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GALLERY: Haunting images of the Citroën Metropolis

May 3, 2010 at 1:03 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, China, Citroën, Concept Cars, International News

This is the Citroën Metropolis concept car, which shows off the French brand’s typical wackiness on a long limo body. To make its debut at the World Expo in Shanghai, the Metropolis was created by PSA’s Shanghai design studio as a “homage to China’s extraordinary development” and is meant to convey the country’s “avantgarde status, grandeur and vitality”.

The imposing 5.3 m long/2.0 m wide limo is a plug in hybrid powered by an electric motor and a 2.0-litre V6 petrol engine. Combined, 460 bhp and 430 Nm of torque is channeled to all wheels via a 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox.

This latest gallery after the jump is as dramatic as the car itself. For more about the Metropolis, see our previous post here.
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The Porsche 918 Spyder may go into production – 900 buyers already secured?

April 27, 2010 at 11:02 am By Harvinder Sidhu Filed Under Cars, Concept Cars, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, Porsche

This is Porsche’s latest hybrid concept. Called the 918 Spyder it made its premiere early last month. This 1,409kg concept features a high-revving V8 powerhouse that makes 500 PS and two electric motors, one for each axle. Both motors can crank out 218 PS bringing combined power figure to the 718 PS mark.

It uses a liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery pack and has Porsche’s 7-speed PDK which is responsible for gear changes. There are four driving modes ranging from Hybrid to Race Hybrid. It can also run exclusively on electric power for up to 25 kilometers in E-Drive.

It is able to hit the century mark in under 3.2 seconds and lap the Nurburgring in less than 7 minutes and 30 seconds. These are pretty impressive figures but the most interesting fact is that the Spyder can deliver an average fuel consumption of just 3 litres per 100 kilometers which is mind blowing! Now this is after all a concept vehicle and we are not sure if it will ever go into production.

There was a rumor circulating that Porsche will put the 918 Spyder onto the production lines if it can attract enough buyers to justify the production. Bloomberg has reported that 900 people have signed up for the Spyder and this looks like good news for the concept and for the people behind it.

Porsche’s development chief Wolfgang Duerheimer said in an interview, “I’m confident that we will soon reach the threshold of 1,000. We need 1,000 seriously interested people to make a sound business case.”

A similar move was employed on the Porsche Carrera GT and it eventually made it into production. If you ask me, getting another 100 people to sign up for Spyder shouldn’t be all that hard. If it gets the green (I will be surprised if it doesn’t) it should maintain the overall design and drivetrain but with some minor changes of course.

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Volkswagen E-Lavida concept at Auto China 2010

April 26, 2010 at 9:56 am By Harvinder Sidhu Filed Under Cars, Concept Cars, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, Volkswagen

Volkswagen arrived in Beijing for the Auto China 2010 event with the E-Lavida concept which is essentially an electric version of the Lavida, a Chinese-market sedan that is based on the Volkswagen Golf. The E-Lavida is the company’s first electric car that was completely designed and built in China with the help of SAIC of course. The concept is expected to go into production by 2013.

Unfortunately technical details are still limited regarding this ‘greener’ Lavida. The introduction of the E-Lavida is part of Volkwagen’s move to capitalize on low-emissions motoring in the country. “China is one of the most important auto markets in the company’s global strategy,” said Martin Winterkorn chairman of Volkswagen.

“Success in China has a significant meaning for Volkswagen in achieving its electric car strategy worldwide,” he added. China’s National Development and Reform Commission includes low-carbon targets in its 12th five-year plan between 2011 and 2015.

The Chinese government also aims to increase the proportion of non-fossil and renewable energy including wind, solar, biomass, geothermal and nuclear into the energy mix to 15% by 2020.

Continue reading to check out an image gallery.
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MG ZERO concept makes its appearance in Beijing

April 25, 2010 at 4:44 pm By Harvinder Sidhu Filed Under Cars, China, Concept Cars

MG, the British auto brand that is owned by China’s Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) has unveiled a brand new concept in Beijing. Called the MG ZERO the concept was developed by MG’s Global Design team led by British MG Design Director Anthony Williams-Kenny who is based in Birmingham, something that was heavily emphasized in the press release.

The press release which did not point out what powers the concept revealed that the ZERO “previews the design direction of the brand and demonstrates how MG can expand into this high- volume sector of the market.”

It is a compact concept which is 4 meters in length and is expected to feature small displacement engines both normally-aspirated and force-inducted if it goes into production. A report by ChinaCarTimes revealed that it could be sold in China as the Roewe 150 or the MG2 joining the MG TF and the MG6 which will be launched in the UK by the end of this year. An image gallery can be found after the jump.
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Citroen DS High Rider interior shots just released

April 24, 2010 at 4:46 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Citroën, Concept Cars

We’ve already seen the exterior of Citroen’s DS High Rider Concept at Geneva earlier this year, but now Citroen has unveiled the interior photos. The interior door panels are trimmed with a graduated grey to gold shading that’s supposed to match the golden tone of the DS High Rider Concept car’s golden exterior paintwork. You can also spot a colour screen in the centre console and the ‘Hybrid’ badge just below the gear stick. Look after the jump for the rest of the interior shots.
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BMW Concept Gran Coupe – is the 8-Series back?

April 24, 2010 at 4:24 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under BMW, Cars, Concept Cars

BMW’s Design Night event in China in conjunction with Auto China 2010 brings to us something completely unexpected – a near-production four door coupe called the BMW Concept Gran Coupe which is meant to be a continuation of the allegedly “scrapped” BMW Concept CS. Coincidentally they are both China world premieres.

I don’t know about you but to me, it looks like BMW has finally got their new post-Bangle car design just nice with this, although you could say that they are probably also playing kinda it safe. But when a concept car is this ‘safe’ it’s definitely really close to production. The F01 7-Series was pretty nice looking but its nostrils are oversized. The 5 GT is just ugly. The new 5 looks good but still feels a little off in terms of design. This is near perfection, maybe if the rear number plate was on the bood instead of on the bumper it would look even better, but it’s still sex on wheels as it is.

The Concept Gran Coupe is a four door sedan, but the B pillar is hidden. There are traces of previous concept cars in the design as well – the tail lamp internal lense design is similiar to the one on the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics although on that car it was a floating design and on the Concept Gran Coupe it is enclosed inside a tail lamp.

The question now is when are they putting it into production, and what will it become? It’s quite clearly a rival to cars such as the Porsche Panamera and the Audi A7 (the Rapide is just too expensive to be in the same league) but will they revive the 8-Series nameplate, or call this a four door 6-Series (along with a two door coupe and convertible 6-Series)?

Look after the jump for more pictures of this gorgeous coupe.
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Li Nian “Everus” sedan – Chinese market Honda concept

April 23, 2010 at 1:12 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, China, Concept Cars, Honda

Honda will be exhibiting this Li Nian concept car at Auto China 2010 in Beijing this year. Li Nian is basically a Chinese market only brand that Honda and their Chinese partner Guangqi Honda Automobile (previously known as Guangzhou Honda Automobile – the namechange happened in April 2009) have been working on.

This is not the first Li Nian car we’ve seen – a compact SUV concept built on the Jazz platform as well as an open top roadster that looks like it’s meant to be a somewhat like a next generation Honda S2000 was first shown at Auto China 2010 in April 2008.

This latest Li Nian Concept is a sedan that I’m assuming is called the “Everus” and it looks something like a Honda City with rear design cues from the Honda Airwave and a large Acura-like grille on the front. The photos don’t really give any indication on what size the vehicle is – the front looks very grand like it belongs on a larger vehicle but the side profile looks like a smaller sedan.

I am guessing that this is the City-based C-segment sedan that Guangqi Honda said they were working on back in September 2008. Honda in China is sold by two companies – Dongfeng Honda and Guangqi Honda. In the C-segment market, the Honda Civic is sold by Dongfeng Honda, leaving Guangqi Honda with no C-segment sedan competitor.

Look after the jump for hi-res images of the new Li Nian.
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Ford Start Concept features 3-cylinder EcoBoost

April 23, 2010 at 8:11 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Concept Cars, Ford

The Ford Start Concept will be Ford’s Beijing International Auto Show show car. It has Audi A1-like cues and most likely previews a next generation Ford Ka type of car. It’s exterior shell is built with a lightweight composite and are snap-fitted onto an aluminium safety cell structure. It’s got laser-cut LED headlamps too.

“With the Ford Start Concept, we didn’t set out to design some sort of utilitarian concept to save the world, nor were we interested in following the competitive trend toward an overly noisy design language. What we did set out to do was design a personality driven car that exudes warmth, charm and aspiration – to design a car worth bonding with,” said J Mays, Group Vice President Design and Chief Creative Officer of the Ford Motor Company.

But most importantly it showcases a new 3-cylinder EcoBoost with 1.0 litre of displacement which delivers the power of a small 4-cylinder normally aspirated engine. Right now there are no power, torque or fuel consumption figures released for this engine but CO2 emissions are said to be under the 100g/km range. In the Start Concept, it is mated to a 6-speed transmission, a Powershift would have been sweeter!
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Volkswagen’s electric Milano Taxi concept is very cool

April 21, 2010 at 12:16 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, Concept Cars, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, Volkswagen

This is the taxi of the future, according to Volkswagen. VW, which will launch its first production electric vehicles in 2013 has shown this electric driven taxi at the Hanover Trade Show. Called the Milano Taxi concept, it is a city MPV tailored to the needs of taxi drivers and passengers with innovative details such as a swivel-sliding door that opens in a forward direction and customisable taxi touchscreens.

The green and black paint of the concept cab is a tribute to the fashion capital of Milan, where taxis were once painted like this. VW says that the Milano’s styling bears similarities to the iconic Volkswagen Samba Bus of the 1950s, and this plus its emissions-free drive and practicality could “make it a highly coveted vehicle in cities like New York and Tokyo”.

“One door less is all the more for a taxi,” said Walter de Silva, VW Group’s Head of Design. The safest way to enter and exit a taxi is on the sidewalk side, which explains why the LHD Milano’s single swivel-sliding door opens on the right side. The door also extends well into the roof, so the opening is very tall. The Milano’s dimensions is 1.60 m tall, 3.73 m long and 1.66 m wide. Like the Samba Bus, the outer roof areas are transparent; combined with a panoramic glass roof, passengers get a spacious feel and great views of the cityscape above.

Also, the need for passengers to always have to gaze at the taximeter in front to see the current charges is now a thing of the past (the meter in our Proton Iswara cabs are always conveniently shielded by the gear stick!). An 8-inch touchscreen in the Milano’s rear not only displays charges, but incorporates a credit card reader as well!

This cute cab has a top speed of 120 km/h and is driven by an electric motor with 85 kW (50 kW continuous power) powered by a lithium-ion battery located underfloor. VW says that the battery’s storage capacity of 45 Kilowatt-hours (kWh) and the Milano’s relatively low weight (1,500 kg) allows it to cover distances of up to 300 km. The battery can be recharged to 80% capacity in just over one hour.

More pictures after the jump!
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Citroën pays homage to China with Metropolis concept

April 20, 2010 at 1:58 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, China, Citroën, Concept Cars

Citroën should be one of the few remaining carmakers who believe that concept cars must deliver shock and awe above all – their recent creations like the GTbyCitroen, Revolte and the Survolt from Geneva look like beings from another planet. Their latest concept, Metropolis, takes all that wackiness and puts it in a limo body.

The French carmaker says that the Metropolis “pays homage to China’s extraordinary development” and reflects China’s “avantgarde status, grandeur and vitality”. What? Created by Citroën’s international design team – based in Shanghai since 2008 – the Metropolis will be on show in the French Pavilion at the 2010 Expo in Shanghai from 1st May to 31st October this year.

The Metropolis’ silhouette is imposing (5.3m long, 2m wide, 1.4m high), blending taut lines with smooth surfaces. Up front, the sculpted wings and kite-shaped grille hint at recent Citroen concepts. The headlamps have an “imperious and steely look” according to its maker. At the rear, there’s an active spoiler and Citroën’s signature concave rear window. Wrapping up is a ‘Pearl Silk’ body colour that changes under different light conditions.

This car is a plug in hybrid which consists of a 2.0-litre V6 petrol and a 7-speed, dual-clutch gearbox. At low speeds, the limo runs in zero emissions mode, its electric motor developing a continuous 55 bhp, peaking at 95bhp. At steady speeds, the engine provides 272 bhp and 375 Nm. When additional performance is required, both sources combine for 460 bhp and 430 Nm of torque channeled to all wheels. The Metropolis sits on Citroën’s Hydractive suspension, of course.

More pictures after the jump.
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