MOTOR shows are slowly making a comeback after the COVID-19 pandemic and the IAA MOBILITY in Munich is showing that car companies have been busy during lockdown.
The Smart brand showed off its new generation of all-electric vehicles and its SUV concept vehicle takes the brand into the high-growth small and compact car segment.
The near-production smart Concept #1 transfers very compact exterior dimensions and the traditional smart design into a new vehicle concept with a significantly higher premium and high-tech claim.
This is underlined by innovative details such as LED light strips at the front and rear with a rhythmic light show, ambient lighting including the footwell and a newly developed UI/UX concept with artificial intelligence. In true smart fashion, the interior of the electric SUV is very spacious in relation to its compact exterior dimensions.
The All-new Renault Mégane E-TECH Electric pays homage to that heritage, through its design and versatility. This new generation sees new attractive features, such as the exciting design, the unprecedented size-to-space ratio, and all the usual benefits of an electric car.
Renault Mégane E-TECH
With the All-new Mégane E-TECH Electric, Renault shows that it is continuing on with a long-standing history and building on previous successes under the Mégane name. Though the name is now brought into the modern era and projected into the future.
Just like the brand, the Renault design is changing and becoming more ‘tech’. While keeping all the features that are behind the car’s recent success, it also incorporates some more technological elements (rear micro-optical LED lights, OpenR screen) as well as others that draw heavily on the world of high-tech and hi-fi design (vents grilles, laser engraving on lower door protection grates decorations).
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicle’s fully electric ID. BUZZ AD (Autonomous Driving) from Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWCV) is aimed at commercial mobility services and Munich is also the European headquarters of partner Argo AI, the global autonomous driving technology company developing the self-driving system (SDS), including maps, hardware, software, and cloud-support infrastructure that powers the ID. BUZZ AD.
Starting in 2025 in Hamburg, the self-driving ID.BUZZ AD will operate as a ridepooling service operated. The Argo self-driving system comprises a suite of sensors, software, and the computer platforms to provide a 360-degree awareness of the vehicle’s environment, predict the actions of pedestrians, bicyclists, and vehicles, and direct the engine, braking, and steering systems so that the vehicle moves safely and naturally, like an experienced driver.
VWCV Buzz AD
Argo AI uses cameras, radar, and lidar to achieve safe self-driving.. The company’s proprietary sensor Argo Lidar sits high on the roof of the ID. BUZZ prototypes, and can detect objects from a distance of more than400 meters (1300 ft.). Its patented Geiger-mode technology has the ability to detect even the smallest particles of light (a single photon), so that even objects with low reflectivity, like black-painted vehicles, can be detected and thus very precise representations of the environment are possible.
VW said it will launch an ID. family model for the small car segment, previewing the ID. LIFE concept car in Munich.
The concept car combines sustainability and digitalisation with extremely flexible usage: the ID. LIFE can become a mini cinema or a gaming centre, for instance, or simply be used for relaxing in the open air.
The design of the ID. LIFE is strikingly clear, pared-down and high-quality. Decorative elements and add-on parts are dispensed with, as is any complex mix of materials. The horizontal division between the body, glass surfaces and roof also contributes to the car’s purist appearance. An individualised and removable roof made of air chamber textile lends an open-air feeling in the ID. LIFE, while also reducing the vehicle weight.
It is based on a smaller variant of Volkswagen’s modular electric drive matrix (MEB) that has been developed specifically for the small car segment. This is the first time a vehicle based on the MEB has front-wheel drive. With its 172 kW (234 PS) electric motor, the ID. LIFE accelerates from zero to 100 km/h in 6.9 seconds, while its 57 kWh high-voltage battery enables a range of some 400 kilometres (WLTP).
THE BMW Group put circular economy and sustainable urban mobility at the centre of its presence at the 2021 IAA Mobility. At the motor show, the company is consistently demonstrating its sustainability and CO2 targets as well as its concrete measures and concepts to achieve these goals.
The Group is increasing the pace of its efforts to combat climate change. Looking ahead to the introduction of the Neue Klasse, the company is further strengthening its self- defined objectives, announced in summer last year, to significantly reduce CO2 emissions, whilst also committing itself to a clear course that supports the 1.5 degree target for the limitation of global warming.
The Neue Klasse will also see the BMW Group hugely increase its use of secondary materials with a firm focus on the principles of the circular economy, whilst also promoting better framework conditions for establishing a market for secondary materials.
To achieve a further reduction in CO2 emissions, the focus is on the utilisation phase of vehicles, which account for 70% of the BMW Group’s CO2 footprint. By 2030, the CO2 emissions per vehicle and kilometre driven will be at least halved from 2019 levels. The commitment of all manufacturers when it comes to combatting climate change can best be compared when looking at the entire life cycle of a vehicle, including production and upstream supply chain. Here, the BMW Group is planning a reduction of CO2 emission per vehicle of at least 40%.
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