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Geneva Auto Show 2009
Rolls Royce RR4: further details emerge
23:32 March 23, 2009 PDT
As promised last year when Rolls Royce revealed the first sketches of its planned new model - the RR4 - more details are beginning to trickle through about the exact make-up of this new luxury road-liner. There aren't many numbers in the latest release, the most notable being 500, namely 500bhp, this courtesy of a new 6.6 litre turbo charged V12 engine and a new 8-speed gearbox. Read More
SEAT's green vision: Leon Ecomotive and Twin Drive concepts
By Paul Evans
16:50 March 11, 2009 PDT
SEAT displayed its first electric vehicle prototype in January of this year to Spain’s Minister of Industry who recently promised one million EVs on Spanish roads by 2012. SEAT has now announced the 74.3mpg TDI powered Leon Ecomotive at the Geneva Auto Show 2009. Read More
Tata Nano heads to Europe
By Paul Evans
20:38 March 10, 2009 PDT
The European version of the world’s cheapest car, the Nano was introduced at the Geneva Auto Show this week. The Nano Europa is an upgraded version of the $2,500 "People's Car" soon to go into production in India. The Europa model sticks to the same narrow, upright, four-door format, but has a longer wheelbase, more safety features and is better finished than the Indian-market version so will be considerably more expensive than the Indian model due to go on sale in April 2009. Read More
Magna MILA EV, the future BMW Electric Car?
By Paul Evans
16:27 March 10, 2009 PDT
As part of the BMW Project i electric car program, Magna, the company that will be building the Ford Focus EV in 2011, has presented the MILA EV at the Geneva Motor Show 2009. Where most mass production electric vehicles announced to date are retrofitted or converted versions of existing vehicles, the five-door Mila has been designed without compromise as a fully integrated electric vehicle platform. Driven by a 50 Kw (67 hp) electric motor powered by a lithium-ion battery pack, the MILA EV is expected to have a charge time of 2.5 hours a range of up to 150 km (94 miles) with charging supplemented by solar cells integrated in the glass roof. Read More
600 hp Infiniti Essence: the World's most powerful hybrid car
By Paul Evans
17:15 March 9, 2009 PDT
To celebrate 20 years as a brand Infiniti has produced a stunning concept car for the 2009 International Motor Show in Geneva. The Infiniti Essence is the world’s most powerful Hybrid car with a total of 600 horsepower combined output from its V6 twin turbo and electric motor. The luxury sports car hybrid offers enormous power on the open road and zero emission driving in urban settings. Read More
Bugatti's Veyron “Bleu Centenaire” - NOT with 1375 bhp
By Mike Hanlon
06:05 March 9, 2009 PDT
The automotive world held its breath when Bugatti's turn came during the Geneva Auto Show press conference merry-go-round last week. Here was the world's most over-the-top brand name addressing the assembled global automobile industry in its centenary year. Highly credible sources such as respected German magazine Auto Motor und Sport were suggesting during the lead up to the conference that Bugatti was to gazump all the contenders for the world's fastest production car with a 1007 kw (1375 bhp) Veyron derivative with a top speed of 273 mph. The rumors even got the name right - the Centenaire. Read More
Fiat releases MultiAir engine technology – is this a fundamental breakthrough in internal combustion engine design?
By Mike Hanlon
13:45 March 7, 2009 PST
Fiat Group used the Geneva Auto Show to launch a new engine technology which could ultimately be as important as the common rail diesel technology it invented 15 years ago. Dubbed MultiAir, the hydraulically-actuated variable valve timing (VVT) technology was first announced as a concept two years ago, and offers a more controllable flow of air during the combustion cycle in comparison with mechanical VVT systems. Vastly reduced fuel consumption and emmissions plus significantly more power are claimed, and the technology is even more effective when used with a supercharger or a diesel engine. Read More
Dacia Duster Concept with innovative interior
By Mike Hanlon
01:38 March 7, 2009 PST
Dacia, Renault’s Romanian brand, launched its first-ever concept car at Geneva, an innovative leisure vehicle that revives the Duster nameplate. Designed largely in Romania by the Renault Design Central Europe studio in Bucharest, it’s a coupe Multi Purpose Vehicle crossover with three doors – a single door on the driver’s side and two doors, including a rear-hinged ‘suicide’ door, on the passenger side. The innovative interior is extremely functional – the passenger seat slides below the driver’s seat, allowing a large, 2-metre long load bay capable of accommodating a bicycle or even a small motorbike. A tailgated box structure also slides out of the rear of the car, creating an extra pick-up load bed. Read More
Koenigsegg Quant: 512 bhp 275 km/h, solar-electric 4-seater
By David Greig
20:25 March 5, 2009 PST
Swedish supercar manufacturer Koenigsegg, in conjunction with NLV Solar of Switzerland, is showing its full scale four-seater NLV Quant at the 2009 Geneva Salon. Producing 512hp with maximum torque of 715Nm, the Quant runs 0–100 km/h in 5.2 seconds and hits a top speed of 275 km/h. The all-electric car is powered through a combination of what it has dubbed a Flow Accumulator Energy Storage (FAES), which charges to full capacity in 20 minutes, and solar energy supplied via a thin layer photovoltaic coating over the car. The combined solar/FAES offer a claimed range in excess of 500km. Read More
Smart fortwo BRABUS electric drive
By Paul Evans
17:48 March 4, 2009 PST
Following on from the cosmetically customized version of the Tesla Roadster which debuted at the Essen Motor Show 2008, German tuning house BRABUS has seen the writing on the wall and launched a second electric car, this time based on a Smart fortwo. Drowned in matt green throughout the exterior and interior, the car comes with the same style monoblock light-alloy wheels and the (somewhat gimmicky) LED Daytime running lights as used on the Tesla, as well as some real technical innovation in the drive train. Read More
Nissan releases GT-R Spec V: no more horsepower, but an additional US$65K on the price tag
By Mike Hanlon
01:02 March 4, 2009 PST
Nissan has announced a new limited-production Nissan GT-R Spec V model which we’re still having trouble wrapping our collective brain cells around. The GT-R was unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2007, and it has taken all before it since then - it is a technological masterpiece that looks like a relatively normal car, but outperforms cars worth double, triple and more. In Japan it sells for 8.6 million yen, translating into the cheapest production supercar the world has yet seen. Now, the Spec V is being shown at Geneva and has already gone on sale in Japan for 15,750,000 yen (JPY) – an increase of 83% in price – and the engine produces NO more horsepower. So what do you get for an extra US$72,000? Read More
Ford Iosis MAX Multi Activity Vehicle (MAV) Concept
By Mike Hanlon
00:31 March 4, 2009 PST
Ford's concept car for the 2009 Geneva Motor Show is the Iosis MAX, termed by Ford as a Multi Activity Vehicle (MAV) in that it showcases considerable flexibility of purpose, new door opening concepts, lightweight materials and advanced aerodynamics. The Iosis MAX also offers a preview of Ford's global EcoBoost petrol engine technology coming in 2010. Read More
Opel Ampera: Europe's Chevrolet Volt unveiled
By Paul Evans
23:52 March 3, 2009 PST
After various sneak peeks and spy shots, we now have official pictures of the European version of the Chevrolet Volt. To be officially launched at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show, the left hand drive Opel/Vauxhall Ampera will go on sale late 2011 with a right-hand drive Vauxhall version available in 2012. Read More
Maserati GranTurismo S Automatic premier in Geneva
By Mike Hanlon
13:16 February 23, 2009 PST
True to Maserati’s commitment to introduce a new model at each international car show, the GranTurismo S Automatic will premiere at the Geneva Auto Show next week. The major novelty is the combination of the automatic transmission with the most powerful wet sump Maserati V8 on the GranTurismo – until now offered as 4.2 litres with automatic transmission and 4.7 litres with an electro-actuated gearbox. The new model features a 4.7 litre V8 which develops 440hp (323kW) at 7000rpm and maximum torque of 490Nm at 4,750rpm. Thanks to smoothness of the ZF 6-speed automatic gearbox, the car remains consistent with the granturismo concept while at the same time offering peak performance. Read More
Terotech
- November 21, 2009 @ 19:38 UTC
