Tag Archives: Electric Cars

Genesis chief creative officer Luc Donckerwolke on building a new car brand

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Luc Donckerwolke, Genesis chief creative officer
Luc Donckerwolke, Genesis chief creative officer

To make all this happen, Genesis has brought on-board Luc Donckerwolke who, as chief creative officer, will lead design now and into the future. This is a highly calculated move since in a career spanning some 30 years, the Belgian designer has been instrumental in re-shaping car brands such as Lamborghini, Audi, Bentley and more. He has a way of rethinking even the most conservative carmakers to be fresh and relevant.

Genesis Mint Concept is an all-electric city car concept

The Genesis story is about to get exciting. Declared independent from Hyundai only five years ago, this relatively new brand has ambitious plans to challenge the status quo with products that look to the future of mobility by basing design on progressive technology. Already present in the Asian and US markets, this summer Genesis entered Europe with five production cars to be followed later in the year with three electric models.

Intrigued to learn more about what Donckerwolke plans to do with Genesis — an almost blank canvas to draw up a vision for post-combustion times — I arranged a video call, me from London, he from Seoul.

Take a closer look here.

Microlino is an electric city bubble car fit for the 21st century

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The Microlino by Swiss maker Micro is a tiny electric vehicle imagined entirely for city commutes and short distance travel. Its shape is inspired by the bubble cars of the 1940s and 50s – think of the brilliant L’Oeuf Electrique by French industrial designer Paul Arzens or BMW’s Isetta – with its single front door design which allows you to step right onto the pavement when cross parked.

The Microlino can transport three adults and their luggage, will speed up to 56mph and there is an option of a 77 or 124-mile range battery. Essentially, this bubble will make city commutes easy and (I suspect) hugely fun. It would be hard not to smile if you saw one drive by. To me, it represents a simple and relevant design idea.

Read the full story here

Interview: Adrian van Hooydonk on the radical BMW iX and lessons from the pandemic

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BMW Group head of design Adrian van Hooydonk and the iX

BMW has revealed the iX, an electric production car for 2021 which previews the marque in the new age of transport. I caught up with Adrian van Hooydonk, senior vice president BMW Group design, who explains the progressive design and pioneering technology behind this flagship car. He discusses the possibilities of reinventing the marque in the post-Covid era. Read my exclusive interview here.

  • BMW iX
  • BMW iX
  • BMW iX
  • BMW iX
  • BMW iX
  • BMW iX

How the luxury landscape will change post-pandemic

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Rolls-Royce Phantom V by Lunaz

Rolls-Royce is calling it post-opulence. Bannenberg & Rowell say it is post-hedonism. Is luxury about to enter a new age? The reality is with almost any product or experience casually labelled ‘luxury’, the concept no longer holds any special value.

Today, luxury is more than often brash, vulgar, and a mirror of the less tasteful side of our cultures. It is time to reclaim the word and make it relevant to the post-coronavirus era.

Take a look at one brand doing just this here

Should true sustainability be about breathing new life into existing objects?

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In the age of mass-production, fast fashion, hyper-consumption, and the growing awareness of the environmental damage caused by all this careless consumption, we should rethink our approach to how we shop and of ownership. And in the auto context, it is one thing to subscribe to electrification, but surely true sustainability is about maintaining the value of objects already in existence … to reuse, upcycle, reimagine – breathe new life into old objects.

This is what Lunaz intends to do. This new marque restores classic cars and converts them with electric powertrains. Its aim is to make the most beautiful and celebrated cars in history ready for the future, playing into the above. But equally it explores luxury as rarity, and the preservation of beauty to be relevant and kind to the wider world. Take a closer look