Los Angeles Auto Show Unveils Eco Cars of the Future

The <a href="http://www.laautoshow.com/">9th Los Angeles Auto Show</a> recently unveiled an amazing lineup of futuristic <a href="http://inhabitat.com/2010/06/07/photosynthetic-concept-car-keeps-it-clean-with-plant-power/">concept cars</a> designed by some of the biggest names in auto manufacturing. Manufacturers such as <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/01/27/diy-hyper-modified-honda-motorcycle-hits-214-mpg/">Honda</a>, Mercedes and luxury car maker Maybach are all competing for a "green" award at the auto show, where they were all challenged to come up with "comfortable, stylish and safe" vehicles that would weigh no more than 1,500 lbs (that is lighter than a Mini Metro) and run on <a href="http://inhabitat.com/energy/">renewable fuels</a>. From vehicles that generate energy by absorbing light to cars powered by compressed air to innovative ways to "grow" cars rather than build them, read on for six of our favorite designs!

Inspired by rollercoasters and skydiving suits, the Honda Air is designed to run on compressed air instead of petrol.

More astonishingly, it is one of the lightest submissions at just 800lbs.

This stunning vehicle from Nissan is designed to be manufactured from a unique biopolymer frame.

The frame will be constructed from a form of fast-growing ivy and a spider silk composite.

Made from less than a thousand parts, the Volvo Air Motion is powered by compressed air motors, making it not only green but light. In fact, it weights less than an F1 racecar.

Designed by the Volvo Monitoring and Concept Center (VMCC) in California, the Air Motion also boasts an open cockpit and a unique front to back seating arrangement.

While it may resemble the next generation of Batmobile, the Cadillac Aera is a futuristic 2+2 coupe, which is design to run on alternatives fuels with a range of 1,000 miles.

Its advanced body structure uses "a polyhedral, 3D lattice, mono-formed frame with a flexible pressurized polymer skin for body panels and glass."

One of the most innovative designs of the whole auto show, the Mercedes-Benz Biome (which is one of three seperate designs Mercedes submitted) would be 'grown' instead of manufactured.

The car company have envisioned a world where "each vehicle is grown from two seeds." One seed, the front star, grows the interior of the vehicle from Mercedes-Benz DNA, while the seed capsule creates the vehicle's exterior.

Not just that, but the organic material from which it is made would absorb solar energy like a plant does.

Maybach's egg-shaped vehicle is been designed to be the world's first naturally manufactured vehicle (NMV), as it would be born from a coded DNA cocoon.

The DRS, or Den-Riki-Sha (electricity-powered car, in English) would also be run by an electric motor.