This week's snippets of automotive news include news on Citroen's Airbump, inductive charging, Skoda Kodiaq vRS and robotaxis.
Citroen Airbump:
Citroen's Airbumps remain a part of the car maker’s designs but it will not be tied to them, said product boss Xavier Peugeot. He added: “As a brand, we will differentiate the cars [stylistically]. Customer research shows C3s are favoured with Airbumps, rather than without. But we want to get the balance right. The Airbump design puts some people off. And some people love it.”
Inductive charging:
Inductive charging will replace dragging wires and cables around with a premium experience, says Bentley design chief Stefan Sielaff. In the meantime, the firm will be designing its own wall-box charger for its Bentayga plug-in hybrid.
Skoda Kodiaq:
We will see the Skoda Kodiaq vRS later this year – but, beyond that, CEO Bernhard Maier remains coy about its performance arm. Asked about his plans for the hot sub-brand, which currently has only the Octavia vRS on sale, he said: “vRS has been successful for a number of years in some markets.
That is why we are thinking about it for other models as well. We have our biggest campaign yet ahead of us by 2020. We have to filter out which ideas customers want most and which help the brand best.”
Robotaxis:
Mercedes-Benz is aiming to produce the world’s first commercially available robotaxis in 2021. Boss of parent company Daimler, Dieter Zetsche, said: “We are working on fleets of level five autonomous cars at the moment. The whole industry is talking about robotaxis.”
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