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Volkswagen
VW Turbo Diesel Touaregs finish 1-2-3: same results, different year at Dakar 2010
By Gizmag Team
17:51 January 16, 2010 PST
Volkswagen’s turbo diesel technology completed a comprehensively successful title defence in the 2010 Dakar Rally, finishing 1-2-3 with WRC legend Carlos Sainz (bottom right) finally winning the most prestigious “raid” in the world at his fourth attempt. In the motorcycles, Cyril Depres (top left) won his third Dakar Rally, after 9000 km across Argentina and Chile. He rode in triumph into Buenos Aires to complete his third Dakar victory and the tenth consecutive victory for Austrian brand KTM. Indeed, apart from Sainz and Quad bike winner Marcos Patronelli who finished second last year, all the winners were old hands. Yamaha dominated the Quads as usual with a 1-2-3, the “tsar” (Russia’s Vladimir Chagin) won the truck category for the sixth time, driving a Kamaz (bottom left). The rugged Russian Kamaz truck won EVERY stage in the 2010 event, finished 1-2 and picked up a ninth Dakar win. Read More
Volkswagen unveils Compact Coupe Concept in Detroit
09:39 January 11, 2010 PST
Volkswagen kicked-off what it promises will be a big year in Detroit this morning with the world premiere of the Compact Coupe. Described as a car that appeals to the "head and heart in equal measure", the four-seat, front wheel drive hybrid concept combines miserly fuel economy of 45 mpg (combined) and CO2 emissions of 98 g/km with performance figures of 0-60 mph in 8.6 seconds and a quoted top speed of 141 mph (227 kmh). Read More
Dakar Rally: the usual suspects in the lead at the half way mark
By Gizmag Team
19:24 January 9, 2010 PST
After seven of the 14 legs of the 2010 Dakar Rally, the usual suspects have found their way to the fore once more. With Mitsubishi withdrawing from the event in deference to the GFC, it was predictable that Volkswagen would dominate the event and on the mid-point rest day, three factory race VW TDI Touaregs hold the first three spots, all more than 150 minutes clear of the field. In the bikes, where restrictors have been added to the inlets of machinery larger than 450cc machinery, KTM’s 690s have nevertheless dominated almost as much usual, holding first and six of the top 10 places, with two-time winner Cyril Depres an hour and 20 minutes clear of a close battle for second. Read More
The top 10 most reliable and unreliable 4x4s
By Gizmag Team
15:47 January 5, 2010 PST
If you’re planning on choosing a roadgoing car based on racetrack results, maybe you’d better think again. With the world’s greatest off-road race, the Dakar Rally, currently powering its way through Chile, it’s interesting to note that the leaders of the event (BMW and Volkswagen) are among the least reliable 4x4 vehicles on the road, where it really counts. Newly released and highly credible information from the U.K. has revealed the most and least reliable pre-owned 4x4 and SUV cars on the market (see the top 10 lists here). Honda’s CR-V won the crown of the most reliable 4x4 by a fair margin while Audi’s A6 Allroad is the most unreliable 4x4 on the road, with Volkswagen’s Touareg and BMW’s X5 placing second and third most unreliable. That’s right folks, despite performing spectacularly in race events such as the Dakar, the VW Touareg is the second most unreliable 4x4 on the market, according to Warranty Direct. Read More
VW's UP! Lite Concept Car – the world’s most efficient four wheeler
By Gizmag Team
21:29 December 9, 2009 PST
Volkswagen’s L1 narrow-track tandem Concept was one of the stars of the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, but a more conventional vehicle using a similar hybrid electric turbo diesel powertain was on show at the Los Angeles Auto Show this week which will be the world’s most efficient and economical four-door when it, or something very close to it, goes on sale in 2011. The UP! Lite is capable of carrying four adults in comfort, delivers 115.7mpg, emits just 65g/km of CO2 and is capable of 100mph. The UP! Lite heads down the same road as the smart phone, with one central computer display controlled by touch screen and hand movement sensors – this handles such systems as active thermal management, passive park ventilation, Internet, telephone, MP3, video, telephone, trip computer and radio. Read More
The world’s most expensive (and fastest) wrist watch
By Gizmag Team
15:32 December 8, 2009 PST
The Bugatti marque has an array of the most exclusive, indeed totally unique brand values ever assembled. Ettore Bugatti came from a family of famous designers, sculptors, painters and architects. Though he chose a different path, it was Ettore who gave the family name its global renown, producing machines that set world speed records for planes, boats, trains and cars, the most successful racing car in history and the most expensive automobile in history. VW purchased the name a few years ago and created the fastest, most powerful, most expensive Veyron, and in so doing, the exclusive brand name was successfully resurrected. Now Bugatti will produce a Tourbillon wristwatch by Parmigiani which doubles as the clock on the dashboard of its latest car and hence will be worn only by those who purchase the US$1,470,000 16C Galibier, which will be, predictably, the fastest, most exclusive and most powerful four door automobile available. Read More
Audi testing autonomous TTS Coupe quattro
By Gizmag Team
15:57 November 30, 2009 PST
The age-old battle of man versus machine will move to a new arena in 2010 when Audi will begin pitting an autonomous TTS Coupe quattro against record times of some of the great driving challenges, including a likely attempt at the infamous 12.42-mile Pikes Peak Hill Climb in Colorado, USA. The driverless Audi is from the same team that built the VW Touareg which won the first race for autonomous vehicles, the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge. The inevitable incorporation of advanced robotic technologies into our automobiles will ultimately yield a safer vehicle and it’s the thin end of the wedge – one day soon your car will not only be smarter than you are, it will also be faster and maybe even better looking. Read More
Narrow track vehicles - the convergence of the car and the motorcycle
By Mike Hanlon
01:22 November 19, 2009 PST
Since Nicholas Negroponte first came up with his landmark teething ring visualization of the coming together of communication, computing and content, the term convergence has become the uber buzzword. Now there’s convergence going on in the personal transport industry, with the car and the motorcycle morphing as car makers attempt to downsize their vehicles to make them better suited to the world’s increasingly crowded roads. This article begins with Nissan’s tandem two-seat, half width tilting car, the Landglider, and examines all the other work being done around the world as narrow track vehicles seriously begin to make their case. Read More
Nissan to show half-width 'Land Glider' tilting electric vehicle at Tokyo Motor Show
By Mike Hanlon
16:25 October 7, 2009 PDT
The term convergence normally refers to the merging of consumer electronics, entertainment and media, but if recent trends are anything to go by, it could equally apply to the melding of the car and the motorcycle. BMW’s enclosed C3 motorcycle is now emerging as a road safety pin-up vehicle and at the Frankfurt Motor Show last month both Volkswagen and Renault exhibited tandem half-width cars that looked for all the world like four-wheeled motorcycles. Now comes news that Nissan is to unveil an electric tandem four-wheeled “Land Glider” concept at Tokyo Motor Show, and the wording of the press statements looks like Nissan is very confident the vehicle will reach showrooms. Read More
The reconfigurable SpaceCamper – compact 5-berth people carrier and camper and load transporter
By Gizmag Team
03:59 October 5, 2009 PDT
The SpaceCamper is not your normal camper van. The SpaceCamper was designed by young German designer, engineer and entrepreneur Markus Riese, the fellow who designed the first folding bicycle with suspension on both wheels (the “Birdy”) and founded German bicycle manufacturer Riese and Muller while still at school. Riese took a year off when he graduated, buying a campervan for 12 months of touring Australia on a surfing holiday. As he worked his way around the vast Australian continent, meeting many other campervan explorers, the concept of the SpaceCamper was born – to build everything a full blown much larger camper has into a T5 transporter, and to be able to reconfigure the layout so that it can be repurposed for use in multiple roles. As usual, he succeeded big time! Read More
Volkswagen’s electric E-Up! Concept – 84 mph and 80 mile range
By Gizmag Team
01:51 September 16, 2009 PDT
Volkswagen showed an all-new electric vehicle, the E-Up! Concept, at Frankfurt yesterday, indicating strongly that the car will be very close to the production model we’ll see in 2013. The 81 PS (54 PS constant) front-wheel-drive E-Up! can accelerate to 62 mph in 11.3 seconds before reaching a top speed of 84 mph. The E-Up! weighs just 1,085 kg (it’s lithium-ion batteries weigh 240 kg) and will have a range of over 80 miles. Read More
VW enters the home power market
By Paul Lester
21:28 September 15, 2009 PDT
Volkswagen has recently announced a rather ambitious project that, for a change, has nothing to do with cars. Teaming up with regenerative-power company Lichtblick, it aims to install 100,000 co-generation power units in Germany as part of a concept called ‘SchwarmStrom’ which, literally translated, means ‘swarm power’. Successful application would allow Germany to abandon the use of nuclear and coal power stations and provide adequate backup to renewable energy sources, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by up to 60%. Read More
VW shows 170 mpg tandem diesel hybrid two-seater
By Gizmag Team
04:51 September 15, 2009 PDT
Volkswagen rocked the automotive world at a lunchtime press conference on the first day of the Frankfurt Motor Show with a carbon fiber, half width, 1-liter hybrid electric diesel tandem two-seater car named the L1. When the car makes production in 2013, four years from now, it will almost certainly be the most fuel efficient car available with a combined diesel fuel consumption figure of 1.38 l/100km (170 U.S. mpg), thanks to its frugal motor combo, feather-like weight – 380 kg in total - and an aerodynamic drag co-efficient of just 0.195! Read More
Recently on The Mobiler
By Tim Hanlon
20:06 June 9, 2009 PDT
Recently on The Mobiler we've looked at the iPhone 3G S vs the Palm Pre, the Nokia N97 going on sale in the U.S., the MoGo Talk Bluetooth headset for the iPhone, AT&T's plan to offer tethering for iPhone OS 3.0, Qik coming pre-installed on the Nokia N97, a Wi-Fi hotspot for the Volkswagen Routan, a roundup of Opera Mobile 9.7 reviews, Postino for the iPhone turning pictures into postcards, the Fujitsu F-09A touchscreen, a security breach at T-Mobile, and Verizon's "COLT" portable cell site. Read More
VW to put "green" Scirocco GT24 race car to its toughest test
By Mike Hanlon
20:14 April 19, 2009 PDT
Motorsport is moving towards establishing green credentials very quickly. Last week we reported on Citroen's hybrid rally car testing and now Volkswagen will field two cars with natural gas engines at the Nürburgring 24-Hour Race on May 23-24. Following the historic one-two victory at the Dakar Rally in January, which Volkswagen won as the first automobile manufacturer using diesel technology in the event, the Wolfsburg brand is now taking on another technical challenge – the use of EcoFuel engines in an endurance test twice around the clock on the world’s most demanding race track. The two Scirocco GT24-CNG 2.0-litre turbo engines powered by natural gas deliver nearly 300hp. Read More
What Diesel Car of the Year Awards 2009
By Mike Hanlon
00:59 April 8, 2009 PDT
The UK's What Diesel magazine is celebrating its 21st year of publication and focuses on one of the few growth areas of the automotive market – the diesel world. Each year its writers and readers vote to award the best diesel car in each category and this year the Car of the Year honour has gone to Ford's new “world car” the Ford Fiesta. Jaguar scored the best executive diesel and second overall with the XF, Volkswagen got three awards (Medium car, coupe and the green award), Citroën grabbed two gongs with the C3 Picasso (best MPV) and C5 Tourer (Best Estate Car) and the Land Rover Freelander 2 won the 4x4 class for the third year running. 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
SEAT Exeo solar sunroof harnesses sun to cool car
By Mike Hanlon
20:53 February 10, 2009 PST
SEAT, the Spanish arm of the Volkswagen Group, will launch its new Exeo upper medium sector saloon in April, along with some interesting technologies designed to keep it cool in the Spanish sun. The optional solar sunroof uses mini solar panels embedded in the glass to generate electricity which powers the car’s ventilation system, even when the ignition is off, drawing in cooler ambient air and significantly reducing the automotive ‘greenhouse’ effect on a hot day. Read More
Thermoelectrics to replace car alternators and improve MPG
By Paul Evans
16:06 February 8, 2009 PST
Thermoelectrics - the phenomena in which a temperature difference creates an electric potential - have been known about for almost 200 years, but practical applications have not been widespread due to their low energy efficiency. That may all now be about to change as Germany automakers Volkswagen and BMW have developed thermoelectric generators (TEG) that recover waste heat from a combustion engine. Read More
VW's clean diesel BlueSport concept: more economical than the Prius, with 80% more power
By Loz Blain
00:15 January 13, 2009 PST
January 13, 2009 The latest generation turbo injected clean diesels are already delivering proper sportscar performance at fuel economy levels that beat even the updated version of Toyota's pedestrian Prius hybrid - and Volkswagen's major concept debut at Detroit's Auto Show is determined to ram home the point. Using similar technologies to what VW subsidiary Audi has employed in its Sportback concept, the VW BlueSport concept's 54mpg fuel economy makes a mockery of the third-generation Prius's 50mpg, while delivering nearly twice the horsepower. A compact, corner-carving roadster, the BlueSport looks like a real giggle. Read More
Paris highlights: VW presents the Golf Mk VI GTI Concept
22:57 October 6, 2008 PDT
The sixth generation of the Golf GTI has been unveiled in concept form at the Paris Motor Show, providing a taste of things to come when the vehicle enters production in spring 2009. Volkswagen says the concept retains the key elements of the original Mk I GTI launched in '76 - sharp dynamics, style and practicality - while introducing advances in drivetrain and chassis technology such as an electronic limited slip differential (XDS) linked to a sophisticated ESP (Electronic Stabilization Programme) system, a first for the GTI. Read More
DARPA Grand Challenge winner returns to Silicon Valley
22:57 June 19, 2008 PDT
The pioneering autonomous vehicle that won the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge will complete its world tour with a visit to its home town before taking its place at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Dubbed "Stanley", the robotic Volkswagen Touareg developed by the Stanford Racing Team will be on show at the Silicon Valley The Tech Museum of Innovation from June 20 through July 17. Read More
Major auto manufacturers commit to eco-friendly development
19:31 May 29, 2008 PDT
Two separate announcements from the automotive world this week have given further impetus to the growth of energy efficient vehicles. Volkswagen has teamed up with Sanyo to develop high-performance lithium-ion based storage systems for use in its hybrid diesel and electric-drive systems and the ongoing Renault-Nissan Alliance has resulted in the Scenic ZEV H2 - a prototype based on a Renault Grand Scenic which features Nissan’s in-house developed fuel cell stack, high-pressure hydrogen storage tank and compact lithium-ion batteries that will be shown in Barcelona in June. Read More
Volkswagen demonstrates fully-automatic reverse parking system
22:34 April 22, 2008 PDT
Minor collisions as a result of parking mishaps are a common, costly and extremely frustrating occurrence and for several years auto manufacturers including BMW have indicated that solutions that take human error out of the equation are on the way. The latest news in the area comes from Volkswagen, which has demonstrated its “Park Assist Vision” system at this year’s Hanover Fair. The fully-automatic, remotely-operated self-parking system lets you get out of the car and watch as it backs itself into even the skinniest of perpendicular spaces, using cameras located in the left and right exterior mirrors to gauge the dimensions of the parking area available and communicate this information to the computerized steering and drive systems. Read More
Economical dual-fuel TSI concept from Volkswagen
By Mike Hanlon
21:02 March 4, 2008 PST
March 5, 2008 In the quest for making the internal combustion engine go further on less fuel, we’ve seen many different combinations of normal and forced aspiration and alternative fuels, but this is a new take on combining the seemingly contradictory virtues of performance and economy. Volkswagen showed a new concept car in Geneva a few hours ago that uses both natural gas and petrol. That’s not new, but it’s the first time it has been combined with the VW TSI engine which uses both a supercharger and a turbocharger operating sequentially to provide high power (150 bhp), great economy, exceptional range and meet Euro 5 emission standards from a small capacity (1.4 liter) engine. Read More
dariusvons
- February 10, 2010 @ 00:56 UTC
