From ChinaCarTimes.com:
The S11 was first unveiled at the Shanghai Auto show earlier this year to an impressed crowd. The car was designed by Shanghai based TJ Innova, the S11 looks fantastic, with Audi and Ferrari design tones slipped into its sleak body, under the platform there is an AWD drivechain pushing power to each corner of the car. From what we hear the S11’s design is completed, and is now at the test stage and will soon be hurtling down the production line in Changchun city, although its not quite clear whose production line they will be using.
GM makes its case with the Volt. Check out WatchMojo’s look a the Volt, and then read more about the new electric car from gm-volt.com:
Close observation of recent developments in the automotive sector leads to a certain conclusion; financial collapse is necessary to bring about needed change.
We are bearing witness to a catastrophic rupture of the car industry as we know it. Not only in terms of the economic machinery upon which it is run, but more so upon the fuel its creations will use. The near death of the auto industry is bringing with it the slow death of the combustion engine.
When GM first introduced the Chevrolet Volt electric car concept, car sales were brisk, oil prices reasonable and the economy appeared healthy. Now that the car is nearing mass production and that most other automakers have subsequently unveiled electric car programs of their own, the economy, the industry, and the company is steeped in disaster.
I do not propose it is the case that the birth of the electric car caused this chaos, but rather it is this chaos that will allow the electric car industry to rise.
Whenever in the history of humankind and industrial progress a new transformational technology has arisen, its ascent has brought with it the demise of that which was before it.
Simple examples are how the typewriter was eradicated by the PC, the Polaroid by the digital camera, or how the horse and cart were replaced by the car. These destructive transformational events take place on many levels, such as the collapse of societies or ecosystems, the extinction of dinosaurs, or even as the big bang gave rise to the universe.
Fundamental market forces of their own right would not have led to a rapid production and adoption of electric cars. Rather, the status quo would have persisted, car companies would have continued to make profitable gas guzzling trucks and people would have kept buy them on credit. Indeed when GM introduced the Volt is was more public relations than an engineering. They didn’t decide to bring it to production until they saw the intense public response. Now it is their last hope.
The collapse of the economy combined with the current administration’s interest in energy independence, alternative energy and electric vehicles will make the rapid rise of the electric car possible.
People have not been buying new cars out of fear of their future economic status, lack of available credit, and a general dearth of financial confidence. They are driving their old cars and are doing so for as long as they can.
The government has chosen to support and recreate the auto industry as one that will grow the already inadvertently kindled electric car enterprise.
And then when the bottom has finally come and gone, and the lean restructured auto companies are mass producing electric cars including the Chevy Volt, the tide will change.
Confidence having begun to rise, and old cars having begun to fail, the people will come. And then our dream will arrive. A country and a world less dependent on oil. The rise of the electric car.
Will a Hummer be considered a classic in 50 years? Jay Leno has the answer in this article from PopularMechanics.com:
Stocks and bonds? I don’t know much about them. In fact, I don’t know anything about stocks and bonds. I’ve lost money in the stock market; come to think of it, I’ve lost money in real estate too. But I’ve never lost money on cars.
The reason is simple: I’ve always bought cars I really want to own. If you buy a car that you like, and it loses its value, at least you still like it. Besides, even if the car’s value does go down a little, it will come back up at some point down the road.
About 10 years ago, I had the chance to buy a McLaren F1. A new one was almost a million dollars. This was a secondhand car with less than 2500 miles, and it was $800,000. I thought, it’s crazy to spend that much money on a car. So I talked it over with my wife. And she said, “You’ve worked hard. If you want to get it, get it.” And I thought, ohhh … kaaay! So I bought it.
Last year, a McLaren F1 sold at auction for $4.1 million! I now realize this is the greatest investment I’ve ever made. In less than 10 years, I more than quintupled my money. Best of all, I have a car I really enjoy. But there are plenty of modern cars you can buy at real-world prices that are fun to own.
People ask me if they should buy a new car and tuck it away as an investment. I think it’s ridiculous to buy something and just squirrel it away. The fuel will eventually go bad, all the moving parts will still have to be lubricated, and you still have to insure it. Cars should be driven. If you let a car sit, you’ll eventually have to flush the fuel system, replace the electronics and more. Buying any car and putting it into storage for years gets you nothing. It’s a bad idea. You won’t be buying something you like—you’re just trying to make money.
There are plenty of guys who bought the original Dodge Viper as an investment. When that car first came out in 1992, it produced 400 hp, an incredible level of power for that time. People thought, “That’s it. They’ll never make a car more powerful. I’ll buy one and stick it in my garage.” Now, every day people call me: “Hey, I’ve got a ’92 Viper with 800 miles.” Sorry, I’m not interested. “Three hundred miles?” Nope. You didn’t buy it to own it.
But there are some interesting modern cars that are potential collectibles you can drive and enjoy—cars considered common transportation today. I think the first-generation Toyota Prius is a future collectible. Although it was technically innovative at the time, now it just seems cute. It’s kind of slow, and it doesn’t have tremendous range. But it was the first of its kind—the first mass-produced hybrid—and there’s an honest simplicity to that. So if you have an original Prius, in 10 or 15 years, you’ll meet people who say, “I bought one of those!” And they’ll want to relive the feeling of watching the little dashboard display jump from charging to consuming. That neat feature will bring back a flood of those memories.
It’s like when I talk to people who once owned early and mid-1960s push-button Chryslers. They say, “I learned to drive in one of those! You press the D button to go, and you press R for reverse.” They remember that feeling of freedom and American progress—simply pressing buttons to drive down the road. So cars with unusual features, technology that cars today no longer have, can be collectible.
Years ago, I was told Mustangs would never be collectibles because Ford built millions of them. We’re a disposable society. But eventually, we want what we used to have—the cars we ran into the ground. We’ve used most of those old Mustangs up, and now they’re gone. So the survivors are highly prized.
Once, when I was visiting England, one of my relatives said, “You like motorcycles—you should talk to our vicar. He has one.” So I met the vicar, who owned a ’66 Honda 160. I asked how long he’d had it. He looked at me kind of quizzically and said, “I bought it new.” He’d had that bike his whole life, and he’d maintained it. To him it wasn’t a collectible. Many of us would say, “Oh, I had one of those, and my father threw it away,” or “We gave it to a neighbor,” or “We rode it to death,” or “We finally broke it and got something else.” In other countries, because motor vehicles aren’t seen so much as appliances, they’re treated with great respect. This vicar had been riding that Honda 160 for 40 years! It was his only transportation. And it was a survivor.
That’s the difference. We want what we used to have. We get rid of it, and then we pay 10 to 15 times over what it was worth originally just to get it back—often to recapture whatever lost youth we thought we had.
That’s why I think the Mazda Miata will be the ultimate affordable collectible by, say, 2025. The first-generation Miata was extremely simple, and that’s part of its charm. Years ago, when we were restoring Mustangs, they seemed so complicated compared to a Ford Model A.
A brake-light switch? Why do we have to have thaaaat? In a Model A, you just strung together a couple of yards of wire and boom! You were done. So the early Miata, with no traction control, no stability control—no nothing—will certainly be a collectible.
I think the first-generation Taurus, the forward-looking aerodynamic sedan, will be collectible too. That was seen as a real styling triumph in the mid-1980s. Almost anything built before today’s government safety regulations could be collectible. In the future, cars lacking these systems will appear so odd to people.
Read the rest of the article HERE
CBS is way behind WatchMojo.com… but they do have some more info on this make or break car for Chevrolet:
To say General Motors has a lot riding on the Volt is both a bad pun and a big understatement.
GM says this electric car is designed to lead the company into the second century - if it is to have a second century.
But when GM invited reporters to experience the Volt, what they actually drove was the Volt technology stuck into a conventional car called the Chevy Cruze, reports CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds. The real Volt is not yet ready.
The rush to showcase the technology was clearly designed to generate publicity for the car and public support for the federal money GM needs to stay afloat.
“What makes the technology so significant is actually what is under the skin,” said Frank Weber, with GM.
What is under the skin is a 6-foot-long battery that you can recharge every night by plugging it into your garage socket.
Battery power takes the Volt 40 miles. Since most Americans drive less than 40 miles a day, GM says the Volt will use zero gasoline and produce zero emissions. When the charge wears off, an on-board gas tank can power the car and extend the trip 400 miles, addressing what’s know in the trade as “range anxiety.”
“The current Prius doesn’t deliver that,” said Brian Johnson, an industry analyst with Barclay’s Capital. “The current Honda doesn’t deliver that, so they are trying to leapfrog the competition in that respect.”
“This is a livable vehicle,” said Tony Posawatz, a vehicle line director with GM. “It’s not a golf cart or whatever. This is something that people could buy in quantity … particularly if we can get the cost down.”
Perhaps way down - because the sticker price will be about $40,000 - for what GM calls a spunky car that can go from zero to 60 in less than nine seconds.
The Volt is due in dealer showrooms by the end of next year, which is itself a show of optimism about GM’s future. But there’s a problem: sales of existing hybrids have been plummeting for months because the price of gasoline has dropped. If that consumer attitude holds, it could mean that GM will be bringing out the right car at the wrong time.
Rinspeed will be debuting the company’s all-electric car - the iChange - at the Geneva Auto Show next month. Rinspeed, while known for designing extravagant concept cars, says the iChange is not another of these, but shows the dramatic shift in the auto industry. Read more…
EcoGeek went live more than two years ago with no fanfare and no traffic. We had a readership of about five people. Three days later, I received the first notice of a breakthrough water-powered car that would solve our energy problems. Those emails have not stopped since. Read more…
According to Hank Green
LONDON–(Marketwire - November 20, 2007) - A new four-dour electric car design from ZAP called the Xebra has passed Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) inspection, allowing it to be driven on roads in the United Kingdom.
VOSA provides a range of licensing, testing and services enforcing the roadworthiness standards of vehicles in the UK. VOSA approval means the vehicle complies with full road traffic standards set for UK cars.
“With its congestion toll zone, London has become the world’s great proving ground for the electric car,” said ZAP CEO Steve Schneider. “Here is a unique electric vehicle that will help drivers save significantly on fuel costs as well as free passes for the daily congestion tolls and parking. We believe the Xebra is the first four-door electric vehicle to pass the VOSA test.”
Schneider noted the Xebra is also available in a truck configuration. ZAP designed the Xebra to quickly and affordably fill the demand for cars that don’t use conventional fossil fuels. ZAP calls the Xebra a “city-car,” a unique vehicle for city-speed driving up to 40 MPH (64.4 KPH). The sedan and pickup truck versions can recharge at any normal household outlet.
ZAP recently appointed UK-national and former Lotus Engineering CEO Albert Lam to its Board of Directors. Mr. Lam is the Chairman for ZAP’s new joint venture to manufacture next-generation electric and hybrid vehicles with Youngman Automotive Group, one of China’s leading bus manufacturers.
Based in Santa Rosa, California, ZAP is now expanding distribution for the Xebra and other electric vehicles worldwide. The Xebra is targeted towards government, corporate and utility fleet use as well as daily urban commuting for multi-car families and is now available at a price of just over US$10,000.
About ZAP
ZAP has been a leader in advanced transportation technologies since 1994, delivering over 100,000 vehicles to consumers in more than 75 countries. At the forefront of fuel-efficient transportation with new technologies including energy efficient gas systems, hydrogen, electric, fuel cell, ethanol, hybrid and other innovative power systems, ZAP has a joint venture to manufacture electric and hybrid vehicles with Youngman Automotive Group, one of China’s leading manufacturers of buses and trucks. ZAP is developing a high-performance crossover SUV electric car concept called ZAP-X engineered by Lotus Engineering. ZAP is also developing a new generation of vehicles using advanced nanotech batteries with Advanced Battery Technologies. The Company recently announced a strategic partnership with Dubai-based Al Yousuf Group to expand its international vehicle distribution. ZAP also makes an innovative, new portable energy technology that manages power for mobile electronics from cell phones to laptops. For product, dealer and investor information, visit http://www.zapworld.com.
You can drive this thing sideways?? Not sure if thats a good or bad thing… Read more at Engadget.com
Did you read the title? Then you more or less know the story.
Rick Byrnes, a retired Ford employee, managed to create a new record for the fuel-run Fusion with the new speed of 207.297 miles per hour.
“This is a new records for fuel cell powered vehicles.
“What we have accomplished is nothing short of an industry first,” said Matt Zuhelk, lead engineer on the project. “No other automaker in the world has come close.” “
Go here for pictures of the car and the team at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
TOKYO, Aug. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. has revealed a new concept car featuring multiple preventative features designed to reduce drunk-driving. The various technologies are designed to detect the driver’s state of sobriety and to activate a range of preventive measures including immobilization of the vehicle.
Alcohol Odor Sensors
1) A hi-sensitivity alcohol odor sensor is built into the transmission shift knob, which is able to detect the presence of alcohol in the perspiration of the driver’s palm as he or she attempts to start driving. When the alcohol-level detected is above the pre-determined threshold, the system automatically locks the transmission, immobilizing the car. A “drunk-driving” voice alert is also issued via the car navigation system.
2) Additional alcohol odor sensors are also incorporated into the driver’s and passenger seats to detect the presence of alcohol in the air inside the vehicle cabin. When alcohol is detected, the system issues both a voice alert and a message alert on the navigation system monitor.
Facial Monitoring System
A camera is mounted on the instrument cluster facing the driver to monitor the driver’s face. The system is calibrated to monitor the driver’s state of consciousness through their eyes. When the system detects signs of drowsiness, a voice and message alert is triggered via the navigation system. Additionally, a seat-belt mechanism is activated, which tightens around the driver to gain his or her immediate attention.
Driving Behavior
By constantly monitoring the operational behavior of the vehicle (e.g. sensing if the vehicle is drifting out of its driving lane), the system can identify signs of inattentiveness or distraction in the driver. When the system detects such behavior, voice and message alerts are issued via the navigation system. The seat-belt alert mechanism is also activated, tightening around the driver to gain immediate attention.
This concept car was developed as an exploratory platform to showcase breakthrough technologies that could potentially be applied in future production cars, part of an ongoing program from Nissan contributing towards preventing drunk-driving.
Nissan has already launched and is developing several initiatives to help prevent drunk-driving. In June, the company introduced the “drunk-driving” message alert on its navigation system. In July, Nissan also began testing of a new on-board breathalyzer system in cooperation with several local government authorities in Japan, where an interlock mechanism will immobilize the vehicle if the driver’s breath indicates the presence of alcohol above a specified level.
Nissan is taking a holistic approach towards safety that extends beyond the technology built into its vehicles. To achieve a “safe driving environment,” Nissan has embarked on the Intelligent Transport System Project (ITS) in Kanagawa Prefecture - aimed at helping to reduce road accidents via the analysis of traffic data collected from on-the-road vehicles and traffic beacons. In Japan, the company’s safety vision is to halve the number of traffic fatalities or serious injuries involving Nissan vehicles by 2015 compared with the level in 1995.
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