Piech Mark Zero Is a 603-HP All-Electric Grand Tourer
Everything new is old (and new) again
The picture I've seen of the very first Porsche booth at the 1949 Geneva motor show clearly shows Ferry Porsche (Ferdinand's son) as well as the former's sister, Louise Porsche. Louise wound up marrying Porsche's lawyer and business partner, Anton Piëch. You may have heard of one of their sons—Ferdinand, the genius engineer behind things as varied as the Porsche 917, Audi Quattro, the Mercedes five-cylinder inline diesel engine, and the Bugatti Veyron. Famously, Ferdinand has 10 (yes, 10) children, including one named Anton (first kid from second wife), who goes by Toni. Together with a former lithographer named Rae Stark, he has started a new company called Piëch Automotive.
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Swiss-based Piëch Automotive has a handsome car on display at this year's Geneva show, called the Mark Zero. As it sits, the car is an all-electric, all-wheel-drive grand tourer with 603 hp from three 201-hp motors—one on the front axle, two on the rear. Thing is, Piëch Auto claims that its new car is "flexible and open," meaning that an internal combustion engine of some sort can fit, as could a hydrogen fuel cell powertrain.
Back to this electric version. Piëch's battery partner is a Hong Kong company called Destin Group, and they are claiming that due to a new type of battery cell that produces almost no heat during both charging and discharging, the batteries themselves can be charged rapidly. Eighty percent of the Mark Zero's 300-mile range can be had in less than five minutes. Moreover, because they don't get so hot, the batteries can be air-cooled, just like the Porsches Piëch's grandfather used to make.
As for the car itself, the Mark Zero is handsome but in a seen-it-before sort of way. Not derivative, but there's some Ferrari Daytona, Aston Martin DB9/Vanquish, Jaguar E-type and F-Type, Dodge Viper, the 2004 Ford Shelby Cobra Concept, and even Spyker C8. All are fabulous lookers, but there's nothing new-new, nothing groundbreaking about the sheetmetal. Which might be exactly how the Piëch team wants it.
"Most cars today are filled with a lot of high-tech features, and they come installed with these beautiful and impressive display screens," Stark says. "But it is increasingly rare that driving a sports car gives us the feeling of driving a dream car." In other words, the Mark Zero's simple yet elegant cabin is a throwback to a more analog time, and to my eyes at least, the body is an homage to dream cars past. In a time when carmakers are openly discussing the day when they'll begin selling cars without steering wheels, I think the world needs more Mark Zeros. No word on price but cars should be in customers hands by 2022.
When I was just one-year-old and newly walking, I managed to paint a white racing stripe down the side of my father’s Datsun 280Z. It’s been downhill ever since then. Moral of the story? Painting the garage leads to petrolheads. I’ve always loved writing, and I’ve always had strong opinions about cars.
One day I realized that I should combine two of my biggest passions and see what happened. Turns out that some people liked what I had to say and within a few years Angus MacKenzie came calling. I regularly come to the realization that I have the best job in the entire world. My father is the one most responsible for my car obsession. While driving, he would never fail to regale me with tales of my grandfather’s 1950 Cadillac 60 Special and 1953 Buick Roadmaster. He’d also try to impart driving wisdom, explaining how the younger you learn to drive, the safer driver you’ll be. “I learned to drive when I was 12 and I’ve never been in an accident.” He also, at least once per month warned, “No matter how good you drive, someday, somewhere, a drunk’s going to come out of nowhere and plow into you.”
When I was very young my dad would strap my car seat into the front of his Datsun 280Z and we’d go flying around the hills above Malibu, near where I grew up. The same roads, in fact, that we now use for the majority of our comparison tests. I believe these weekend runs are part of the reason why I’ve never developed motion sickness, a trait that comes in handy when my “job” requires me to sit in the passenger seats for repeated hot laps of the Nurburgring. Outside of cars and writing, my great passions include beer — brewing and judging as well as tasting — and tournament poker. I also like collecting cactus, because they’re tough to kill. My amazing wife Amy is an actress here in Los Angeles and we have a wonderful son, Richard.Read More
