Volkswagen’s new concept is a seven-seat electric SUV
Volkswagen recently unveiled its latest concept car, and the newest addition to the growing ID electric car family, before it made its public debut at the Shanghai Motor Show.
Dubbed the ID Roomzz, it’s a big seven-seater. It joins the soon-to-launch ID hatchback and is based on the same MEB electric car platform and batteries. It’s been designed to be a roomy, versatile, family SUV “boasting completely new seat configurations, high-quality materials and customisable light”.
“This SUV is a monolith, appearing to be seamlessly machined from one solid block. The battery-powered ID Roomzz moves effortlessly – silently and without emissions. The ID Roomzz shows us what we can expect from full-size electric SUVs in the future. The puristic look emphasises the clear function and the user experience is intuitive and natural,” said Klaus Bischoff, chief designer for VW.
VW claims that the Roomzz is capable of Level 4 autonomous driving, which means that theoretically you could let the car drive, under certain circumstances, and read a book or your emails.
Look at the roof — you can see the circles where VW has fitted it with retractable LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensors, the combination of laser and radar that allows autonomous cars to ‘see’ the road ahead.
If you activate that autonomous mode, the seats swivel through 25 degrees towards each other, creating what VW calls “a more communicative, lounge-like atmosphere on board”. The cabin’s details include a floating dashboard and instrument panel, made up of one large 13.8 inch touchscreen, while the small aircraft-style steering wheel features a huge touch-sensitive surface on the front.
Neat touches include an accelerator and brake pedal with play and pause logos, and seats that are covered in a new recyclable material called Appleskin (yes, it’s made partially from waste apple juice).
At just over five metres in length, the Roomzz has the space for a big battery pack — an 82kWh unit, which VW says is sufficient for a 450km one-charge range under the new WLTP economy and emissions test. It gets two electric motors, giving it four-wheel drive, and a total power output of 306hp. That’s enough for a 0-100km/h time of 6.6 seconds, but top speed is restricted to 180km/h.
In spite of the (slightly outlandish) claims of Level 4 autonomy, VW says that it’s serious about putting a production version of the Roomzz into showroomzz (sorry) by 2021. It will probably become a little more conventional by then, and will presumably drop the enormous cantilevered doors that slide forward (the front ones) and back (the rears) to open up the whole side of the car.
VW also showed off other new SUV models at the pre-Shanghai event, including a coupe version of the Atlas (or Teramont, depending on which of the two markets — USA and China — where it’s sold); a massive seven-seat concept called the SMV, which is expected to be for the Chinese market only and an SUV-coupe concept that looks like it might be a chop-top Tiguan, and which once again seems to be destined only for the Chinese market.