Automotive

The MINI INSPIRED BY GOODWOOD has little to do with the Goodwood Festival of Speed, for which the small pocket of Southern England is best known. Goodwood is also the location of the Rolls-Royce Design division, and now that Germany's BMW owns both British marques, it is using the brand values of Rolls Royce to craft an unmistakably upmarket, limited edition MINI by using Rolls Royce materials and craftsmanship. Read More

Looking to soup-up your supercar? The Maserati-dedicated arm of tuning specialists NOVITEC, a company best known for its Ferrari performance enhancements has turned its attention to the open-top Maserati GranCabrio. The result is a supercharged engine that puts out 590 hp / 434 kW, peak torque of 572 Nm and a top speed of 301 km/h (187 mph). Hold on to your hat! Read More

Toyota’s luxury Lexus brand will show a LF-Gh hybrid Grand Tourer concept at the New York International Auto Show next week, offering what the company claims are strong cues for the future design of Lexus production vehicles. Conceived as a redefinition of the luxury grand tourer, the lack of performance or rear-wheel drive powertrain details puts the emphasis on gauging public opinion of the distinctive new “spindle” front grille and lighting arrangement which is expected to become the frontal treatment of the brand. The concept’s aggressive visage emphasises aerodynamic efficiency and functionality thanks to pronounced radiator and brake duct treatment and a lack of door mirrors, presumably indicating the use of rear video vision. Read More

Daimler's car2go car sharing service kicked off in Ulm, Germany in October 2008 before expanding to Austin, Texas in 2010. Earlier this month, Hamburg, Germany, became the first city with more than a million inhabitants to see the introduction of the car2go service, but the second won't be far behind with a launch set for Amsterdam before the end of the year. One point of difference for the Amsterdam fleet is that the 300 strong fleet will consist purely of electric drive smart fortwo vehicles. Read More

We’ve seen the world’s first Formula 3 car running on a fuel derived from waste chocolate, and now engineers at Ford have turned to the tasty treat for inspiration to produce lighter plastic parts for Ford’s vehicles. Plastic parts have traditionally been a difficult area to save weight without sacrificing strength and durability, but by looking to the Aero chocolate bar they have produced a lighter plastic by introducing gas bubbles into the plastic as it is molded. The result is a microscopic honeycomb structure that Ford says saves weight by reducing the amount of plastic used without compromising the integrity of the part. Read More

Having crossed Europe and North America, the Mercedes-Benz F-Cell roadshow is now in Australia where the green-painted B-Class F-CELL cars are making the long trek from Sydney to Perth. Surrounding the small fleet is an entourage of more than a dozen vehicles including SUVs, Sprinter vans set up as mobile workshops and refuel stations and a semi-trailer laden with striking red full-length cylinders of hydrogen. Read More

Due to be shown for the first time at Auto Shanghai later this month is the Mercedes-Benz Concept A-Class, no doubt a very strong indication of the next A-Class due for production in 2012. Following the styling cues first seen in the F800, the front-wheel-drive concept is powered by a 210 bhp, direct injection, turbocharged, transverse 2.0 liter four-cylinder BlueEFFICIENCY engine from the new M270 series. The A-Class Concept sports a world first for the compact class in the form of a radar-based collision warning system with adaptive Brake Assist and lightning shifts will be possible with a dual clutch transmission. The spectacular driver information display with integrated smartphone is another highlight of a car you’ll probably be able to buy within 12 months. Read More

Hyundai unveiled its new mid-size hydrogen powered fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) concept this week at the 2011 Seoul Motor Show. Powered by a 90 kW (120 hp) electric motor that delivers fuel economy of 34.9 km/L (82.1 mpg), the Blue² (pronounced "Blue square") is intended as a "blue" print for the automaker's future sedans. Read More

Last December at the Future of Electric Vehicles conference in San Jose, a representative from The Netherlands’ Eindhoven University of Technology presented research that his institution had been doing into a novel type of electromagnetic vehicle suspension. Now that a test car equipped with the suspension is about to appear at the AutoRAI exhibition in Amsterdam, the university has released some more details about the technology. For starters, it is claimed to improve the overall ride quality of cars by 60 percent. Read More