On a par with the New Tiguan L. The I.D. CROZZ is 4,625 mm long. Spread between the front and rear section is a long wheelbase of 2,773 mm. The width of the concept car is 1,891 mm and its height is 1,609 mm. The concept car's dimensions – and thus the space it offers – are most closely comparable with those of the Chinese New Tiguan L and its European counterpart, the Tiguan Allspace. The two almost identically built SUVs are seen as providing enormous amounts of space. Just like the CUV. The I.D. CROZZ is, however, 77 mm shorter in length, 47 mm lower in height and 56 mm wider than the two Tiguan models.
Revolution. With the countdown to the launch of the new zero-emissions fleet in 2020, Volkswagen is heralding in a new era in more than just an engineering sense. Along with his team, Volkswagen Head Designer Klaus Bischoff is developing in parallel with this a new, expressive and unique DNA of electric mobility. The I.D. CROZZ now being showcased in Shanghai shows how diverse the spectrum of future variants is going to be.
Design of the 21st century. Klaus Bischoff: "It is a design that shows great clarity and remains absolutely self-explanatory; a design that unifies form and function in breath-taking fashion; a design that naturally integrates our century's digitalised world." In this design, light becomes an interactive means of communication. It 'interacts' with passers-by and the driver. Sensors, through which the I.D. CROZZ is able to 'see' its surroundings and which actually make fully automatic driving possible in the first place, thus coherently become a part of those forms that systematically follow function. "All elements combine into a design style with DNA that unambiguously reflects the fact that the I.D. CROZZ is a zero-emissions vehicle of a new generation", explains Klaus Bischoff.
Stand-alone. The concept car's design is unmistakably linked to the two other concept cars based on the MEB (I.D. and I.D. BUZZ) and yet at the same time has a unique charisma of its own. Like a stand-alone building the I.D. CROZZ rises above the masses with its clean, extremely powerful, masculine and yet avant-garde design. Pronounced wings and strongly contoured wheel arches frame a silhouette like that of a sports car. The bonnet, meanwhile, is sharp cut and muscular. On top of this base is the coupé roof with lines that make the car appear agile and dynamic even when stationary. A fine stripe in the car's body colour borders the roof on each side. The solid roof supports, meanwhile, remain almost invisible. What dominates is transparency. The A-pillars, for example, also appear thin and precise, as only the stripe painted in the car's body colour catches the eye. A much larger part of the pillars and of the side roof support is black and merges in with the middle part of the roof, the panoramic windshield and the rear window. Another stylistically defining feature is the D-pillar, which tapers way back and, on the inside, meets the broad shoulder section rising gently towards the rear. The designers gave the side windows a low, elongated look; the imaginary B-pillar (formed from the door frames) and C-pillar are behind glass and effectively invisible.
360-degree design perspective. If you were to take a camera drone on a 360-degree flight around the concept car, you would notice two further lines – in addition to the stretched-out side lines of the roof – that particularly shape the overall design. Both lines give the I.D. CROZZ a look of great strength. Visually they also reduce the height of the CUV and thus press it like a sports car onto the road.
- The first of these lines starts at the top edge of the bonnet. From there it shoots left and right out into the wings, marks their contours and upper border and forms a powerful arch over the wheel housings. Near the elegant A-pillars the line merges into the window shoulder, climbs with the side windows towards the rear and finally encircles the rear window.
- With the same flying camera approach, the second line appears much later; when it does, it is on the side of the front wings. There it develops above the camera wing mirrors (e-Mirror) as a sharply drawn character line and runs parallel to line one across the silhouette. In the centre of the back doors it climbs and in so doing forms the outer border of the powerfully shaped shoulder section that contributes to the optimally contoured aerodynamic rear end.
360-degree light show. It is not only the LED headlights of the I.D. CROZZ that are interactive. All around the car and in the roof there are lighting elements that interact and bring the concept car's body to life. These lighting elements change the look of the CUV based on its operating status. Even more than that: the I.D. CROZZ communicates via the light with its surroundings. The LED headlights interactively emulate the human eye (Interactive Spotlight). The lighting scenarios in summary:
I.D. CROZZ parked. When the I.D. CROZZ has all its systems shut down, it looks from the front as if its 'eyes' are closed. All there is to see on the I.D. CROZZ when parked is a thin LED strip in the headlights.
I.D. CROZZ wakes up. If the I.D. CROZZ is 'woken up', it greets its driver and passengers with a 360° light show: first, the glass VW badges (at the front and in the rear hatch) light up in blue and white. Starting from the front logo, a fine white line develops from left to right; it merges into the linear graphic of the LED headlights, with their five thin lines of light now all active. Fractions of a second later, the 'eyes' of the I.D. CROZZ 'open' (LED dipped beam). It is also possible to set the system so that in this situation the 'eyes' wink at the driver. Compared to the I.D. and I.D. BUZZ the sequences of 'eye' movements have been further enhanced: the 'eyes' can now glide to and fro on the lighting strips, making the sequences appear much more fluid and realistic. In tandem with the dipped beam, the illumination of the laser roof sensors and of the light blind in the roof is also switched on. At the same time, the sensor fields for opening the doors are illuminated. Finally, the linear graphic of the front section and of the light blind in the roof glow strikingly in a blend of magenta and violet. By activating its daytime-running lights, the I.D. CROZZ signals as the concluding step of the process that it is ready to start. When the electric doors are opened, the sensor fields pulsate; as soon as the car drives off, they are dimmed down.
I.D. CROZZ is (manually) driven. In manual mode the LED linear graphic of the front section and roof switches to a 'Light Blue'. In parallel with this, the interior's ambient lighting also adopts this colour, with its clear light helping the driver to operate the car. As the car accelerates, the 'eyes' adjust to the higher speed by adopting a more dynamic light signature, becoming narrower and more concentrated.
I.D. CROZZ drives itself (fully automatically). If the driver activates the fully automatic 'I.D. Pilot' mode, the exterior and interior ambient lighting switches to 'magenta/violet'. On the outside the laser scanners also deploy; lit up in white here is a small ring of light. The exterior ambient lighting is now no longer static, but dynamically animated. If the speed increases, the 'eyes' peer ahead with a sportier look in this mode too. The LED headlights switch in parallel to an interactive mode: if, for example, the I.D. CROZZ wants to turn left or right, the LED headlights look in the direction that the car is going to turn. Even more than that: if the CUV registers anyone at the edge of the carriageway, the car 'looks' at them. Through this very human form of interaction the I.D. CROZZ makes pedestrians and cyclists more aware of its presence.