Gordon Murray T25: new names, new speculation

30 December 2009

Gordon Murray iFrame chassisIn the past we’ve dug up a few interesting automotive brand names at the UK Intellectual Property Office – most makers tend to register a name as a trademark before it appears on any real car’s rump. But while we’ve been first to notice the odd curio, we’ve been less than reliable in our subsequent guesswork.

For example, when we highlighted that Vauxhall and Opel had registered the old Buick name “Electra” we thought that would be an ideal name for what actually ended up as the Ampera – the Euro version of the Chevy Volt. Some other bloggers liked our deductions and ran the same story – some even credited us.

We also thought that iStream might be a neat production name for Gordon Murray’s three-seat city car, the T25. And we were wrong again – iStream is the name of the T25’s minimalist production process. Two other names – iFrame and iCentre refer to, we think, the T25’s distinctive spaceframe-plus-sheet chassis (patent applied for) and flexible seating arrangements (ditto).

Still, not being right hasn’t stopped us digging. But it has stopped us guessing. So we will leave it as an exercise for the reader to determine what Gordon Murray is going to do with two new brands: iWheel and iLink.

OK, we can’t help ourselves. Guesses follow.

According to Autocar, the T25 will have a big door in its nose, to allow entry in the style of an Isetta bubble-car. So we think iWheel and iLink will be Murray’s patent-pending designs to allow the steering and pedals, respectively, to fold out of the way when the main hatch is opened.

Unless, of course, we’re wrong and they aren’t.

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