Archive for Concepts

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Sometime in May this year Fiat announced that it would revive the Topolino name for a range of small cars that could potentially also include one that has electric drive, as the Fiat Phylla concept hinted. The new Fiat Topolino variants will be built at the recently acquired Zastava plant in Serbia. Above is an artist’s impression of what the new Fiat Topolino could look like. The Lancia-like grille is similiar to the grille that the classic original Fiat Topolino had, and would not be totally off as Fiat intends to market an upmarket version of the Topolino as a Lancia.

The Fiat Phylla concept city car was developed by design schools IED (Europeo di Design), IAAD (Istituto di Arte Applicata e Design), and the Centro Richerche Fiat (CRF)’s Advanced Design department.

Phylla is the Greek word for leaf, and pays homage to the leaf’s ability to photosynthesize sunlight into energy, which the Phylla concept has via the use of solar panels on the roof. The 750kg (including a 150kg battery) green concept is built on an aluminium space frame with asymmetrical pillar designs, pretty much like a leaf’s pattern.

The car’s body is only 2995mm long with a 1,980mm wheelbase, but features 2+2 seating. Of course with all 4 seats up there is barely any luggage space, as that is created when you fold the rear seats down, which results in a luggage capacity of 584 liters.

Power is via two electric motors, one for each axle, effectively creating a 4WD system. The car’s specs indicate a nominal output of 27kW with a peak output of 54kW, which leads me to believe 27kW is only with one axle powered, with the other axle’s motor activating when maximum acceleration is needed. The vehicle can go up to an estimated 145km in lithium-ion batteries, or 220km on lithium-polymer batteries. It can be recharged in 4 hours max at 4.5kW, or 5 hours at 3kW.

Most agree that the technology behind the Fiat Phylla concept will find its way into an electric version of the upcoming new Fiat Topolino family of small cars that Fiat is planning to introduce. See two more images after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Fiat Phylla electric city car concept

The TH!NK Ox might look like what a second generation smart forfour might look like, but its actually an emissions free concept car from Norway company Think. Think calls it the Ox a family of space frame cars rather than just one car, with different variations available including coupe, sports and “MPV” versions of the car.

It may look small but its actually quite a large car - its design disguises this because the wheels are positioned near the edges of the vehicle. Its wheelbase is actually a rather long 2,775mm, putting it between C-segment and D-segment vehicles in terms of wheelbase. Length is 4,120mm, width is 1,814mm without mirrors, and height is 1,650mm.

The Ox platform was designed to be powered by electric motors and allows two different configurations. One is a high stack design with two compartments which allows use of low cost, high range sodium batteries, while the other is a low stack design for sports car or flat low applications - this uses flat Lithium Ion packs.

The TH!NK Ox exterior is unpainted and recyclable while the interior is 95% recyclable. The roof has a solar panel built into it that powers the interior’s air conditioning when the engine is switched off. The solar panel can also be used to power appliances - Think suggests a sound system for a party on the beach.

Powering the concept is a 60kW (80 horsepower) electric powertrain that can take the TH!NK Ox up to 100km/h in a decent 8.5 seconds, up to a top speed of 130km/h. Power can be upped to 100kW for short bursts of acceleration.

The motor can be powered by either one of the two battery configurations mentioned earlier in this post, it depends how much space you want the battery to take up. Estimated range is about 200km on a combined cycle and 250km during city driving. This can be extended to 450km with a larger battery pack.

The concept is designed to be a plug-in vehicle that can be fully recharged in about 12 hours from a standard 230V power outlet. Think says the lithium-ion version can be charged via an off-board fast charger up to 80% in under 1 hour. The batteries alone weigh about 350kg, while total vehicle weight is expected to be around 1,500kg.

View more photos and a video of the TH!NK Ox after the jump.

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Mazda has released a sketch of the upcoming Mazda compact SUV that is scheduled to be unveiled at the 2008 Moscow Motor Show. The compact SUV will most likely be based on the same platform as the Ford Kuga and will be smaller than the Mazda CX-7.

A Moscow world premiere location was deemed suitable because of the popularity of SUVs in Russia, with SUVs taking up 20% of total market share. It is also a rapidly growing market.

As mentioned before, the new Mazda SUV’s styling will be heavily influenced by the Nagare series of concept cars which consist of the Nagare, Ryuga, Hakaze, Taiki and Furai. Nagare means “flow”, and is meant to take inspiration from the flow of natural elements. This new Mazda SUV will have a “crosswinds” theme.

The Moscow show starts on the 26th of August for the media, and opens for the public on the 29th of August until the 7th of September 2008. We may get more teasers of this new Mazda SUV before the motorshow dates.

Two more sketches after the jump.

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Audi unveiled a CNG-powered A5 coupe last year called the Audi A5 2.0 T-CNG, powered by a 2.0 liter TFSI CNG engine which can run on both normal petrol and Compressed Natural Gas, which is what our NGV vehicles in Malaysia run on.

The Audi A5 2.0 TFSI CNG is designed to provide similiar power and torque outputs as the base A5 1.8 TFSI model. It can produce 170 PS, similiar to the 1.8 TFSI model’s 170 PS figure. This 2.0 liter engine can produce the same power figures running on both petrol and natural gas. It is said to be an enlarged version of the 1.8 TFSI engine rather than using the 2.0 TFSI in the Golf GTI.

CNG is stored in four pressure tanks with a total volume of 130 liters, which according to Audi is able to store 21kg of CNG. This allows a total mileage of 420km from the CNG alone. The conventional petrol tank has been reduced to a mere 14 liters, which Audi says is good for 180km.

The engine’s ECU is modified to support CNG operation, with new features and functions to support controlling the CNG injectors as well as facilitating a smooth changeover between CNG and petrol. The coating of the catalytic converter is modified to take into account the different exhaust gas composition.

The direct injection feature of the engine allows the air-CNG mixture to be compressed up to a high 12:1 compression ratio, which allows the engine to extract much more power out of similiar amounts of CNG compared to what non-direct injection CNG engines can do, which have to run at lower compression to prevent engine knocking when petrol is being used as fuel. This is because CNG is naturally knock-resistant.

Now this is an interesting concept… a car with no sheet metal skin. The 2-seater BMW GINA’s dodgy name actually stands for “Geometry and functions In N Adaptations”, with N adaptations referring to the flexible outer skin of the car that is made out of cloth!

Under all that cloth is a special chassis structure which includes movable sub-frames to vary the outer layer of cloth according to the functionality needed. The cloth itself is a special highly durable and extremely expansion-resistant fabric material. The material remains dimensionally stable irrespective of the temperature and air humidity.

The cloth covers the structure seamlessly, and can adapt to various driving needs. For example, during the day when headlamps are not needed they are completely hidden away behind the cloth. The closed fabric cover over opens to the right and left of the BMW kidney grille and exposes the car’s headlamps. As for indicator lamps and rear brake lamps, they simply shine through the cloth.

The shape of the rear of the car can also be changed for different aerodynamic needs. A spoiler hidden under the cloth can be raised when needed, but still remains covered by the cloth. The rear just changes shape because the cloth now covers a raised spoiler.

The overall contours of the car morphs depending on how wide the kidney grilles at the front of the car is opened. The kidney grille size can be varied according to engine bay cooling requirements. The widening mechanism at the front of the car adds tension to the cloth on the rest of the body, and the result of this are character lines that change depending on the grille opening.

Will we ever see a car like this being made? What’s known is BMW designers have really thought out of the box when they thought up this concept. I think Chris Bangle himself can explain the GINA Concept better than I ever can, so watch a video of him explaining the BMW GINA Concept after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of BMW GINA Light Visionary Model Concept

Toyota has updated its Toyota FCHV fuel cell vehicle with a new FC Stack that extends the range of the vehicle considerably.

The FCHV’s original hydrogen storage system could store 148 liters of hydrogen at 35 MPa maximum storage pressure. The new system in the new Toyota FCHV-adv concept vehicle stores 156 liters at a double the maximum pressure - 70 MPa. The result is an increase of maximum cruising range from approximately 330km to a very usable 760km according to the JC08 test cycle, or 830km according to the Japan 10-15 test cycle.

Other contributors to the significantly improved range is a fuel efficiency improvement of 25% through various measures such as improving fuel cell unit performance, a better brake energy regeneration system, and an auxiliary system that consumes less power.

The new fuel cell system can also start at a lower temperature, making it usable in cold regions with ambient temperatures as low as -30 degrees Celcius.

Full specs of the old Toyota FCHV and the new Toyota FCHV-adv found after the jump.

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Automotive News reports that the upcoming MINI “Crossman” SUV will come in two variants - one using the 175 horsepower turbocharged direct injected 1.6 liter engine from the Cooper S, and the other using a diesel engine from the MINI Cooper D.

The same report mentions that the BMW X1 will come in 3.0 liter normally aspirated and 3.0 liter twin turbocharged variants (from the 130i and 135i respectively), as well as two diesel engines which include the new twin turbocharged inline-4 in the 123d. The two new compact SUVs will appear in concept form at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. The “Crossman” will be in near-to-production form, while the X1 will appear as an early concept.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars (BMW’s subsidiary that makes Rolls-Royces since 1998) has released preliminary sketches of its upcoming smaller car to be slotted under the Phantom range, debuting in 2010. The car is called the RR4 at the moment, but the production car may get another name.

Under the Rolls-Royce RR4’s engine hood is said to be a new engine unique to Rolls-Royce, but because of the many ways one can define unique, you can expect this to be a derivative of a BMW engine, perhaps a higher displacement version of BMW’s new twin turbocharged 4.4 liter V8. The underlying platform will likely be an adaptation of the new F01 platform that the next generation BMW 7-Series will use.

“Effortless performance and standard-setting levels of comfort and efficiency, executed with the utmost care and attention, remain fundamentals of Rolls-Royce design. The RR4 has a more informal presence than the Phantom models with a greater emphasis on driving. In design terms this is expressed through its slightly smaller dimensions and more organic form, yet with powerful, purposeful proportions. It is a true and uncompromising Rolls-Royce in every sense,” says chief designer Ian Cameron.

Look after the jump for one more sketch.

Click here to read the rest of Upcoming 2010 Rolls-Royce RR4 sketch released

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The SEAT Tango Concept was a 2001 Frankfurt concept car that featured an open top, two seats, and a 1.8 liter turbocharged engine. The seats in the SEAT were fixed, adjustment for different driver sizes was done via a steering column and an adjustable foot pedal box, which can move to suit the length of the driver’s legs.

Theophilus Chin borrows the Tango name for his latest creation depicting a SEAT badge-engineered version of the Volkswagen Scirocco coupe. It looks like a larger, 3-door version of the 4th generation SEAT Ibiza actually, which was in turn based on the 3-door SEAT Bocanegra Concept.

One more rear three quarter angle shot after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Artist’s Impression: SEAT Tango, Spanish Scirocco?