The

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

Ultralite was a 1992

low emission vehicle A low-emission vehicle is a motor vehicle that emits relatively low levels of motor vehicle emissions. The term may be used in a general sense, but in some countries it is defined in air quality statutes. Different groups of people ("go greens", "g ...

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle or show vehicle) is a car made to showcase new styling or new technology. Concept cars are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or may not ...

intended to demonstrate the benefits of advanced materials and low fuel consumption. It was rated at by the EPA, but could achieve at a steady state cruising speed of 50 mph. The

carbon fiber Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers ( Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon comp ...

shell was fabricated by

Scaled Composites Scaled Composites (often called simply Scaled) is an American aerospace company founded by Burt Rutan and currently owned by Northrop Grumman. It is located at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California, United States. Founded to d ...

and it weighed only 420 pounds (191 kg). The total weight of the car was 1,400 pounds (635 kg). The car had

gull-wing door In the automotive industry, a gull-wing door, also known as a falcon-wing door, McLaren anhedral door, or an up-door, is a car door that is hinged at the roof rather than the side, as pioneered by Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, first as a race car in ...

s and no

B-pillar The pillars on a car with permanent roof body style (such as four-door sedans) are the vertical or nearly vertical supports of its window area or greenhouse—designated respectively as the A, B, C and (in larger cars such as 4-door stati ...

. The drag coefficient, C_d, was 0.19, significantly lower than that of production cars of the decade. Its three-cylinder 1.5 L

two-stroke engine A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a Thermodynamic power cycle, power cycle with two strokes of the piston, one up and one down, in one revolution of the crankshaft in contrast to a f ...

could produce 111 hp (83 kW), which made a speed of 135 mph (217 km/h) possible. The car could accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (97 km/h) in less than eight seconds.1992 GM Ultralite running concept car
/ref> The shape was reminiscent of the

Ford Probe The Ford Probe is a liftback (i.e., hatchback) coupé manufactured and marketed by Ford for model years 1988-1997 over two generations. The Probe was a byproduct of Ford's collaboration with its Japanese partner Mazda, and both generations der ...

concept, and the Ultralite presaged the production General Motors EV1

electric vehicle An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road vehicle, road and rail vehicles, electric boats and Submersible, submer ...

and other production models.

In popular culture

Due to the unusual design, the Ultralite has been featured in several science fiction productions, most prominently among them was in the 1993 film '' Demolition Man'' as the squad cars used by the fictional SAPD (San Angeles Police Department). They also appeared in the second episode of the second season of ''

seaQuest DSV ''SeaQuest DSV'' (stylized as ''seaQuest DSV'' and also promoted as simply ''seaQuest'') is an American science fiction television series created by Rockne S. O'Bannon for NBC. It aired between 1993 and 1996. In its final season, it was re ...

'', and in the 1999 movie '' Bicentennial Man''.

References

Ultralite Scaled Composites {{Modern-auto-stub