Lotus Track Tests Hybrid Evora 414E

Lotus Cars – that other Brit sports car maker – has announced the commencement of track testing on it’s Evora 414E Range Extended Hybrid Electric Concept. Testing is taking place at the company’s RAF Hethel track in Norfolk.

Lotus says it’s devoloping the 414E Hybrid to showcase the company’s new developments in plug-in, range-extended electric propulsion, new electronic technologies to enhance driver involvement. We reckon just wow would have been a sufficient reason. Anyone who’s driven the Karts that Lotus turns out will recognise the potential for superfast, extra-sporty electric hybrid racing.

From the outside it looks like Lotus has been evolving, lightening and tightening vehicles since the Elise specifically for this latest batch of low to the ground, corner loving karts. In 414E, Lotus Engineering has developed a highly efficient, high performance drivetrain system consisting of twin motors each limited providing 155 kW of power and 500 Nm of torque to each wheel :: Read the full article »»

DMC Back To The Future, AGAIN?

Goes around, comes around, what’s old is new again and LiLo! 3 common epigrams that seem to dictate the future, as the television man says “but wait there’s more” “The car of the future has really become the car of the future,” joked James Espey, a vice president at DeLorean Motor Company of Humble, Texas. In 1975 GM auto Exec J.Z. Delorean – most noted for the Pontiac GTO – started a small auto company with a huge name, DeLorean, and though his ill fated venture would last only 7 years, thanks to some spectacular publicity – Back to the Future – the thought has stuck. J.Z.DeLorean died in 2005, his legacy lives on. DMC – DeLorean Motor Company reinvented itself via Texas entrepreneur Stephen Wynne acquired the remaining parts inventory and the uberstylized DMC logo trademark. We’ve been speculating on a reinvention of the DeLorean since October 2010, well it’s closer now than it ever has been. Fast Forward, October 2011: DMC has partnered with electric-car start-up Epic EV to develop the Electric DeLorean. The original DeLorean was slow, unreliable and production ceased after just one year, when the company filed for bankruptcy in 1982. Just 9,200 DMC-12′s left the factory. Wynnes DMC EV will use 80 per cent of the DeLorean’s original parts and will be unleashed on the world in late 2013 M★D READ MORE

Nissan's JUKE-R: All I Want For Xmas!

The marriage of Nissan and Renault has seen the pair produce some pretty nifty crossover designs, this however has to take the cake. Nissan in it’s effort to stay ahead of the current dullness out there in the motoring world is building two Juke-R concept cars. The tiny pocket rockets will be kitted with an all-wheel-drive drive-train and a heart stopping 480 bhp 3.8-liter twin-turbo V6 engine, the same motor hiding inside the Nissan GT-R supercar, ouch. The ubercompact Juke crossover has been a sales smash hit thoughout Europe where more than 100,000 units have been sold in the first twelve months. The performance of the tiny super-city car is not yet known, but given the horsepower and dimensions of the vehicle, it will no doubt be one of the fastest accelerating roadcars in existence.The cars are being built by RML for Nissan Technical Centre for Europe (NTC-E) with a view to testing the public’s reaction to a seriously sporty Juke. CONSIDER IT TESTED! Juke-R is all I want for Christmas thanks! B★C READ MORE

PSA Peugeot-Citreon VeLV Electric City Runabout

Peugeot, hmmm, they’ve always made a decent enough Looking automobile, a little lacking perhaps on the reliability front – Peugoet Drivers Be Quiet, servicing your car EVERY month isn’t normal – aside from that little nugget, if don’t fit into a slimline blue pencil skirt or loafers and cardigans, they’ve never really been inspiring. Adding to that image, Peugeot has released pix of it’s latest concept, the VeLV. In fairness to Peugeot, it looks like their partners, Citreon may have had a heavy hand in designing this commuter. VeLV is a French acronym that translates to City Light Electric Vehicle – the PSA concept debuted at a Paris innovation forum where the company said its baby would be aimed at corporate fleets, rental companies, car-sharing schemes and private buyers who fancy a second car or just a round-town runabout. M★S READ MORE

Land Rover Defender DC100

Land Rover owners are an odd breed - I know this because I too suffer this disease - they tend to NOT embrace change, until of course it’s here, then they spout the wonders of good British design. Model changes are a rare thing for the ubercool off-roader. When they do happen, purests around the globe tend to get all vocal over how the brand is being watered down and spout 1000 non-nonsensical reasons why Land Rover should hold on to her old values. Of course the newer models are built tonka truck tough, with a brilliant eye for aesthetics, blah blah blah. As an avid admirer and indeed driver of Land Rover, I’m excited at the idea of an evolved new version, and evolution is precisely what Land Rover has just unveiled at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show – Die Hards Turn Away Now! - Land Rover has just taken the wraps off its already controversial DC100 Concept in Frankfurt. Land Rover says the concepts are intended to float new ideas and spark debate on the design of the next-generation Defender which is slated for production 2015. Land Rover has also tossed-up some interesting possibilities as to what sort of high-tech kit might find a home in future models. Normally this would simply be rhetoric, Land Rover has however always taken feedback from it’s buyers very seriously B★C READ MORE