The slender front, compact and dynamic rear and six-cylinder starting high-displacement engine are probably the entire imagination of most fans of the GT model. As a model that combines performance and style, the GT has always been a unique presence in sports cars. Even in today's classic car market, from the Alfa Romeo 6C 1750, to the Maserati 3500GT, to the famous Ferrari 250GTO, these "financial artifacts" that have been at the top of the auction market for many years also occupy a considerable proportion of traditional GT models.
Even so, in the face of the era of electrification, the time-honored GT models are disappearing from people's vision at a rapid pace. From 2022 onwards, Ferrari announced that its flagship models, the 812 Superfast and 812 GTS models, will no longer receive new orders worldwide. What is even more sad is that as of the release of this article, Modena has not announced any replacement or successor model information of the car.
Coincidentally, Aston Martin, who is considered to be the representative brand of GT models, has also embarked on the biggest transformation since the creation of the brand after the entry of wealthy Canadian businessman Lawrence Stroll, focusing on emulating Ferrari's operating model, which is reflected in the product level, that is, gradually abandoning the product line of GT models and increasing the weight of the mid-range sports car in the new product catalog.
If the suspension of GT by traditional car manufacturers is forced by the electrification transformation and environmental protection regulations, then the "blindness" of a number of electric vehicle manufacturers to GT models has completely pronounced the demise of this market segment.
So, why does the GT, which is the "favorite" of countless car fans, die out in the electric age? I am afraid that this will start from the origin of the GT model.
Gt has three treasures: Dora, Run, and Drive Well
Although the word GT is interpreted in several of the major European languages in which the automotive industry has an absolute say (Grand Touring in English, Grosses Sport-Und Tourenwagen in German, Voiture de Grand Tourisme in French). However, what is recognized by the car circle is what the Italians call "Gran Turismo".
Such trips bear some resemblance to the "gap year" that young people today espouse. It's just that for the "rich second generation" at that time, the purpose of travel is not only to empty themselves and increase their insights, and most of the powerful people from all over the world who met during the journey will become partners in the future career, if you can meet a perfect love on the way, it is perfect.
Thus, a carriage dedicated to the Gran Turismo, the Grand Tourer, was born: the roof was equipped with a large luggage rack, the front and rear open-air seats were large enough to accommodate three or four retinues, the noble master sat in the richly decorated and spacious carriages, and most importantly, the horses used for towing had to be more than two, and some models even reached four. This ensures that these carriages transport passengers from point A to point B with the fastest speed and the most comfortable experience. Seeing this, do you fans smell a familiar breath? But I guess the horse-drawn craftsmen of the time could not have imagined that the "grand tour" spirit behind these gorgeous carriages would be perfectly inherited a hundred years later by a strange invention called the "car".
Among the many car races, the Italian 1000-mile rally (Mille Miglia) has a supreme position. Unlike track racing, drivers had to drive an original, unmodified car to complete a total distance of nearly 1,500 km on the open roads of Italy in the 1930s, with a degree of difficulty and excellence. For the 1,000-mile rally, Enzo Ferrari, a former team manager of Alfa Romeo, has no stingy reputation.
Compared to its predecessor, the 6C 1500, this car not only has reinforced leaf springs on the chassis to accommodate Italy's poor country roads, but also comes with redesigned steering racks for more precise handling.
With outstanding performance and epic driving by early racing heroes Giuseppe Campari, Tazio Giorgio Nuvolari and others, the Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 won the 1929-1930 1000-mile rally championship.
From a historical point of view, the significance of the Alfa Romeo 6C 1750GT is far more than victory on the field, but in the perfect "proofing" of all future GT models. As a result, suitability for long-distance driving and high-performance attributes have become the established standard for GT models.
After World War II, from Ferrari and Maserati to Mercedes-Benz, more and more car manufacturers joined the 1,000-mile rally competition, and the GT model ushered in a golden age. The North American market on the other side of the ocean has become the largest customer of many European luxury brands, and the wealthy Yankees have been obsessed with the light and exquisite exotic style of these cars, coupled with the many legendary anecdotes on the field and the aura bonus of European nobility, which is even more fascinating.
In fact, the GT of this period is indeed a good work. With the blessing of Coach-building manufacturers such as Scarletti, Touring and Zagato, from the Ferrari 250GT to the Maserati 3500GT and Aston Martin DB5, before the outbreak of the first oil crisis in 1973, the classic GT models were various.
At this stage of GT development, in addition to inheriting the high performance of the Alpha Romeo 6C 1750 and suitable for long-distance driving, there is also an additional "essential cultivation" - plenty of luggage compartment space. Such a setting does not come from the needs of the field, but from the comprehensive consideration of practicality and historical heritage. First of all, for the American guys who are keen to drive far, although they scorn the "crude" local full-size luxury cars and the increasingly popular muscle cars of the same period, these cars do have a spatial performance that is difficult for European cars to achieve. In addition, European car manufacturers are willing to provide customers with enough luggage space in order to emphasize the pedigree between their products and the Grand Tourer carriage. However, if you rush to increase the trunk volume, you will destroy the proportion of the body, and the increase in body length will also affect the handling.
From this, it is not difficult to explain why the GT is so popular in the sports models of the era of the internal combustion engine: Dora, fast running, driving cool, plus racing and historical aura, it is reasonable to be respected. But whether it is its unique body proportions or the perfect human design of "practical + sporty", in the final analysis, it is the inevitable result of the transformation from the arena to the market, that is, the product of design compromise on demand, rather than the 100% design-oriented result of Lamborghini Countach.
In the electric age, is the demise of GT inevitable?
In the era of electric power, the vehicle power source and chassis layout have undergone earth-shaking changes, and due to the great simplification of the transmission system, the volume of the same power motor is much smaller than that of the internal combustion engine.
In order to ensure the demand for battery life and power level, almost all medium and large pure trams that are currently positioned at high-end are equipped with battery packs with a capacity of 100kWh or even larger. This means that even if the battery energy density is increased to 300Wh/kg like Tesla, the weight of a battery pack with a capacity of 100kWh can easily exceed 300kg. Even if it is tiled on the chassis, the impact on the performance of the cabin space can not be underestimated. In order to ensure the comfort of the ride, making the body tall has become a "must- option" for pure trams, but for gt, the destruction of the high body to the beauty of the whole vehicle is undoubtedly fatal.
In addition, thanks to the fact that electric motors can be placed directly on the front and rear axles, designers no longer have to be forced to leave enough space for the powertrain as in the era of fuel vehicles.
Even in the field of traditional cars, pure electric models led by Mercedes-Benz EQS are creating a new body ratio - shortening the front and rear lengths as much as possible, and then making the body into a single-van similar to MPV.
As for the GT model's proud storage capacity, it seems that it has never been a problem in the era of electrification. Take the Tesla Model S Plaid, for example. Whether it's the maximum power of 750kW (1020 horsepower) or the amazing lap time of 7 minutes 35 seconds and 579 seconds at the North Circuit, it is enough to crush the Lexus LFA, Mercedes-Benz SLR Mclaren Aston Martin V8 Vantage and other GT models under their feet.
At this point, the high performance and luxury attributes of GT models seem to have found corresponding solutions in the era of electrification, so will the "long-distance endurance" that has always been the pain point of electric vehicles become the reason for the demise of GT in the electric age?
This is true, but the last straw that crushed the camel was not endurance, but a change in the scene of using a car. With the popularization of high-voltage fast charging technology and the construction of charging facilities, it seems that it is not difficult to drive a pure electric model "Gran Turismo" in the future, but at this stage, subject to the endurance attenuation in high-speed conditions and the density of charging facilities, the experience of driving pure electric models for long-distance travel on a global scale is still not as good as that of fuel models. In addition, with the solution of endurance anxiety, high-end driver assistance systems above L3 are likely to be widely popularized. At that time, for the scene of driving a long distance, I am afraid that people are more concerned about the comfortable riding experience and the richness of the in-car entertainment system than the driving pleasure.
The former is a plug-in system composed of internal combustion engines, which retains the characteristics of the internal combustion engine while minimizing its negative impact on environmental protection, from BMW's new M5, which has not yet appeared, to Ferrari SF90, all of which are the products of this guiding ideology. But for the more extreme Hypercar field, exploring the maximum potential of electric motors in land vehicles is what they have to do.
Editor's comments: In fact, as early as the advent of the era of electrification, the traditional sense of GT has long died, or rather, GT has been transformed into a fairly broad concept in the automotive field: in the eyes of otaku, GT is the classic racing game that has been translated as "Sports Car Romantic Brigade", in the eyes of classic car enthusiasts, GT is a group of "idol colts" surrounded by various halos, and even in the definition of different car manufacturers, GT has become a top model, special livery, sports kit and "hatchback coupe SUV" Synonymous with .
Therefore, as a product of a specific historical stage, we do not have to mourn the demise of traditional GT in the electric age. For on a spiritual level, our real fascination is never with the car itself, but with the metaphor behind it: the seductive ideal of private freedom and the illusion that individual power grows infinitely through machinery. With the advent of the era of electrification, it may be possible to completely get rid of the limitations of drive form and power, and then obtain more easily and conveniently. Why not take shortcuts for humans who have always liked to take shortcuts?
Perhaps, the traditional definition of gt models will eventually pass away, but I hope that the spirit of Gran Turismo behind it can survive with the automotive industry.