For as long as anyone could remember, a car was a car was a car. And then, one day, it wasn’t. Which is to say the notion of an automobile going back 100 years – a multi-box design on four tyres, with a wheel and pedals, aimed by people and powered by orderly little explosions – has been upended by a maelstrom of globalisation, technological revolution, environmental reckoning and a wholesale assault on the ownership model. Such extreme disruption has unleashed a rapid evolution of the automotive species, with strange creatures now roaming the roads: Rolls-Royce SUVs and silent, battery-powered Croatian hypercars; Cybertrucks and fin-shaped hatchbacks with gull wings and brains big enough to take the wheel for a spell.
Take the luxury car. Not long ago the term meant something fairly specific: a large, imperious saloon with a respectably immoderate petrol-burning engine and a leathered and carpeted backseat with ample space for raising a family. Now it’s as formless and atomised as the rest of the sprawling luxury universe. Tesla’s austere, vegan-friendly robots are the must-have choice for the Silicon Valley set even as six-figure SUVs proliferate like 2,270kg bunnies in the exurbs. Meanwhile, a younger generation of buyers appreciates zero-emissions vehicles but would really rather the automobile had the good sense to go away entirely.
Yet there are signs the automotive industry is finally coalescing around an idea of what a car will be in the future – and down that road lies an interesting potential detour: the luxury car, instead of simply representing a pricier version of whatever the car du jour is, branches off into something else entirely. For the first time, a difference not just of degree but of kind, transformed by three interconnected forces: artificial intelligence (AI), the rise of niche manufacturing and increasing rarity.
Artificial Intelligence
Denne historien er fra February 2020-utgaven av Robb Report Singapore.
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Denne historien er fra February 2020-utgaven av Robb Report Singapore.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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BREAKING DOWN WALLS
Georgina Atkinson, managing partner of Origin Private Office, on the evolving landscape of high-end real estate.
Aged Gracefully
The Benromach 50 Years Old by Gordon & MacPhail is a delicious single malt, touched by love, passion and the human hand.
This Month's Feed
Only the best dining and drinking spots in Singapore.
Small-scale Thinking
Architect Todd Saunders wants to change the way we approach hospitality design from the ground up.
Todd Snyder Is Exactly Where He Wants To Be
\"Our whole goal is to present product in a way that guys get it and understand it, versus 'Here's some crazy aspirational brand-you go figure it out on your own'.\"
Depp Dive Into Sauvage
Johnny Depp on music, scents and the mystique of creativity.
Time For Poetry
Pascal Raffy on his love affair with the 202-year-old house of Bovet.
One of a Kind
The incomparable Lange 1 turns 30 this year and A. Lange & Söhne marks the occasion with its trademark understatement.
P For Personality
Enhance your swing, and inject your personal style while you're at it, with TaylorMade's new P-770 and P-7CB irons.
The Short-hop-adventure-craft Category Takes Off
Inside the flight deck of Pivotal's Blackfly eVTOL, an ultra-smart ultra-light with eight propellers, electric propulsion and no pilot's licence required.
