The Car Connection - Concept Cars

Dodge Resurrects HEMI Hi-Po, Retro Colors, Street Cred for SEMA

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:10:24 -0400

Despite a sick economy, days ago rumors of a merger with GM, and the tenuous scenario of being owned by Cerberus Capital Management, the Mopar folks at Dodge intend to put on one heck of a show at this year's Specialty Equipment Market Association humongo gathering (aka SEMA). We reported to you yesterday about the '09 Dodge ..

Viper V-10 Debuts in Dodge Challenger Concept

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:22:10 -0400

In what promises to be a bragging-rights, smoky burnout extravaganza, Chrysler today announces an all-aluminum 8.4-liter V-10 under the hood of its '09 Dodge Challenger SRT10 Concept headed to this year's SEMA. The engine is the same enthusiastic motivator for the brute-force Viper, and in Challenger guise it supplies 600 ..

McLaren P11 Spy Shots Released by U.K.'s CAR

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:06:05 -0400

Saying "we can't reveal our sources, for obvious reasons," U.K. publication CAR yesterday released what it claims are accurate pictures of an early clay model of McLaren's next supercar, the P11. The new vehicle is purported to continue the tradition of the legendary F1 (fastest production car from 1994 to 2005, according to ..

Podcars: Death to the Automobile?

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:16:31 -0400

If a group of urban planners, activists, and students has its way, the college town of Ithaca in upstate New York could be the first community in the United States to ditch cars in favor of automatically controlled "podcars." As reported by CNN, podcars are "driverless, computer-guided" cars that have the advantage of taking ..

Forgetting Its Past, Aston Plans Brash New Lagonda

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:24:56 -0400

Aston Martin teased a select audience at the recent Paris Auto Show with its latest concept, the "one 77." With a carbon-fiber chassis, a handcrafted aluminum body, and a 7.0-liter V-12, the one 77 will "deliver exhilarating performance for a strictly limited number of discerning [read: mega-rich] customers." It's a busy time at Aston, since ..

Hyundai Genesis Sedan Gets Bling for SEMA

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:21:07 -0400

As Buick and Toyota will tell you, purveyors of vanilla soft-serv cars love partnering with design shops to give their posh rides some visual edge. And indeed, just like Toyota's Venza and Buick's Lucerne, Hyundai's new Genesis sedan does little to offend, with smooth, clean lines and a pleasant shape that is quietly masculine. But ..

Honda to Resurrect S2000...As the S3000?

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:21:35 -0400

Auto enthusiasts the world over still lament the demise of the Honda (Acura) NSX. And legions of import tuners are still tweaking and lowering their second-gen CRXs, another Honda that was embraced by enthusiasts and promptly left a huge void when it departed in the early 1990s. Enter the rumored S3000, which is part secretive ..

MINI EV, 7 Series Hybrid, Diesels Coming to L.A. Show

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:35:49 -0400

BMW confirms it will be showing off a new all-electric MINI Cooper at the L.A. Auto Show in November. At the worldwide launch of the 2009 BMW 7 Series, company officials said that the new version of the hip, hot hatch will show up at the Los Angeles Show in advance of a plan to ship 500 to 550 copies over here, for testing ..

'E7' Police Cruiser Unveiled October 14

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:57:43 -0400

Your City's Finest will be driving around in stealthy, biodiesel-burning, custom-tailored RoboCop mean machines if Carbon Motors has anything to say about the future of police service vehicles. Carbon is critical of current police cars that it feels are little more than cobbled-together civilian sedans full of safety and ..

Mazda to Release Hydrogen Rotary, Eventually

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:02:05 -0400

Autocar claims that Mazda has confirmed that it will put a hydrogen-powered rotary engine into production, though Mazda Europe CEO James Muir said "it won't be in production for at least five years." Currently, Mazda is testing 30 hydrogen-powered RX-8s with a Norwegian company, HyNor. Muir still cites fuel sourcing and ..

Pininfarina and Bollore Give Birth to B0

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:45:36 -0400

Styling house Pininfarina and battery/supercapacitor manufacturer Bolloré have teamed up to bring B0, an all-electric vehicle, to market by the "end of 2009." Pininfarina-Bolloré, as the joint venture is called, will use Bolloré's "proprietary LMP technology," which is corporate-speak for the firm's combo of batteries and ..

Kia Soul Hybrid: 48 mpg, 0-62 in 12.3

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:35:10 -0400

We already told you about the Kia Soul Hybrid's "transparent acrylic bonnet and floor," all the better to show off its gas/electric propulsion system and battery packs. But the official view from Paris also shows a panoramic powered folding fabric roof, a rare-but-cool feature seen on the likes of the BMW 318 ti and 1963 ..

BMW 7 Series Goes ActiveHybrid at Paris Show

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 04:20:24 -0400

BMW's 7 Series ActiveHybrid Concept is on display this week at the Paris auto show. The ActiveHybrid relies on a 20-horsepower, 155 pound-foot electric motor integrated with an automatic transmission to enable fuel efficiency gains of up to 15 percent over a new nonhybrid 750i. Motivated primarily by the 5.0-liter direct ..

Renault Ondelios: The Land of the Lost Has New Wheels

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:40:00 -0400

A long time ago, on a network far, far away, there was a land where Will and Holly Marshall fought the Sleestak, fiddled with a weather matrix, and lost their father to a Dick York-style identity swap. All along, the Marshalls were looking for a way to get out of the Land of the Lost--and Renault has finally gotten around to ..

Renault Z.E.: The French Go Electric, Too

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:06:54 -0400

Renault joins the ranks of carmakers thinking about electric vehicles here at the Paris auto show with the Z.E., a Honda Element-like concept that draws power from batteries and its greenhouse, apparently, from a crate full of those inexpensive levels you find at the Home Depot. Renault actually has a nascent relationship with ..