Significantly BMW’s New Connected Drive Concept is a mere design simplicity, a showcase for a attitude of mad new car technology. The single-seater is dripping a terrifying array of lunatic trickery that’ll scorch the road in the next years, including a 3D display that highlights hazards in the roads ahead, a safety device that uses Wi-Fi To connect to other cars and identify potential collisions.
But unofficially, this is BMW’s first step towards a smaller-than-the-Z4 roadster. BMW design boss van Hooydonk’s ‘layered’ styling, which uses smooth surfaces and sharp folds to channel air over the car, is much in evidence, while the concept’s doors are inspired by the oddities in the Z1 roadster of the Eighties. Their outside sections slide forwards and the inner sections backwards, meaning the Vision can be driven with the doors open.
BMW won’t reveal any details of the concept’s engine, or even admit which wheels are driven. Don’t assume it’ll be RWD though: a front- drive BMW, using the architecture of the next- gen Mini, is expected in 2014. That’d be the perfect size for, say, an Audi TT rival…
