9 Of Our Favourite Cars From The Munich Motor Show

The IAA Mobility 2021 held at Munich showcased not just concept cars and upcoming vehicles, but a changing automotive landscape. Europe is at the forefront of the electric vehicle (EV) revolution, and now even Hyundai embraces the death of internal combustion as a looming inevitability. But as petrolheads, we have nothing to lament about the fast, sophisticated and environment-friendly driving machines that took centre stage at the Munich Motor Show. Here are some of our favourites: 

Mercedes-Benz EQE Sedan 

 

If you’re still getting used to Mercedes’ new nomenclature, know that the EQE is its all-electric mid-size luxury sedan that, just like the E-Class, slots below the flagship EQS. It looks more like a spaceship than a sedan with oodles of screen real estate on the dashboard and a yoke steering wheel. Mercedes says you’ll get more than 600km of range after just over half an hour of DC fast charging at the highest permissible 170kW rate. 

Porsche Mission R Concept

This Porsche concept is a track-scorching monster -- it has a 2.5-second 0-100kmph time and over 1000PS of power. It features F1-derived aerodynamics and, according to Porsche, it can keep up with a GT3 Cup car on a racetrack! The carmaker has shaved off every milligram that it could (even the wheels are made of magnesium), bringing the total weight down to just 1500kg, about the same as an MG ZS EV. Curious? Read our full story. 

Renault Megane E-Tech 

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This French crossover EV features the world’s slimmest battery pack and optical fibres in its brake lights! It’ll have a 130PS electric motor and a 300km range if you opt for the smaller 40kWh battery pack. For the enthusiast, Renault will have a 218PS motor that’s good for a 0-100kmph time of 7.4 seconds. When it goes on sale in Europe, it’ll be one of the few cars that feature a Google OS-based multimedia infotainment system. You can find out more about this crossover here. 

BMW i Vision Circular Concept 

With cars getting larger and bulkier with safety systems and batteries with each new generation, you might think that the future is bleak for small cars. But BMW has a 4m-long concept supermini in the works that’ll be fully baked by 2040. It’ll be made from recycled materials with unpainted, anodised secondary aluminium bodywork. Read more here to know how BMW expects future motorists to interact with new technology two decades from now. 

Mercedes-Maybach EQS Concept 

The current Mercedes-Benz EQS is a sedan, and next year’s Mercedes-Benz EQS will be an SUV -- clear? In 2023, the flight-ready EQS SUV will get a Maybach variant that’ll look even more like a spaceship. Check out that yoke that replaces the steering wheel and the dashboard that looks like a giant screen! If you have Mercedes-Maybach money, we’d recommend holding on to it for the next couple of years until this SUV or the beautiful EQS sedan (or its 658PS Mercedes-AMG sibling) arrives on Indian shores. 

Volkswagen ID.Life Concept  

This cute, boxy concept car can sprint to 100kmph from a standstill in just 7 seconds, and it could cost less than a VW ID.3 hatchback to buy! We expect the production version to be a subcompact SUV with a wealth of (relatively) affordable variants, airy interiors and top-of-the-line safety and driver assistance systems. Volkswagen currently claims 400km of range out of this cutesy concept. Europeans will have to wait until 2025 to buy the ID.Life, and it will likely take a while before it arrives here in India. 

Mercedes-Benz Concept EQG

The current-generation Mercedes G-Class is an ultra-expensive, V8-powered, fuel-guzzling sleeper shark of a car -- a living fossil of the G Wagon’s long history. At first glance, the all-electric iteration of the G Class, the  EQG concept looks like a schoolkid with a fancy backpack in comparison. We can’t promise that it’ll be as absurdly powerful or off-road capable as the existing G-Class. But it will be as large, get plenty of illuminated bits and might even come with optional retro-bling 22-inch wheels when it arrives (expectedly) in 2024. 

Audi Grand Sphere Concept

 

Audi’s vision for the future is less myopic -- the Grand Sphere has some outlandish features such as a hidden central display and retractable car controls (it’s got Level 4 autonomy). But it might share its 710PS/960Nm electric powertrain and 120kWh battery pack with an upcoming all-electric flagship Audi sedan (sort of like an A8 EV). That luxury EV might even borrow the Grand Sphere’s rear-wheel steering and road-scanning adaptive air suspension that observes the road to smooth out bumps! 

Hyundai Vision FK

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are a small market abroad, and they don’t even exist in India currently. At IAA 2021, a sea of EVs with a handful of hydrogen cars reaffirmed that FCVs will continue to be niche (and invariably expensive) cars, at least for the short term. The Vision FK is a sleek, RWD sports sedan that packs a 680PS electric motor from -- drumroll -- Rimac! Could this be the Kia Stinger GT of the future? Fingers crossed, that future might not be so far away!