Car customers love blacked-out rides. Nearly every automaker has caught onto the trend; blacked-out packages are even appearing on Toyota Camrys and exceptionally sad Fiats. It was only a matter of time before one manufacturer decided take that trend up a notch. BMW has stepped into that breach with a Vantablack version of the all-new X6 that will debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
Vantablack, created for aerospace use, is effectively the blackest black humans can make using current technology. Light striking the surface gets almost wholly absorbed, to the point where humans perceive the object as two dimensional.
In the past, Surrey Nanosystems has rebuffed automakers attempting to use Vantablack. Why make an exception for the new Bimmer? Well, as Vantablack inventor Ben Jensen put it, “The new X6 looked so incredibly different that it just felt like a really good fit.” (Though we’ll apparently have to wait to see a more traditionally-painted version to find that out for ourselves.)
The Vantablack X6 may raise some practical questions for you. How will this affect the X6’s on-road visibility? What happens if you leave the Vantablack X6 out in the sun? Will London’s streets be plagued by boy racers visible only by their illuminated grilles?
Worry not. The Vantablack X6 will be a one-off, and there are no plans to bring that paint coating into production.
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