Have you ever come across a car so black that its paint job has been tagged the ‘blackest black in the world?’ This is the first thing you’re bound to notice on the 2020 BMW X6.
In some quarters, the car has been whispered to be so black that you literally won’t be able to spot it except you leave the car’s optional kidney grille lights on. Of course, this comes up in light-hearted conversations around the 2020 BMW X6.
The Story behind the 2020 BMW X6 Vantablack
The 2020 BMW X6 Vantablack stands out as a one-off from the brilliant minds in Bavaria. For this car, they collaborated with British firm, Surrey NanoSystems to successfully sweep up some attention to the premiere of the 2020 BMW X6 at the Frankfurt Motor Show scheduled to hold in September 2019.
Who Invented the Vantablack?
The Vantablack remains the world’s darkest man-made substance and it was invented by Surrey NanoSystems. The substance absorbs all but 0.035% of the light that hits it. What this means is that any object coated with Vantablack loses all of its defining features when it is looked at through the human eye. In this case, this is precisely what happens to the 2020 BMW X6.
That’s not all though – The Vantablack has a reputation for making objects either seem 2D (two dimensional) or make them look like a hole in the universe.
There’s a Catch
The fact remains that the Vantablack coating applied to the 2020 BMW X6 is not the Vantablack that was invented in 2014. That 2014 Vantablack was specifically developed for space-borne components, which would definitely be too dark for a car. Besides, it would be extremely and way too expensive to apply the original Vantablack on a car.
Meet the New Vantablack
The new Vantablack paint finish has been christened ‘VBx2.’ This new shade of Vantablack allows an entire one per cent of light to reflect off it. So far, it has only been used for architectural purposes. It’s probably no longer news that BMW and Surrey NanoSystems have become the first to ever apply the VBx2 to a car.
Here’s what BMW had to say about the Vantablack finish on the 2020 BMW X6:
“…highlights the expressive design language and confident, dominant and muscular appearance of the new BMW X6 to perfection.”
Final Thoughts on the 2020 BMW X6
The interior design of the 2020 BMW X6 is very similar to that of the X5 and X7. You can even look at it as a blend of both. It also comes with two 12.3-inch screens upfront. The screens are located where the instrument cluster and centre-mounted infotainment system were in the second-gen model of the car.
The ambient lighting is now standard. However, you’ll be expected to pay extra for the heated and cooled cupholders as well as the glass controls.
The panoramic glass roof is 83% larger than what it used to be. Meanwhile, the optional Panorama Sky Lounge, which has 15,000 graphic points in the glass roof is an exciting feature for those who have a budget to cover it.
If you are keen on safety, you will enjoy BMW’s usual suite of high-tech features. Some of these features include the following:
- Adaptive cruise control
- Lane-keep assist
- Head-up display with a larger projection field than it used to have
- Blind Spot Detection
- Rear Collision Warning
- Frontal Collision Warning
- Pedestrian Warning with City Collision Mitigation