The Chang An
Oshan stood out as being possibly the most futuristic and intriguing. Though
there were many concepts of all kinds in the halls, from luridly mad to
tediously serious, the Oshan had an air of mystery, serenity and cool all of
its own.
The Oshan brand, presently just a subsidiary of
ChangAn, is apparently planned to be spun off as a separate entity in the near
future. If this is its creative direction, that should be very interesting.
The Oshan concept follows the trend for
whiteness and a rounded monovolume architecture. It also features the almost
obligatory display screens for charging status and driving mode at front and
rear, slim colour-changing LED strips around the perimeter coordinating with an
illuminated graphic on the front, and exaggerated, badged, wheel spats.
The
plus-sized gullwing doors are also very on-trend, and
the protruding, semi-separate wings are a little Nissan IMx-like. All told,
there’s a lot that we’ve also seen elsewhere. But there’s a rationale behind
many of the choices. And, given that it’s supposed to be electrically-powered,
what are those rather intricate air intake grilles doing at bumper level front
and rear?The clue is in one of the body-mounted graphics,
which reads ‘Clean Air’.
This concept is replicated inside too – the striking
mushroom-shaped object, roughly where a centre console might be, is actually a
parabolic air filter.
Other eye-catching features of the interior are the
splayed strips of wood which start halfway along the cabin roof and arc
gracefully down to the rear shelf, visible through the frosted rear screen and
somehow giving it a very zen ambience.
The seating is flexible, with foldable
seat/footstools in the centre (mildly reminiscent of a modern Mk I Renault
Espace), a traditional bench seat in the rear, and a pair of separate seats at
the front. A split, it emerges, that is strictly along generational lines.
And of course
there’s high technology involved – in this case in the form of an Oshan phone
app which you can customise to suit your own preferences. Wherever you sit in
the car, it will recognise your own digital signature – as signalled by the
coloured ring around each seat – and adjust the car’s lighting, sound and
ventilation to suit.
There are even more ideas – more than we have space
for here – but take a look at the gallery at right to see more on the Oshan’s
thought-provoking architecture and interesting interior treatment. If this is
the first shot from a new brand, the rest of their range should be fascinating.
