Northern Europe is the place to be this week if you're a car buff. In Amsterdam, the AutoRAI 2007 show is set to feature a number of new designs, from BMW's Hydrogen 7 and Toyota's Fine-T zero-emission car to a diesel version of the Mini Cooper. The Dutch event was moved to its new late March start date specifically so that it could feature models from the recent Geneva auto show. In Essen, Germany, the automotive event is Techno Classica, a festival of vintage autos. Both shows start Thursday.
Pictured here is one of the marquee vehicles at AutoRAI, the Common (or, in the orthography of its builders, the C,mm,n). This car-of-the-future design is a joint effort of three Dutch technical universities--Twente, Delft and Eindhoven--which in February launched the 3TU Federation to focus on research in areas such as high-tech systems, nanotechnology and sustainable energy.
Photo by Rick Nederstigt/AFP/Getty Images
