Bentley unveils first-ever SUV in Geneva
Range Rover, roll over.
At the Geneva Auto Display, Bentley has unveiled a concept of what may be the most lavish production SUV ever built.
The EXP nine F, especially from its tapered rear, may look like a custom-made Range Rover Sport with 23-inch chrome rims. But the engine, a 600-horsepower W-12 as seen in the two-door Continental GT Speed, is unlike any Range in a Wellesley unwrap mall. The center stack is a skinny metal enclosure with a glass touchscreen — there are actual iPads in the back seat with fold-down keyboards — and the rest of the leather-swathed interior includes room for champagne flutes and a silver picnic set neatly folded in the cargo area.
Bentley will fit an 8-speed automatic transmission from its Mulsanne, but we don’t know if the EXP nine F is railing on a unique chassis or is simply a taller version of the Continental (a coupe that already weighs more than most SUVs). Bentley says it may also suggest a hybrid powertrain or the freshly introduced Four.0-liter V-8 to customers, who should likely place enough orders for the British automaker to build it next year.
But while the soft leathers and deep pools of polished wood look amazing, how much more luxurious can this Bentley SUV be from the Range Rover, the Rolls-Royce of SUVs that’s been making sumptuous trucks longer than anyone?
Last year, Range Rover introduced a limited-edition Autobiography model with similar specs to the Bentley concept: buttery-smooth semi-aniline leather covering every surface, including the roof and cargo walls; exotic forest; custom-built drink coolers and swiveling tray; two iPads; and a rear cargo floor made of solid teak. The engine? A supercharged V-8 with “just” five hundred ten horsepower. All for $170,000. The Bentley will no doubt cost the same, if not more, and likely won’t be tuned to tackle the insane off-road challenges the Range Rover can.
But competition does improve the breed, and the bloodline of thirsty, exuberant, enormous trucks doesn’t look to die, even in the face of $Five gasoline.
Rinspeed makes six-wheel Brainy car that heats pizzas
In one Smart-sized swoop, Rinspeed has solved all of our problems with electrical cars, cold pizza, and carpenters.
The Swiss concept automaker has released the very first photos of its Dock+Go, a detachable, self-powered storage box that slams on the back of an electrified Brainy ForTwo. In one example, the Dock+Go is a 2nd powertrain that extends the Clever’s driving range with a rolling battery, hydrogen fuel cell, or better still, a gasoline engine. Instead of a stubby trailer, Rinspeed describes the Dock+Go as an add-on “pack” since it buttplugs directly into the car’s rear axle to drive the wheels.
Rinspeed’s EV rental car-train combo
Every year, Swiss tuner Rinspeed fantasies up another wild car for the Geneva Auto Demonstrate, from tuned Porsches to a submersible Lotus to last year’s iPhone-controlled EV.
So far, other companies have taken petite steps. In October, an California fleet company said it would rent electrical cars at Danish train stations by 2010. Last month, Daimler began producing its electrical Brainy ForTwo in France, and also embarked a pilot car-sharing service in Austin, Texas, of gasoline ForTwos. In June, Ontario battery manufacturer Electrovaya
Genesis gets five hundred hp, mid-engine makeover
More than six months have passed since Hyundai began selling its Genesis Coupe in the US, yet no one has taken a serious crack at modifying this Korean “ponycar” to the hilt.
But with the Specialty Equipment Market Association showcase less than two weeks away, there’s now a adequately shocking example from drift racer Rhys Millen.
The RMR R460, developed by Millen’s aftermarket tuning company Rhys Millen Racing, scraps Hyundai’s balanced rear-wheel drive layout and dumps a higher-compression version of the Genesis sedan’s Four.6 liter V-8 in the hatch. This is a legitimate mid-engine configuration that, without turbochargers, produces a stout five hundred horsepower.
Fresh Zealand-born Millen, the nephew of IMSA driver Steve Millen, competes in the nascent Formula Drift series and did wheelman duty for car movies like “The Prompt and Furious: Tokyo Drift” and “The Dukes of Hazzard” remake. He’s logged slew of hours in the Crimson Bull Racing Genesis Coupe drift car, including a record twelve minute, nine 2nd time at this year’s Pikes Peak Hill Climb.
Along with a lowered assets, 20-inch wheels, covered grill, and three enormous air intakes is a sequential 5-speed manual built to withstand the hefty burnouts Millen requires on the job.
StopTech brakes substitute the factory Brembos, and a custom-made carbon-fiber hatch and minor suspension reworking accomplish the details. Hyundai says this super Genesis is good for one hundred eighty two miles per hour.
“Millen was drawn to the design similarities inbetween the Genesis Coupe and the fresh Ferrari 599XX, which influenced the vehicle’s classic low profile and race-inspired look,” according to a press release from Hyundai.
We’re not sold on that description, but this mid-engined Hyundai &mdash whether it’s for sale or not – should do slew for the company’s blossoming ego.
Local Motors exposes EV Ethylik, Rally Fighter strapped for SEMA
(All photos: Local Motors)
Wareham-based Local Motors, the start-up Massachusetts automaker behind the Rally Fighter dune racer, has exposed an all-electric hatchback concept that will be begin production in San Francisco within the next two to three years, the company said today.
The four-seat Ethylik, penned by 21-year-old French design student Ugo Spagnolo, is a hyper-aggressive styling exercise on the European hot hatch theme, to which the Ford Concentrate RS and mid-engined Renault Clio V-6 have become worthy legends.
Specifications are, at this point, speculations. Will there be an electrical motor at every wheel to match the car’s wild looks, like on the insane Mini QED concept? Or a tamer lithium-ion pack supported by a gas engine, like the Chevrolet Volt?
“We haven’t set our hearts on one yet,” said lead engineer Mike Pisani, noting that “battery technology could switch dramatically” by the time the Ethylik debuts.
Tesla Model S marks phase two of ambitious electrified plans
Tesla took the cover off its curvy Model S sedan Thursday, the 2nd phase of the Silicon Valley automaker’s lofty plan to sell electrical cars for the masses.
If the $109,000 carbon fiber Roadster signified the fresh company’s cocksure stardom against Porsche and the Italians – after all, celebrities and rich enthusiasts are on minimum one-year waiting lists – consider the Model S a detente with Tesla’s exotic rivals.
Seven people can cram into the Model S – five adults and two children in a rear-facing seat under the hatch. The entire center console is one massive 17-inch touchscreen LCD, which wasn’t demonstrated at the launch. Tesla’s bold 300-mile claim, however, will only be met by its longest-range battery (two others will suggest one hundred sixty and two hundred thirty miles). It’s likely the 160-mile battery will be standard, and the others will be very pricey options that will see the car soar past the $57,400 base price.
That puts the Model S in the range of the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, BMW five Series, Jaguar XF, and other premium sedans. But Tesla buyers can now claim a $7,500 federal tax credit for electrical and plug-in hybrid cars, which President Obama announced last week in addition to $Two.Four billion in federal grants for electrical car and battery manufacturers.
Tesla’s grand plan to produce an electrified car under $30,000 is no secret, but little more than a fantasy that’s at least four years away, if that early. With the promised 100-mile-per-gallon Chevrolet Volt next year and Ford’s two thousand twelve roll out of plug-in hybrids, Tesla will have to challenge with a slew of moderately priced EVs (and the two thousand thirteen Toyota Prius, which surely will have no less than a big fat “80” on its EPA window sticker).
According to CEO Elon Musk, Tesla is on its way to becoming profitable by mid-year after gathering $40 million in extra financing in December. That bodes well for the youthfull automaker, but as old-timers General Motors and Chrysler can attest, a lot can go wrong in a brief span of time. Hopefully nothing does until after April, when the Globe takes the Roadster for an sensational, exhaustive three-day test in California. Check Boston Overdrive in the coming weeks for more details.
Two-headed Italian city car turns up again
As automakers cut costs, perhaps they should become blatantly, honestly cheap and go after the Fioravanti Tris.
The Tris, which uses the same bumpers, lights, and doors on all sides of the car, very first debuted nine years ago and is displaying again at the Geneva Auto Demonstrate. While not much has switched since, the Tris is still a sturdy lesson in trimming manufacturing costs through the use of minimalist, modular design. Provided, of course, that style and embarrassment doesn’t matter to the driver.
If a car like the Tris ever came to production, traffic cops would permanently ticket it for parking in the opposite direction of the street. Perhaps Fioravanti could install a steering wheel in the back to clear that up.
iPhone car ignition powers Swiss concept
An array of automotive-themed iPhone applications – accelerometers, parking reminders, racing games – are little more than lovely amusements for waiting in the dentist’s office. But the most innovative and useful auto app isn’t available for download – it controls a concept car made by Rinspeed, the wild Swiss company responsible for last year’s submersible Lotus Elise.
Open the fighter jet canopy of the Rinspeed iChange, climb into the center driver’s seat, and buttplug in your iPhone. A green starter button graphic shows up; press it, and the electrified sports car is ready to go. Another button closes the canopy, while another raises it several inches to accommodate two rear seat passengers (hence the word “Switch”). Need to double-park and grab a quick sandwich? No problem, the hazard indicator switch is there, too, as well as the headlight controls.
It’s official, iPhone fanatics: song recognition and 3-D topographic maps are officially lame.
This BMW is a real PAS
So this, a lowered BMW X6, is Chris Bangle’s latest, greatest, and final creation. Where is the media firestorm this time?
Bangle, the company’s now-departed design chief, has been responsible for the most controversial cars in BMW’s history, and despite the criticism, his work has helped sell more BMWs than ever.
His signature “surface flames” and infamous “Bangle butts” have turned every BMW product launch since the two thousand two 7 Series into a group session of electroshock therapy. Aside from Infiniti’s wild FX, mainstream production cars haven’t gotten much livelier than a fresh BMW.
But Bangle’s five Series Gran Turismo concept looks very tame – and dare we say it – unoriginal, if only because the Z4, six Series, five Series, and X6 have downright desensitized the auto display crowd. We’ve seen the big nostrils before, and the figure creases and vapid, pointy rear completes.
The only bit of surprise comes from the marketing department, which never fails at adding fresh entries to the dictionary of futile automotive acronyms. Instead of admitting what the five Series Gran Turismo truly is – a crossover, inflated station wagon, or Chrysler Pacifica clone – BMW has proclaimed it the world’s very first “Progressive Activity Sedan.” According to the press release, that means it “combines the looks and appearance of a sporty BMW Sedan, a modern Sports Activity Vehicle, and a classic Gran Turismo.”
Buyers still call the “Sport Activity Vehicle” X5 a plain-old sporty SUV, and still are figuring out what the “Sport Activity Coupe” X6 actually is. When the five Series PAS debuts in Geneva next month, Chris won’t be there to explain.
If you sketch it, they will build:
Rally Fighter from Wareham
(Steve Haines/Globe Staff)
Lots of car companies claim to build fantasy cars. Almost every luxury and exotic car manufacturer has a department for special orders, and there’s no shortage of tuners that turn these cars inside-out, but aside from Louis Vuitton seats and stainless steel bondage masks, there’s not much original thought involved. Chinese brand BYD has the lofty phrase “Build Your Fantasies” in its name, but its creations are nightmares. Even Tesla Motors can’t climb its way out of a Lotus Elise.
Local Motors of Wareham, Mass., is building bespoke automobiles the old-fashioned way: take a sketch, bring the buyer into the shop at every step, and churn out a car that resembles no other set of wheels on earth. The company’s website even invites designers to rival and submit drawings for potential production.
It’s certainly courageous of CEO John B. Rogers, Jr. – a retired Marine and Harvard Business School grad – to gather millions of dollars and pay ten employees in these times. Give this man a nice federal loan – he’d deserve it.