African concept car

 

Today’s cars look like spaceships and are built by robots in futuristic factories. But under a thin outer layer of design, cars are also mobile gold mines, filled with precious metals as well as repairable and reusable machines. Suame Magazine spectacularly extracts these raw materials, manually, in the open air. Processes that take place behind the scenes in the Netherlands, are made visible here.

Our research will explore the benefits and problems of nowadays mobility in West Africa and Europe. This exploration is not about inventing the car of the future but a reflection on contemporary society.

The dream car will be built according to the motto “Let’s make things simple” and satisfied the following criteria:

1. It is built in Suame Magazine, from locally crafted, refurbished and used parts from different brands of (discarded) cars;
2. It is robust and easy to assemble, re-assemble and repair;
3. It is a prototype of a car potentially fit for the African market;
4. It provides the driver and passengers with a superb experience of the landscape when driven;
5. It is built in a time frame of 12 weeks.

Source of inspiration is the Buafo (literal translation: carrying help), a pickup truck prototype developed in the 1970s as part of an effort by the government to create a home-grown car industry.