4/15/2023 0 Comments Vw hover car 2017VW Group’s Italdesign and Airbus added seriousness to the flying car race at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show with their Pop.Up all-electric part-car, part-drone modular concept. Italdesign Airbus Pop.Up Next (concept flying car) But GFG has two SUVs launching in 2019 in the Chinese market for a Chinese brand, and plans to open an engineering company with an EV-specialist partner in Shanghai by the end of 2018 (as well as continue its thriving industrial design and architecture businesses). It exists to promote Envision’s EnOS electricity system concept where EVs integrate into a wider energy eco system by contributing power to domestic houses and back to the grid. There’s no production intent for this car though. This year’s Geneva show was the first time GFG had its own exhibition stand though, where it revealed a four-seat 400Kw electric concept for Envision – China’s second largest wind turbine company and a manager of 100GW of worldwide energy assets. Arguably the most important car designer of the 20th century, behind the VW Golf mk1 and Lotus Esprit among dozens of others, Giugiaro launched a new car design firm called GFG Style in 2015 – named after him and his son Fabrizio, who runs the day-to day business – after selling the final part of his Italdesign business to VW. On the small GFG Style stand at Geneva sat two concept cars – the 1963 Chevrolet Testudo concept and the 2018 GFG Sibylla – 55 years apart but designed by the same man: 79-year old Giorgetto Giugiaro. Despite its two-tonne weight, grand-tourer flexibility is promised via a hydrogen-powered range-extender good for circa 750 miles of travel… in about 2030. Considerable time was spent on a well-resolved human machine interface too, which works like a more intuitive Uber app, requesting user interests as well as destination info to curate a more tailored journey, that might for instance, suggest restaurants and other points of interest along the way based on your daily preferences. The other striking element of the design is the lack of conventional glass windows – there’s no driver so no need for a front windscreen, and occupants can look out the sides through semi-transparent body colour panels that allow for privacy from the outside. As it’s autonomous, it could drop you off at the airport, pick up the kids from school and take the grandparents to the doctor as well’. ‘As this will be a car for all occasions, you won’t need to own so many cars,’ Chuffart reasons, ‘so you might invest more on this one, perhaps it will cost €60,000 or so. It’s big: 5.25m long, 2.12m wide, 1.75m high and riding on 27” wheels with a 3.3m wheelbase, those dimensions allow for a huge interior space for up to six people. Pitched as a ‘Level 5-autonomous’ vehicle – one that can drive itself in all situations – the Nucleus was born, Chuffart tells Wallpaper* from the ‘idea of a car that you will still love and want to own, despite autonomy’ in a retort to the notion that all future cars will merely be hired as necessary. Already officially eight years old and boasting ex-Bertone senior personnel among its ranks – including Icona VP and global design director Samuel Chuffart – the group chose Geneva to reveal its 600hp in-wheel-electric Nucleus concept. The Icona is a name you’ve probably not have heard of because it’s not a car brand but a design business – based in Turin, Shanghai and now California – that creates cars for other brands to produce. HK says it is on course to launch a production model for the Chinese market by 2020 with some of this concept’s upmarket character and pitched as a luxury Asian marque to rival Tesla and Bentley. Created by new design VP Carlo Bonzanigo, the GT boasts a well-resolved exterior paired with a modern and tasteful interior. Indeed, the elegant near-five-metre 2+2 GT is the fourth concept Pininfarina has conceived for the Hong Kong-based emerging tech brand and features an electric powertrain with range-extender capability via an aero industry-inspired micro-turbine, fuel cell or conventional combustion engine to give 620 miles of range. Although now owned by Indian vehicle maker Mahindra, it’s still based in Turin and works for many marques including the Hybrid Kinetic Group. Renowned Italian design house Pininfarina (behind countless historic Ferraris) uses Geneva to showcase its talent to the world. Read on for our seven favourite showstoppers. From the big players to the small, this year’s event included all manner of electrified and sportscars, saloons and coupes – plus two flying cars – one of which is slated to be less than 12 months away from final customer delivery. The Geneva Motor Show (8 – 18 March 2018) is quite simply the best place in the world to see the widest range of concept cars.
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