From The Washington Auto Show 2017
We were reluctant to go all the way to the US for the Washington Auto Show in the immediate aftermath of the US presidential inauguration, however it was definitely worth it - even just to see the astonished faces of the automobile executives and public at the unveiling of the Model 1 Whistla, (code name 'Yin Yang' ) - a revolutionary and entertaining sports car which is the brainchild of Matt Whistler and Archi Ram - two British artists from the UK. Although the vehicle is still at concept stage, according to the Whistla Corporation's press release, the 'visual and technical design of the Washington show vehicle is extremely close to the final production model'. We were a little disappointed that we weren't able to go on a test drive - the waiting list was ridiculous and the company decided not to take any further bookings.
The Whistla Model 1 is a fully automonous, computer controlled self-driving vehicle that will be only a little more expensive than Tesla Motor's forthcoming Model 3 at around $40,000 for the base model. This 'whistle-like' vehicle was a surprise entry at the Washington show and Matt Whistler, dressed as his alter ego - 'AKA Whistles', unveiled it personally at a special 'Art-of-Motion' afternoon event on the 28th of January, after delivering a hilarious talk about the development of the design, which is apparently based on his 'favourite metal whistle'. We almost thought we were at a comedy show, when Matt screened a short teaser from a forthcoming movie, called 'Zero 1', where he can be seen speeding around in an early windowless prototype of the Model 1 Whistla, though various coastal towns of the UK, dressed as 'AKA Whistles', his alter-ego with a Whistle shaped helmet. His efforts to convince UK traffic wardens that his vehicle is a 'whistle and not a car', are truly memorable.
In the real world, the actual production model is likely to cost around $50,000 (£40,000 ), including typical optional accessories (sorry guys the Whistla 'Robot Barbie doll' seen at the show is not a production accessory). The model displayed was an 'extreme sports' version, powered entirely by electricity but supplemented by a patented wind turbine that re-charges the batteries at speeds of 50mph and over, via air intakes built discretely into the car’s bodywork. The turbine is concealed within the car body and connected to an alternator. This alternator boosts the amount of electricity available to the car by 20 to 25 per cent. With a claimed acceleration time of around 2.22 secs for 0 - 60 mph and a range of up to 500 miles before re-charging, it's actually quicker than most Tesla configurations and is likely to give Apple, Google, Nissan as well as Tesla, something to seriously worry about. There are a host of novel design and technical features of this car that we aren't permitted to release yet - however we can let you know that the vehicle also has voice control and can verbally entertain passengers by talking to them via it's built in AI system. It has high speed road handling that is described as 'absolutely astonishing' due to the two huge low profile wheels and tyres at the rear that have been developed especially for the vehicle by Pirelli. Steering is achieved by two smaller concealed wheels, at the front end of the vehicle. The batteries are state of the art, produced by an automated robot manned production plant in Portslade, Brighton that apparently uses remanufactured and recycled lithium computer laptop batteries.
The Whistla Coproration, which is based in Lancing, West Sussex, UK, plans to commence production in the fall of this year in a brand new facility which is being built right now. There are likely to be very small numbers off the production line at first, but we understand that this will be ramped up as quickly as possible due to the high volume of pre-orders. This will be achieved by using a large number of assembly robots, designed by Whistla and made in China, to their design. The company are being coy about pre-orders, however industry analysts estimate that they have an unofficial waiting list for 'thousands of vehicles' and that's before the actual price or delivery date has even been confirmed. The vehicle is multi-market - driver controls can be switched electronically to either the right hand or left hand side of the vehicle, so only minor adjustments will be required, to suit the local regulations of individual countries.
Our visit to Washington was certainly a 'whistle-stop' tour and we're now seriously considering selling our Random Art delivery van, in order to place a deposit on a new Whistla. However If our budget won't stretch that far this year, then at least we can live the dream by going to see 'Zero 1' - Matt Whistler's 'block buster' Movie as soon as it hits our screens.
Image Creative Commons: Chase N and Prank Sky Media 2017 under an Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0).
