2011 Frankfurt: Conceptually Speaking

By John LeBlanc FRANKFURT—Alternating bi-annually with Paris, Frankfurt is the major fall season event on the global auto show circuit. Unlike in 2009, when the auto industry struggled in the midst of the global economic recession, all the major automakers are back in Germany at this year’s show. And as the “home” show for the German industry, there were plenty of debuts of new production cars heading to Canadian new car showrooms in the next few years from the likes of BMW, Mercedes-Benz and the Volkswagen Group. But Frankfurt this year also produced several creative and innovative concepts that indicate an industry in flux, forced to make changes rapidly due to environmental, demographic and economic shifts in society. Seemingly chasing Renault’s pioneering Twizy electric quadricycle that sells for just under $10,000 in Europe, three of the most interesting and forward-thinking concepts from this year’s show bear little resemblance to the family sedan parked in your driveway today. Appearing more like four-wheeled-motorcycles than “real” cars, the pair of Audi Urban Concepts, General Motors’ Opel Rake and Volkswagen’s Nils represent a potential new type of car: tiny, ultra-lightweight electric-vehicles with seats for only one or two passengers. And, more important for cash-strapped younger new car buyers, those concepts will sell, potentially, for a price substantially less than mom’s new Corolla. Designed with short-commute urban-dwellers in mind, the VW Nils is powered by a 33 hp electric motor with a range of 64 kms. Its sole passenger sits inside an ultra-light, all-aluminum chassis with an aluminum skin and polycarbonate door panels. A pair of electric motors allows Audi’s hardtop Urban Concept and its open-air counterpart, the Urban Spider Concept (at top of page), to make the same 64 kms EV range claim as the VW Nils. However, each offers one more seat (in tandem) than the Nils. And with the use of carbon-fibre reinforced plastic, the Audis weigh half that of the 1,000 kg VW urban EV. Weighing in at only 380 kgs, the Opel Rake (left) is even lighter. It may also end up as the most affordable of these new-age urban EVs, if GM decides to build it. Instead of expensive carbon-fibre or aluminum, the Rake — powered by a 48 hp electric motor — uses a steel spaceframe with fully recyclable synthetic materials for its body panels. “In future, efficiency will be measured in money-terms, not litres per 100 km,” said Karl-Friedrich Stracke, Opel’s CEO, here at the show. Closer to reality for new car buyers are two electric cars that still look like cars as we know them today: the BMW i3 and Audi A2. Due to go on sale in Canada by late 2013, the subcompact four-seat i3 (left) will be the first vehicle to be sold under BMW’s new “i” sustainable mobility sub-brand, which also includes the i8 sports car that debuted here and is set to go on sale a year from now. A combination of aluminum and carbon-fibre reinforced plastics keeps the i3 light while a 170 hp electric motor mounted directly to its rear axle makes it a rare rear-wheel-drive EV. A direct competitor to the BMW EV, the lithium-ion battery-powered Audi A2 (left) has a claimed range of 200 km and is expected to go on sale in 2015. Although not signed-off for the production car, the Frankfurt concept features drive-by-wire steering and braking, built-in Internet connection, and a rear fog light laser that emits a warning triangle into the mist behind the car. Celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, the Mercedes-Benz F-125 concept projects what driving a big ’Benz coupé in the next century-and-a-quarter may be like. With a claimed 1,000 km between fill-ups or recharging, the hydrogen fuel-cell-powered plug-in hybrid F-125 removes any “range anxiety” you may have about EVs. While many of this year’s concepts displayed cutting-edge technologies, some concepts displayed cutting-edge styling, with details that will trickle down to a showroom near you, sooner than later. For example, Kia said its GT Concept four-door coupé (left) was inspired by “the spirit of iconic 1970s GT cars, capable of whisking passengers from Paris to the South of France in effortless style and at high speed.” Unfortunately, the rear-wheel-drive GT Concept is not a precursor to a specific Kia production car. Nonetheless, it does give clues to how future sporty Kias (of which there are several planned) will look like, and reconfirms the Korean automaker’s burgeoning design dominance.

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