Mercedes-Benz went fishing for a new aerodynamic and fuel efficient car design and came up with the Bionic Car . The concept vehicle is based on the boxfish, which has a bony structure that is very rigid and minimizes drag.
The company teamed biologists with engineers (hence the bionic name) to develop a computer model that transfers the fish's body structure to a resilient automobile chassis. (Here's a hint for the Mercedes marketing folks -- don't promote the "Soft Kill Option" design principle as anything with kill in the title does not convey safety).
The car has a diesel engine that gets 70 miles per gallon, and up to 84 mpg at a constant speed of 56 milers per hour. It ordinarily takes about two to three years for a concept vehicle to make it to dealers, and I’m guessing that some version of this car will evolve. Hopefully when it starts up you'll hear that "vuhwhananana" slow motion sound.
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