Gordon Murray is eager to stress that his firm, Gordon Murray Design, is not in the business of producing cars, especially not his new T25 city car. “We’re not a car company; our business is selling intellectual property for the production process,” Murray told Auto Express.

Murray’s proclamation comes on the heels of his announcement that he has already sold the design of the T25 to an unnamed European company and a Japanese design firm, but Murray won’t reveal their identities. With the T25, and his new iStream manufacturing process, Murray is pursuing a new business model, whereby a design is licensed to several different companies who produce their own version of the car.

After he finishes the electric version of the T25, dubbed the T27, Murray said that he will build a superlight Mazda MX5 rival as well as a supercar to compete with the McLaren MP4-12C.

[Source: AutoExpress]

A new 400-horsepower sports car is in the works at BMW, but if you ask executives at the German car company, they’ll tell you that the most promising new product is at the other end of the spectrum.

Speaking at a meeting in London, Ian Robertson a BMW board member told Inside Line that they haven’t ruled out a competitor to Mercedes-Benz’s SL and the Audi R8, similar to the Vision Efficient Dynamics concept unvield at the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show. The Vision concept is a 400 horsepower low slug sports car that uses a hybrid system that can also hit 60 mph in 4 seconds or less and return 62.6 mpg. BMW intends to build a running, driving prototype to demonstrate the viability of the project.

Robertson was also enthusiastic about the Megacity, a car he called a “wholesale change” in the design and manufacturing process of an automobile. With a carbon fiber bodyshell and an electric powertrain, the Megacity is set to be a total departure from traditional road cars. BMW insists the Megacity will be a premium product, but will be branding the car with a slightly different naming system, in order to seperate it from their traditional, performance-oriented cars.

[Source: Inside Line]

Not long after Gordon Murray’s McLaren F1 was feted at the company’s headquarters, new details have emerged about Murray’s all-new T27 city car, being developed by the South African-born engineer independently of McLaren.

Essentially an electric version of the T25 city car, the T27 uses a lithium-ion battery and a small electric motor to hit 60 mph in under 15 seconds. The time might seem agonizingly slow for many car enthusiasts, but in urban driving, the 8.2 foot length and 4.3 foot width, along with a range of 80-100 miles will matter far more, allowing the T27 to deliver an acceptable driving range and fit into the tightest of parking spaces.

A running prototype is expected to be completed by April of next year, and judging by Murray’s past creations, as well as the leaked info about the T25, both city cars should be game changers.

[Source: World Car Fans]