Rinspeed ichange Costs 1 Million Euro...

... to build an promote. Frank M. Rinderknecht, Rinspeed CEO, says however it is worth it. Even if he had to spend all that money to built a car that will most likely never see the inside of an assembly factory, the manager thinks it is a good way to advertise both its company and the design skills of Rinspeed, Associated Press reported.

The iChange concept, on display at the 2009 Geneva Auto Show, not only brings an yet unseen concept into the public eye, but also ties it with one of the most popular gadgets of all times: the iPhone.

Used as a controller, the iPhone is matched by iChange's ability to... change. The car can adapt to fit the number of people that use it, changing its profile from a one seater to a two or three seater. Why does it do that?

Well, being powered by a full electric engine, which runs a lithium ion battery, the car needs all the aerodynamic features it can get to maintain power usage in optimum range. The engine produces a maximum power of around 200 horsepower and is uses a six-speed pre-selector gearbox sourced from the Subaru WRX car.

“The iChange is a symbol for the fundamental changes the auto industry undergoes worldwide. And it is clear that only those companies will survive that have innovative answers for the demands of a new automotive era,” Frank Rinderknecht said.

What other people think of Rinderknecht's ideas? "My mother nearly fainted when she saw me cutting a hole into the top of my car, but my friends loved it and wanted one, too," the manager told the aforementioned source about how it all started, back in 1977.