Geneva 2014: Giugiaro Clipper electric MPV unveiled

Volkswagen-owned design house Italdesign Giugiaro unveiled an innovative new six-seat MPV concept on the eve of the Geneva motor show.

The all-wheel drive Clipper, which is based on VW’s versatile MQB platform, is powered solely by electricity, and has a range of up to 217km. Two 148bhp electric motors power the 204kph concept car, one front mounted and one rear.

With the absence of a conventional engine and the batteries all being mounted in the floor, almost all of the car’s footprint is given over to a spacious interior. There are three rows of two seats, the rearmost two can be folded flat to give way to 900 litres of load space.

Italdesign, best-known recently for exotic concepts such as the luxury Brivido GT from 2012 and the off-road Parcour supercar from 2013, says the 4534mm-long Clipper, which is named after a sailing ship, is “deliberately not a futuristic car”, where the only concessions to an exotic concept car touch are in its front butterfly doors and rear gullwings.

The four doors open upwards, and the B-pillars are mounted into the two rearmost doors to allow improved access into the interior. All six occupants can get in the car at the same time.

The hi-tech interior is based around a theme of lightness. The traditional dashboard controls are shifted to a floating tablet that's mounted on a console that can slide between the three rows of seats, something allowed by the electric architecture and the lack of a bulky transmission tunnel.

Italdesign has also shown a sportier Ducati-badged version at the Geneva show with altered doors and C-pillars, plus new livery.