Wolfsburg - Until now Volkswagen’s future ‘I.D.’ electric car family, previewed by various concept cars, has been focused around the vision of relatively affordable Golf-sized vehicles, but this new showpiece takes things a notch or ten upmarket.
The I.D. Vizzion concept, teased here in these official sketches ahead of its planned debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March, is large, fully autonomous - it doesn’t even have a steering wheel - and essentially shows VW’s vision of a luxury saloon in a radical new world.
The company says that this concept shows the “direction” it is taking in the “technology and design of its future electric models”.
There is still no word on exactly when VW will put fully autonomous vehicles on the streets, although the necessary technologies and all the associated complications and dilemmas are no doubt being worked on as we speak.
The ghost in this machine, so to speak, is what VW calls a “virtual host”, with whom occupants communicate via voice and gesture control. This electronic chauffeur of sorts is apparently capable of getting to know and adapting to each person in the car.
But a little closer to the here and now, you can be sure that the Vizzion concept also lets you in on some of the company’s future design cues and electric powertrain technologies.
To that end, the concept is powered by a pair of electric motors that power all four wheels, and with a total system output of 225kW. There shouldn’t be much range anxiety either, with VW claiming a driving range of up to 665km between charges.
It should also be apparent by now that all this battery car talk is more than just pie-in-the-sky stuff as VW has committed to launching 20 new electric cars by 2025.