Thursday, May 29, 2008

EV future: Nissan Cube

The image below shows a glimpse of the production version of the Nissan Cube, a car that Nissan has promised to be one of the first real-life series-production Electric Vehicles. Momentum is certainly building as Nissan establishes a joint-venture with NEC to manufacture Li-ion batteries for the car. Those batteries had their last appearance in a forklift concept vehicle. Between today and 2012 the keyword for Nissan and other manufacturers that are promising EVs is "to deliver".

Friday, May 23, 2008

BMW F3/V3 (NOT!)

According to Motor "Authority" and Worldcarfans the image below shows the next BMW V3/F3 lifestyle 3 series version. Or if you prefer, another niche-filling super-profit generating thing from BMW. I know that in reality the car is actually a E91 touring mule performing cooling testing for the new X1 small SUV. This is what I know, the interested reader can believe it or not, after all they are the "authority". Maybe I should rename this blog to Auto-future-authority. Maybe I will do that when restyling the blog, it has the same design for about two years, the orange header and everything... but probably will not restyle the blog anyway cuz I'm like super-lazy.

The F3/V3 will arrive later in the program, so no mules for now. First we will meet the next X3 and X4 and X1, just to mention niche vehicles related to the 3-series platform. I'm much too bored about these BMW vehicles and all the market niches they find. I care much more about their future EV offer under the 4th brand (named iSetta or some othe cool name they find).

Monday, May 19, 2008

EV Future: iMiEV hill-climbing test run

Mitsubishi is showing lots of videos of the i-EV. They are really showing commitment. And they really need to make it happen and make it right. We all need!

Monday, May 12, 2008

BMW 5er

The image below shows a great-looking photoshop of the next 5-series, in this case, the M5 version. I can't add much more information than on a previous post so here it is, just an updated image.

A warning to frequent readers: this joint will not be updated during the rest of the week. Probably you wouldn't notice anyway... in any case, during the next week or so, I am Niko Bellic.

Friday, May 09, 2008

Toyota iQ features video (our Car of The Year 2008)

A great video showing technical features of the Toyota iQ. You can see why it is a great car and brings real innovation and quality to this segment. I just don't like the final motto: "The ultimate refined urban mode of transportation". How much is this thing going to cost, more than a Yaris?

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Ferrari Dino

A gorgeous looking CGI. The "new Dino" is not very close to the original, for example, it will have a V8 instead of the V6 of the original. But then, with anything less than a V8 the new car would not be a proper Ferrari, right?... just like the original Dino... For now this new car will be a great opportunity to further share costs and components with Maserati and thus increase profits.

Friday, May 02, 2008

Peugeot 408: design frozen

Still about two years for the official presentation of the next mid-size Peugeot but we have credible information that the design is frozen and can be adequately previewed in the image below. First mules are running under Citroen C5 sheetmetal but anyway the car will share a lot with its chevron brother. Hopefully Peugeot will make the design more mature and less cartoonish than the current car ensuring long-term profitability.