PLUS: VW ID.4 US production starts, Mini Aceman revealed, and the Mercedes EQB is on the way..
Mini has just one electric model on sale at the moment, but this will change in the near future. After the debut of the next-gen electric Cooper, the company will turn its attention to entirely new models.
The automaker gave the world a glimpse of just what one of these new models could look like, taking the wraps off the Aceman concept this week.
The basic shape of this concept EV may strike you as familiar enough and unmistakably Mini, with the Aceman trading some of the rounded shapes of the current aesthetic for more angular details. But Mini is trying out a new design language with this EV concept as well, giving us a preview of what we could see in just a couple short years.
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The interior is even more whimsical than the exterior. |
"The design language of the Mini Concept Aceman heralds the beginning of a new design era for Mini," said Adrian van Hooydonk, head of BMW Group Design. "We are returning to these [classic Mini design features] now, but at the same time consistently combining them with innovative technology."
But there is more to the Aceman concept than the playful exterior—there is a playful interior as well, featuring innovative materials and a circular OLED infotainment screen.
Just how close is this concept to production?
Read on and find out.
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The EQXX is built to cover big distances, but could we see this range in production Mercedes EVs soon? |
Automakers usually don't let publications drive one-off prototypes, especially ones not intended for production. But every once in a while they do. That's how we got behind the wheel of the experimental Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX just a few days ago, a few weeks after it drove from Germany to the UK on a single charge covering 747 miles in the process and beating its own record from a few months prior.
That's right: 747 miles was the final number after a one-day trip from Sindelfingen, Germany, to the Silverstone circuit in the UK, with Mercedes-Benz engineers and Formula E drivers behind the wheel.
The Vision EQXX, of course, is a smallish but sleek sedan created by Mercedes just for this sort of thing: Using cutting edge technologies to squeeze every last mile out of a 100-kWh battery. Built to a money-no-object standard, it uses every bit of lightweight material Mercedes could get its hands on along with every aerodynamic trick in the book, in addition to other systems. Mercedes imagined an EV sedan that could cover a thousand kilometers, or 621 miles, and it succeeded, with plenty of range to spare
But what is the Vision EQXX like to actually drive?
That's what we set out to find out.
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Those currently shopping for a luxury battery-electric crossover have limited choices, including the Audi e-tron, BMW iX, Cadillac Lyriq, Jaguar i-Pace, Tesla Model X, and Volvo XC40 Recharge. But new offerings are on the way, such as the Lexus RZ and electric versions of the Porsche Macan and Range Rover. The latest entry, arriving this summer in the US, is the all-electric Mercedes-Benz EQB, which is derived from the gasoline-powered GLB midsize luxury crossover. Spinning off an all-electric version makes good sense because the GLB needs all the help it can get in this fiercely competitive US segment, where its 11,500 deliveries through the first half of this year makes it a laggard. |
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Following months of preparations, the first US-made Volkswagen ID.4 rolled off the assembly line this week in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The electric crossover is the first EV from the automaker's ID lineup to be produced stateside, and has entered production almost two years after first launching in Zwickau, Germany. |
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