"GIGACAR" is not a new model in Toyota's family of hybrid vehicles. For the first time in human history, a type of transportation has a BILLION units scattered all over the world, and the world wide demand for personalized transportation (rather than mass transit) in India, China, and South America is growing dramatically with their populations rapidly adopting modern ideas.

The problem is that today's billion cars, despite their constantly rusting away, will remain in the "installed, gas-consuming-base" for decades, well into the middle of the century. Cuba is still keeping 50 year old cars running in an impoverished economy. As things get worse economically world wide, automobile technology is NOT going to be trashed in favor of much more expensive vehicle concepts like a purely battery powered small car. Even IF the perfect solution to electric power for cars was already developed and was even cheaper than your typical Volkswagen Bug, the demand for petroleum based fuels will still GROW, rather than abate. With limited oil supplies, the ONLY solution will be an inflation of the fuel costs for those billion PLUS cars. Perhaps, we in the USA, can deal with higher taxes (carbon) and high fuel costs of liquid hydrogen, and still have a gas guzzling Mustang "second car" in the garage for "old-times sake." BUT at least half of the 7-gigbods on earth will have a very serious economic problem fueling their gigacars.

CARS in the 21st century simply CANNOT be defined in terms of 20th century technology. Even more relevant is that any new "car" definition simply has to come from the manufacturing capabilities and capacities of the emerging economies of China and India. And in that context, the announced ultra-inexpensive "car" by TATA motors of India is a prototype of how future vehicles can/will-be made, distributed and sold for the rest of this century. Just like bicycles and some recreational vehicles, the factory sends out the "vehicle" in a box that ships very efficiently, and it is up to the dealer to do the final, and labor intensive, hand assembly in response to a hard purchase order in hand. The 20th century was build on the industrial engineering idea that a FORD automated production line would make as many cars, as fast as possible, and if the demand is not there for that model, the over-produced cars must sit on a dealer's lot until a new model comes out to obsolete the old model that is then sold off at a loss to the businesses involved. More critical to the whole idea is that highly reusable materials (rusting iron) are the core mass from which the vehicle can ge trashed and re-cycled. That was an excellent idea for 20th century thinking. It is an impossible idea for an over-populated, under-fueled world.

If the future of "transportation" can have a very light weight vehicle that is sold as a "kit" with "some assembly required" by the end-user's-agent, then the vehicle could have dramatically lower manufacturing (factory) costs that could in turn benefit the higher costs of using expensive batteries or unique hydrogen fuel cells. More critical to the future of employment, the final assembly can provide work close to the size and level of demand, even under highly negotiated payment terms. It works for housing construction, why not vehicles?

Additionally, radically NEW powering and propulsion methods for transportation must initially assume that the vehicle is going to be (or should be) without model changes for years if not decades. The untapped market potential does NOT need to artificially keep factories running making variations of old ideas. The next generation, new technology for personal transportation, ("CAR?") must be easily repaired and kept functioning for many many years. In that way, the transportation unit could be financed over longer time periods more like living quarters than like consumable disposable diapers. Renting the use of a vehicle, even on-demand, strongly leads to third party winners who can generate an income via the ownership for decades. This is much like the world of tractor-trailers and construction equipment. Hence, simplicity and reliability and financing of a radically new mode of personal transportation will be central to its adoption. Conversely, building trillions of dollars worth of high speed rail mass transit to serve a few existing megopolii, is a losing strategy for survival in the 21st century.

Brilliantly... if we can perfect the powering of a small ultra-light VTOL using ultra-efficient electric motors and fuel cells energized with hydrogen, there will be little need for cosmetic changes in appearance and performance. Such a vehicle is not a CAR, it should NEVER be called an "aero-car," The cost savings of the total system based on this type of "vehicle," compared to any other form of transportation (that is: no new highways), will permit the reasonable profitability of the key technology components. In the end, an Electric VTOL Personal Aircraft Vehicle (PAV) used away from major population centers has a market potential of a billion total units sold in the 21st century. The mind boggles... GIGMEDIA CONSULTING has already designed such a vehicle.