Wednesday, September 28, 2016

#VW Teases "Revolutionary" Electric Vehicle By 2020 [Auto Styling News]



At next month's Paris Motor Show, Volkswagen - seeking to turn the page on its scandalous gaming of emissions standards - will urge us to "Think New." And the concept car it recently teased ahead of the show is actually something pretty good, if may live up to the hype, if it makes it off the drawing board.

Volkswagen says the concept electric vehicle it will launch by 2020 will be based on it's "modular electric toolkit" (MEB in German) the basis of battery-electric vehicles with ranges of  249 to 373 miles. Several vehicles up and down the product line will apparently benefit from this new technology, including a beefed up electric car with greater range before 2020 (the current one gets a mere 83 miles out of a full charge.) By 2025, VW hopes to be selling between 2 million and 3 million electric vehicles every year.

This one-of-a-kind concept car, says VW, signals the brand’s entry into a new era, as revolutionary, it claims, "as the Beetle was seven decades ago, before it evolved into the world’s best-selling car of the last century." This car, too, they claim, "has the potential to make history with its completely new vehicle concept."

All well and good. The car, which we have only seen teased in the photos here, sure looks nice. The headlamps and tail lamps alone look revolutionary. And even if it had a regular gasoline engine in it, it looks like a winner (assuming, of course, consumers forgive them by 2020 for lying about earlier models' emissions!) But a note of caution here: VW, not unlike GM, Toyota and many other brands, have a history of teasing big changes and gorgeous concepts, only to have bean-counters ratchet down the beauty in the production phase.

One hopes they not only ARE able to deliver on these astounding range figures, but that the vehicles continue to evolve into something beautiful, like these indicate they will most certainly will be.

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

#Mercedes Stuns With Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 Concept [Auto Styling News]

Every August classic car fans from around the world converge on Pebble Beach in California for a very special beauty contest. This gathering of magnificent classic cars was the perfect place to premiere the exclusive Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6, a sensational luxury-class coupe.

The 2+2-seater, billed as a 2018 model year vehicle by Mercedes, pays homage to the glorious age of the aero coupes and consciously carries this tradition forward into the future with its design. The coupe reinterprets classic, emotional design principles in an extreme way, following the Mercedes design philosophy of "sensual purity."

The Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6, which measures over 18.5-feet  in length, is designed as an electric car. The drive system has an output of 738 SAE hp. The shallow underfloor battery allows a range of over 200 miles.

With its sensual, emotional design ("hot") and intelligent details ("cool"), the Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 represents the ultimate in luxury. The classic aesthetic proportions of the show car - an extremely long hood, low roof line and rearward positioning of the greenhouse - recall the aero coupes of the 1930s and 40s. But this is not retro design - this is a reinterpretation of classic, aesthetic principles.

It's amazingly rakish rear is unlike anything on the market today. This beast looks FAST even when standing still. It makes the heart pound, and excites the senses. All that a concept car should do, and all that a Mercedes, and a Maybach, MUST do.

Even without aids such as spoilers, the airflow hugs the contours of the vehicle body and breaks away very late at the tail end of the vehicle. Then there is the surprisingly sleek character of the narrow lights, partially transparent rims and split rear window.

The front features a daring grille - which of course it must have. But the hood's amazing length is the signature look of the car, even when a less daring design would be absolutely defined by that grille, which is truly massive.

Now, let's come down from the sugar high for a moment. It's almost 100% guaranteed that this concept car is a design study, rather than a production car slated for 2018. but if it comes anywhere near this concept's radical lines after the bean counters take charge of it, Mercedes is going to have a major hit on its hands, if it goes forward with something like this design.

Mercedes has done itself a wonderful favor putting the Maybach name into the Mercedes line-up.
Both young children and young professionals in their 20s who may never own one will still dream of them and will be making them their screensavers for the next decade.