#EV Company #Canoo To Build Roomy Van And Delivery Truck [Auto Styling News]

[Auto Styling News] 

You've heard of Tesla, but now get ready for Canoo.

Canoo is a Los Angeles-based company that has developed electric vehicles, as well.

Canoo says it has designed "a modular platform purpose-built to deliver maximum vehicle interior space and adaptable to support a wide range of vehicle applications for consumers and businesses."

In the beginning it will offer consumers would it cals a lifestyle vehicle and we'll also produce a delivery truck, called a "multi-purpose delivery vehicle."

The company won the Red Dot Design Award 2020: "Best of the Best" for concept design in the transportation and mobility category.

Based on Canoo’s proprietary electric platform, the vehicle will be offered in two initial size variants, with others to follow. 

Its all-electric multi-purpose delivery vehicle will be priced starting at around $33,000. Limited availability will begin in 2022, with scaled production and launch planned for 2023. Pricing and availability of the consumer-focused lifestyle vehicle have not yet been released on the company's website.

Customers can pre-order the multi-purpose delivery vehicle for a refundable deposit of $100 per vehicle.

The delivery truck will be a lot squarer then the consumer vehicle. Which makes sense, because it will be easier to install shelves in the truck that resembles an Amazon delivery truck then in one that resembles a pill.

Let talk about the design of the consumer vehicle - the minivan.

You can't accuse it of being ugly. In fact, it resembles a beautiful Tylenol tablet. The front is roundly curved oh, and the back of the thing is almost exactly the same shape.

In fact, owners will probably complain that they have trouble walking to the front of the vehicle when they get out of the store, because they continually walk to the rear instead.

The headlamps and the tail lamps resemble the letter T on its side. They are quite stunning, in part because they are unlike anything on the market today. In fact, this vehicle will not be mistaken for any other

vehicle that has ever existed. Although one can say it resembles, if you squint and use your imagination, a Toyota Previa minivan, which graced American roads from 1991 to 1997. 

The roof panel consists entirely of glass, which is becoming more and more common especially in luxury vehicles. In fact, the vehicle will have 22 windows in total. Visibility in this thing will be amazing!

The safari windows appear above where the normal four windows of the vehicle are. And in the front of the vehicle, where the dashboard usually would sit, a window will allow drivers and passengers to see through roadway ahead of them, and pedestrians, more clearly.

The company says there will only be one color offered for the vehicle, black, which brings to mind Ford Motor Company's hesitation - well, Henry Ford's - to offer any colors back in the early 1900s. (They finally relented, of course, and Model A's were offered in the spectrum of colors by the 1920s.)

However the cars will be offered with the option of wraps, and I'm sure the aftermarket for wraps will be hot if this car takes off.

Despite the push-me-pull-you jokes that are inevitable for people who remember the original Doctor Doolittle film, the car is actually quite handsome and striking from a distance. That alone is likely to how many people in and get them to plunk down $100 to reserve one, or invest in the company's stock (GOEV) which is already trading near $15.50  a share. 

At the time this blog was written, Tesla was hovering around $660 a share. Imagine if you had bought it at $15 a share?

It's very easy to get excited about this vehicle, and about this company and it's rather stunning looking vehicles. But the recent troubles with EV carmaker Nikola, which just lost a huge contract to build electric garbage trucks, shows that the market is very tender right now. 

Still, it's equally easy to envision millions of Americans driving their kids to school and to the supermarket in this round electric minivan in early 2023 and 2024.

See video below of a "beta" version of the family vehicle in action.

Auto Styling News is a blog that covers car concepts, newly released models, and the auto industry.

Specs, Spy Photos Revealed For Ioniq 5 Electric Vehicle [Auto Styling News]

Specs for Hyundai Motor Company’s first electric vehicle under new sub-brand Ioniq, the Ioniq 5, have been (inadvertently) released by Hyundai Austria, says Inside EVs, which took the spot shot above of the sleek, 5-door hatch with Audi-like production head lamps.

The Ioniq 5 First Edition has a dual motor specification and a maximum output of 313 horsepower. When fully charged, the maximum range is 450km (280 miles) based on a 58kWh battery.  In Austria, a reservation can be placed from December 18th to January 31st.

By February 2nd, Hyundai will allow customers to choose the color and then they will have time until February 16th to place the order. Vehicles will arrive by June/July, 2021, says The Korean Car Blog.

The Ioniq 5 is based on Hyundai Motor Group's E-GMP platform for electric vehicles, and will be sold between $42,900 and $45,400, depending on battery capacity

The First Edition will likely strongly resemble last year's stunning 45 Concept car, below, revealed at the Frankfurt Auto Show.

#Polestar Wows With Handsome Precept #Concept [Auto Styling News]

Polestar is the Swedish company Volvo's electric vehicle division, and both are owned by Chinese parent company Geely. It is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden with vehicle production taking place in Chengdu, China.

It is already up and running and selling cars worldwide. And it's turning heads with its clean, Nordic designs.

Polestar recently unveiled the Polestar Precept – a vision of how the brand sees its future styling direction.

The company's division says, in typically Nordic and logical language, "we believe that a car should stand out because every part of it has been thoroughly thought out."

The name “Precept” was chosen to emphasise the vehicle’s role in setting out Polestar’s intent as the contemporary electric performance brand. 

A precept is a manifesto of things to come; a declaration. The car signifies an important milestone for Polestar as a standalone brand, describing a unique design philosophy that remains firmly embedded in Polestar’s brand values: pure, progressive and performance.

“Precept is a declaration, a vision of what Polestar stands for and what makes the brand relevant,” says Thomas Ingenlath, CEO of Polestar. “The car is a response to the clear challenges our society and industry face. This is not a dream of a distant future, Polestar Precept previews future vehicles and shows how we will apply innovation to minimise our environmental impact.

Indeed, the car is not too far in looks from the 2021 Polestar 1, an incredibly handsome vehicle (on sale now for about $60k.)

Precept features an integrated front wing above the SmartZone which accelerates air flow over the long hood. This allows air to attach itself to the surface earlier, which improves aerodynamic efficiency and thus improves the vehicle’s range. 

Minimalistic athleticism, the sculpted form of the Polestar Precept sets the tone for future Polestar vehicles. The vehicle’s proportions define its presence with restrained surfacing and a focus on aerodynamic efficiency. A 3.1-metre wheelbase which accommodates a large battery pack gives the four-door vehicle a very low silhouette, and better leg-and-head room in the back seat.

The front grille is replaced by the Polestar SmartZone, representing, "a shift from breathing to seeing," the company says. An area which once channelled air to radiators and the internal combustion engine now houses technology for safety sensors and driver assistance functions. 

Purposefully gathered behind a transparent panel dedicated to intelligent hardware are two radar sensors and a high definition camera. The LIDAR pod, mounted atop the glass roof, is given optimal visibility as a next step towards increased driving assistance. The Thor’s Hammer-style LED headlight style evolves with separated elements, taking on a dynamic, more robotic and brand-defining interpretation.

At the rear, the wide blade-like light fixture spans the entire width of the car, extending into vertical aero-wings – another aerodynamic feature and a nod to light-weight design.

There are, of course, some flights of fancy, and fantasy, that won't likely be seen on the production car.

Conventional side mirrors are replaced here by camera-based units, each of which extends outwards on an aerodynamic arm. 

The absence of a conventional rear window means that the Precept’s single-volume glass roof extends behind the rear seats and the tailgate itself is designed with a larger opening and higher-mounted hinges improving access. This obviously will be replaced in the production car with a proper rear window for visibility.

That's not to say some future tech won't make it into this car. Inside, the traditional rear-view mirror is replaced with a digital screen, the image collected by a wide-angle camera mounted at the rear of the car.

This technology is already creeping into several vehicles in 2020, including some GM cars like the Cadillac CT6 and some Lexus models. It's a neat feature that allows you to avoid the 3 adult's heads in the back seat because the camera is on the back of the roof.