Aprilia Magnet
Three wheels, four motors, a funky tilt mechanism and a healthy sprinkling of Italian flair: this is the sort of green we like.
This is the Aprilia Magnet, a design project dreamt up by Finnish student Heikki Naulapaa at the Royal College of Art. The Magnet is designed to be run as a hybrid, as each wheel contains an electric motor.
They're all charged by a 550cc version of Aprilia's V-twin hypermotard engine. It spins up to a heady 14,000rpm and is good for 85bhp, but the Magnet can switch to straight electric power for around-town ambling.
But it's all about the driving experience. The Magnet should give the performance of a 1000cc superbike - with the rider involvement to match.
'I wanted to create a vehicle which offers a new kind of emotional experience while riding,' says Naulapaa. 'I mixed the motorbike's leaning characteristics with a Formula One driving position and the feeling of a small sports car feeling and being half-inside the vehicle.'
Could it ever go into production? Naulapaa reckons so. "The Magnet was more a concept study, but it could be produced," he says. "There are some technical aspects which may need to be changed in order to keep the manufacturing costs down, but they wouldn't create major problems to production."
Who says the future's all doom and gloom?
