Backhoe to the future

BMWhas been issuing concept vehicles aplenty lately. The carmaker spent 2016 blowing out candles on its centenary cake and celebrated with a hodgepodge of Vision Next 100 concepts, all taking an H. G. Wells- ish peek100 years into the future of the company’s core brands: BMW, Mini, Rolls- Royce and ( the only one that we really liked) BMWMotorrad.

While nothing to do with the Bavarian- headquartered manufacturer’s birthday celebrations, another concept vehicle that BMWunveiled still had us scratching our heads. This is mainly because — and there’s no skirting around the fact — it’s a backhoe.

The digger is a joint venture project between BMW subsidiary Designworks and construction and farming machine titans, John Deere.

Regardless of what it is, as with any concept build worth its salt, the accompanying press release is chock- full of superlatives. There’s lots of talk of “expanded operator stations”, “robust future equipment” and “holistic and innovative research”.

Here at The Good Oil, we’re not experts on big yellow construction machines. But we will concede, as far as backhoes go, this one looks cool.

The bodywork is svelte, in a sort of sports car- like manner. BMWDesignworks describe it as a “lightweight metal matrixed exoskeleton”, but then, of course, it would. Apparently, the backhoe is powered by “a suspended hybrid propulsion unit”, which helps the machine achieve its light operating weight. So yes, rather diverting. But, er . . . now’s a good time to go back to conceptualising cars, chaps. And maybe something that we’re likely to see in the next couple of years too, rather than in 2116.