The Australian International Motorshow is on the the Melbourne Exhibition Centre until the 10th of July with a huge display of current, future and concept vehicles. Some of the highights include the Australian premier of the all new Ford Focus, the Ford Ranger, Holden Cruise Hatch, Audi -etron concept, and all new A6, BMW’s FCEV concept and the new Bently Continental GT. See our huge photo gallery below.
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GM have released another teaser of their much hyped Volt electric car, this time on youtube. Check it out above, we think its kinda cool but perhaps the white ipod inspired dash is a little over done of late. What do you think of it? Drop us your thoughts below.
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Toyota Have unveiled what they think we will all be getting around on in the not too distant future and it looks very much like a Segway. Toyota’s version known as the Winglet features a smaller body that houses an electric motor, two wheels and internal sensors that constantly monitor the user’s position and make adjustments in power to ensure stability. Meanwhile, a unique parallel link mechanism allows the rider to go forward, backward and turn simply by shifting body weight, making the vehicle safe and useful even in tight spaces or crowded environments. Toyota have shown 3 versions of their winglet, one with Segway style handlebars and two others controlled by your knees or shins. For the full low down on the Winglet check out their press release after the jump or watch the video above.
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Mercedes Benz have always been not shy in in investing in new car technology and if their Diesotto engine goes into production it could revolutionize combustion engines. taking its name from both the Diesel and otto cycle engine’s the new Mercedes design is about putting the best parts of both engines design into one engine together with plenty of other high tech gadgets to produce a engine with the economy of a 4 cyl and the power of a V8. In one test it achieved less than 6 L/100 klm in the body of a large S-Class which is about as good as a small diesel. Want to know more? Watch the news story above.
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There are plenty of plans for cars that run on water around on the net but when it comes to perpetual motion generally most of these ideas can be described as a scam or fanciful at best. But that may be about to change according to the Reuters news story above. The idea of running a car on water is not new as well all know that water is partly made up of hydrogen which is a nice fuel source, the problem is with current technology breaking down the water into hydrogen and oxygen has been darn difficult especially on a scale to fit into a car. The company who has made the prototype car in the video claim that have the process licked but are not giving away any secrets as they want to sell their technology to a car manufacturer. So what do you recon? legit or another scam, we are hoping it is legit but with so many plans about for perpetual motions machines who knows. hit up our comment form below at let us know what you think.
We liked the idea of styling and building our own car and this guy from Lithuania has done just that. While we would probably start with a Datsun 120Y and turn it into something that looked like a Mercedes CL, this guy has taken a perfectly good CL and turned it into a cross between a Ferarri and a Ssang Yong. We do give the guy credit for the amount of painstaking work this mod must of taken to achieve. Basically he has built a new body around the Benz with expanding foam held in place by cardboard. Once it set he has then finished off the styling with a lot of bog and filing. We really hate the grill and the bulberous wheel arches but then again we’d be happy with the untouched doner car, Mercedes Benz probably spent millions on styling the CL, why does a guy in a shed with a can of bog think he can do a better job. For the full gallery head over to englishrussia.com blog.
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The Chevy Volt is a plug in hybrid electric vehicle concept that was first unveiled at the North American Auto Show in January 2007. It was soon announced that the concept would make it to production by about 2010 and GM have just released some footage of the car under development (see video above). GM prefer to call the car a electric vehicle with a range extender as the car will be powered by the electric motor and only use the onboard petrol engine to charge the batteries when needed, normally you could do this from a standard power point at home. The Volt will mark GM’s return to electric vehicle production since the demise of the ill fated EV1, in contrast the Volt’s improvements ove the EV1 include the ability to seat 4 people, longer range thanks to improved battery technology with the ability to recharge them on the road via the petrol motor and cost. The EV1 was so expensive to produce they were only available on a lease plan while the Volt is expected to be sold for less than $40k.
Toyota has put a cute and revolutionary ultra compact vehicle on it’s stand at the Geneva Motorshow. Called the IQ Concept this little car is less than 3 metres in length and is Toyota’s solution to over crowded city streets. Designed at Toyota’s design studio in the South of France the car although very small has good package space and even a good size luggage compartment compared with similar size micro cars. The interior styling is even as daring as the exterior with a centre console which looks more than a manta raw and striking vents, switches and dials. The steering wheel even has a mock snake skin leather cover which looks surprisingly stylish. The vehicle has a pretty clever GPS system which is clear, and allow the drive to see through when it is turned off, and there is a clever sun roof which darkens at night time with some clever technology in the glass. Toyota hasn’t’ said too much about whether this car will go into production but it is pretty obvious most of that is not too far away from hitting the showrooms and a show room ready version would not be too much of a stretch from this concept. Time will tell so start saving those pennies.