Electric vehicles (EVs) are on the rise. Last year, global sales passed 1 million new cars sold, the first time ever, according to a report by McKinsey & Company, an automotive and assembly company. More car companies are designing electric vehicles, like Jaguar's first electric SUV debuted in March, and Mercedes launching an all-electric vehicle to challenge Tesla.
But what if non-automotive major brands came out with their own cars? What would they look like?
Auto Trader, a digital automotive platform based in the United Kingdom, imagined what electric cars of the future would look like if eight world renowned lifestyle and tech brands designed them. The site created sketches based on each company's brand identity for Amazon, Ikea, Spotify, Airbnb, Instagram, GoPro, Sony and Virgin.
For example, Ikea's car is imagined in flat-pack format with the brand's commitment to sustainability expressed with solar rooftop panels, according to Auto Trader. Amazon's car plays on the tech and retail giant's emphasis on efficiency and speed, with a battery that charges in 10 minutes, as well as a detachable drone that will deliver parcels directly to the boot.
Take a look at the designs for three top companies.
Amazon
Amazon is the world's third largest online retailer, and more than 75 percent of U.S. online consumers shop on Amazon most of the time, CNBC reports. Amazon reached $1 trillion market cap for the first time on Sept. 4.
Innovation is key to the company's success: "The bar has to continuously go up," founder and CEO Jeff Bezos wrote his 1998 shareholder letter.
As such, Auto Trader imagined Amazon's car would be packed with the speedy functionalities closely associated with the brand. Alexa would handle navigation (in fact, Amazon has actually been adding Alexa and Echo to cars as voice gadgets) and drivers would be able to stream tracks from Amazon Music. Dashboard controls would have drones drop packages to the car and super fast charging speeds would enable drivers to fully charge their batteries within 10 minutes.
Ikea
Ikea is the world's largest furniture retailer, with 313 stores in 38 countries and opened its first store in India in August, investing $5.2 billion into India, CNBC reports.
Ikea's founder, Ingvar Kamprad, shopped at flea markets and drove a 20-year-old Volvo, even after he was a billionaire. "His work ethic, frugality and down-to-earth style remain at the core of its corporate identity today," CNBC reported when he died in January.
True to Kamprad's ethos and the company's Scandinavian roots, the design of the Ikea car would be "stylish, practical and wholesome-looking," according to Auto Trader, with "ethically driven qualities" and "family-friendly furnishings." It would have Ikea's Swedish yellow and blue color scheme. The car would run entirely on solar energy provided by rooftop panels, reflecting Ikea's commitment to sustainability.
Spotify
Spotify, a music streaming service, has 83 million paid subscribers and 170 million monthly active users as of May, with a current market cap of over $31 billion. Co-founder Daniel Ek was minted as a billionaire in April when the company went public.
"People think that creativity is this free spirit that has no boundaries. No, actually the most creative people in the world schedule their creativity," Ek has said. "If you're really, really focused, those are the times when the breakthroughs come."
The Spotify car would be black and green with a rounded finish to match the brand's logo. It would have an unbelievable sound system to play the driver's latest Spotify playlist, according to Auto Trader. The model would be in tune to the driver's mood and play the appropriate track accordingly. The driver could even get inspiration from fellow Spotify-car travelers by sharing your routes and playlists with the electric car community.
Check out the other cars Auto Trader imagined here.
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