Just How Black Can A Black BMW Be CarBuzz News Features New Cars Used Cars Sell My Car Shopping Tools Car Reviews Car Finder Compare Cars Best Cars Car Dealerships Used Car Reviews Car Advice Home News Just How Black Can A Black BMW Be

Just How Black Can A Black BMW Be

Aug. 28, 2019 3:35 PM ET by Ian Wright / 7 Comments Vantablack. That's how black a black BMW can be. If you need to stealth your way through the shadows, this is the car for you. If you're someone that manages to lose their car in a parking lot late at night, this is definitely not the car for you. What you're looking at is the one-off BMW X6 Vantablack. Developed by a company called NanoSystems in the UK, Vantablack is the darkest man-made substance in the world. It absorbs all but 0.035% of the light that connects with it and, when looked at through the human eye, objects coated with the substance lose their defining features. BMW BMW Vantablack was originally developed for use in "satellite-borne blackbody calibration systems," which must mean something to someone. However, it's used for other applications as well, including architecture, and can be used cleverly to create optical effects when it's applied to a three-dimensional object. The substance can make objects look 2-dimensional, smaller than they are, or help them become invisible to the naked eye completely. Used as a paint, Vantablack is generally unsuitable vehicle paint finish as it blocks out virtually all the design details and highlights. And some of you will be way ahead of us here when we wonder why BMW painted everything on the X6 instead of just the grill. BMW BMW BMW Sarcasm aside, BMW claims the new Vantablack paint finish, known as VBx2, "highlights the expressive design language and confident, dominant and muscular appearance of the new BMW X6 to perfection." That's because this specific paint is developed for architectural and scientific purposes, and has a one-percent total hemispherical reflectance. That means it's still considered "super black" while enabling a small amount of reflection from every angle. The result is that the shape of the X6 being defined much stronger than the details, to the point it does almost look like it's 2-dimensional. Why does it really exist? To remind us that the new X6 will debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September. BMW BMW

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BMW X6 Ian Wright Associate Editor After working his way through several loosely related careers, Ian finally took the hint and became an automotive journalist and photographer. He spent a few years freelancing before joining up with CarBuzz to combine his love of writing, photography, and cars into one neat package. When Ian is not staring down a lens or into a computer screen writing reviews and features, you can find him in Southern California enjoying winding mountain and canyon roads. If you can’t find him, he’s probably off-roading in the desert. Contact Ian @BothHandDrive @BothHandDrive LoginSign Up Home News Features Car Reviews Car Advice 2021 CarBuzz Awards New Cars Used Cars Future Cars Compare Cars Sell My Car Car Dealerships Buy Here Pay Here Used Car Reviews Popular Tags Cars # Video # TOP # Spy Shots # Reveal # Rumor # Auto Show # Supercar # Tuning # Car Culture # Industry News # Motorsport Acura Alfa Romeo Aston Martin Audi Bentley BMW Bollinger Bugatti Buick Cadillac Caterham Chevrolet Chrysler Dodge Ferrari Fiat Fisker Ford Genesis GMC Hennessey Honda Hyundai Infiniti Jaguar Jeep Karma Kia Koenigsegg Lamborghini Land Rover Lexus Lincoln Lordstown Lotus Lucid Motors Maserati Mazda McLaren Mercedes-Benz Mini Mitsubishi Nissan Pagani Polestar Porsche Ram Rimac Rivian Rolls-Royce Spyker Subaru Tesla Toyota Volkswagen Volvo By Make Acura Alfa Romeo Aston Martin Audi Bentley BMW Bollinger Bugatti Buick Cadillac Caterham Chevrolet Chrysler Dodge Ferrari Fiat Fisker Ford Genesis GMC Hennessey Honda Hyundai Infiniti Jaguar Jeep Karma Kia Koenigsegg Lamborghini Land Rover Lexus Lincoln Lordstown Lotus Lucid Motors Maserati Mazda McLaren Mercedes-Benz Mini Mitsubishi Nissan Pagani Polestar Porsche Ram Rimac Rivian Rolls-Royce Spyker Subaru Tesla Toyota Volkswagen Volvo By Car Type SUVs Crossovers Sedans Coupes Trucks Sports Cars Wagons Vans Hatchbacks Convertibles Small Cars Luxury Cars Electric Cars Hybrid Cars Future Cars By Price Up to $15K $15K - $25K $25K - $35K $35K - $45K $45K - $55K $55K - $75K $75K - $100K $100K - $200K $200K - $300K Above $300K Back To Top