Rinspeed built a car that could shrink to make parallel parking easier
- The Rinspeed Presto was a small car concept built in 2002
- It had one unique feature to make parking easier
- Surprisingly, the car never quite made it to production
Published on May 17, 2025 at 4:12 AM (UTC+4)
by Henry Kelsall
Last updated on May 13, 2025 at 3:19 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Emma Matthews
Swiss car company Rinspeed once built a small concept car that could shrink itself to make it easier to park.
This was the Rinspeed Presto Concept, one of the more unusual concept cars to come out of the 2000s.
The car flew in the face of convention, which normally sees wild, bold, and brash designs take to the road.
Rinspeed’s Presto was certainly bold, but it also had a level of practicality associated with it that concept cars usually don’t, making it one of the weirdest ever.
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Rinspeed introduced the Presto Concept in 2002, and the concept car was all about showcasing how they could make parking easier.
The small, blue Presto featured Mercedes-Benz components, namely the headlights, taillights, and even the engine.
However, it was the body that was the Presto’s party piece.
The car was effectively sawn in half and then reattached because it had…rails.
With the rails, the whole body could move, thanks to an electric motor.
If you took the car out and about normally, the Presto looked like a typical, if slightly unusual, four-seater cabriolet.
However, when it came to parking, the Presto could dramatically change its proportions.
Richard Hammond and the BBC’s Top Gear showed off the car’s party piece in an early episode.
At the push of a button, the car would shrink using the rails, stacking the body within itself.
It would end up just over two feet shorter, and easily more able to fit into smaller parking spots.
The one thing you had to remember, though, was to make sure the rear passengers had gotten out of the car first!
Aside from the shrinking mechanism, the car was quite basic.
It was based on the first-generation Mercedes A-Class.
Under the hood was a 1.7-liter turbocharged diesel/LNG inline-four engine, making 120HP and 165LB-FT of torque.
The dual-fuel engine needed lots of work to get it functioning correctly, including the fitting of a novel gas injection system.
Rinspeed, as with virtually all its concepts, never put the small car into production.
However, it did show that the automotive world could offer practical solutions to real-world problems.
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Henry is a content writer with nearly ten years experience, having written for various publications since 2017. Qualifying with a Sports Journalism degree from Staffordshire University, Henry loves all things automotive but has a particular soft spot for classic Japanese cars and anything Lancia. He also has a curious passion for steam locomotives.
