¡¡¡¡Welcome to the car showroom of the future. Step right up and take a look at some of our new models.

¡¡¡¡We offer a little beauty that can get you to work lickety-split, and you don't have to worry about those pesky stop signs. Just watch out for low-flying airplanes! This model is called the Skycar. You might have seen George Jetson at the controls of something like it.

¡¡¡¡Think you'd like a car that glides across water? Then test-drive¡ªsorry, test-swim the Aquada.

¡¡¡¡If going fast is your thing, climb into Bugatti's superfast car that can zip along at 252 miles per hour!

¡¡¡¡Say goodbye to smog with these cars. The AUTOnomy runs on clean-burning hydrogen instead of gasoline. The Hypercar runs on gasoline and hydrogen.

¡¡¡¡The cars of the future are already here as prototypes, and they don't look like Grandpa's pickup truck or Aunt Sally's SUV. Read on to see what kind of dream machines might be available by the time you get your driver's license.

¡¡¡¡ZOOM¢Ÿ ZOOM¢Ÿ ZOOM

¡¡¡¡Whoosh! Bugatti, the European car manufacturer, recently unveiled its 1,001-horsepower, ultrafast supercar, which can reach a top speed of 252 miles per hour.

¡¡¡¡The car is made of lightweight materials. It also has specially made tires that won't melt when the car hits high rates of speed. Engineers designed the bottom of the car to create the venturi effect, a tremendous downward pull that helps keep the car on the road. The price tag for Bugatti's supercar: about $1.2 million.

¡¡¡¡H IS FOR HYDROGEN POWER

¡¡¡¡Can engineers design a car that doesn't cause pollution? General Motors thinks it can. The carmaker is working to build cars that operate on hydrogen-powered fuel cells.

¡¡¡¡Fuel cells, like batteries, store energy. But unlike batteries, fuel cells never lose power or need to be recharged as long as there is enough hydrogen fuel.

¡¡¡¡Fuel cells create energy through the combination of hydrogen and oxygen. That energy can power an electric car motor.

¡¡¡¡GM's new AUTOnomy car runs on a series of hydrogen fuel cells. Instead of producing noxious exhaust, as your family car does, the AUTOnomy produces water vapor. Scientists expect AUTOnomy's hydrogen-powered system to get the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon of gasoline.

¡¡¡¡Another type of hydrogen-powered car is the Hypercar, which will run on a gasoline-and hydrogen-powered fuel system. Scientists say the vehicle will be able to travel 300 miles on a gallon of gas. Also, the Hypercar creates little noise and air pollution.

¡¡¡¡The design of the Hypercar is environmentally friendly too. The vehicle is made from lightweight materials called composites¡ªtwo or more substances that strengthen the individual properties of each material. The Hypercar is not as heavy as a typical vehicle, so it needs less energy to accelerate.

¡¡¡¡UP UP AND AWAY©t

¡¡¡¡If Paul Moller has his way, people soon will be able to buy the world's first flying car, known as the Skycar. Moller designed his $1 million Skycar with eight engines and two flight computers. The fans inside the motors create tremendous airflow, generating enormous thrust that lifts the 2,400-pound vehicle into the air.

¡¡¡¡¡°We'll have a highway in the sky,¡± Moller says. ¡°You'll sit [in the Skycar], and it'll take you where you want.¡±

¡¡¡¡Moller says the Skycar can travel up to 380 miles per hour. Before the Skycar takes to the air, however, the Federal Aviation Administration must create new rules for the flying car.

¡¡¡¡YO-HO MATEY

¡¡¡¡Ever get that sinking feeling? Not with the Aquada, a new sports car that is making quite a splash. With the touch of a button, this watertight convertible folds up its wheels and turns into a boat in six seconds. The car can reach speeds of 100 miles per hour on land and about 35 miles per hour on water¡ªfast enough to pull a water-skier. Built in Great Britain, the Aquada recently went for a test-swim in the Thames River in London.