Weird and Wonderful Bogliqâs from around the World!
Bogliq Slyde, Indonesia, 2018
Bogliq Automotive created the Slyde as a World car, tailored to suit the market it is sold in but essentially unchanged compared to other markets around the World. This philosophy was turned on its head in Indonesia since their taxation structure punishes larger capacity motors. Normally a capacity based taxation system wouldnât be a problem, but Indonesiaâs system starts at 1500cc which is much lower than the usual cut-off of 2000cc in other comparable systems. This taxation system plus the highly social nature of Indonesian society lead to a number of unique challenges which required Indonesian specific answers from the Bogliq engineers.
Exterior
The exterior required a major alteration. A traditional sloped coupe design would rob the rear seat passengers of valuable headroom. This meant that the âShooting Brakeâ body style, teased as a âConceptâ at a late 2017 ASEAN Motorshow, would need to be put into production. This somewhat unorthodox body style neatly solved the rear headroom challenge and also improved available luggage space; a win:win situation! The traditionally sporty long nose, short rear proportions remained which ensured the Slyde would still retain its appeal as a sports coupe.
Interior
The interior required major lateral thinking as even five seats wouldnât cut it with Indonesian buyers. This required two major changes: The âOne plus Twoâ front bench seat and the âMulti-touchâ minimalist dashboard.
The âOne plus Twoâ layout consists of a virtually full-sized bucket for the driver plus a two-seat bench alongside them. This means that the driver doesnât lose any sense of intimacy with the car but, thanks to the deletion of the centre console, thereâs now room for two passengers up front. The drivers bucket is also independently adjustable to the bench portion so tall drivers donât force the entire back row to have less legroom.
The âMulti-touchâ dashboard is achieved by grouping all functions of a feature into a single, multipurpose, control which has been programmed to be intuitive. So, for instance, the radio on/off button also controls the volume and, via the infotainment screen, allows for fine-tuning of treble, bass and mid-range settings. Other controls are similarly grouped together as well. This allows for a simple, uncluttered, dash layout that has the same functionality as one with many more buttons. What was learned in developing the Indonesian dash layout would be implemented in mainstream Bogliq product going forward.
The rest of the interior was handled with careful use of colour, shading and contours to maximise the feeling of space and room. This would ensure that any sense of closeness would be perceived as a pleasant one, hence the use of the descriptors âFlirtatiousâ and âintimateâ where a poor design could be called cramped or confining!
Drivetrain
A VVTi-L 1499cc four cylinder was initially proposed, complete with an innovative sequential gearbox, but early focus groups thought the car was too slow and underpowered. This lead to the adoption of a 1499cc straight six with a turbocharger. The result? 33% more power and 2L per 100Km saved! This motor was connected to a six speed automatic since there was no way a traditional manual could be installed and the sequential unit was âtoo roughâ according to the focus group. Bogliq kept the car rear wheel drive, as this was a Slyde staple, so that Indonesians could have access to a fun, budget, traditionalist sports coupe despite the changes made to suit their unique requirements!
So next time youâre in Indonesia, Bogliq fans, keep an eye out and you just might be lucky enough to spot a weird and wonderful Bogliq for yourselves. Good luck!!!
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