Fresno Body Works Clovis

The World's Thinnest Car: The Tango

Albert Einstein said, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them." His point was that to truly innovate, it requires outside-the-box thinking. And that’s what the Spokane, WA-based makers of The Tango – possibly the world’s skinniest car – have done with this amazing vehicle.

At  Fresno Body Works Clovis , we are happy to be living in an age of automotive innovation and that is why we're always interested in the latest and greatest when it comes to new, cutting-edge vehicles.

Rick Woodbury is the genius behind The Tang, who created this commuter vehicle to increase freeway lane capacity.

At slightly more than three feet wide and eight and a half inches long with no wasted space, The Tango has seats like a jet fighter – one behind the other. Its thin design can fit into narrower spaces than some motorcycles can.

The first version of the car was supposed to be mass-produced by late 2005 and actor George Clooney got one of the first ones in August of that year. But problems with its British manufacturers, forced CommuterCars its maker, to take over manufacturing themselves, so that the second vehicle didn’t ship until almost three years later.

This vehicle eventually was used as part of an April Fools prank in the second-floor office of Google's CEO Eric Schmidt.

The first model of the luxury Tango T600, cost about  roughly $108,000, with some premium features like a leather-lined interior and a fancy sound system, but the high cost turned off a lot consumers.

Two higher production models -- the T200 and the T100  are expected to eventually sell for  $40,000 and $19,000, respectively, though they are still in the development stage. By 2014, fewer than Tangos had been built in the United States.

The Tango’s “green” attributes, however, remain undisputed. It uses, for instance, a quarter of a standard parking space and can often park sideways.

Commutercars.com  has reported that with the lowest center of gravity of any car, The Tango may also be the world’s safest, with a passenger compartment that meets NASCAR specifications, and four times the side protection of a typical SUV.

The Tango can avoid crashes better than other models, its makers say, adding that it can climb  a 30 percent grade and take corners like a sports car. The Tango is electric powered and  has four wheels unlike some other prototypes. It can travel some  120 miles on a charge, goes from zero to 60 in under four seconds and can reach  a top speed more than 100 miles per hour, its makers say.

Comprising much of the car’s ton of ballast, ensuring stability, The Tango’s batteries are held low to the ground, its makers say.

Woodbury’s goal was to invent a car that can zip through crowded  urban traffic and it looks like it he has succeeded with The Tango. We may not see any of them anytime soon in  Clovis , CA , but that does not mean that we can't at least look out for them, right?  

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Sources: commutercars.com, Content.usatoday.com and Businessinsider.com