Hybrid

Last October Toyota announced its participation in the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship with a hybrid prototype race car. Today Toyota revealed some of the details of the TS030 HYBRID with surprises galore. The car uses a normally-aspirated 3400cc V8 petrol engine and a supercapacitor energy storage system developed by Nisshinbo. Remarkably, though the hybrid drive train has already been dubbed THS-R (Toyota Hybrid System – Racing), the team is still evaluating whether it will use a front motor system from Aisin or a rear motor system from DENSO. Read More

The annual North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) can usually be counted on the produce at least one über-desirable concept car and the 2012 show currently underway in Detroit looks to have already met that quota thanks to Lexus with its LF-LC Hybrid Sports Coupe Concept. While the concept car itself might not be making it into showrooms anytime soon, Lexus’s Karl Schlicht says the hybrid 2+2 sport coupe created by California’s Calty studio “hints at the design cues that are coming in a wave of new Lexus models over the next two years.” Read More

Honda made its first attempt at a production supercar, the NSX, 21 years ago, and we've been waiting for the follow-up ever since. At Detroit today, we saw the genesis of the next NSX supercar, slated for showrooms within three years. No power or weight figures were mentioned but like the prior NSX, its primary engine will be a mid-mounted V-6. Honda claims the NSX's Sport Hybrid SH-AWD® (Super Handling All Wheel Drive™) hybrid system will deliver handling performance unmatched by previous AWD systems. Read More

Mercedes-Benz has announced that two new hybrid models will be making their world premiere at the 2012 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit next month. The E 300 BlueTEC HYBRID, which the company calls “the world’s most economical luxury-class model,” will come in Saloon and Estate versions packing a 4-cylinder diesel engine boasting fuel economy figures of 4.2 l/100 km (56 mpg US), while the E 400 HYBRID is powered by a V6-cylinder petrol engine and gets 8.7 l/100 km (27 mpg US) in combined city and highway driving based on the American CAFE standard. Read More

Honda has outlined its next-generation technology for automobiles at the Tokyo Motor Show. "Earth Dreams Technology" is a broad revamp of engine and transmission technologies with which the company aims to achieve ambitious, industry-leading fuel efficiencies for every category within three years, while simultaneously setting a timeline of 2020 to reduce by 30% CO2 emissions for all products sold worldwide, relative to emission figures for 2000. Read More

With its Concept PX-MiEV II making its world premier at the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show, Mitsubishi is breaking away from electric mini-cars and applying its MiEV electric vehicle technology to the oft-derided SUV. But Mitsubishi hopes to convince the SUV-naysayers with its concept plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV), which it describes as having "high environmental performance and fuel efficiency." To the technology borrowed from the i-MiEV, the PX-MiEV II adds a conventional engine, with the result that the hybrid matches the range of a conventional car, but with significantly improved fuel efficiency. Thus, claims Mitsubishi, its hybrid SUV will happily cruise at 60 km to the liter (141 mpg), to a range of more than 800 km (or 500 miles). Read More

The opening day of the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show has seen Volkswagen unveil its Cross Coupé crossover concept. Featuring a long wheelbase and short overhangs, the all-wheel-drive plug-in hybrid is visually a cross between a four-door coupé and a compact SUV. The vehicle also represents the first public outing of Volkswagen's new modular transverse matrix (Modularer Querbaukasten or MQB) platform, which is intended to form the basis of a variety of different models (including the upcoming Golf and Audi A3), allowing the use of the same set of components while providing the flexibility for individual models to have a variety of wheelbase, track and external dimensions. Read More

The Iguana 29 is a new take on amphibious vehicles, using retractable caterpillar tracks to deliver surefooted drive across extreme terrain at up to 8 km/h while on water it is quick to plane and has 35 knot speed. Most impressive of all is that the hybrid version of the Iguana can run in electric only mode in nature's most delicate areas. The Iguana 29 and its retractable caterpillar design looks to address an important need for boats capable of entering and exiting the water in complete independence. The Iguana has enough carrying capacity to be very versatile and could serve as tender, to land anywhere, as a leisure craft offering freedom from marinas, berths and other constraints, or for transporting goods and equipment. Larger versions of the currently ten-seater amphibian are planned. Read More

Subaru's biggest announcement for next month's Tokyo Motor Show was expected to be the BRZ sports car, but now news has arrived that it will also show an “Advanced Tourer Concept” powered by its trademark horizontally-opposed engine and Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive (AWD), but with turbocharging and direct fuel injection, plus a single-motor hybrid system, all driving through a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT). Paradoxically Subaru has fitted the car with its EyeSight driver assist system, and a steering wheel which incorporates a “large monitor” for access to “maps, television and internet services.” Perhaps news about the carnage resulting from distracted driving hasn't reached Japan yet. Read More