- The Meta Turismo concept was exhibited at Milan Design Week
- Designers revealed more details about its sporty intentions
- Virtual gearshifts are “just the start” as Kia looks to make electric cars more fun
The creatives behind Kia’s latest Meta Turismo concept say they want to “bring back a sense of joy and a sense of theatre” to the electric market as the company looks towards the next phase of its design language.
Briefly revealed at an 80th anniversary celebration in Yongin, Korea last year, the Vision Meta Turismo offers a glimpse of what we can expect from future Kia models, particularly the four-door sedan, where there has been a gap in the Kia lineup since the Kia Stinger left.
“Vision Meta Turismo is really a car designed for a generation that didn’t grow up with posters on the wall. Instead, they probably experienced their dream car in virtual worlds,” explains Oliver Samson, Kia Europe’s head of design.
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As a result, the long, sleek Vision Meta Turismo borrows elements from the world of gaming and racing simulators on the inside.
The front seat passenger, for example, enjoys a lounge-like experience that is “distraction-free” and can rotate 180 degrees when the vehicle is stationary.
In stark contrast, the driver takes a much more focused, cockpit-like position with an Augmented Reality display that tracks the driver’s eyes so that it is always in the correct field of vision.
There’s also a new steering wheel shape, which Kia says acts as the “central interface through which users engage with three different digital experience modes”. These consist of Speeder, Dreamer and Gamer.
The former places the car in a focused driving mode, allowing the driver to enjoy the brand’s virtual gearshift and any future driving technology that may emerge, while the Dreamer sees virtual layers added to the vehicle’s cockpit, allowing passengers to interact with their infotainment system via an Augmented Reality Head-Up Display or AR glasses for the passengers.
Finally, Gamer is a mode reserved for when the vehicle is parked and turns the AR screen and steering wheel into a place to ‘Sim race’, while an external projector creates a “group gaming hub”, according to its designers.
Analysis: Bringing fun back to electric cars
“Everyone knows electric cars can be fast as hell, but we need to bring back a sense of joy, something exciting and something different in the way we interact with them,” explains John Buckingham, Head of Future Exteriors at Kia.
Buckingham highlights the joystick-like gear shifter in the Vision Meta Turismo concept and claims that technology such as Hyundai Motor Group’s virtual gear shift is “just the beginning” of a wide range of innovative and engaging driving features we can expect to see on its future electric cars.
“Vision Meta Turismo explores the differences in character between the sportiness of a Kia and Hyundai’s N models. It needs to be separated and we can’t do what they do. Instead of racing, we’re about the personal driving pleasure,” he adds, suggesting that Kia could offer the electric Grand Tourers to Hyundai’s hot hatches.
As a result, the concept car features a launch control button as well as GT Boost functionality, which releases full power to deliver an “instant wave of acceleration”. Still, chipping away at long highway miles remains a quiet, comfortable and lounge-like experience.
Although this is only a concept for now, Kia has recently updated its EV lineup with GT-badged variants that offer virtual gear shifting borrowed from Hyundai and a more focused driving experience. It’s not quite the racism of a Hyundai N product, but it serves to increase driver engagement.
The Vision Meta Turismo offers a glimpse of ways Kia could turn this sensation up even further in the future and gives us our best idea yet of what form an all-electric sports saloon from the Korean brand could take.
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