens when the Carbon Motors police car had a night of illicit sex with the Batmobile." However you want to describe it, the Counter Balance demands your attention. So, now that we're all looking, what is this thing, exactly?

The designer, who runs Barkan Designs, says the Counter Balance is a compact pickup truck (seriously). Where most designers would put a pickup's engine (i.e., in front), the Counter Balance has empty space and there is an 5-ft. bed in back (expandable to 7 feet). The engine sits low in the middle of the vehicle, which necessitates that the second row of seats be bumped up a level and adds that second hump of a window. If you want to believe all you read, then the Counter Balance is also "light, efficient and environmentally friendly," mostly because you could theoretically burn biofuels or CNG to move down the road and because, the designer says, the vehicle "keeps its dimensions as compact as possible." Yeah, becasue no one could imagine a truck that's smaller than a Counter Balance truck.

[Source: Barkan Design]