Rinspeed's latest creation... or is it a mirage?

Niche Swiss carmaker/customiser Rinspeed is renowned for coming up with some wacky creations, but his latest handiwork undoubtedly takes the cake.

Say hello to the eXasis, conceived to make onlookers unsure whether they're looking at a clever 3-D projection, a mirage of a four-wheeled art object…or an actual car.

Some visitors at March's Geneva motor show will probably ask themselves exactly these questions when faced with the fully transparent eXasis.

Looking part insect/part moon buggy, the offbeat design study is fabricated from a see-through high-tech plastic "with a tinge of pale yellow".

The cigar-shaped body has fore and aft tandem seating and was inspired by the legendary Auto Union race cars from the first half of the last century, as well as by modern Baja-1000 off-road vehicles.

Rinspeed boss Frank M. Rinderknecht says the transparency "dematerialises" the car to a large extent, which supposedly allows the "ideas, thoughts and imagination that were the basis of its development" to reveal themselves.

"And in all its transparency the eXasis still seems as if it hadn't arrived fully yet in the material world," adds Rinderknecht.

Propulsion comes from a supercharged two-cylinder 750cc engine that provides 110 environmentally friendly kilowatts as it runs on clean-burning bioethanol.

Yet it should provided fairly lively performance as a projected weight of 750kg means it'll have a power-to-weight ratio of just under 150kW/tonne -- a superior figure to that of, say, the Subaru Impreza WRX STi.

Rinspeed claims a "very special thrill will be the view through the transparent floor pan -- it will be an absolutely unique anniversary ride (the car was built to commemorate Rinspeed's 30th anniversary)."

Hmmm... we're not sure what to make of the eXasis, but we've got to take our collective hat off to the Swiss mob for stretching the design envelope to parcel-like proportions.