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Toyota FT-EV Concept

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 01:56:12 +0000

Toyota announced that it will display the Toyota FT-EV concept on opening Media Day at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), confirming its plan to launch an urban commuter battery-electric vehicle (BEV) by 2012. This announcement, coupled with its compressed natural gas powered Camry Hybrid concept display at the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show, signal Toyota’s intention to broaden the scope of its advanced alternative-fuel vehicle development.
“Nowhere is this more important than with our industry’s duty and commitment to provide true sustainable mobility with vehicles that significantly reduce fuel consumption, our carbon footprint and overall greenhouse gases.”
The Toyota FT-EV concept shares its platform with the revolutionary-new Toyota iQ urban commuter vehicle. Toyota FT-EV concept imagines an urban dweller, driving up to 50 miles between home, work and other forms of public transportation, such as high-speed rail. Although BEVs and new smaller vehicles like the iQ will be a key component of Toyota’s sustainable mobility strategy, the conventional gas-electric hybrid, like the all new third-generation Prius, is considered Toyota’s long-term core powertrain technology.
Also, last year, Toyota announced that it would roll-out a large number of plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHVs) to global lease-fleet customers in 2010. Beginning in late 2009, Toyota will start global delivery of 500 Prius PHVs powered by lithium-ion batteries. The first-generation lithium-ion batteries powering these PHVs will be built on an assembly line at Toyota’s PEVE (Panasonic EV Energy Company, LTD) battery plant, a joint-venture production facility in which Toyota owns 60 percent equity. Lease-fleet customers will monitor the performance and durability of the first-generation lithium-ion battery, while offering real world feedback on how future customers might respond to the plug-in process.
“Future customers will have high expectations for these emerging technologies. This Prius PHV fleet program is a key first step in confirming how and when we might bring large numbers of plug-in hybrids to global markets,” said Miller.

toyota ft ev front side

toyota ft ev

toyota ft ev concept

toyota ft ev back side

Honda Pilot

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 06:48:49 +0000

The Pilot’s unit body construction and fully independent suspension helped transform the SUV segment by enhancing ride quality, earning top crash safety ratings, creating more interior space and increasing fuel efficiency. The second generation of the Honda Pilot seeks to improve on the popular Honda SUV formula by adding more SUV-rugged aesthetics, more on-road refinement and enhancing interior functionality. Designed around the concept of an “intelligent adventure vehicle” with the practical needs of a family in mind, the eight-passenger Pilot provides bolder SUV styling, more clever and more accommodating interior packaging and advanced technologies for safety, fuel efficiency and convenience.

Body
The Honda Pilot is built on a crossover SUV platform that combines the safety, packaging and handling advantages of a car-based unit body design while still delivering the rugged versatility that mainstream consumers most frequently use in a SUV. The Pilot’s highly-rigid platform with isolated front and rear subframes provides the foundation for many of its refined attributes, including its outstanding handling agility, exceptional ride comfort, world-class safety performance and packaging efficiency. For 2009, the Pilot’s body integrates the Advanced Compatibility Engineering™ (ACE®) body structure for enhanced frontal crash safety with vehicles of different bumper heights, along with the most extensive use of high strength steel in any Honda automotive product to date. Interior
The interior of the Honda Pilot is designed to provide a comfortable experience for all passengers in business class style. A rearview camera is standard on the Pilot EX-L and Pilot Touring models.

honda pilot

Chassis
As a crossover SUV that mixes car sensibilities with the truck capabilities, the Honda Pilot is designed to deliver a confident, secure and fun driving experience with outstanding isolation of undesirable noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) for exceptional comfort in all driving conditions. The Honda Pilot provides an exceptionally-wide wheel track of 67.7 inches front and 67.5 inches rear for high levels of handling stability and interior space. Powertrain
The Honda Pilot is designed to provide a comfortable, confident and fun driving experience with plenty of power to match its capabilities as an eight-passenger SUV with off-road capabilities and up to 4,500-pound towing capabilities (4WD). For 2009, Honda engineers prioritized fuel efficiency for the all-new Pilot and applied the latest generation of the company’s Variable Cylinder Management technology to all models. The Honda Pilot is powered by an advanced 3.5-liter 24-valve i-VTEC, V-6 engine mated to an electronically-controlled 5-speed automatic transmission. The Pilot meets California’s stringent Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (ULEV-2) exhaust emissions standards. A fully-automatic Variable Torque Management 4-wheel drive system (VTM-4) is available on all models and delivers seamless “decision free” application of four-wheel drive when needed.
Safety
Honda has consistently challenged itself to pursue vehicle safety as part of its core business strategy. This process benefits all new Honda vehicles – regardless of size or price – while also increasing compatibility with other types of vehicles in a frontal collision.
The 2009 Honda Pilot exemplifies the Honda approach to safety. Every Honda Pilot incorporates side-curtain airbags and dual-chamber, front-side airbags with a passenger-side Occupant Position Detection System (OPDS); and active front seat head restraints that are designed to help reduce the severity of neck injury in the event of a rear collision.
Vehicle Stability Assist™ (VSA®) and an Anti-lock Brake System (ABS) with brake assist are standard equipment on every Honda Pilot.
Additional standard safety features include dual-stage, dual-threshold front airbags, front seatbelts with automatic-tensioning systems and load limiters, and a pedestrian injury mitigation design in the front of the vehicle.

honda pilot back

honda pilot interior

honda pilot dashboard

Citroen DS3 Concept

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:09:46 +0000

The “Full Hybrid ” system combines a refined HDi DPFS diesel burning power plant with an electric motor mounted on the rear axle that enables the Citroen DS High Rider to combine the fuel efficiency and torque of an HDi diesel engine with the green benefits of a next generation ZEV (Zero Emission Vehicle) when running exclusively under electric power while in other situations, both propulsion sources combine to deliver the maximum amount of power with an excess of torque being transmitted to the rear wheels.

Citroen’s effort at premium hatchbackery went down rather well in the shape of the standard DS3, and we’d put good money on the hot hatch follow-up doing the same. The DS3 R is set to have 197bhp and 203lb ft of torque, so performance should be among the best in the class (bearing in mind the 154bhp version manages to hit 62mph in 7.1secs). We’d say a 0-60mpg sprint in the mid-sixes ought to be on the money.

he DS3 R is also designed to provide a sportier ride than its standard siblings, as well as sharper steering. Inside, the DS3 R has been given a make-over too, with bucket seats and big dials giving it the requisite hot hatch feel.

Citroen DS3

MINI Countryman

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 08:15:24 +0000

MINI will by 2011 a small SUV on the market called Countryman, time for a little preview!

Left Lane News had an impression of this future model, and the result is in the pictures above to admire. A while ago, at the Paris Motor Show in 2008 to be precise, we were already acquainted with the concept model of the Countryman, which then gets called Crossover Concept. The naming of the MINI SUV would indeed, in line with the Clubman, Countryman be.

Even though the Countryman particularly well on the other members of the MINI family, yet the skin completely different technique. So the Countryman on a new platform, which was made for a higher ride height and four-wheel drive. The basis of this platform is – how could it be otherwise – shared with the BMW X1. The engines were not the BMW family, but from cooperation with the PSA group result.

Perhaps, the Countryman on 4 full doors available, unlike the Clubman, which has only 3. In this way, confirming that the MINI Countryman not just a Clubman that is what is increased. The Countryman MINI MINI is suddenly the biggest ones ever built. Behind it would still make use of the trunk consisting of two parts, and also to be found in the MINI Clubman. The debut of the MINI Countryman would take place at the Geneva Motor Show 2011.

mini countryman

mini countryman back

Nissan Qazana

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 12:06:20 +0000

The Nissan Qazana makes its first ever appearance at the Geneva Motor Show today. The Qazana concept is an intelligent, all-wheel drive crossover which is masculine, agile, lean, and designed for the tough city streets. Our team at Nissan Design Europe in London realised this image with the motif of a modern day beach buggy and four-seat motor-bike,” explains Atsushi Maeda, Studio Chief Designer, Nissan Design Europe.
According to Matt Weaver, project lead designer at NDE, Qazana was designed to be sophisticated but fun. By approaching the small car market from a totally different direction, Qazana invigorates, stimulates and rejuvenates the traditional town runabout.
Compact overall dimensions (4060mm in length, 1570mm tall, 1780 wide and a wheelbase of 2530mm) mean Qazana would be ideally suited to the urban environment. By mixing SUV and sports car styling cues, NDE’s design team has created a highly individual Crossover quite unlike anything else on the road. The tall stance, truncated rear styling and short front and rear overhangs underscore its feeling of robustness and strength, but the low roof line, assertive side window graphic and broad shoulders hint at a sporting ability absent in traditional all-wheel drives.
At the same time, rounded elements – notably the wheel arches and bonnet – evoke a friendly ambiance and provide a link with existing Nissan Crossovers. Indeed, Qazana has the signature Crossover design detail in the rising window line at the rear, also found on Murano and Qashqai.
Says Weaver: “Qazana follows in Qashqai’s wheel tracks by challenging convention. Externally Qazana adds a number of existing Nissan design cues – including a variation on the ‘boomerang’ rear light theme from 370Z – to a highly distinctive shape that’s unlike anything else in the company’s current design portfolio.”
Echoing a style first seen on Mixim, Nissan’s high performance electric coupé concept shown at the 2007 Frankfurt Show, the glasshouse resembles a crash helmet visor.

Nissan Qazana

Nissan Cars

Nissan Qazana

Nissan Qazana Dashboard

Lamborghini Madura

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:04:52 +0000

Slavche Tanevsky, a student at the Munich University of Applied Sciences, has created this futuristic Lamborghini design concept.

Dubbed the Madura (named after an Indonesian island famous for bull races), the concept was created – in collaboration with Lamborghini and Audi designers – for Lamborghini’s Raw Materials Project.

According to Tanevsky, “The Madura is a proposal for the first hybrid Lamborghini scheduled for 2016. Doing a car more efficient and more nature-friendly, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be exciting, good-looking and fast. (But) in my opinion this new propulsion system should be represented on the looks of the car.”

The whole design of the Madura is sleeker, more focused, and more aggressive. Up front, the Madura features slim headlights (to emphasize the cars’ width), huge air intakes, and a curvaceous hood. Out back, the front-mounted hybrid powertrain allowed Tanevsky to create a maze of intricate lines which helps to give the car a unique appearance.

lamborghini madura

lamborghini

lamborghini madura

Honda Skydeck Concept Van

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 02:03:08 +0000

The Skydeck concept is a six-seater hybrid that appears to have a relation to the CR-Z concept first shown off at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2007. Unlike the CR-Z which is nothing more than a thinly veiled preview of an upcoming production model, the Honda Skydeck remains a pure design study at this point. While most automakers would provide a full list of specifications for a concept that is nothing more than a fiberglass buck, Honda isn’t bothering with even that.

The Skydeck appears to have a higher rear-end with a flatter roofline. It also has a new front-end that eliminates the sports features seen on the CR-Z nearly two years ago. Honda has tinted the windows green, adding other green touches to give a stereotypical, “environmentally friendly” look. The MPV comes with a center-mounted battery to give more space inside the cabin. It has three rows of seating, with a pair of seats in each row.

Volkswagen EOS GT Sport

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 07:09:34 +0000

Volkswagen Germany has launched a new special edition to the Eos range, the Volkswagen Eos GT Sport. The VW Eos GT Sport equipped with 6-speed DSG transmission, 18-inch wheels, a lowered sport chassis and a black painted roof. In addition, the Volkswagen Eos GT Sport comes with chrome grille slats, cherry red LED taillights, darkened headlights and rear windows. The Volkswagen Eos GT Sport comes with a 15 mm lower sports suspension, aluminum pedals, heated front leather seats and a new three-spoke leather steering wheel. The interior equipment list of the Volkswagen Eos GT Sport includes Climatronic, Park Pilot and the radio system RCD 510.

Volkswagen Eos GT Sport also will be available with rear windows, cherry red LED taillights, chrome grille slats, and darkened headlights. While for its equipment list, Volkswagen Eos GT Sport providing Climatronic and an RCD 510 multimedia system.

volkswagen eos gt

volkswagen eos gt sport

Toyota POD Car

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 14:30:38 +0000

Unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show late last year, the Pod concept vehicle is collaboration between Toyota and Sony that takes the relationship between car and driver to a new level. The Pod is able to provide this feedback through a series of sensors that detect and store data on the driver’s preferences. This extends well beyond musical taste, with sensors detecting variations in driving conditions, appropriate use of steering wheel, accelerator and brakes, the pulse and the perspiration level of the driver – the Pod even employs a face recognition sensor to detect if the driver is falling asleep. For example the mini pod picked up on a the name of a band whilst you were at home and this name is subsequently mentioned during conversation in the car, the Pod will immediately begin surfing the Internet to download and play their songs.

The ’smart’ capabilities of the Pod also extend beyond the realm of entertainment – the driving data collected by the car can be compared with pre-recorded ‘expert’ data and the driver given warnings or encouragement through text on the Pod’s monitor. The car also features a hands only ‘drive-by-wire’ control system enabling steering, braking and acceleration to be operated through a single controller.

The colour changing LED panels on the front that make up the Pod’s smiling face turn yellow with happiness as the driver approaches – we’re not sure exactly what you have to do to make it wag its tail – and orange during normal operation when all systems are running smoothly. Two more colours also appear – blue for sadness when the fuel runs out or the Pod is ‘neglected’ by a long period of misuse, and red for anger when braking heavily or driving aggressively. And if the Pod is happy and it senses that its occupants are happy it will capture the moment by taking your photograph.

Although still at concept stage, the prototype of the Pod can be driven and is technically ready for practical use – the drawback is that its operation is dependent on communications infrastructure such as the radio DSRC (dedicated short range communication) system, so your chances of replacing Rover with a four-wheeled pet in the not too distant future will come down to where you live.

toyota pod

toyota pod side

toyota pod inside

toyota pod panel

Honda S2000 Ultimate Edition

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 04:09:52 +0000

Honda S2000 Ultimate Edition has been unveiled by Honda following their previous announcement about the production stop of this model. With the same 2.0 liter 9000 rpm VTEC engine as the power, Honda S2000 Ultimate Edition may outputs 240PS.Comes with a Grand Prix White body, Honda S2000 Ultimate Edition also equipped with graphite colored alloy wheels and black badging. Honda S2000 Ultimate Edition’s interior will features unique numbered plaques on the kickplates, red leather, and stitching.

Honda has announced that the Honda S2000 Ultimate Edition will go on sale from March 2009 in Europe. The Ultimate Edition retains its highly acclaimed 2.0 liter 9000 rpm VTEC engine and combines it with a Grand Prix White body and graphite colored alloy wheels. The special-edition S2000 Ultimate Edition will get a unique white exterior with a red leather interior complemented by red stitching for the gear lever. Honda says it has sold a total of 110,673 units of the model worldwide

honda s2000

honda unlimited

honda s2000 interior