It isn’t often that a concept car of the present day would evoke memories of late 80s and early 90s-era Bertone and Italdesign, but the Sibylla certainly has that kind of certain something with its lifting front canopy, complete lack of an A-pillar, and even gull wing doors.
The luxury EV saloon concept is result of a joint effort between GFG Style (an Italian studio founded by famed auto designer Giorgetto Giugiaro and his son, Fabrizio) with Chinese energy company Envision, due to premiere at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show.
There’s not even a word yet whether it even has a hope of reaching production, and prior to the actual Swiss premiere, little is known about the car’s specifics. However, we know it’ll be a battery-powered electric vehicle, with a quad motor setup to drive all four wheels.
It looks typical of something that might wear Giugiaro badge at a motor show, and there’s a certain amount of sportiness here that hints at the car is meant to be interpreted as one that takes advantage of its electric powertrain for performance as much as luxury.
The dome-like wraparound sliding windscreen and gull wing rear windows (which are photosensitive and darken under excessive sunlight) are purely for show, or so we presume, since such a complex method of ingress and egress would prove too troublesome to perfect for such a trivial novelty.
The bonnet, though, seems much too long for a car that literally has no engine to fill it with, and the rake of the glasshouse makes it so that the front passengers sit quite some distance behind the front axles.
This might be typical of traditional cars, but is more often signals an inefficient use of space in EVs. However, unlike most of today’s larger EVs, there’s only small boot behind the rear seats, and most of the cargo is meant to be stored up front. It’s coupe-like fastback roofline is quite expected for a sporty saloon these days, and the tail light cluster is a total throwback to the Maserati 3200GT.
Thanks to its low floor and the packaging flexibility afforded by the electric platform drivetrain, the Sibylla looks like it manages to fit limousine levels of interior space in a footprint similar too a sporty grand touring coupe. In reality, it’s longer than most mid-size luxury sedans of today at over 5 metres end-to-end.
