Tanghua A Piece of Cloud (我是一片云)

At the 2008 Detroit Motor Show, held in January, Tanghua surprised attendees by unveiling three different concept cars — among them, the delightfully strange “A Piece of Cloud” (我是一片云).

This vehicle took minimalism to the extreme. It was a fully open car with no doors, no trunk lid, and apparently no seatbelts either. However, it did offer a clearer look at Tanghua’s new dashboard design. Oddly enough, it also featured carpeted flooring and plush, fluffy seats — a puzzling choice considering the car’s exposure to the elements. One can only imagine the musty smell it would develop after a few rain showers.

Designed with low-speed environments in mind, this quirky runabout targeted hotel resorts, university campuses, and similar settings where encounters with regular traffic would be rare. Compared to the earlier Xiaoya model, “A Piece of Cloud” was shorter and wider, measuring 2080 mm in length and 1530 mm in width, with an unchanged height. The wheelbase came in at just 1360 mm.

Tanghua also shared performance specs: top speed was 18 km/h, powered by a 3.5 kW motor producing 16 Nm of torque (briefly boostable to 32 Nm). As with previous models, buyers could choose between two battery types, with prices ranging from $3800 to $7200 depending on configuration.