Some concepts make it all the way into
production, whereas others are destined to live out their lives as 3D models.
The Baccara Concept unfortunately belongs in the latter category. The Baccara
Concept was conceived by Guillaume Mazerolle during his five-month internship
at the Renault Samsung Design studio in South Korea, under the tutorship of
design exec Raphael Linari and Andrey Basmanov, with Seonhong Lee and Minseok
Kang responsible for the 3D modelling.
In order to come up with the idea,
Mazerolle first looked at traffic in the country’s capital city of Seoul,
recognizing that future cars might need to shrink in size as urban areas become
more crowded. The Baccara is meant to represent “the ultimate premium
individual compact EV for cities,” and at least from a styling standpoint, it’s
definitely more dynamic-looking than something like a Renault Zoe or a Mini
Electric.
The name itself is meant to echo certain
80’s and 90’s models from the French carmaker, while the size maxes out at 4.0
meters in length, with a minimum of 1.4 meters in
height. The batteries and electric motor were placed at the rear for better
handling, while still allowing for a 2+2 configuration of two adults and two
children.
Moving on to the design, there’s a fully
glassed cabin with 360 degree visibility, a strong diagonal line for the
profile and a rear light unit that goes all the way into the door handles –
this was done so as to increase the visual length of the car.
Speaking of light units, the one at the
front mimics a blade that spans the entire width of the Baccara, while little
vertical cuts split the surface underneath. There’s even a deployable
roof-mounted spoiler at the rear, which lights up. As far as we’re concerned,
this is one seriously cool-looking ride, and carmakers would be wise to adopt
more dynamic styling for their urban-focused EVs going forward.
