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| Check out the Tarmac's door hinge, as unique as the rest of its race inspired interior. While appearing straight forward and simple, a host of upscale features keep it up to pace with the 21st century. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
A unique front door hinge design allows access to the minimalist-style interior, that albeit incorporates hardly basic features such as a flat screen DVD system for front and rear occupants, mouse controlled climate, audio and telematic controls, an on-board digital camera able to graphically document a hot lap around the racetrack or for that matter a particularly exhilarating drive though winding mountain roads, all from a first-person perspective.
The Tarmac's rear seats fold down to accommodate extra cargo, also accessible from the diminutive trunk. A retractable roll bar keeps occupants safe, while the handy center console rail also acts as a structural backbone, strengthening the open top car overall. That said a removable hardtop should increase stiffness while transforming the Spyder into a 4-season car in the process.
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| Shown here with its hardtop in place, the Tarmac Spyder becomes a four-season affair. But even considering its practicality, will Mitsubishi build it? (Photo: Mitsubishi Motors) |
The definitive question is whether we'll be able to buy anything like the Tarmac Spyder in the near future. According to Pierre Gagnon, Mitsubishi's chairman and CEO of Mitsubishi Motors North America (MMNA), "Tarmac Spyder's exterior themes and appealing styling cues represent the visual design vocabulary that consumers can expect to see on future compact segment products from Mitsubishi around the world."
While Gagnon's comments are somewhat promising it doesn't sound like we should get our collective hopes up for a road going version of the Tarmac Spyder anytime soon. It's a great concept with a great deal of potential, but alas only the stuff of dreams. That said if it truly shows the direction Mitsubishi is headed there are some exciting times in the tri-diamond brand's future.