It’s not uncommon for automakers to launch special dark editions of their standard cars that wear a sinister blacked-out look, including the paint job, trim parts and upholstery. But BMW has taken this theme to a whole new level with its unique X6 concept which is being touted as the blackest car.
Set to make its public debut at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show, the one-off will be used by BMW to launch the all-new, third-generation X6 sporty SUV. The concept car is coated with a special material called VBx2 which can absorb more than 99 percent of visible light making it the blackest of black in the world.
To create the project, BMW partnered with Surrey NanoSystems, the company supplying Vantablack technology, and creative agency Levitation 29. The aim was to create a new way to concealing an upcoming model without wrapping it with the usual camouflage cover.
The Vantablack coating on the concept BMW X6 is so dark that it reflects back less than 1 percent of light which takes away the three-dimensionality of the car and perfectly hides all the bodylines and design features.
The trademarked illuminated kidney grilles and the headlights along with the tail lamps appear to float. “To be honest, we received inquiries from most of the big-name automotive manufacturers, almost from the day we launched the original material in 2014, but we’d always said no. This was also due to the fact that we only had a suitable material once we came up with VBx2. When we were approached by BMW, we were still quite hesitant to begin with. But the new X6 looked so incredibly different that it just felt like a really good fit.” – Ben Jensen, Vantablack inventor and founder of Surrey NanoSystems.