Volkswagen’s Electric ID.7 Concept Car Reimagines the Sedan

On a brisk January night time in Las Vegas on the eve of this yr’s CES, a bunch of journalists gathered round an idea automotive at Volkswsgen’s out of doors pavilion. Volkswagen Passenger Automobiles CEO Thomas Schäfer took to the stage and stated just a few phrases in regards to the car earlier than him — the ID.7, the newest entry in Volkswagen’s rising array of electrical automobiles.

The modern sedan was lined in a camouflage sample that will look acquainted to anybody who’s seen new and in-development automobiles slowly revealed to the world — a sample of squares that gave the automotive a geometrical look. Quite than the evenly-distributed sample usually seen on such automobiles and vans, the sample right here veered right into a surreal abstraction, taking a look at instances like a QR code that had burst open like a high-tech dandelion.

It wasn’t till later within the present that the total breadth of this idea automotive’s exterior absolutely emerged. Over the course of CES, VW demonstrated an particularly compelling characteristic — lighting integrated as a part of the physique paint, which allowed the hood, doorways and again of the automotive to gentle up in a collection of patterns. And whereas the launch of the sedan is itself a formidable feat, it’s this know-how that seemed particularly compelling.

Playing cards on the desk: I spent plenty of my early life rising up in Volkswagens, as a result of Golf and Passat my mother drove after I was in center and highschool. (“[Y]ou may say it’s an electrical Passat, in a method,” Schäfer stated of the ID.7 — however extra on that dialog in a second.) However that was a special time, automotively talking, earlier than SUVs dominated the driving landscape in the United States. All of which might make the automaker’s determination to work on an electrical sedan appear counterintuitive — even taking into consideration the truth that the ID.7 can be bought in Europe and China as nicely.

In an interview with InsideHook, Schäfer made a convincing case for the enduring energy of the sedan, stating that the category is “nonetheless a reasonably large section globally.” And he addressed one other level the place sedans have a leg up on their bigger counterparts — particularly, from an engineering perspective.

“One of many benefits of the sedan is aerodynamics,” Schäfer stated. He went on to say that Volkswagen has traditionally been “a really sturdy sedan participant” and that “that might be a bonus now with the competitors — or the lacking competitors.”

Schäfer addressed the connections between the ID.7 and Volkswagen’s different fashions in the identical collection. “ factor for us is that the MEB platform is so versatile that we will do something from an ID.3 all the best way as much as the ID.7 now, from a small compact to a big full measurement sedan,” he stated. 

As befits the “7” a part of ID.7, the sedan additionally consists of some options that construct on what the automaker discovered from earlier electrical automobiles within the collection. Schäfer spoke particularly in regards to the automotive’s consumer interface. “This car has a big 15-inch central show. That’s clearly the main target space,” he stated — and went on to debate the driving force show, tactile supplies and voice-activated controls throughout the automotive. After which there’s the matter of the inside heating and cooling system, which Schäfer was keen to speak about.

“All the followers and every little thing are absolutely computerized,” he defined. “While you get near the automotive, the car acknowledges the important thing and begins cooling down the car earlier than you even get within the automotive. It swings the followers in the appropriate instructions so that you simply get probably the most environment friendly method of getting cooled down or heated up.”

Whereas the production version of the ID.7 gained’t debut till the second half of this yr, the idea automotive has different components in its DNA that might make a mark on future Volkswagen fashions. Schäfer was keen to debate each how the illuminated panels had been put collectively and what that know-how may be used for going ahead.

“It’s 40 layers; among the layers are conductive, some will not be,” Schäfer stated. “The way in which you’ll be able to join it to your pulse watch and it begins pulsing together with your coronary heart — it’s actually cool stuff, and it’s experimental stuff.”

There are extra sensible points to this know-how as nicely. “It might be simple to combine it within the common portray course of,” stated Schäfer. “After which, whenever you instantly step on the brake, then the again of the automotive could be utterly illuminated, for instance. When you’ve got the indicator, on the left aspect, elements of a automotive might be illuminated.” 
The automaker is presently wanting into how this know-how might be integrated on the dimensions of mass manufacturing. It’s not exhausting to think about this know-how making for safer roads and extra knowledgeable drivers on roads in all places, in all seasons.