2013: Half! Lightweight with Passion.
Biography
Song Wei Teo was born in Singapore. He attended Nanyang Polytechnic in Singapore with a degree in Industrial Design. He is currently in his final year studying Automotive Design at Coventry University, United Kingdom. He has a strong interest in coming up with fresh ideas for car design and is willing to take up new opportunities overseas for internships.
Description
The design was influenced by the use of vacuum formed plastic packaging that protects its contents. Vacuum formed plastics are cheap, light, and tough and can be molded into different shapes easily. He thought the idea could expand into the automotive context.
He approached the design brief based on its core requirements: the design has to be lightweight with the use of manufacturing methods, materials and fit a family of four to six.
To achieve Lightweight design through:
- Materials – introduced new materials never used in the car design industry (Aerospace spec carbonate plastic) which has both strong and lightweight characteristics.
- Manufacturing techniques – Vacuum forming takes away required chassis structure design and thus save a lot of weight.
- Reduced car parts – Less parts means less weight