The biggest revolution in land-bound transportation since the invention of the car?
Lagonda aims to be the world’s first zero emission luxury brand and the Lagonda Concept is a preview of their design language at Geneva 2018. Alongside the concept will be two 40% scale models – a coupé concept and an SUV concept. Production is planned to start in 2021.
The state-of-the-art vehicles will feature the latest advances in electrification and autonomous driving technologies. Aston Martin describe it as “the biggest revolution in land-bound transportation since the invention of the car”.
The Lagonda Vision Concept is both shorter and lower than traditional limousines, with the batteries in the floor of the car. Without a vast internal combustion engine, gearbox and transmission, space has been freed up which the Lagonda’s designers have used for the interior and then built up the exterior of the car around it. There is room inside for four adults, each of two metres height or more, to stretch out in comfort.
The interior was created by David Snowden, the renown British craftsman, using ultra modern materials like carbon fibre and ceramics but also some rarely used in the automotive sphere, like cashmeres and silks. The seats are upholstered in handwoven wool which was cut and finished by Savile Row tailor Henry Poole.
The Lagonda Vision Concept doesn’t have a bonnet because one is not required. But it still needs to travel through the air and to do so as efficiently as possible to preserve battery life, which is why its shape is sleek and dynamic.
Its design also means a new level of convenience and ease of use can be delivered. Because the majority of the car’s structural strength comes through its floor, it has been possible to use apertures in the body far larger than would be wise in conventional cars. As a result, the rear hinged back doors don’t just open outwards, the roof sections also open upwards to provide unprecedented ease of access. Occupants can literally stand up inside and walk out of the car, or step straight into it. Similarly, the front seats are not mounted on conventional runners which always interfere with where those in the back would like to place their feet, but instead sit on cantilevered arms extending from the floor outside the seat frame providing a completely uncluttered floor area. And the seats are more like armchairs, with heavily bolstered arms because, given the choice people always use arms to lower and raise themselves from chairs.
The Lagonda Vision Concept also anticipates a world with a high level of autonomy. Its design is commensurate with level four autonomous driving, meaning the car is capable of driving itself in all routine circumstances and on all recognisable roads. As a result, the steering wheel can not only move from left to right hand drive according to need, in autonomous mode it can also retract entirely allowing front seat passengers to rotate through 180 degrees to engage in face to face conversation with those in the back. In the meantime, the car will not only have 360-degree awareness of the world around it, but also be fully connected to it, allowing occupants unprecedented access to bespoke concierge services and a level of connectivity and cyber-security few enjoy in their own homes, let along their cars.
The Lagonda Vision Concept has been configured to accept powerful solid state electric batteries enabling it to cover up to 400 real world miles between charges. That’s the distance from Los Angeles to San Francisco, London to Edinburgh or Berlin to Vienna without stopping. The concept has also has been designed to be compatible with the latest wireless conductive charging technology.
