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Filed under: LA Auto Show , Green , Honda Click above for high-res image gallery of the Honda FX Sport fuel cell var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/autos/A_Honda_surprise_FC_Sport_is_beautiful_hydrogen_powered'; The first real surprise at the LA Auto Show today came from Honda in the form of its FC Sport fuel cell design study. The designers at Honda's advanced design studio in Pasadena decided to take advantage of the packaging flexibility afforded by a fuel cell powertrain and mounted it mid-ship driving the rear wheels. Using the vertical flow fuel stack mounted behind the driver and an electric motor between the rear wheels, the FC Sport is a three-seater in the style of the McLaren F1 where the driver sits in the middle of the car with the two passenger seats on either side and further back. The FC Sport is strictly a styling study right now, but we wouldn't be surprised to see a fully functional version at some point. Check out Honda's official press release after...
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Filed under: LA Auto Show , Green , Hatchbacks , BMW , MINI Click above for high-res image gallery of the MINI E BMW board member Dr. Friederich Eichiner unveiled the first MINI E this afternoon at a press event in Beverly Hills, California. The company has built 500 of the battery-powered cars that will be leased to customers in Southern California and the New York City area starting in January. Each car is equipped with electric drive systems and battery packs provided by California's AC Propulsion. The 35 kWh packs are expected to provide a range of about 125-150 miles on a charge and accelerate the car to 60 mph in an very reasonable 8.5 seconds. BMW is using the MINI E as the first step of its Project I, which is focused on developing new innovations for urban mobility. A web site will be launched in the next couple of days where people will be able to officially apply for the program. For those who get selected, the MINI E lease will cost $850 /month and only last one year. Check...
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Filed under: Tuners , Convertibles , Hybrids/Alternative , Sports/GTs , Green Click above for high-res gallery of the BRABUS Tesla Roadster As we move inexorably toward the electrification of cars, companies that have made a business out of tweaking engines for more power will have to make some significant changes to their business model. BRABUS is a company known as the primary third-party alternative to AMG when it comes to enhanced cars from the house of Daimler, and today has announced its first foray into electricity. The German tuner is now offering a package of changes for the very few people who have or will soon own a Tesla Roadster. For the moment at least, changes to the all-electric powertrain are verboten. That means BRABUS has focused on other things like stylistic "enhancements" and a supremely odd "space sound generator" that emits the roar of a V8, race car engine or two futuristic sounds called "Beam" and "Warp". A set of LED running...
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Filed under: Green , Supercars , BMW Click above for a high-res gallery of the BMW M1 Homage concept BMW is hard at work on the M1's successor and according to Autocar's sources, officials inside the automaker are calling it a "breakthrough green supercar" that will arrive towards the end of 2012. Taking inspiration from the M1 Homage concept and equipping the two-door with BMW's EfficientDynamics system, the mid-engine supercar is rumored to be packing the twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline six found across BMW's range. The automaker expects fuel efficiency and CO2 emissions to be on par with a mid-range 5-series sedan, primarily through the use of direct-injection, brake regeneration, start-stop technology and even its F1 team's kinetic energy recovery system. The unnamed BMW supercar is expected to carry a price tag close to its rivals, the Audi R8 and the Mercedes-Benz SLC . Gallery: BMW M1 Hommage [Source: AutoCar ] BMW creating 'green supercar'...
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Filed under: Sedans/Saloons , Geneva Motor Show , Green var digg_url = 'http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/10/23/first-teaser-shot-of-the-tesla-model-s-appears/'; BusinessWeek has a story about last week's trials and tribulations at Tesla Motors, which wraps up most of what we already know, along with some new details. The investment bankers called up Tesla chairman Elon Musk to let him know that the company's IPO plans weren't going to fly in the current financial markets. Musk and the management team reacted quickly by slashing 25% of the company's workforce, shutting down the Rochester Hills, MI engineering office and pretty much halting all non-revenue producing work. That meant the much anticipated Model S sedan was put on the back burner until more cash was flowing into the coffers. Now, the four-door electric sport sedan won't be going into production until at least 2011. Tesla SVP Darryl Siry tipped us off that the story was being published tonight and...
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Filed under: Convertibles , Hybrids/Alternative , Sports/GTs , Green , Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Click above for high-res gallery of the Tesla Roadster Tesla is now on its fourth CEO in just 12 months as the fledgling all-electric automaker has announced today that chief fund-raiser, architect and Chairman Elon Musk will take up the mantle from current CEO Ze'ev Drori. Early this morning Valleywag reported that Tesla would be firing up to 100 of its staff and that Drori might be leaving. A call to Tesla SVP Darryl Siry revealed that the story was not entirely accurate. Drori is not leaving the company, but will move over to become Vice Chairman. Exactly what that means is not entirely known at this point, although clearly Musk intends to take a more hands on role now that his Space-X rocket finally managed to get into orbit. Tesla is also laying off some staff, although the extent of lay offs is unknown at this time. Siry promised an official announcement sometime this morning, but we're...
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Filed under: Sedans/Saloons , SUVs , Green , Crossovers/CUVs , Hatchbacks At 9AM Eastern on Monday morning, a fleet of 23 diesel-powered Audis will roll out from Manhattan's Tavern on the Green on a trans-continental trek to demonstrate diesel efficiency. I'm in Manhattan this afternoon preparing to spend the next week in an Audi Q7 TDI on the way to Denver and will be checking in regularly from the road as we pass through Washington, Cleveland, Chicago, Memphis, Dallas and Amarillo along the way. Audi plans to launch its fifty-state-legal Q7 TDI in the US market next spring and it seems likely that some of the other vehicles on this trip may not be far behind. I'll be on the first two legs and Sebastian, Damon, Drew and Jonathan will take over for the second week of the trip to Los Angeles. You can also follow along at the Audi Mileage Marathon site where there's a Twitter feed following the participants as they cross the continent. There is also a live map showing our...
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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative , Green , Chrysler, LLC. , Dodge , Jeep Click above for high-res gallery of Chrysler's three new EVs As we learned this morning from Bob Nardelli's appearance on CNBC , Chrysler LLC is getting into the electric vehicle game and plans to have something on the market by the end of 2010 - the same time GM plans to start selling the 2011 Chevy Volt . The vehicle in question will be one of these three EVs, all of which are powered fully or in part by electrons. The first and perhaps most exciting is the Dodge EV, which is an all-electric sports car like the Tesla Roadster . In fact, Chrysler seems to have taken a few pages from Tesla's playbook, which is evident by the fact that its EV is wearing the body of a Lotus Europa at the moment. Lotus also worked with Tesla on the development of its Roadster and is probably offering its expertise in electronics and lightweight vehicle design to any automaker willing to pay for it. Chrysler says the Dodge...
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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative , Minivans/MPVs , Sports/GTs , SUVs , Green , Chrysler, LLC. , Dodge , Jeep CNBC's Phil Lebeau got a sneak peek at the new EVs Chrysler is developing, and it looks like Auburn Hills is pulling a Tesla, among other things. The yellow Dodge EV you see here is basically an electrified Lotus Europa. With lithium ion battery power, it's reportedly got an operating range of 150 - 200 miles and can be plugged in to household 110 or 220 outlets. Figure a four-hour charge on the latter, and 8 or so on the former. Zero-to-sixty is said to be under 5 seconds. Like we said, this is basically Chrysler's Tesla, right down to the Lotus-sourced donor vehicle. We'll see the Dodge EV introduced formally later this afternoon, along with range-extended EV versions of the Chrysler Town & Country (can you say, "killer app"?) and Jeep Wrangler. With regard to timing, Chrysler says it would like to have "at least one" of these vehicles on...
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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative , Sedans/Saloons , Green , Hatchbacks , Chevrolet , GM Click above for high-res gallery of 2011 Chevy Volt Everyone who has been waiting with bated breath for the past year and a half to see the production version of the Chevy Volt can now breathe a big sigh of relief. After some extremely unflattering press shots shots were accidentally released last week, people were extremely disappointed with what appeared to be little more than a Prius clone. Anyone who spends time photographing cars knows how hard it can be to make them look good and how easy it is to make them look really awful. Unfortunately, those shots that were unapproved and never supposed to be released anyway fell into the latter category. The car that GM rolled out this morning as part of its centennial celebration in Detroit is a much more attractive machine that while different from the concept is still very attractive. Rather than the egg shape look we saw, it's actually much more like...
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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative , Green , Chevrolet , GM Click above for high-res gallery of the 2011 Chevy Volt Though its first official public debut isn't scheduled until early next week, the 2011 Chevy Volt has been introduced to the internet early courtesy of the The Car Connection, which published these apparently official pictures of the revolutionary series hybrid today. In the past few weeks we've seen official teasers shots of the car mixed with spy video taken on the set of Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen , all of which have only served to increase excitement ahead of the car's official debut next week. These pics give up the goods like no others, however, and show various GM execs and engineers directly responsible for its development posing alongside like proud papas. The list includes, in order, Tony Posawatz, Bob Lutz, Bob Boniface, Frank Weber, and Andrew Farah. What we see is a vehicle about the size of the current Chevy Cobalt or next-gen Cruze with...
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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative , Green , Hatchbacks , Honda , Paris Motorcycle Show Click above for a high-res gallery of the Honda Insight Concept digg_url = 'http://digg.com/autos/New_Honda_Insight_unveiled_Prius_fighter_on_the_lot_in_2009'; Honda is reviving an old name for its new Global Hybrid that goes on sale next spring by calling it the Insight. The new five-door hatchback "Prius-Killer" will be the most direct competitor yet for Toyota's iconic hybrid. Learning from the lesson that hybrid buyers apparently prefer their cars to be recognizable as such rather than being derivatives of existing models, Honda has modeled the new Insight after its low volume FCX Clarity fuel cell car and will be debuting it as a concept at the Paris Motor Show next month before it goes on sale as the least expensive hybrid in the world in 2009. Recent comments by Honda have hinted at a price starting at $18,500 for the Insight, which goes on sale 10 years after the original...
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Filed under: Sedans/Saloons , Green , Chevrolet , GM Click above for high-res gallery of the production Chevy Volt var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/autos/BREAKING_GM_releases_new_shots_of_the_production_Volt'; We're not sure why General Motors has released two new teaser shots of the production Volt as well as ten images of engineers and designers working hard on its development, but we'll gladly take and show them to you while we find out. Though GM certainly isn't going to let the whole cat out of the bag this early, we are given a much better view of what we were shown in that ABC News video . We can now see just how high-tech the lighting appears to be on the Volt, with the blue glow of its headlamps upstaged by what appear to be some sort of LED foglamps. We can't tell you what their function is, except to say they look cool and give the impression that the Volt is a car from the future on sale now, or rather sometime in 2010, which is technically the future...
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Filed under: Concept Cars , Convertibles , Green , Honda , Misc. Auto Shows Click above for a hi-res gallery of the Honda OSM Honda says that the OSM roadster on display at the 2008 British Motor Show is merely a design study, but given that "design study" is frequently a euphemism for "future design language," we wonder if we're seeing the next iteration of Honda car styling. Frankly, we hope so, because this is worlds better than what we've seen from the automaker of late, from the Accord right on up to the bland and bloated Pilot. The OSM, short for Open Study Model, is a shapely two-seat convertible that we'd be happy to drive today. Well, maybe with headlamps that weren't lightsaber-sized. Other than that, we love the jaunty look, especially in back , where the taillamps sweep gently from one side of the car to the other. Since it's a styling exercise, there's no specific powertrain combination associated with it, but Honda assures us that...
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Filed under: Spy Photos , Hybrids/Alternative , Green , Paris Motor Show , Honda Click above for a high-res gallery of Honda's new hybrid. Honda's oft - discussed , yet never spied Prius-fighter has been caught by the merry minions at KGP. A parade of three cars were shot in the desert, including the prototype you see above, a facelifted Civic Hybrid and the new model's arch rival, the Toyota Prius. While the cloaked mule's shape could be easily mistaken as a Prius, the two-tier instrument cluster is a dead giveaway of the prototype's Honda origins. The nose is notably lower than its Toyota competition and although the hatch is an obvious rip on the Prius' aerodynamic rear, the fenders have a discernibly steeper angle, along with a trunk lid sporting a small spoiler. The unnamed hybrid from Honda will make its debut at the Paris Motor Show later this year, and will adopt many of the design cues found on the big H's hydrogen-powered FCX Clarity sedan. Gallery...
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