The MDI AirPod

While the bizarre-looking line of air-powered automobiles from Motor Development International won’t win any beauty contests, their technology will revolutionize the automaking industry, and the conversation begins with the AirPod.

The AirPod, the white car featured in the first two photos of the gallery, is a three-seater that runs on—get this—compressed air. The system has been licensed by Tata Motors and will roll out in India and Europe in 2009; US buyers will have to wait until at least 2010.

You can check out the rest of MDI’s air-powered line in the gallery. Take note of the air-powered train on wheels that closes out the gallery; this concept vehicle absolutely shatters our current conceptions of eco-friendly mass transportation.