"We paint a lot of cars here," said Mayo, owner of Premo Auto Body in Charlottesville. "But never anything that looks that way."
Mayo's paint job was one of the final stages in the assembly of the first Very Light Car prototype, which is being designed and built by a team of engineers, auto design specialists, aerodynamics experts, race industry professionals and others in Lynchburg, Va.
The team — led by Charlottesville commercial real estate developer Oliver Kuttner — anticipates that its extremely lightweight yet exceptionally strong gas-powered vehicle will be capable of exceeding 100 miles per gallon of fuel.
Kuttner has dubbed his team Edison*2 in a reference to the original Edison Labs, which invented the light bulb and other groundbreaking innovations.
Edison*2's first completed Very Light Car makes its debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, which started Jan. 11 and ends Sunday.
The Very Light Car will be on display at the auto show's "Electric Avenue," which will feature nearly 20 vehicles powered by electricity and other alternative fuels. Kuttner's car will be just across from such electric cars as the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf.
"I am a little nervous," Kuttner said. "It's two of us bringing up a car against the big corporations. It's, in a way, up against all odds."
Fuel-efficient, safe, strong, agileEdison*2 is starting to pick up some buzz, Kuttner said, with Good Morning America and others setting up interviews about the Very Light Car at the auto show.
Some 650,000 people attended last year's auto show. It is the public's first real opportunity to see the vehicle that Kuttner believes has the potential to revolutionize transportation and drastically cut America's reliance on foreign oil.
Edison*2's car takes fuel efficiency to the extreme. It weighs a mere fraction of a conventional vehicle's weight, thereby requiring less fuel.
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