The chances of this robo-luxury vehicle ever finding its way into mass production anytime in the near future are slim. But perhaps the engineering behind the Cadillac World Thorium Fuel Concept is simply ahead of its time and will one day be commonplace throughout the automotive industry.

Nevertheless, while we are not always impressed by the wet-automotive-dreams of wildly imaginative design students, we have to admit to being intrigued not only by the design of this futuristic Caddy, but also the science behind it.

In 2009, Loren Kulesus came up with the concept for this nuclear-powered space wagon, which is not fueled at al by gasoline, but thorium, a dense radioactive silvery-white metal that has the capacity to generate an enormous amount of heat.

Last year, a company from Connecticut called Laser Power Systems was said to be using Kulesus thorium concept to develop a modern day method for automotive propulsion – using lasers, thorium and water.

According to CEO Charles Stevens, just one gram of thorium is capable of producing more energy than nearly 8,000 gallons of traditional gasoline.

We suspect the torrid love affair between the automotive industry and the oil companies will be enough to prevent this propulsion method from ever seeing the light of day. So, it may be awhile before this car shows up on the lot of your local Cadillac dealer.

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