Car Design Research (CDR) has conceived what it says could be a new future car type to replace budget airline travel. During the coronavirus lock-down in 2021, a team at the UK-based design consultancy, which says it has worked with 11 design groups of the top 20 car companies over the last 20 years—was discussing unrealized opportunities for car design.

They came up with six new car types that would be enabled by new technologies. One of these focused on being an alternative to the short-haul flight, which became the Budget Airline Car concept, would produce only 2% of the emissions per passenger compared to a short-haul flight.

As the COVID pandemic continues to make being surrounded by hundreds of strangers unappealing, and as connected, autonomous, shared, and electric technologies come to the fore, the Budget Airline Car illustrates how a new type of car design could be a better solution for millions of passengers a year.

CDR says that concept could be a possible mobility solution as governments ban or restrict short-haul flights, as they already have in Austria, France, and the Netherlands. It could be for the many people who don’t want to travel by what it says is the most environmentally damaging form of transport—the short-haul aircraft flight.

The core concept was developed by CDR design associates Yichen Shu in China and Aditya Jangid in India. Both of them then designed subtly different exterior design themes and illustrated how the car might be offered as an alternative to flying by today’s budget airline brands.

“It is such a unique project, as both the vehicle and the design process are our response to the ongoing pandemic,” wrote Shu, a former Royal College of Art student and now an intern at GAC Motor, on LinkedIn. “Sam Livingstone, Aditya Jangid, and I worked together from the UK, India, and China with a remote workflow, exploring the opportunity in the post-COVID ‘international mobility.’”

The concept has spacious seating for six adults and their cabin baggage, electric power developed for long-distance cruising rather than high performance, and a design focused on aerodynamics and shared access. The consultancy says the combination makes for a design that could realize a totally new way to comfortably and efficiently travel from city to city and that the concept sits in a “white space” that is conceptually distinct from other cars.

According to CDR, short-haul flights are the most common form of air travel in Europe, accounting for 80% of all flights, and they produce more CO2 emissions than any other form of passenger transportation—about 250 CO2 g/km per person. They produce 25% more emissions than long-haul flights due to a higher proportion of fuel used during take-off and landing. The emissions equate to about twice that for a single-occupancy modern conventionally fueled compact car like a Volkswagen Golf 1.5TSI (122 CO2 g/km) and five times more than an electric train or single-occupancy compact electric car such as a Nissan Leaf in Europe. And because electricity generation continues to get “greener,” many electric cars in Europe will produce only CO2 30 g/km by 2030.

CDR experts believe that an efficient electric car like it is proposing could carry six passengers and produce a game-changing 5 CO2 g/km per person. They believe that this would be a modest target if the car was dedicated in design and engineering to being efficient—unlike today’s performance-orientated electric crossovers. Using only 2%, or 1/50th, of the CO2 emissions of today’s short-haul flights would make a huge difference and have potentially very significant market appeal.

The core concept for the Budget Airline Car is for a shared super-efficient car to be offered by budget airlines or “hire car” brands as an alternative service to short-haul flights. Its electric powertrain would be developed for long-distance mid-speed cruising and the vehicle design would prioritize class-leading aerodynamics.

It would seat six people in three rows. As passengers may not know each other (just as on a flight), each would have a dedicated seat with their cabin baggage securely stored within easy reach. It would have greater privacy and space than existing cars’ second- and third-row seats. The three-row seat layout could be realized within an overall length of 5 m (16.4 ft), despite each seating space being equally large because of the benefits of compact electric motors.

The two-person-wide layout would contribute to a reduced frontal area compared to a car designed for three people side-by-side. A length of 5 m would make the Budget Airline Car about as long as a Tesla Model X, Nio ES8, or Volvo XC90, but its 1.8-m (5.9-ft) width and 1.5-m (4.9-ft) height would give it about 20% less frontal area.

Passengers would share the driving, with good driving incentivized by a shared-economy digital platform providing the mobility service. A suite of advanced driver assistance systems would aid safety—as would the ultimate fully autonomous driving.

CDR says that the concept shows how car design could take a leading role in reducing the total CO2 produced by transportation, respond to the climate emergency, and perhaps take a more proactive role in realizing better—not just new—forms of car and wider mobility solutions. It also illustrates how the consultancy envisages new and relevant future design concepts for several of the world’s leading mobility brands.