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Written by Ollie Kew
China is a potential goldmine for carmakers so long as they"re prepared to make cars that confirm to the country"s individual tastes. Which is why we"ve noticed a bizarre trend for long-wheelbase versions of not-very-long cars getting ever stronger at this week"s Beijing motor show.First up, Mercedes and Jaguar have both unveiled long-wheelbase versions of their respective E-Class and XF saloons. Fair enough, you"re thinking those are both reasonably big, luxury execu-boxes you could reasonably expect to be driven around in while you"re lounging out back. If you forget the S-Class and XJ exist, anyway.Meanwhile, Audi has stretched a smaller car, adding a long-wheelbase version to its A4 saloon line-up. Yup, that"s an A4 L, not an A6. And taking it to extreme, erm, lengths entirely is BMW, which has broken the TopGear niche-ometer by revealing a long-wheelbase X1 L.Yes, that"s a stretched, rear legroom-focused version of a small, relatively inexpensive crossover designed to be little enough to succeed in cities. It doesn"t make any senseor does it?See, in Chinese car culture, to be chauffeured is the height of good taste. If you"ve got your own driver to take you place-to-place (or chew the steering wheel in desperation as Beijing"s traffic grinds to a week-long halt), you"ve officially made it. You"re somebody".Self-driving cars might be the big tech news here in the west, but for the luxury car-buying Chinese public, they already exist. Sort of. Being driven in an XF L is far grander than the effort of operating your own pedals in say, an XJ, it seems.
Date written: 25 Apr 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 3137
China is a potential goldmine for carmakers so long as they"re prepared to make cars that confirm to the country"s individual tastes. Which is why we"ve noticed a bizarre trend for long-wheelbase versions of not-very-long cars getting ever stronger at this week"s Beijing motor show.First up, Mercedes and Jaguar have both unveiled long-wheelbase versions of their respective E-Class and XF saloons. Fair enough, you"re thinking those are both reasonably big, luxury execu-boxes you could reasonably expect to be driven around in while you"re lounging out back. If you forget the S-Class and XJ exist, anyway.Meanwhile, Audi has stretched a smaller car, adding a long-wheelbase version to its A4 saloon line-up. Yup, that"s an A4 L, not an A6. And taking it to extreme, erm, lengths entirely is BMW, which has broken the TopGear niche-ometer by revealing a long-wheelbase X1 L.Yes, that"s a stretched, rear legroom-focused version of a small, relatively inexpensive crossover designed to be little enough to succeed in cities. It doesn"t make any senseor does it?See, in Chinese car culture, to be chauffeured is the height of good taste. If you"ve got your own driver to take you place-to-place (or chew the steering wheel in desperation as Beijing"s traffic grinds to a week-long halt), you"ve officially made it. You"re somebody".Self-driving cars might be the big tech news here in the west, but for the luxury car-buying Chinese public, they already exist. Sort of. Being driven in an XF L is far grander than the effort of operating your own pedals in say, an XJ, it seems.
Date written: 25 Apr 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 3137
