Straight-piped: The future of performance
Tuhin Guha
Updated: January 28, 2025, 01:40 PM IST
Over the last couple of months, I've had my first proper brush with what might be the performance cars of the future. As it happens, both these cars were fast four-door super sedans, the kind I have always had a soft corner for. But between the BMW i5 M60 and the Mercedes-AMG C 63 S E Performance, there are more batteries and e-motors than V8s.
Now all of you blue-blooded enthusiasts reading this might be up in arms saying that these can never replace the sensory experiences of a pure ICE. This is true, but I do think there is something here that can work while we gradually shift to a more sustainable future.
That little something could be software. These cars seem to be the most exciting interpretation of what software-defined vehicles can do. So while you have the same degree of connectivity and control as most other new vehicles, there has been some drama added to the mix. The BMW's launch function and aggressive soundtrack is one such example. While in the AMG, the track-based boost strategy uses the complex powertrain to bring you closer to an F1-like experience.
This has got me thinking that software is very much the new frontier for setting yourself apart in the eyes of the enthusiast. With the fine control that electric motors allow for power delivery and high voltage architectures do for suspension systems, you can reasonably have a car that could have a massive breadth of operation. So you could have a high-performance luxury sedan that goes from calm and cosseting to angry and sharp in seconds.
This brings me to my idea of what a reasonably enjoyable car from the future might look like. It won't be light, and I don't think there is too much reason to bother. It's clear that managing an EV's added weight and creating an outrightly engaging dynamic set-up is something that the top-tier car manufacturers have nearly sorted out. The progress has been stark and will be more so over the next few years.
Outright speed has never been a problem, but here too, there have been numerous ingenious examples of EVs putting power down on the road very much like combustion vehicles, the Ioniq 5 N being a notable example. So the only frontier that remains is to create that intuitive, subjective sensory experience that you come away with.
I think AI could provide answers. So far, machine learning in the automotive industry has focused on streamlining manufacturing, connectivity functions and various levels of autonomous driving. We can already map a car's surroundings for autonomous driving and there's already been some work with mechanical enhancements to bring more feel to EVs. Like the various soundtracks and actuators in suspension systems to mimic the torque flowing through a car during launch, as the i5 hilariously depicts.
It's not far-fetched to think that an AMG or a BMW M may sooner or later be able to add enough mechanical and software interventions in their future EVs to create at least a close approximation of the W 204's raging V8 and hot rod feel or the suppleness of the best of the F90 M5s. Batteries are only going to get cheaper and lighter(hopefully), which should free up a skateboard's packaging and cost structures for engineers to tinker with these ideas.
It's probably going to work well enough eventually, but will you and I accept such an idea?
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