From Bmw To Land Rover - Why Concept Cars Never Satisfy

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Concept cars: what are they for? Are they to inspire or simply annoy? Every year we see manufacturers unveiling fantastic new concepts only to be disappointed when market realities and safety legislation robs them of all their magic. Certainly there were a few doubters when BMW produced the Vision EfficientDynamics concept at the Frankfurt motor show in August last year. While it did look fantastic would it ever make it to production and would it retain an ounce of the wild looks that made such an impact?

There's no doubting how good the vision seemed in theory. It has a 0-62 time of 4.8 seconds and a top speed of 155mph. Fuel efficiency is a cool 75.1mpg with CO2 emissions of 99 g/km. In effect it is the car for people who wanted to have their cake and eat it: all the performance of the BMW M class, but with the efficiency of a much smaller car.

The eye catching feature was the diesel electric hybrid powertrain, which could run either on electric only or with diesel for a bit more grunt when needed. It has an electric motor at both front and rear axles adding weight distribution and effectively giving all wheel drive.

However it reminds me of other examples. I remember well the hubub about the Range Rover Sport concept. It was beautiful, but even then we had the sinking realisation that when it hit the shelves it would just be dull, efficient and reliable - which it was. No fun at all. You might also find your eye drawn to the stripped down MX 5 or new Bently sports continental. All rather marvelous, but do they ever make it to the real world.

Well the answer to that, says BMW, is yes - at least a version of it. Rumours abound that production will be set for 2013 and will be the second ever super car from the German marque and while there will be changes, most believe they will only be for the better as the powertrain is fine tuned.

On the down side it is unlikely to be within the price range of us mere mortals. Only a few cars will go into production. As such it will remain an aspirational model: fantastic, futuristic but unobtainable.

Even so BMW believes it has pointed the way to the future of hybrid cars and it's not a bad outlook at all. However, whether this kind of high performance and ultra efficient motoring will ever come within the reach of most normal people - only time will tell.


About the Author:
Dominic Donaldson is a motoring expert. Find out more about BMW and the services offered from Inchcape.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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