What you are seeing here is the future, not the future transportation for clowns, but THE future. And no the Shell Concept Car isn’t the future transportation for clowns it is a proof of concept and was designed by non other than Gordon Murray. Murray, as you may well know, is the design genius behind the original and and now legendary McLaren F1.  Thankfully the clown livery wasn’t designed by Murray. The colours of the Shell Concept Car mirrors Shell’s corporate colours and the oil giant funded the research and development. So what is all the fuss about? As I just said its about proving a concept works. If this concept were ever to go into production it could deliver material reductions in energy use in the road transport sector. The three seater car is designed to offer tangible proof of energy efficiency improvements that can be achieved by using cutting edge technology available today through a process of “co-engineering” whereby vehicle body, engine design and lubricants are all created together. In truth the concept is really designed to showcase Shell’s ability to develop lubricant technology that would cut engine oil consumption by 34 percent. Initial independent test results have shown a steady state consumption of 107 miles per gallon [2.64Litres per 100km] [38km/Litres] [89.1 miles per gallon US] at 70kmph/45mph and an improvement of 4.67g CO₂/km on the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) from the use of bespoke lubricants, equivalent to a 5% improvement in fuel efficiency compared to standard lubricants available in the UK. Built around Gordon Murray Design’s patented iStream® platform, the Shell Concept Car uses streamlined manufacturing to improve production efficiencies. The car uses lightweight materials and weighs just 550kg. A number of the car’s components were created using 3D printing to accelerate the construction of this prototype vehicle. Recycled carbon fibre was used for the body that can be assembled for a quarter of the price of a conventional steel car and almost the entire car can be recycled at the end of its life. As interesting as this concept city car is it’s a showcase for Shell’s expertise to increasing engine efficiencies through the development of better oil/lubricant formulas. You could say its an advertisement for Shell and don’t be surprised to see a new Shell oil lubricant-product as a result of this research.