A 50 years late prototype, the next BMW M1, the S-Class of the future and an off-road Audi with drones for headlights. And yes, I had discard quite a few. Car industry has big plans for the future, well beyond the usual cliches…
Concept cars are an integral part of major car shows and a great addition to every stage. They highlight the prominent role of a factory stage while the concept will benefit from the media limelight generated by the show.
Concept cars serve multiple purposes. Most of them are bold visionary studies to introduce a new design language while showcasing forward-looking technological solutions, others are testing the market reaction to new models.
This article aims to present my favourite concept cars of the IAA 2019. Evidently, the Germans would dominate this list. Hence I decided to limit participation to a single vehicle per brand.
10. Opel – better late than never
The highlight at the Opel stage is an e-Path illuminated in yellow, running diagonally up to the Opel Elektro-GT concept. The cars symbolise a bridge from the past to future developments in electric mobility.
The GT is an iconic car of Opel, and the weather-beaten German brand seems to take great care of the legend by celebrating the GT’s birthdays whenever there was an occasion. I have seen many interesting GT variations and concepts from racing versions to the 2016 GT concept.
This Elektro GT does not ring the bell from any previous show. In fact, the information available does not seem to conclude any significant achievements.
The brand is showcasing the concept car named 45, a fully electric concept that envisions Hyundai’s future EV design direction with a homage to the past.
The new concept accentuates the Hyundai’s future design direction exploring the evolution of Hyundai’s ‘Sensuous Sportiness’ design language. In Hyundai’s vocabulary, Sensuous stands for enhanced emotional values that customers can experience through design, and Sportiness is determined to implement those values through innovative mobility solutions. So now you know : ).
As a homage to its heritage and reimagined for the future, 45 foreshadows a new era of Hyundai’s automotive design focused on electrification, autonomous technologies and intelligent design.
The fully-electric powertrain enables a complete reimagination of the car’s layout, with much more freedom. The electric components with batteries and motors were positioned outside or below the passenger compartment.
The 45 puts a twist on a 45-year-old concept car, the Hyundai Pony Coupe Concept, and also introduces a new in-car experience for self-driving vehicles.
8. The Tavascan is a flagship of SEAT’s E-offensive
This concept car was presented to draw the attention at SEAT’s electric offensive, and it certainly did not fail in drawing attention. Yet the car is much more, as it is slated to reach production stage next year.
The Tavascan concept car is CUPRA’s first fully electric vehicle, and it was developed on the MEB platform. It is also the first model developed specifically for the brand, equipped with a hybrid engine and scheduled for market release next year.
The layout houses two motors, one integrated on the front axle, the second at the rear, providing a combined 225kW (306PS) of power to all four wheels. The CUPRA Tavascan Electric Concept can reach 100km/h in less than 6.5 seconds. The concept houses a 77kWh lithium-ion battery pack that can store enough energy to keep the vehicle moving for up to 450km.
The vehicle’s exterior combines performance and efficiency aspirations, bringing dynamic coupé line and modern, sleek design cues.
7. Pininfarina Battista – Somebody lost a concept car in the heritage hall
Few things could illustrate better what was wrong with Frankfurt this year. There is a brilliant concept car with a scheduled production start without any show or decoration. In fact, the people around the vehicle could provide zero information on what the car was or how it got there.
But the car is nothing short of extraordinary. It was unveiled in Geneva this year and was scheduled to arrive in 2020 as the most powerful road-legal car ever designed and built in Italy. Its Remac electric powertrain will have a whopping 1900 hp and 2,300 Nm torque with zero emissions.
I wonder if you can measure that level of acceleration at all, but the Battista teleports to 100 km/h in less than two seconds. The formidable 120 kWh Li-ion battery pack allows a range of 450 km on one charge. No more than 150 Battistas will be individually hand-crafted at the Pininfarina atelier in Turin, Italy.
This car would have deserved a stage somewhere in the main halls with an astonishing decoration, not like this.
6. Strength in numbers: VW brought an entire family of concept cars for the ID brand
The Volkswagen brand was responsible for one of the best stages of the IAA, and this is a sharp departure from the negative trend of past years. They were a no show in Paris and produced a somewhat discrete stage in Brussels. The iconic German brand had a lot to show: a new ID brand, a new company logo and the dawn of the new electric era.
The multi-storied impressive VW stage was filled with concept cars and the ID3 that could actually make it to the top of this list, had it not be a production vehicle.
The middle of the stage is occupied by half a dozen concept cars that form part of the ID family as part of an outlook on the future.
The ID. CROZZ is a spacious crossover, the ID. BUZZ, showcases VW’s idea for tomorrow’s van,
the ID.VIZZION is an avant-garde saloon and the ID. BUGGY pays homage to the iconic beach cruiser.
All of them featured a fully-autonomous driving mode (dubbed I.D. Pilot) and a new generation of display elements and controls, where the steering wheel can retract in autonomous mode.
These cars go way beyond the clichés and marketing slang, they merge entirely with the present, sharing the same styling principles as the ID3.
I had the impression, that if WV wanted, it actually could produce some of these concepts all ready for the upcoming model year.
The only thing is, due to this “down to earth” futurism, I have difficulties giving very high positions in this list. The BUGGY is lovely but does not have the features while the CROZZ and the VIZZION is a bit too bland for my taste, but the BUZZ is just right.
With the I.D. BUZZ, Volkswagen outlined its idea of a van of the next generation. It shall invoke the feeling of freedom symbolised by the legendary Microbus of the ’60s to the next era of mobility.
Introduced in 2017 already, the concept was based on VW’s to be All-New Electric Architecture with a power output of 275 kW and an electric range of up to 600 km. The four-wheel-drive I.D. BUZZ was showcased all around the world, but I suppose this had nothing to do with its electric range : ).
Like all I.D. models, the I.D. BUZZ benefited from a technical layout allowing great freedom for designers, and they used it to maximise open space.
According to VW Designers, the interior of the future will aim to ensure better space utilisation than the vehicles of today.
The production version of the I.D. BUZZ is scheduled to be launched in 2022.
5. The Good the Bad and the ugly in a single car: Lamborghini Sián
The absolute star of the compact still truly impressive Lamborghini stage was the brand new Sián, a top of the range hybrid hypercar to match the bloodline of the high-end Ferraris.
For the terminology, I recommend to have a peek at the article on Ferrari’s Hypercar exhibition in Maranello, there is hardly any better educational material on this subject : ).
The Sián is proclaimed to be the fastest Lamborghini and shall bear the moniker of Sián FKP 37, in recognition of Ferdinand Karl Piëch. Born in 1937, he played a significant role in the survival of Lamborghini during his chairmanship at the VW Group. The Sián surname refers to the electrification, with its meaning of lightning flash in its homeland Bolognese dialect.
The Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 delivers unique new hybrid technologies, including the world-first application of a supercapacitor for hybridisation, new materials technology, and Lamborghini performance. Its futuristic design aims to highlight the first electrification of a production Lamborghini.
Producing combined power of 819 hp, the Sián FKP 37 has the lowest-ever weight-to-power ratio of any V12 Lamborghini, and accelerates to 100 km/h in under 2.8 seconds, reaching a top speed of over 350 km/h. At a price of over two million euro plus taxes, each owner of the already-sold 63 units will be able to individually specify their car.
4. Mercedes – off the podium for the first time
When it comes to Frankfurt, anything but the first place is a step backwards for Mercedes. Their exhibition hall is a centre of excellence beats whatever the competition could throw at it with a remarkable style (following a different concept every year).
Yet this year I could not endorse the Mercedes hall’s concept and was not that particularly fond of the cars either. Merc showcased an electric Silver Arrow that I would have instead put here, but it was already presented in Paris last year.
The driverless minibus was not something I would put here either. So I can only delegate the EQS concept car.
The VISION EQS car is intended as an outlook on the future of Mercedes-Benz (more specifically the S Class). Creating a concept car for a future luxury Mercedes gives a lot of freedom and endless possibilities, but the front shares common elements with the already marketed electric SUV EQC.
The black-panel grille, which has been realised with several levels as a world first, aims to improve the precision of signalling. With this total of 940 individual LEDs in a three-dimensional space, the light signals with which the vehicle communicates with its surroundings create a fascinating impression of depth. Now if you ever been tailed by a Merc on the highway, you might be wondering what endless possibilities this opens to communication : ).
3. BMW Vision M NEXT is a worthy successor to the i8 and the legendary M1
BMW’s study cars at the IAA Cars 2019 offer an insight into the Bavarian brand’s design directions. A direction I do not wholeheartedly endorse with the ever-growing kidneys. In a world where many manufacturers imitate the royalty of the animal kingdom, the face of BMWs slowly develop a pig nose.
The world premiere of the BMW Concept 4 forecasts the next generation of the Bavarian premium midsize coupé. The concept predicts an elegant lining with stylistic inserts that I either saw at other cars (the new window kink) or would not like to see at all (the pig nose).
The centre stage is occupied by the BMW i Hydrogen NEXT, which was unveiled for the first time in Frankfurt, and showcases BMW’s latest innovations in fuel cell technology. Personally, it reminded me of an I3 on a lot of steroids. While I love that swamp thing for its capabilities as a city slicker, but the messy design element is not something I would like to see on future BMWs. So INext? INooooooo! : )
The last of the trio is my personal favourite, and I delegate this prototype to the podium of my favourite list of IAA 2009 concepts. The BMW Vision M NEXT provides a foretaste of the future of sportive motoring. This plug-in hybrid sports car might be a hot candidate to replace the current I8 on the top of the BMW palette.
Its PHEV drive system offers a choice between electric all-wheel drive and pure rear-wheel drive, with either all-electric propulsion or the power of a turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine. It generates a system output of 441 kW/600 hp and enables the car to sprint to 100 km/h (62 mph) from rest in just three seconds.
The vehicle has a range of up to 100 kilometres when driving in all-electric mode, allowing the majority of journeys to be completed with zero local emissions, both in urban areas and beyond.
The wedge-shaped silhouette reminds me to the legendary M1 (in case you need proof, have a look at the M1 exhibition report), while gullwing(ish) doors might be familiar from the I8 (anybody who tried to get out of on I8 will remember those 🙂 ). The design operates with clean lines, while the car looks like an M1 from the future, if you put it next to an I8, it will make the M Next a down to earth near-production supercar.
2.Audi line-up –
Each manufacturer stage invoked a different path up to my top list, as a concept may play many roles in the strategy of a Manufacturer. The IAA Stage of Audi was filled with cars, but the traditional stage where the manufacturer showcased cars were reduced to a small corner where about a dozen cars were crowded in.
The conventional layout was best illustrated by Skoda that filled its stage with cars of the 2019 model year, with small homage to the Oktavia of the ’60s. Measuring with the same methodology, the Audi Stage seemed like the Model Year 2050 with individual stages for futuristic models for every purpose, while there was a corner for the “classics” of the late 2010s.
My favourite segment featured 4 futuristic Audi concept cars dedicated to specific situations.
All four concept cars are designed according to a unique design philosophy: the driver isn’t the centre of attention, but the passengers and their needs (this is from their press release, I did not make it up). I also learned from the press info that AI stands for aesthetic intelligence — the symbiosis of innovative technology and progressive design — to create personal space for the customers.
The concept cars are part of Audi’s holistic mobility concept: instead of ownership of a vehicle, access to mobility that is customised to meet the user’s particular needs.
Each of these four visionary vehicles fulfils a specific objective, and the customer can borrow one of the models when needed, based on his current needs. It’s no longer about a trip from A to B. It’s about creating a holistic experience for the user.
To translate this to my understanding: you no longer have an Audi Q5, but you subscribe to Audi, and you can use a Q2 for a city, an A7 for the Autobahn and a rugged climber to go off-road. Currently, a Q5 could give you all this with a lot of compromises, this scheme would allow a greater specialisation. Each has a stunning look and its own reasons to justify the nomination, but given the IAA premiere, I include here the off-road version AI:TRAIL.
The off-roader completes the four visionary vehicles with a glassed-in design is inspired by a helicopter with a panorama view. The panoramic view is also well justified: in the AI:TRAIL, the driver can choose between level 4 fully autonomous driving, for the paved roads or driving himself off-road.
The Audi AI:TRAIL is therefore equipped with the traditional steering wheel and pedals, and the sensors and assist systems don’t leave the driver alone, even off-road.
Although many dirt tracks and paths have been mapped extensively, their erosion makes them too variable to allow a completely automated driving. Therefore only reduced-speed level 3 mode would be available on dirt roads and only in exceptional cases and at low speeds. In these situations, the driver will have several seconds to take over.
One more interesting feature: instead of conventional low beams and high beams, the Audi AI:TRAIL is equipped with a total of five rotorless, triangular, electrically operated drones with integrated matrix LED elements. They are capable of landing on a roof rack or directly on the roof of the vehicle and docking onto the inductive charging elements.
1.The best concept car you can buy: VW ID3
One of the reasons for the delay of this article was my wondering whether it is fair to put an actual production car to the list. Besides, the ID.3 would be the second car from VW on this list. But I promise I have no sentiments for making advertisement to them.
VW describes its ID.3 as a visionary car, and I tend to give them right. The entire stage was built for this car, with half a dozen concept cars (see above) and a record breaker ID.R to play the role of the messenger.
The new ID.3 is based on Volkswagen’s modular electric drive platform (MEB), and pre-booking started in mid-May with the ID.3 1st edition, limited to 30,000 vehicles. The ID.3 1ST will be offered with the medium-sized (58 kWh) of the model’s three available battery packages, and deliveries have been scheduled to begin in mid-2020.
The base price for this model would be set just under €40,000, with a 2,000 kWh of electricity for the first year. The car shall reach a top speed of 160 km/h and a range of up to 420 kilometres (WLTP).
It is difficult to assess the market and the success of the newcomer. The electric car market is filling up with new cars, but the competition is not very fierce in most segments. The ID.3 will not be the first fully electric, but there aren’t many others in this segment, and certainly none with a matching range, size and price. Yet its is genuinely telling that VW came up with one of the most impressive shows, but they did not even bother to bring any of its 2019 models. Frankfurt was all about the future, but very few exhibitors were actually ready to bring out real electric cars. In that respect, the ID.3 seems to make history.
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