Cool It With the Names Already: From Volkswagen, a 'Vizzion' of the Future

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems
cool it with the names already from volkswagen a 8216 vizzion of the future

You probably remember the old Jerry Seinfeld routine about ridiculous car names.

“Integrity? No, Inte-grah.”

In a just world, Volkswagen’s naming policy for its electric concept cars would see the company hauled before the courts on charges of crimes against the English language. However, it’s mainly a free world, and we’ll just have to grin and bear the fact that VW’s latest concept calls itself the I.D. Vizzion — surely the worst name in a line of upcoming cars that started with the I.D. and moved on to the I.D. Crozz and I.D. Buzz.

Occupants of the [s]Vision[/s] Vizzion, should it one day become reality, won’t ever use their hands for steering, but they’ll certainly use them to talk to the car.

Having already previewed its electric product future, the Vizzion is VW’s attempt at showing the next step beyond electric driving. In this case, electric self-driving vehicles which, depending on whose prediction you believe, are either a near-future certainty or a long-off pipe dream. When that time does does arrive, VW believes you’ll communicate with your car’s operating system (a “virtual chauffeur” or “virtual host”) using Minority Report-style hand gestures and your voice.

The host, according to a video posted to Twitter Monday, appears as a shapeless hologram. No doubt this is to prevent freak-outs. While future vehicles might not contain human drivers, occupants probably prefer their driving companions remain rooted in the physical realm.

Featuring a lounge-type interior with clamshell-style doors for easy ingress and egress, the Vizzion concept — a “premium class saloon,” according to VW — is said to pack two electric motors drawing juice from a massive 111 kWh battery pack. Power amounts to a combined 301 horsepower, with a claimed range of 413 miles. All of these powertrain elements are rooted in the here and now; it’s the autonomous systems (and the car’s legality) that hails from the future.

What makes the Vizzion different from other self-driving concepts is VW’s, ahem, vision of the car’s passengers. While autonomous cars, once perfected and approved for public use, can carry anyone or anything, VW specifically mentions the Vizzion’s ability to ferry those who can’t drive. We’ve become used to seeing self-driving cars pitched to the slackers and workaholics of tomorrow; this may be the first time an automaker has singled out elderly people without driver’s licenses.

In the Vizzion, Ma and Pa Kettle can speed to appointments or their great-grandchildren’s birthdays at a top speed of 112 miles per hour. Of course, that’s if various levels of government and infrastructure quality allows.

Expect to see the concept appear at next week’s Geneva Motor Show.

[Images: Volkswagen]

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  • Nlinesk8s Nlinesk8s on Mar 01, 2018

    Drug names are the best. Farziga. How do you pronounce that? No, it's not farts-eega, it's farz-iga (per the small note at the bottom of the tv screen) Yeah, right.

  • Zipper69 Zipper69 on Mar 02, 2018

    At least Citroen were subtle enough to use ID (idee = an idea) and DS (deese = goddess). Being creative AND clever seems to be lost these days.

  • Tassos SNAAB shot itself in the foot when it BASTARDIZED its unique brand by BADGE ENGINEERING its vehicles with GOD DAMNED GM, OPEL, CHEVY, LANCIA and who knows what other automotive RIFF RAFF. I know of no Saab Enthusiast (they do exist) who felt sorry when the stupid maker went BANKRUPT.
  • 28-Cars-Later Example is located in Coldwater Michigan, so..." needs work -- including new brakes."Brakes, brake lines, probably fuel lines. Probably should hit the master cylinder too unless there are seal only kits for it."It has an automatic transmission."Likely needs a new one of those as well."an exhaust leak"Add an exhaust to the list."an inaccurate speedo."Wow and TMU to boot!These days five to six bills isn't too horrible but this example could turn into a headache really quick due to parts availability. The right buyer for this is a small time tradesman, the HVAC guy who was just leaving my house is rolling a late P80 Volvo 850 sedan in manual which he treats like a truck. Said he'd love a wagon if he ever came across one... if you're local to Coldwater Michigan this is a nice work beater. Annual inspection/registration tax probably costs nearly as much as the car.
  • 2ACL Amazing price, but that's (IMO) a reflection of the interest in an old 2.0T repmobile made interesting only by being a wagon. The Epsilon 9-3 was a sanitized take on the Saab formula. That's not to say it lacks interesting variants, but this isn't one of them. If it had a stick, maybe. But this generation's automatics are sealed and known to become temperamental if not serviced. If the owner can't provide proof of regular servicing, run.
  • Tassos The 3 lt turbodiesel should be FAR, FAR more efficient than the 6.2. ANything that walks would be more efficient than the 6.2. Are you kidding me?The 3 lt turbodiesel in my 4,000 lb+, 208 HP, 400+ LBFT E320 Bluetecs is more efficient than even the 2.2 lt ICE with its meager 125 HP in my 1990, only 2,822 lbs, Accord Coupe 5 speed LX. 100%. I have the full detailed records to prove it beyond any doubt. I consistently get over 35 MPG HWY, which I never got with the Accord (usuallt 32-33 tops)The big question is, will GM ask $5k more for the diesel than for the gas version, as usual? Mercedes only asked $1k m ore for the diesel, $51k vs $50k for the gas back then, which you would recover in just ONE YEAR of average miles driven.
  • Cprescott Lucid has the right idea about building cars - I agree that these have a presence to them and certainly make all Teslas look like cheap golf carts with doors in comparison. I hope Lucid survives because they actually build luxurious products and not pretenders like Tesla.
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