Two U.K. Companies Used Their Imagination, and Lotus Inspiration, for This Concept Collab
Key takeaways
- Watt Electric Vehicles brings functional engineering to the table, while Avant Design leverages the use of VR in styling.
- Platform sharing has worked out, but not in a manner that seemed so exciting at the time.
- That R&D investment costs time and money, something OEMs usually guard jealously.
Why this matters: an automotive development that could shape industry direction or buying decisions.
Watt Electric Vehicles brings functional engineering to the table, while Avant Design leverages the use of VR in styling.
Watt EV x Avant Putting together a prototype or concept can burn through cash and time for OEMs, but two U.K. firms are trying to mitigate that cost.The engineering firm and design firm are looking to harness the flexibility and accuracy of designing in a virtual 3-D space, along with experience in building low-volume cars.The pair has already teamed up on this imagined Lotus 2+2 that's theoretically only a year from being road legal.When the EV market first started heating up, there was plenty of talk about how modular "skateboard platform" layouts were going to make it easier for manufacturers to design multiple different models on a single platform. Platform sharing has worked out, but not in a manner that seemed so exciting at the time. It still takes a long time to go from an interesting-looking render to a functional vehicle.
That R&D investment costs time and money, something OEMs usually guard jealously. Thus, manufacturers take fewer risks, and we end up with a plethora of sales-friendly crossovers and few sports-car options, even from a company like Lotus.