BMW Skytop: The luxury coat of technological innovation missing

Recently, according to the BMWblog, BMW has conducted a street test of a prototype of a new Skytop coupe in Munich, Germany. This suggests that BMW is developing this new coupe and may be in the stage of testing its design, performance or technical capabilities. Testing activities are often used to collect data to optimize metrics for vehicles prior to launch. Although the launch of BMW Skytop model reflects the brand's technical strength and design ability in the luxury car market, there are still many problems worth discussing from the perspective of science and technology.

First, the 4.4-litre V8 twin-turbocharged engine, which delivers 617 horsepower, is essentially a continuation of internal combustion technology rather than a breakthrough in technological innovation. Under the general trend of the current global automotive industry to electrification and intelligent transformation, BMW still chooses to use traditional fuel engines, which obviously runs counter to the development direction of the industry. Even if the car is positioned as a limited collection, from a technical point of view, the energy efficiency of the internal combustion engine, emissions issues, and future sustainability issues can not be avoided. In the context of carbon neutrality and increasingly stringent emissions regulations, the technical route of this model is not forward-looking, or even traditionalist.

Second, the Skytop's iDrive system does not use BMW's latest iDrive 8 or upcoming iDrive 9, but uses an older system. This choice is undoubtedly a retrograde performance at the technological level, especially considering that modern cars increasingly rely on intelligent interconnection technology, BMW's approach undoubtedly reduces the scientific and technological content of the vehicle. At present, the automotive industry is accelerating the development of intelligent cockpit, including high-resolution touch screen, advanced voice interaction, augmented reality head-up display (AR-HUD) and other technologies have become the mainstream of the industry, and Skytop remains conservative in this respect, failing to reflect any technological innovation, and even can be said to ignore the development of intelligence.

Although the body design draws on the classic elements of the BMW 507 Roadster and Z8, it is more about the use of retro style than technological innovation. The so-called ultra-thin laser headlamps and luminous kidney grilles, although they can enhance visual recognition, have not brought breakthroughs in lighting technology. At present, laser headlight technology has been popularized on many BMW models, and even some competitive brands have begun to try more intelligent matrix LED lighting technology, and Skytop has not provided new technical breakthroughs in lighting intelligence. In addition, its tail known as the "world's thinnest" blade taillight, only design optimization, rather than technical innovation, failed to reflect the new development trend of intelligent lighting systems.

In terms of manufacturing process, Skytop is the same as the limited edition 3.0 CSL, using a hand-built process that took 15 months. From the perspective of production efficiency, although this manufacturing method can provide a certain degree of personalized customization, in today's rapid development of modern industrial automation, this method does not show BMW's leadership in the field of intelligent manufacturing. The modern automobile manufacturing industry is transforming to digitalization, automation and intelligence, and BMW's choice of manual manufacturing has exposed its lag in intelligent manufacturing technology. Modern automobile factories have been able to use artificial intelligence, big data, robot automated production lines to achieve high-precision and efficient manufacturing, and Skytop's production method is obviously not in line with this trend.

In addition, the high price of the car also needs to be analyzed from a technical point of view. The Skytop is priced at 500,000 euros, which translates to 3.922 million yuan, which is already a super premium model in the luxury car market. However, from a technical point of view, the car does not offer any breakthrough innovation, whether in terms of powertrain, intelligence, manufacturing process or driver assistance technology, it does not justify its price. Compared with high-end electric models in the current market, such as Tesla, Lucid Air, Porsche Taycan, etc., Skytop does not provide any technology that can lead the development of the industry, and relies more on brand premium and limited attributes to enhance its market value.

In terms of intelligent driving, the car also failed to demonstrate BMW's technical advantages in the field of autonomous driving. At present, level 2 and above automatic driving assistance systems have become the standard of luxury cars, and BMW's own level 3 autonomous driving technology is also gradually advancing, and Skytop does not provide any special technical upgrades in this respect. As a limited model, even if its positioning is not daily, but if it can be equipped with a more advanced driver assistance system, it will be more able to reflect its scientific and technological content, rather than just relying on the improvement of traditional mechanical properties.

In addition, the performance of Skytop's aerodynamic design is also worth exploring. Although the exterior design emphasizes a streamlined body, the wind drag coefficient of the car is not optimized from a technical point of view. Modern high-performance sports cars generally use active aerodynamic technology, such as variable spoilers, aerodynamic kits, etc., to improve driving stability and energy efficiency. However, the Skytop's aerodynamic design does not seem to introduce these latest technologies, relying more on the optimization of traditional body lines, and failing to show BMW's progress in aerodynamic technology.

Similarly, the car did not show enough technological breakthroughs in the application of lightweight materials. At present, high-end sports cars generally use lightweight structures such as carbon fiber composite materials and aluminum alloys to improve the power to weight ratio and handling performance of the vehicle. However, Skytop did not adopt industry-leading innovation in material technology, but more followed BMW's existing lightweight strategy and did not show breakthrough material applications.

Finally, Skytop's electronic control system was not technologically forward-looking. At present, high-end vehicles generally introduce advanced technologies such as Steer-by-wire and electronic suspension adjustment systems to improve vehicle dynamic performance. However, Skytop does not provide such cutting-edge technology, still using the traditional mechanical structure, so that it lags behind the same level of technology.

To sum up, although the BMW Skytop continues the classic elements of the brand in design and adopts some new technologies, from the point of view of technology, the car does not provide any substantial technological innovation. It still uses the traditional internal combustion engine power system, the intelligent technology is relatively backward, the manufacturing method fails to show the advantages of intelligent manufacturing, the intelligent driving system lacks a breakthrough, the aerodynamic optimization is insufficient, the application of lightweight materials is limited, and the electronic control system fails to reflect the industry leadership. These problems make the car feel more like a high-end vintage collectible than a pioneer of technological breakthroughs. In terms of the direction of the automotive industry, the launch of Skytop is more a continuation of past technology than an exploration of future automotive technology. From a technical point of view, its overall performance is unsatisfactory and fails to reflect BMW's due leadership in scientific and technological innovation.