GMC PAD- The Mobile Loft
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01.10.06
In a recent competition among car design teams, GMC came up with this fantasy:"The GMC PAD, an urban loft with mobility, a concept for living in the ever-changing cultural landscape of Southern California or, quite simply, a modern alternative for those priced out of Southern California’s escalating housing market. It’s a home ownership concept that enables cultural & geographic freedom for the modern city dweller. It’s a concept that represents a reasoned solution to the problems of urban sprawl, development, and it’s damaging effects on the region’s environment."
We suspect there would be a small parking problem.
Why Commute?
With the PAD, your LA Adventure is your next stop. It’s where you live, where you work, or merely where you want to be. Whether located in walking distance from your job @ TBWA\Chiat\Day, spending a couple evenings along PCH, or wintering at Mammoth, with the GMC PAD, home is where you want it. And commuting is what other people do.
Sensible.
The GMC PAD features a Diesel-Electric hybrid system, which acts as a generator for the onboard power grid as well as propulsion for DriveMode. With the PAD’s resource management technology, onboard fuel & water supplies would last for weeks or even months on end. During daylight hours, the PAD’s SkyDeck features 6 M-Sq of photovoltaic cells that collect and store the sun’s natural energy. An electromagnetic suspension aids in leveling & stabilization when the PAD is being used in the LifeMode as well as remarkably easy handling while in DriveMode.
Previously known as a "mobile home", these updated versions would be perfect for living along the US gulf coast. As Dr Evil would prognosticate": "People known as 'snowbirds' will live in these in Florida during the winter and spring, and then when the fiercely destructive hurricane season created by my weather machine kicks into gear, they will be forced to move northward along a few highways".
Two words: About Schmidt.
He ends up driving his Winnebago (a cargo truck with a house strapped atop) everywhere, even to go grocery shopping.
I don't think I need to tell you how bad this could ultimately be if it became popular.
Where's Jan-Michael Vincent and George Peppard... they gotta use this in the remake of Damnation Alley! Maybe this time it'll run on biodiesel made from the remains of society. :)
GMC is just rehashing their 1970's RV design, updating it for the cool factor. Remeber the Urban Assault Vehicle used in the movie "Stripes"? That was an original 1970's era GMC RV with a few modifications for film. The old GMC's are regaining popularity among that segment of the population that likes using an RV, as with a (relatively) minor investment, they offer better gas mileage, performance and flexibility than the slab-sided, bus chassis-based, $500,000+ competion. Go to www.gmccoop.com (one of a number of specialty shops around the country)to see the types of things being done to refurbish these old vehicles.
(took me a while to comment ... i was busy puking)
do you think it matters at all that it's a diesel (potenial biodiesel) if it's 3X bigger than an RV?????? or for that matter that it has PVs (which as MANY here know are not 100% benign)?
maybe maybe if it was filed under untreehugger or "almost" but probably not almost.. but to file thsi under transportation is insane! you can not justify this with a hybrid diesle at all! sorry! taht is a farce. Adn God, i can just imagine the waste people will leave behind as they move their chic urban lifestyle across what naturalbeauty is left on the left coast! Where exactly will the trash go? the grey water? wonderful
I know y'all dig the prefabs, but to ape out their PR that this is an alternative to Sprawl, as if they are doing us a favour by spending money and time on this blight, please spare us Lloyd. If i put a few solar panels on a coal refinery and gve it a cuhsy excuse, you gonna call that green too?
ScalarParty, you are right, it should not be under transportation and I will move it. And I thought my snide comment about parking might tip you off.
need a little more acid on the tongue* (well for me, anyway) But hey thanks for moving it lloyd--- you know i love you, just hated seeing it with all those other great green transportation goodies....
*BTW i mean acid-tongued like snide,not in a hey-it's-albert-hoffman's-100th-birthday-today-
kind of way (which it is, BTW)
need a little more acid on the tongue* (well for me, anyway) But hey thanks for moving it lloyd--- you know i love you, just hated seeing it with all those other great green transportation goodies....
*BTW i mean acid-tongued like snide,not in a hey-it's-albert-hoffman's-100th-birthday-today-
kind of way (which it is, BTW)
am i the only one who thinks it looks cool and wants one?
Panon,
It does look very cool, but GM's clueless spin on what is just a huge SUV makes it feel vulgar.
I've met a couple people who lived this way, living in a trailer parked in a big city with atrocious property values. But neither of them had to haul the trailer with them if they wanted to just drive to a distant store. Plus, there's very little room in populated areas for this type of lifestyle.
I think its very unique but overall useless. I think most of you here are missing the point. It's a creative expression and maybe something comes from it and maybe not. And let's face it what hasen't been recycled lately?!
I've looked at the floorplan, but still wonder: where's the bathroom? Tons of seating but nowhere to shower or... well, it isn't as liveable as GMC claims.