Smart has always had a knack for making the smallest cars feel like big ideas. The original two-seater wasn’t just about transportation; it was a statement about how little you actually need to move through a city. With the smart Concept #2, that philosophy doesn’t just return, it gets reinterpreted through a far more expressive, almost fashion-led lens.
At first glance, the proportions instantly take you back. The compact, upright stance, near non-existent overhangs, and wheels pushed right to the corners are all deliberate callbacks to the original Fortwo. But this isn’t nostalgia for the sake of it. The Concept #2 stretches to about 2.79 meters subtly growing to create a bit more usable interior space while remaining firmly in microcar territory.
What’s interesting is how smart has shifted the conversation from pure utility to identity. The brand calls it “Function becomes Fashion,” and it shows. The matte white and warm gold two-tone finish feels more like a wearable than a vehicle, while details like strap-inspired elements on the bumpers and door handles borrow cues from luxury accessories rather than traditional automotive design. There’s even a subtle influence of sneaker culture in the textures and tire patterns, turning what would otherwise be functional surfaces into design statements.
This shift matters because the original smart succeeded in cleverness but struggled to evolve emotionally. Concept #2 attempts to fix that by making the car feel personal. It’s less about squeezing into tight parking spots (though it still excels at that) and more about how the object itself fits into your lifestyle. Underneath the stylized surface is a thoroughly modern EV architecture. Built on Smart’s new Electric Compact Architecture, the concept is designed to deliver the kind of urban usability that today’s drivers expect. The projected range sits close to 186 miles, which is more than sufficient for daily city use, while DC fast charging from 10 to 80 percent takes under 20 minutes, essentially the time it takes to grab a coffee.
The packaging remains its strongest trick. The signature “wheels-at-the-corners” layout maximizes cabin space within that tiny footprint, while a tight 6.95-meter turning circle makes the car feel almost pivot-like in dense urban environments. It’s the kind of manoeuvrability that reminds you why cars like the original Fortwo made sense in the first place. There’s also a subtle shift in how the car integrates into daily life. Features like Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) hint at a future where even the smallest cars double as mobile power sources—useful for everything from charging devices to supporting outdoor activities.
The bigger picture is just as important. Since becoming a joint venture between Mercedes-Benz and Geely, Smart has moved upmarket with crossovers and SUVs. Concept #2 feels like a deliberate course correction, returning to the brand’s core idea, but doing so with a premium edge shaped by Mercedes-Benz design sensibilities. Set to evolve into a production model debuting at the Paris Motor Show in late 2026, the Concept #2 is less of a wild design exercise and more of a near-production preview. That makes its details (both practical and expressive) feel intentional rather than experimental.
Smart has always had a knack for making the smallest cars feel like big ideas. The original two-seater wasn’t just about transportation; it was a statement about how little you actually need to move through a city. With the smart Concept #2, that philosophy doesn’t just return, it gets reinterpreted through a far more expressive, almost fashion-led lens.
At first glance, the proportions instantly take you back. The compact, upright stance, near non-existent overhangs, and wheels pushed right to the corners are all deliberate callbacks to the original Fortwo. But this isn’t nostalgia for the sake of it. The Concept #2 stretches to about 2.79 meters subtly growing to create a bit more usable interior space while remaining firmly in microcar territory.
What’s interesting is how smart has shifted the conversation from pure utility to identity. The brand calls it “Function becomes Fashion,” and it shows. The matte white and warm gold two-tone finish feels more like a wearable than a vehicle, while details like strap-inspired elements on the bumpers and door handles borrow cues from luxury accessories rather than traditional automotive design. There’s even a subtle influence of sneaker culture in the textures and tire patterns, turning what would otherwise be functional surfaces into design statements.
This shift matters because the original smart succeeded in cleverness but struggled to evolve emotionally. Concept #2 attempts to fix that by making the car feel personal. It’s less about squeezing into tight parking spots (though it still excels at that) and more about how the object itself fits into your lifestyle. Underneath the stylized surface is a thoroughly modern EV architecture. Built on Smart’s new Electric Compact Architecture, the concept is designed to deliver the kind of urban usability that today’s drivers expect. The projected range sits close to 186 miles, which is more than sufficient for daily city use, while DC fast charging from 10 to 80 percent takes under 20 minutes, essentially the time it takes to grab a coffee.
The packaging remains its strongest trick. The signature “wheels-at-the-corners” layout maximizes cabin space within that tiny footprint, while a tight 6.95-meter turning circle makes the car feel almost pivot-like in dense urban environments. It’s the kind of manoeuvrability that reminds you why cars like the original Fortwo made sense in the first place. There’s also a subtle shift in how the car integrates into daily life. Features like Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) hint at a future where even the smallest cars double as mobile power sources—useful for everything from charging devices to supporting outdoor activities.
The bigger picture is just as important. Since becoming a joint venture between Mercedes-Benz and Geely, Smart has moved upmarket with crossovers and SUVs. Concept #2 feels like a deliberate course correction, returning to the brand’s core idea, but doing so with a premium edge shaped by Mercedes-Benz design sensibilities. Set to evolve into a production model debuting at the Paris Motor Show in late 2026, the Concept #2 is less of a wild design exercise and more of a near-production preview. That makes its details (both practical and expressive) feel intentional rather than experimental.
Electric vehicles have been gaining ground steadily, but one of the more stubborn problems hasn’t been the cars themselves; it’s been finding somewhere to charge them when you’re far from a city. In a high desert environment, that problem gets considerably more pointed. The open stretch between towns can be long, the heat unforgiving, and the typical charging infrastructure designed with urban convenience in mind rather than remote landscape realities.
Designer Michael Jantzen, based in Santa Fe, has been exploring exactly this gap with his proposal for the High Desert Charging Station, a large steel solar-powered facility conceived specifically for hot, sunny desert environments. The design doesn’t try to transplant a suburban charging setup into an unfamiliar context. It takes the desert’s most defining characteristic, its relentless sun, as the primary resource.
The structure is built around a circular plan, with a large solar panel disc elevated on a tapered central pedestal. Sunlight converts directly into electricity for the vehicles below. When generation exceeds demand, the excess feeds back into the local power grid. When the sun isn’t enough, the grid returns electricity to the station, keeping all 16 charging spots running regardless of conditions.
Those 16 spots are arranged symmetrically around the facility’s perimeter, each one marked by a concrete docking pad, a pair of yellow security bumpers, and a dedicated charging pedestal. Walkways connect each spot inward toward the center, threading through alternating patches of synthetic green grass that bring a small but deliberate contrast to the surrounding landscape. It’s a reminder that the design intends to do more than just charge cars.
Jantzen intends the walkways and ground-level layout to feel more like a destination than a service stop. The synthetic grass patches introduce a note of green into an otherwise arid setting, and the circular plan gives the facility a clear sense of orientation. You pull in, follow a path inward, and arrive at a shaded space at the center. The sequence is deliberate.
That’s where the shade canopy comes in. The open steel framework radiates outward from the central core, creating a covered space beneath the solar panel above. Drivers aren’t expected to stand in the open desert heat while their vehicles charge. They can move inside, where yellow cylindrical seats and a restroom built into the central structure make the wait genuinely more comfortable.
The whole thing is conceived as a landmark as much as it is a facility. Jantzen describes the conceptual logic as electricity flowing from the sun, down through the structure, and into the vehicles below, a visible cycle that gives the station a coherent narrative from top to bottom. That kind of intentionality is what separates it from the standard box-and-cable approach that dominates most existing charging infrastructure.
EV adoption in remote and rural areas still lags, in part because the charging infrastructure hasn’t caught up with demand. A proposal like this doesn’t solve that shortfall outright, but it does ask a more useful question than most: not how to transplant an existing model into the desert, but how to let the desert itself dictate what the design becomes.
There’s a certain quiet confidence that defines modern Rolls-Royce Motor Cars; a refusal to chase trends, instead shaping them with deliberate restraint. With Project Nightingale, that philosophy evolves into something far more expressive: an ultra-exclusive, all-electric coachbuilt convertible that doesn’t just reinterpret luxury, but stretches its very boundaries.
Unveiled as the first chapter in the marque’s new Coachbuild Collection, Project Nightingale is conceived as a “production concept” reserved for the brand’s most discerning patrons. Limited to just 100 units worldwide and available strictly by invitation, the car embodies a return to Rolls-Royce’s deeply personal, commission-led heritage while formalizing it into a curated series of collectible creations.
At nearly 18.9 feet long (comparable to the Phantom), this is no conventional roadster. Its grand proportions house a two-seat, open-top configuration that merges the theatrical presence of pre-war experimental models with the silence of a modern electric drivetrain. The design draws heavily from the brand’s 1920s ‘EX’ prototypes, channeling the audacity of that era through a Streamline Moderne aesthetic defined by uninterrupted surfaces, elongated forms, and a sense of monolithic elegance.
The exterior is both familiar and radically new. A nearly one-meter-wide Pantheon grille (its widest ever) features 24 vertical slats, flanked by slim vertical headlamps that depart from Rolls-Royce’s traditional horizontal layout. Massive 24-inch wheels, the largest ever fitted to a Rolls-Royce, adopt a yacht-inspired propeller design, reinforcing the car’s fluid, maritime-inspired character. Along the sides, a singular “hull” line runs uninterrupted from front to rear, culminating in a tapered, almost torpedo-like tail that subtly hints at speed despite the car’s imposing scale.
Inside, the experience is equally theatrical but deeply considered. Inspired by the French Riviera, specifically Sir Henry Royce’s Côte d’Azur residence, Le Rossignol, the cabin blends blue and white tones with delicate pink accents. A standout feature is the “Starlight Breeze” suite, composed of over 10,500 individual lighting elements that trace the soundwave patterns of a nightingale’s song, enveloping occupants in an ambient, almost musical glow. The interior architecture remains tactile and analog at its core, with physical controls, open-pore wood finishes, and a motorized armrest that reveals hidden compartments and controls in a choreographed sequence.
Mechanically, Project Nightingale is underpinned by Rolls-Royce’s “Architecture of Luxury” platform and powered exclusively by an all-electric drivetrain, delivering what the brand describes as a uniquely serene open-top experience. While exact performance figures remain undisclosed, the emphasis is less on outright speed and more on effortless, near-silent propulsion, an approach that aligns with the marque’s evolving electric vision.
Rolls-Royce Chief Executive Chris Brownridge said, ‘We responded by bringing three things together that have never coexisted within our brand: the complete design freedom of coachbuilding, our powerful, near-silent all-electric powertrain, and a uniquely potent yet serene expression of open-top motoring – an experience that only this technology makes possible.’
With deliveries expected from 2028, Project Nightingale is both a tribute to the brand’s experimental past and a marker of its electric future. Getting your hands on this baby, however, is going to be elusive since it is limited to a very small number.
The Freelander name is making a comeback after more than a decade, but its return marks a significant shift from its original identity. Once a compact SUV within the Land Rover lineup, the Freelander has been revived as an independent electrified vehicle brand through a joint venture between Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and Chinese automaker Chery.
Rather than reintroducing the vehicle under the Land Rover badge, the two companies are positioning Freelander as a separate marque focused on a new generation of electrified SUVs, with global ambitions but an initial focus on the Chinese market. The revival is led by the Concept 97, a name that references the original Freelander’s debut in 1997. Although the new vehicle does not carry Land Rover branding, its styling retains visual cues associated with the brand’s off-road heritage.
Designer: Freelander
The concept features a boxy silhouette, upright stance, and rugged proportions reminiscent of classic Land Rover SUVs, while also integrating modern lighting elements and a more futuristic design language. Details such as the angled D-pillar nod to the three-door Freelander from the late 1990s, blending nostalgia with contemporary aesthetics. The project represents a deeper collaboration between JLR and Chery, combining British design expertise with Chinese electric-vehicle technology and manufacturing capabilities.
JLR contributes design direction and brand heritage, while Chery provides the underlying platforms, powertrain technology, and large-scale production. The vehicles will be produced at the Chery-Jaguar Land Rover joint-venture facility in Changshu, China, which will become the manufacturing base for the new lineup. Unlike the original Freelander, which relied on traditional internal-combustion engines, the reborn lineup is centered on electrification. The new models are expected to use an advanced 800-volt platform capable of supporting multiple powertrain configurations, including fully electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, and range-extended electric systems.
This flexibility allows the brand to adapt to varying market demands and regulatory environments while maintaining a focus on off-road capability and performance. On the Inside, Concept 97 emphasizes a technology-driven cabin designed for comfort and connectivity. The vehicle features a three-row layout with six seats, including a rear bench styled like a lounge couch. A pillar-to-pillar display runs along the base of the windshield, complemented by a large central infotainment screen. Advanced electronics play a major role in the user experience, with systems powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8397 chip and Huawei’s Qiankun intelligent-driving technology. This is assisted by a high-resolution LiDAR sensor for advanced driver-assistance features.
The Concept 97 is not intended to be a standalone showcase. Instead, it previews an entire product strategy built around a family of electrified SUVs. The Freelander brand plans to launch six production models over the next five years, beginning with a three-row SUV similar to the concept. These vehicles will initially target Chinese buyers before gradually expanding into international markets with region-specific models. What began as an entry-level Land Rover has now evolved into a standalone electric SUV brand, signaling how legacy automotive names are being reimagined for the rapidly changing landscape of global mobility.
Xiaomi has just entered the Gran Turismo world with its Vision Gran Turismo (VGT) concept car at Mobile World Congress 2026. This electric hypercar follows the reveal of the SU7 Ultra supercar that was developed last time around. This year’s event saw the hypercar, which Xiaomi claims is sculpted by the wind. The idea is to make the performance vehicle aerodynamically tuned with airflow channels and moving parts to achieve optimal efficiency. We got our first glimpse of the hypercar at Mobile World Congress, and it does impress on the outside and inside.
This is the first-ever Chinese Gran Turismo performance racer to be materialized, and the air flow obsession goes beyond everything you would imagine. Although one cannot drive it for real anytime soon, you can explore the two-door performance car in Gran Turismo 7, using the company’s dedicated simulator with exact racing seats as the concept car. With the VGT hypercar, Xiaomi joins an elite list of automakers like Porsche, Ferrari, and Mercedes-Benz that have their futuristic concept cars designed for Gran Turismo.
Given it is a concept, the technical aspects are wild – there’s a 900V Silicon Carbide (SiC) platform which ultimately delivers 1,900 horsepower. To handle that amount of power at high speeds, the car gets advanced components, including carbon-ceramic brakes and center-lock wheels. The two-door hypercar has a very linear profile with a very low ride height and only the cabin’s teardrop-shaped cockpit, with only the encapsulating bubble disrupting the aerodynamic performance. The shark-fin roofline architecture balances out things, though.
VGT has wheel covers that are magnetically attached (a.k.a. Accretion Rims) so that they don’t rotate when the car moves forward, reducing drag. The halo-style taillights are straight out of the TRON universe as they also double as an air outlet for aerodynamic performance, along with the large rear diffuser, which levels up the futuristic appeal. All this aerodynamic engineering results in a drag coefficient of 0.29 and downforce of -1.2.
On the inside, Vision GT is a nest of tech-laden comfort and luxury. It has a cocooned Sofa Racer cabin, which holistically blends the dashboard, seats, and the scissor doors into one. The butterfly steering wheel is designed for maximum driver precision, and the overlaying display has a panoramic screen and the Xiaomi Pulse system that utilizes light and sound for interaction. The central console on the two-seater GT has physical button controls, a circular pointer knob, and a shifter mostly seen on an aircraft throttle.
Since this hypercar is a top-of-the-line creation by the Chinese tech giant, it seamlessly integrates the in-house Human x Car x Home ecosystem for a personalized experience depending on the rider’s mood and current state of mind. Although the Vision Gran Turismo is only a virtual hypercar that you may not drive in the real world, it shows Xiaomi’s growing confidence in the highly technical automotive world. If those horsepower figures are true, the hypercar could be one of the most powerful Gran Turismo creations, overshadowing the likes of Ferrari, which churns out 1,337 hp.
For racing fanatics who want to experience the VGT in a virtual world, it’ll soon be available in Gran Turismo 7, and Xiaomi’s dedicated driving simulator for a more immersive experience.
There’s something cheeky about mini cars that grabs attention. The MINI Cooper and Fiat Topolino are very good examples of compact hatchbacks carrying the aura of a supercar. The small size of a four-wheeler is more valued in modern times, where roads are flush with vehicles, and the maneuverability of a mini car promises so much value.
Now, designer Wini Camacho takes the Topolino as his canvas to graduate into a versatile mini car dubbed Topolino XS that morphs shape depending on the rider’s intent. It can be a roofless targa on a bright sunny afternoon, a coupe for a ride to the party in the evening, or a roadster for late-night skirmishes on the freeway. The versatile three-in-one system of the modular concept vehicle nevertheless preserves the minimalist appeal and simplistic design approach.
Wini retains the basic DNA of the mini hatchback while exploring the elements like the balanced out front and back section for a more flowy design. All this while making the overall footprint of the electric vehicle smaller and compact at 2.4 meters long and 1.4 meters wide, even though the Topolino itself is quite compact. The headlights on the XS modification have a more human-like character to them – they actually do look like a real pair of eyes with the circular dots encapsulated by the white LED beams. Tailights on the rear are made up of hundreds of little LEDs that the rider can customize to their liking.
On the inside, the driving dynamics take a huge leap with the central steering wheel hub for more centralized control of the instruments and safety features. This doesn’t affect the driver’s style of driving in any way, as the vehicle is already quite small to make much of a difference. If it were a Dodge Viper, Rolls-Royce Phantom, or Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, this would not have been an optimal strategy. The display elements with the Topolino XS are kept to a minimum in line with the less-is-more wireframe.
To spice up things for the prospective riders, the designer imagines the XS in two variants: PURO and ABARATH. While the PURO stays close to the roots with respectable performance figures and a rear carry-on luggage accessory for daily driving, the ABARATH is more of a beast with its bumped-up performance rating for adrenaline-pumping weekends. The looks also take a more aggressive positioning for the ABARATH in glossy black skin paired with the contrasty red wheel rims.
Five years after Jony Ive left Apple, and two years after Apple killed Project Titan, we finally know what the Apple Car’s interior *could* have looked like. It just happens to have a prancing horse on the steering wheel instead of a bitten apple.
The Ferrari Luce, revealed last week in San Francisco, is a transplant of Apple’s design language into automotive form. Everything about this interior, from the E-ink key fob to the OLED dials to the obsessive material purity, carries the unmistakable signature of Apple’s design peak from 2015 to 2019, when Ive still occupied his Cupertino office and the car project remained alive.
The Apple DNA is Everywhere
Walk through the components and the Apple DNA becomes impossible to ignore. The key fob magnetically docks into the center console and changes color via E-ink display. This is MagSafe technology meets Apple Watch complications, translated into a car key. The center screen features an analog clock that transforms into a chronograph and compass with the press of two buttons. Pull up any image of Apple Watch faces and the interaction model is identical.
The toggle switches and knobs scattered throughout the cabin represent the physical interface philosophy Ive has been refining since the original iMac. The Digital Crown on the Apple Watch, the mute switch on the iPhone, the volume controls on the HomePod. These are the same careful considerations about how humans interact with objects through touch and rotation. The OLED binnacle behind the steering wheel uses a parallax effect to create depth perception, the same technology that made the iPhone X’s face recognition possible, now applied to gauge clusters.
Then there’s the material palette: recycled aluminum with a microscopic anodized texture, Corning glass surfaces, leather in muted tan. This is the 2017 iPhone X material story. This is the unibody MacBook recipe. This is every premium Apple product from the past decade, reassembled into automotive architecture.
Wait, Is This the Same Jony Ive?
Consider what Ive said at the reveal: “It’s bizarre and lazy to assume the interface should be digital if the power source is electric.”
This is the man who killed the headphone jack. Who removed every port from the MacBook. Who spent twenty years eliminating physical buttons, physical connections, physical everything. And now he’s arguing that physical controls matter? That tactility is essential? That you can’t just solve everything with a touchscreen?
Maybe the context really does change everything. A phone lives in your pocket. You can look at it. A car moves at 200 kilometers per hour. Looking away kills people. Or maybe Ive has simply evolved. Perhaps LoveFrom represents a different philosophy than Apple did, one less concerned with relentless minimalism and more interested in appropriate solutions. Or perhaps this is who Ive always was, and Apple’s commercial pressures pushed him toward deletion when his instincts wanted refinement.
The Luce interior suggests that physical interfaces weren’t the enemy. Bad physical interfaces were. Give Ive the freedom to perfect a toggle switch, to make a dial that clicks with precision, to create a button that feels inevitable, and he’ll choose physical every time. The question is whether we’re seeing growth or contradiction.
The Timeline is ‘Interesting’
Apple started Project Titan in 2014. By 2016, Ive had become increasingly involved as the project shifted from full autonomy toward driver-focused experiences. He left Apple in 2019 but reportedly continued consulting on the car. In 2024, Apple abandoned the project entirely. During those years, Bloomberg reported that the Apple Car was supposed to feature premium materials, minimalist interiors, physical controls prioritized over touchscreens, and a “living room on wheels” concept.
Here’s what actually happened: Ive leaves Apple in 2019 and forms LoveFrom. Two years later, in 2021, Ferrari announces the partnership. That means conversations started immediately after his departure, possibly before. Ive spent a decade developing car interior concepts at a company with unlimited resources. Then he got to actually build one at a different company with unlimited resources and, crucially, manufacturing capability that Apple never developed.
My guess is Ferrari didn’t hire LoveFrom for an overhaul. They hired them for battle-tested thinking that never shipped.
Why Ferrari Said Yes
From Ferrari’s perspective, the logic is clear. They’ve never built an electric vehicle. Their customer base is deeply skeptical of electrification. They need to signal that the Luce represents something genuinely different, something beyond an electrified 296 GTB. So they hire the two most famous industrial designers on Earth, who happen to have spent years thinking about this exact problem at a different technology giant.
It’s outsourcing credibility as much as design. When people inevitably say “that doesn’t look like a Ferrari,” Ferrari can point to LoveFrom and say “well, exactly.” They’ve purchased permission to break from tradition by hiring people with no Ferrari tradition to break from. The prancing horse gives LoveFrom legitimacy in automotive circles. LoveFrom gives Ferrari legitimacy in technology circles. It’s a perfect exchange.
But the question remains: did Ferrari want Ive’s vision, or did they want Ive’s brand? Because what they received feels unmistakably like Apple-thinking while wearing a Ferrari cap.
The May Reveal Will Answer Everything
The real test arrives in May when Ferrari reveals the exterior. Right now we’ve only seen the interior, which is LoveFrom’s natural domain: screens, materials, ergonomics, spatial relationships. The exterior is different. It has to work in a Maranello showroom next to a 12Cilindri and an SF90. It has to look fast while standing still. It has to carry seventy-nine years of design language forward into an electric future.
Can Ive do that? Has he ever designed anything with that kind of visual aggression? His career has been defined by approachability, by objects that invite touch, by forms that recede rather than announce themselves. Ferraris don’t recede. They dominate spaces. They demand attention. If the exterior looks like an Apple product in May, then this really could be what the Apple Car might have become. If it looks genuinely Ferrari, then maybe LoveFrom understands they serve the brand rather than the reverse.
What This Tells Us About the Car That Never Was
The Luce interior reveals something bittersweet about the Apple Car that never was. This is the closest we’ll get to seeing what that vision might have looked like. But it also proves why Apple was probably right to kill the project. It took Ferrari, a company with seventy-nine years of automotive manufacturing experience, five years and presumably nine figures to turn Ive’s concepts into reality. And they still don’t know if customers will accept it. Imagine Apple attempting this from scratch, competing with Tesla on price, managing recalls and service networks and dealer relationships.
The Luce interior is stunning. It’s also a monument to why the Apple Car would have most likely been an operational nightmare, given that Apple isn’t an automotive company.
The irony is perfect: Jony Ive finally got to build his car. He just needed Ferrari to do the hard part.
Cybertruck has made all the headlines in recent years for its futuristic looks and a mixed bag of reviews, lopsided between opposite poles. You either hate the sharply designed vehicle or love it to bits; there is no middle ground. Tesla has not left anything to chance or stayed within the conventions to craft the rugged SUV. The looks are unmatched, and so is the durability, with the former inspiring many design iterations.
Another futuristic-looking van has been spotted with the striking Cybertruck’s face. Designed by Russian startup Russo-Balt, the electric van has the telltale Tesla flair. I would even take the leverage and brand this one the lovechild of a Cybertruck and Weiqiao New Energy V90. The makers have named the van F200 and claim it is their original design. The last bit I would question openly, as it has borrowed Cybertruck aesthetics – anyone could tell!
Designer: Russo-Balt
The van is more than a pipedream or a prototype concept that would pass off with time. Russo-Balt plans to take it to the production lines by January 2027, and already, the F200 has been spotted on the roads. Interestingly, the century-old brand (a renowned automaker and railway carriage builder) that operated from 1869 to 1918, got a revival with new management. The electric vehicle comes in an unpainted stainless steel body, and the buyers can opt for the polyurethane wraps in a wide range of colors if the stainless steel look is too bland for you.
At the beginning of this article, we made the Cybertruck reference quite a few times, and the nifty details further reiterate the fact. The electric van gets full-width LED headlights and rear lights. Even the rear resembles Tesla’s electric truck bed cover. The chassis is made out of monocoque material, which makes it more robust than those on ladder-frame chassis. This gives the van a payload capacity of 2,205 pounds. Russo-Balt has complete trust in the body of the vehicle, and a 100-year warranty keeps the buyers at peace of mind from any structural damage.
F200 is powered by a single electric motor that delivers 200 hp to the front wheels. Power is extracted from the 115 kWh battery pack that has an estimated range of 249 miles. The EV can be fast-charged via the port at the front, which is a good feature to have. Keeping Russia’s cold weather in mind, the vehicle comes with a climate control system, rear air suspension, ABS, and ESP. The heating on the vehicle extends to the steering wheel, mirrors, and the windshield as well. A 360-degree camera with a live streaming feature adds to the safety and the ability to craft interesting content while on adventures.
The team behind the F200’s development brings its expertise in crafting stainless steel water dispensers to the four-wheeler, with material fabrication showing the intended results. Initially, the van will be made on an order basis with a starting price of around $85,200. Interested buyers can already make a refundable security deposit of $131 to secure their unit when it hits the production queues. Russo-Balt is also working on a second variant dubbed F400, which will have Four Wheel Drive electric motors assisted by a range-extending gas engine. In total, both of them will churn out 400 horsepower.
Kia always likes to celebrate its milestones with concepts that pave the way for the future of automotive design and technologies on the inside. This week is the South Korean brand’s 80th anniversary, and predictably, they’ve gone to the lengths of materializing a concept that is one of the most impressive from their design studio.
Called the Vision Meta Turismo concept, the sports sedan is not merely a design exploration; it’s their “first bold glimpse into the future of mobility.” The car was unveiled at the Kia Vision Square in Yongin, South Korea, and the future iteration of the electric vehicle (most likely it’s not going to be gasoline-powered) will be dubbed EV8. Just like the EV5 and EV6, this one is based on the Opposites United design theme, and by the look of things, is the spiritual successor to the Stinger. Vision Meta Turismo revitalizes three core experiences: performance driving, immersive driving, and spacious interiors.
Kia is categorizing the concept as a performance driving vehicle, even though they’ve not shared many technical details, we assume it is a serious contender for their premium electric lineup sometime in the future. On the outside, the car has a very sharp silhouette with soft geometric elements on the surface and natural lines. This fuses well with the aerodynamic elements like the vertical fins and embedded air channels for optimized airflow, which are inspired by the touring cars of the 1960s. A short hood is contrasted with the long, torpedo-like, elongated shape for a spacious interior that is ultra-comfy. LED strips on the front blending into the nose section edge out of the main frame, while the taillights have a more muted setup reminiscent of the current-gen electric vehicles.
On the inside, the sports sedan concept has an airy lounge-inspired cabin encapsulated in a panoramic windshield that extends to the rear like a modern fighter plane. For a dynamic look, there is a crisscross support pillar running from the A pillars that visually segments the front and the rear sections. The concept car has an upholstered driving seat, while the other seats have an upholstered off-white cloth material skin. The driver-focused interior has a matching hexagonal yoke steering wheel with gear shifters, and the dashboard is done in the same premium leather finish. The lower section of the windshield displays all the vital driver’s information in the AR Heads-Up Display (HUD). All these elements, according to Kia, “reimagine the next-generation intuitive driving interface.”
The concept has three driving modes: Speedster, Dreamer, and Gamer, which are not detailed by Kia and, in a way, are self-explanatory. Not much has been revealed by Kia, which hints that the probable EV sedan, having a long wheelbase and low profile, is going to manifest in some way as a production-ready vehicle. We are more than eager to learn more about the Vision Meta Turismo, and are sure of the fact that Kia is future-serious about this prototype.
