Automotive

With a track record including the time-honored Z series and the extraordinary GT-R supercar, Nissan’s credentials for producing affordable sports car exotica is without equal – which makes the company’s latest showing even more exciting. Nissan will use the Geneva Motor Show to debut an electric sports car based closely on technology pioneered in the production Nissan LEAF. The ESFLOW is a two-seater with its two electric motors each driving a rear wheel. It will hit 100km/h in under five seconds and run 240kms between powerpoints. Read More

Continental has developed a sensor (satellite) for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles which will immediately shut off the high-voltage battery in the event of a collision while the vehicle is in charge mode. This means that emergency service personnel can recover vehicles without running the risk of suffering an electric shock. Read More

The recently finalized Double Challenge project required MA students at London’s Royal College of Art to design an ultra-compact electric vehicle for event sponsor Citroën. Not surprisingly from such distilled intelligence, the winning entry is a new type of personal urban commuter positioned between bicycles and cars – light, aerodynamically efficient, cheap to build and economical in its use of energy and hence run. Heikki Juvonen’s “E-3POD Antistatic” is an ultralight, micro segment electric three-wheeler with the driver sitting inside a large hub-less third wheel. Read More

The most commonly used form of regenerative braking is where a vehicle’s electric motor is used as an electric generator to capture the vehicle’s kinetic energy, which is otherwise lost as heat when braking. The generator converts the kinetic energy into electricity that is then fed back into the vehicle’s battery pack where it is stored for later use. New research suggests that pneumatic or air hybrids that instead store the energy as compressed air would be much cheaper to produce than the current crop of EVs and battery-electric hybrids and could halve the fuel consumption of ICE powered vehicles. Read More

The Zonda supercar established Pagani in the elite category of supercar manufacturers, so much has been expected of its successor, which we now know as the Huayra. Named appropriately after a South American God of the Wind, the Huayra will be shown to the public for the first time in Geneva a month from now. Only 20 of the gull-winged Huayras will be made per year, each costing one million euro with its main distinguishing features being a very light carbon titanium monocoque, 700 bhp, 1000 Nm twin-turbo mid-engined V12 and movable rear wing and four adjustable flaps constituting the most extensive active aerodynamic package yet to head for production. Though response to the car’s appearance is mixed, a photoshopped mock-up of a Huayra Spyder indicates the 230 mph supercar will be even better looking without a roof. Read More

F1 kicked back into life earlier this week with the first official test of the season and the unveiling of most of the 2011 cars, the most significant of which was the Red Bull RB07 – the car that will defend both Sebastian Vettel's drivers title and the energy drink’s very own constructors championship. As is generally the case, Red Bull's public relations output topped the field, and many of the highly informative illustrations in the image gallery come directly from the Red Bull press materials - images explaining the new RB7 changes, the pit crew roles and responsibilities, the 2011 steering wheel, driving position ad infinitum. Read More

Honda Japan has launched a special website featuring the all-new compact Fit Shuttle, scheduled to debut in March. The big news is that in addition to a petrol Fit Shuttle, Honda will offer a hybrid model equipped with Integrated Motor Assist making it the first wagon-type hybrid model in its class. Clearly the hybrid is now beginning to permeate every class of vehicle. Read More

Total production of the Mazda MX-5 sports car reached 900,000 units today at Mazda's Hiroshima plant in Japan. The milestone was achieved 21 years and 10 months after mass production of the first-generation MX-5 commenced in April 1989 and further extends the Mazda MX-5's lead as the best selling two-seater sports car of all time. Indeed, the MX-5 took that title from the MGB (1962-80) in May 2000 when production reached 514,853 units to exceed the iconic British sportster. Second place on the list is now held by Porsche's 911 series (1964-present and pictured) which has sold over 700,000. It's also fifty years this year since Jaguar launched the first affordable super sports two-seater, the E-Type (pictured), but more on that shortly. Read More

The MINI Cooper S name first graced the classic Mini back in 1963 and during the ensuing half century it has represented the ultimate performance Mini, having won the Monte Carlo rally three times plus countless other races and rallies around the globe. Now for the first time there’s a diesel version too – though not as fire-breathing as the petrol Cooper S, the SD’s 2.0-litre turbodiesel four produces 143 bhp at 4,000 rpm, and an almighty torque figure of 305 Nm (225 lb-ft) from 1,750 to 2,700 rpm endowing it with rapid acceleration all the way to its top speed of 215 km/h (134 mph). It’s the ecologically balanced nature of the pocket rocket which appeals most though, as despite this performance, it’ll return EU test cycle figures of 4.3 litres per 100 kilometres (65.7 mpg imp) with CO2 emissions of 114 grams per kilometre. The Cooper SD will debut in Geneva in March and hit showrooms in Q2. Read More