BMW has recently unveiled a black version of its new X6 SUV, finished in a shade intended to emphasise the silhouette of the second-generation model. The colour of the new X6 is so dark that it obscures most design details. To be revealed at Frankfurt motor show alongside the production X6 and the bulletproof X5 Protection VR6, BMW X6 has been finished in ‘Vantablack’ paint by Newhaven-based Surrey Nanosystems. According to the German multinational company BMW, the non-reflective colour can make an object appear two-dimensional and, as a result, is “a rather unsuitable vehicle paint finish.”
‘Vanta’ stands for Vertically Aligned Nano Tube Array, and signifies the microscopic carbon structure that forms the basis of the finish. Each strand is 5,000 times thinner than a hair of a human being, at length of 14-50 micrometres and diameter of 20 nanometers. Each square centimetre of the one-off X6 contains around 1 billion nanotubes, which absorbs light rather than reflecting it. It effectively converts it to heat. The technology was originally designed for use in space exploration, its propensity to reduce glare and bleaching makes it suitable for coating aluminium and optical components.
Surrey Nanosystems launched first Vantablack paint in 2014 and was claimed to absorb 99.965 per cent of light. Jensen said this product would not have been suitable for the X6 as “as the viewer would have lost all sense of three-dimensionality”.
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