Adorable and foldable pod-like electric car headed to production in Spain

The Hiriko cars will likely cost around $16,400 each if and when released to the public

It may look like just another shiny concept, but this curious-looking and futuristic pod-like car is already slated for a trial production in Spain. To announce this development, a prototype of the tiny electric car Hiriko (the Basque word for "urban") was recently demonstrated in Brussels. Aside from being quite unusual in appearance, Hiriko has another very interesting feature — you can actually fold the car so it takes up the smallest amount of parking space possible.

The collapsible two-seater designed by the MIT Media Lab has a single entrance located at windshield: You just have to swing the front of the glass bubble up in order to get in. MIT's designers also eschewed the traditional steering wheel in favor of a joystick, so you can pretend you're playing a game while navigating a busy street. The four-wheel drive's expected range is roughly 60 miles, but that may change once the first batch of cars comes out in 2013.

The first 20 Hiriko cars to be manufactured will be part of a pilot program in Spain's Basque region, intended for shared-use similar to existing car sharing projects. MIT is also studying the possibility of deploying Hiriko fleets to Malmo (Sweden), Barcelona (Spain), Berlin (Germany), Hong Kong, and San Francisco. The manufacturers don't have concrete plans to sell the car to individuals yet, but if and when they do, their target price is approximately $16,400 per unit, or around half the price of the Chevy Volt.