Maininki is a Finnish word meaning “swell,” referring to a long-wavelength surface wave on a body of water. According to Eskeli’s website, “Swells are far more stable in their directions and frequency than normal wind waves, having often traveled long distances since their formation.” And that was the idea behind the Maininki: to develop a car with stable, reliable performance in any weather or driving conditions.
It’s not looking like the Maininki was exactly designed for any road conditions, but it is a beautiful take on a concept we are seeing a lot of lately–changeable chassis length for versatile driving performance. The Maininki concept was a Michelin Design Challenge finalist and was displayed at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit earlier this year.
Via Yanko Design
Reminds me a lot of the Renault Racoon that I saw on a *very* old TV show called “Beyond 2000″. It had a similar look, and adjustable in drive suspension that enabled it to take on many different road (and water) conditions.
Decent pics can be found on google image search. Wikipedia also has a good little write up of it and there is a video on youtube as well (not english, though).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Racoon