Archive for Concepts

Honda’s joint venture company in China Guangzhou Honda Automobile Co., Ltd. has announced a new car brand called Li Nian, which is positioned much alike to what Toyota is doing with its Scion brand in the United States. A rough translation or meaning to Li Nian is “idea”, according to Guangzhou Honda.

The company displayed the Li Nian Concept at the 2008 Beijing International Automobile Exhibition, which is set to be one of the Li Nian brand’s first cars. The Li Nian Concept is a compact SUV-like vehicle based on the Honda Jazz / Honda Fit platform.

Unlike the Jazz/Fit’s L-series engines, the Li Nian Concept is powered by a 1.8 liter engine, most likely the R18A1 SOHC i-VTEC engine. It’s styling is decidedly European, with obvious cues taken from the Volkswagen iroc Concept and Ford’s new Kinetic design Fiesta and Kuga SUV.

Li Nian’s first production car will be based on this concept design, and will make its debut in 2010. The Li Nian Concept was designed entirely by Guangzhou Honda Automobile R&D, and while Honda Japan will support the company, most R&D, marketing and sales efforts will be initiated by the Chinese company.

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The Tata Indica Silhouette concept car is unlike what you’d expect an Indica to be. This is not a budget city car with a tiny engine, but rather a track monster powered by a 3.5 liter V6 mounted at the rear of the car, powering the rear wheels as well. This setup instantly reminds us of the Renault Clio V6, but this isn’t exactly a production road car, so think of it more of similiar to the Golf GTI W12-650.

The 3.5 liter V6 engine (a race-ready version of the Renault-Nissan VQ engine) produces 330 PS at 7.000rpm and sends the 850kg Tata Indica Silhouette barrelling down the roads up to the 100km/h mark in just 4.5 seconds, up to a top speed of 270km/h. The engine is mated to a 6-speed sequential gearbox.

The 2-seater car is built on a space frame steel chassis made with aeronautical steel and uses the engine as a stress member. The car uses an adjustable progressive rate pneumatic suspension system. For track duties, it has a data logging system and a high-accuracy GPS unit.

So in reality this isn’t exactly an Indica adapted to fit a V6 in the rear, but a space frame and an engine with a shell made to look like an Indica put on top of it, much like R3’s rear wheel drive Waja.

Click to enlarge

Mercedes-Benz has long been rumoured to be coming up with the CLE-Class, a coupe based on the C-Class, but what we’ve got so far is only the CLC-Class, a restyled hatchback version of the previous generation C-Class chassis.

Theophilus Chin has whipped up what he thinks the CLE-Class 4-door coupe could look like, with headlamps inspired by the SL-Class. It’s essentially a smaller version of the Mercedes Benz CLS-Class, and the CLS is a 4-door coupe version of the E-Class.

No news anywhere lately about the CLE-Class, so it may not be something that could ever come into existence after all. It was rumoured that the CLE would come with suicide-doors instead of being a proper 4-door car because the car would be much smaller than the E-Class-based CLS and the 4 doors would not look good on it.

The SEAT Bocanegra Concept car was a 3-door hatchback unveiled at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show. It previewed the recently unveiled fourth generation SEAT Ibiza production car, but unliked the 5-door Ibiza hatch, the Bocanegra Concept was a 3-door and SEAT called it a “SportCoupe”.

The word Bocanegra means “black mouth” in Spanish, and probably refers to the blackened front face of the SEAT Bocanegra Concept. This blackened area is actually a semi-transparent Perspex acrylic sheet which extends up to the two headlamps, also acting as covers for the car’s LED headlamps.

The sleek side profile is enhanced by large 19″ alloy wheels wrapped with low-profile 235/35R19 tyres. Matching the car’s sporty looks is a 1.4 liter TSI engine mated to a 7-speed DSG under its hood.

View more photos of the concept after the jump.

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SEAT unveiled 4th generation SEAT Ibiza

Click here to read the rest of SEAT Bocanegra Concept

Click to enlarge

Kia Motors has unveiled a revolutionary driving control system with an update to the Kia KEE concept called the Kia KEE_wii.

Instead of a conventional steering, accelerator and brake pedals, the Kia KEE_wii uses a small ‘controller which fits comfortably into two hands. Making steering motions with the small controller will turn the car in whichever direction the driver likes whilst accelerator and brakes are button operated.

An added benefit is that passengers can take the controls and enjoy the dynamic drive of the KEE_wii from any seat in the car.

To counter the reduced visibility faced by a “driver” sitting in the back seats, Kia has developed a new system called the Independent Driver Input Operating Technique that utilises radar to avoid accidents.

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Kia Kee 2+2 Sports Coupe Concept

This is the third Kizashi Concept to come out of Suzuki’s stables, and it was displayed at the 2008 New York International Auto Show. While the previous two Kizashi Concepts had estate bodies, this version is a sedan. Dimensions are 4650mm long, 1900mm wide, 1450mm tall and it has a wheelbase of 2800mm.

A production version is in the works, but there are no final specs yet, though Suzuki hints at a 3.6 liter DOHC V6 putting out about 300 horses or so. The engine will have plated cylinders which save weight and space, a technique that pays homage to Suzuki’s motorcycle business. The engine will be mounted at the front, and will send power to all four wheels.

See more photos and watch an animated video of the Kizashi 3 after the jump.

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More about the Suzuki Concept Kizashi

Click here to read the rest of Suzuki Kizashi 3 Concept

Reader Kevin Lee has produced these artist impressions of a sleeker, sportier Proton Waja, with a rear light treatment that is an evolution of the current crop circle design, but missing the circles themselves.

It looks much better than what the Waja is now but development of new fenders to match the new Mazda-ish front lamps would probably be too costly for Proton to have done something like this instead of the Waja MC3 that we have now.

View an image of the rear after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Kevin Lee’s version of the Proton Waja MC3

Land Rover has unveiled a second version of its LRX Concept which was first shown at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show. This version is called the Land Rover Black and Silver LRX Hybrid Concept and is powered by a 2.0 liter turbodiesel hybrid powertrain.

Land Rover claims the diesel hybrid can achieve a fuel economy of 4.7 liters per 100km on the European combined cycle, and produces CO2 emissions of 120g/km. No performance figures were quoted, so Land Rover must be really focusing on the fuel economy aspect of this concept.

The LRX Hybrid Concept’s Electric Rear Axle Drive (ERAD) allows the LRX Hybrid Concept to run on electric drive alone at lower speeds of up to 32km/h, with the turbodiesel engine able to start automatically and smoothly on demand while on the move. This engine can run on biodiesel fuel.

It is a compact SUV, or cross-coupe as Land Rover calls it. The LRX Hybrid Concept is 149mm shorter and 205mm lower than the Land Rover LR2 (Freelander 2), but will be positioned above it as a more premium compact vehicle.

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Land Rover LRX Concept from Detroit 2008

Click here to read the rest of Land Rover Black and Silver LRX Hybrid Concept

This nice red coupe which reminds me a little of the European market Honda Civic hatch was showcased by Kia Motors at the 2008 New York International Auto Show, and it is called the Kia KOUP Concept. It actually looks very production ready, and only needs a more toned down interior (or maybe not?) with more production ready head lamps and tail lamps and you can already imagine it being driven on roads.

The front wheel drive, front engined coupe is powered by a turbocharged direct injected version of the 2.0 liter Hyundai/Kia Theta II engine (derived from the GEMA engine family), which produces 290 horsepower and a wide torque spread of 392Nm over 2,000rpm to 4,000rpm.

The front suspension is the usual MacPherson strut system while the rear is an independent dual link design. The Kia KOUP also features Continuous Damping Control - not sure what it does but Kia says it helps with the vehicle’s handling.

Check out more photos and a video after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Kia KOUP Concept shown at NYIAS 2008

Here are some teaser shots of the upcoming 2009 Ford Focus RS, and a concept version of the car will be shown at the 2008 London Motor Show in July this year.

The 5-cylinder turbocharged engine under the hood will be putting out between 280 to 300 horsepower, but the word is that all of the power will be going through the front wheels through some clever differential.

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Ford Focus RS Concept to debut at London 2008