Beyond open-top cars, we don’t really see vehicles that change their exterior shape or configuration. Niche cars like the European 2003 Citroën C3 Pluriel had a removable roof and could convert from a hatchback to a roadster and small pickup, but it never caught on.
If VW’s filing with the European Patent Office for a swiveling body section to increase the interior volume of a vehicle is anything to go by, it might be onto something interesting. Its proposed vehicle body swivels open to expand the interior volume when needed.
Swiveling Body Section
Imagine a boxy vehicle, like a van. Draw a straight line from the rear bumper diagonally up the side to the middle of the roof and over the top. VW wants to cut open the body along that line, hinging the triangular rear section at the bumper and flipping it over to the rear through 90 degrees. The rear-facing wall of the body is now the floor and the roof becomes the rear wall.
That leaves a gaping, V-shaped opening up top, but VW says a weatherproof, expandable material that stretches to maintain the shape of the vehicle body will seal it from the outside world. Seeing how popular camper versions of VW’s European Transporter vans are elsewhere, we can see how this can practically increase the size of a camper while parked.
In the US, people convert larger vehicles into campers, such as the Ford Transit. Ford even sells an off-road Transit Trail Camper Van for this purpose ex-factory. Although VW’s patent should work on large vehicles, it’s especially useful on smaller vans, which can instantly morph into larger camp accommodation on site.
Our Take
A few obstacles still stand in its way:
- It’s likely to be heavy
- It’s complicated to make a large structural part of a vehicle body movable
- It’s unlikely to be cheap
- It will come with design compromises
That last point will probably keep it in the domain of boxy minivans, not more style-conscious SUVs. It’s certainly an intriguing campsite solution, but we’d be interested to see if the engineers can bring a practical and cost-effective version to market.
