GM’s Built in Bike Rack
Kicking Tires, a blog that covers the automotive industry, has some interesting pictures of a new bike rack design GM is working on in Europe. Known as the Flex-Fix system, the rack conceals itself in the vehicles rear bumper, and slides out only when needed. Obvious advantages to the system include, a reduction in wind-related cabin noise, near zero setup time, and no need to store hitch or trunk mounted systems in the car’s trunk when not in use. Right now it looks like the system can support two bikes, which should make it appealing to a large percentage of buyers since the majority of racks we see usually caryy two bikes. Speculation right now has the rack appearing on the next generation Saturn Vue in the US (maybe), and Opel's Antara in Europe. Moving the rack system into larger GM vehicles in the U.S. might be challenging since the spare tire sits squarely behind the rear bumper on most GM full-sized SUVs. But if the demand is there we're pretty sure GM will find a way...
