Euro giant eyes up T25

By Tom Phillips

11th June 2010

THE cut-price city car from Gordon Murray has moved a step closer to production after the McLaren F1 designer sold a prototype to a major European manufacturer.

The news emerged after Auto Express was granted an official tour of his design headquarters in Guildford, Surrey – where we got behind the wheel of his freshly completed three-seater runabout for the first time.

Murray promises the T25 petrol car will cost less than £6,000 and emit only 88g/km of CO2, while being capable of carrying three six-foot adults or up to 750 litres of luggage. At 2.4 metres long, the car is 30cm shorter than
the two-seat Smart ForTwo, but still has a four-star Euro NCAP crash test rating in its sights.

Powered by a 660cc Mitsubishi- sourced three-cylinder engine, the T25 will deliver 51bhp. And as the car weighs only 600kg, it should provide a 0-60mph time of around 12 seconds. A 71bhp turbo model is also being considered. And with economy well over 60mpg, the T25 will run for 400 miles from a 30-litre tank.

The project began at McLaren 12 years ago. Murray installed a single-cylinder 350cc Yamaha engine into the back of a classic Fiat 500 to see how small a powerplant he could get away with using. It proved too gutless, and McLaren chose not to develop small cars – but the project gave Murray a taste of what’s possible.

Now, the first completely production-ready T25 is just weeks away from completion. And with prototypes sold to the mystery European manufacturer and a Japanese engineering company (Murray won’t reveal their identities), his dream of cheap motoring is close to reality.

The Brit’s big hope is for a top auto maker to buy into his iStream manufacturing and design process. “We’re not a car company; our business is selling intellectual property for the production process,” he said. So far, he’s had 30 approaches from 17 different countries.

But Gordon Murray Design is also building the first of four lithium-ion battery-powered versions of the T25, badged T27. After that, he will focus on a £12,000 lightweight Mazda MX-5 rival, before building a supercar to take on the McLaren MP4-12C.