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Rudy Heeman, an inventor in New Zealand, has created a flying hovercraft. We’ll admit right now that it has little nothing to do with cars, but it is ridiculously cool.
Heeman wants to make and sell them for only $13,000. Maybe it’s time for us to just sell the car and move someplace with waterways for roads. Follow the jump to check it out. Hat tip to Duy!
While most automakers have scaled back their auto show vehicle press introductions due to budgetary cutbacks or newfound modesty, Mercedes-Benz hasn’t forgotten the value of theater.
As part of its press conference today showing off several models, the Three Pointed Star kept it flashy with dancers who tubed and bungied in from the ceiling, not to mention the lights blaring debut of the SLS AMG F1 safety car with Messrs. Rosberg and Schumacher inside. Peeling back the frosting, the real focus of Benz’s show is this car, the F 800 Style concept.
Said to preview the next CLS, the F 800 Style is a plug-in hybrid with a 272-horsepower gasoline-fed V6 engine. Together with the electric motor, the combination is said to be good for over 400 horsepower and incorporate an electric-only range of 18 miles. Benz also says that the F 800 Style could incorporate a fuel cell powertrain.
The five-passenger sedan looks quite tidy in person, with a shorter tapered trunk than the current CLS, and indeed, the entire concept appears smaller than the aforementioned, with a bluffer face that is said to presage the new face of Mercedes. When viewed in profile, the front looks almost Maserati GranTurismo. read more »
Just as the new sixth-generation BMW 5 Series sedan goes on sale in Europe, a new station wagon variant has been unveiled. Like past editions of the 5 Series Touring, this one is essentially the same as the sedan, only with the roof extending straight back to enclose a substantially larger cargo area.
All of the fancy new technology that we’ve already seen in the 5 Series Gran Turismo and sedan is carried over into the Touring. That includes the driver assistance systems like the surround-view cameras and parking assist.
Underhood, BMW’s twin-turbo 4.4-liter V8 won’t be available at launch, but a selection of gas and diesel four- and six cylinder engines will be offered. The range-topping 535i is powered by the new 300-horsepower 3.0-liter N55 twin-scroll turbo direct-injected inline-six.
Single-turbo versions of the 2.0-liter inline-four and 3.0-liter inline-six diesels are also available with 184 hp and 245 hp respectively. The four-cylinder 520d Touring gets an EU combined fuel economy rating of 45.2 miles per gallon (U.S.) with the 530d also scoring an impressive 36.8 mpg. read more »
Lotus is officially returning to the IndyCar series in 2010 in partnership with engine builder Cosworth and KV Racing. Lotus, as you well know, has a long history with Indy-style open-wheel racing, dating back to the early 1960s. Its exploits include a victory by Jim Clark in 1965 and the all-wheel-drive, turbine-powered cars that arrived a few years later.
A few weeks ago, Lotus announced a revival of its cooperation with Cosworth for both road and race cars. The new collaboration with KV is described as being both technical and commercial.
It’s not clear at this point what Cosworth will contribute from a technical perspective, since all the current IndyCars run Honda V8s. Perhaps KV will provide a platform upon which Cosworth can test and develop a new engine for the next-generation IndyCar regulations that are in the works. read more »
We already know that Audi plans to fit the standard R8’s 420-hp, 4.2-liter V8 into its all-new Spyder variant early next year, and now comes word that at least one more version of the R8 is in the pipeline and that the R tronic sequential automatic might not be long for this world.
According to company insiders speaking with Car and Driver, the herky-jerky gearbox will likely be dispatched in favor of Audi’s new seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.
There’s no word on the amount of torque the DCT can handle, but considering how much better the R8 V10 performed with the standard sequential tranny, we’d suspect that the dual-clutch setup will make its way onto the V8 models only. And if you’re worried about the gated six-speed manual being nixed from the options list, don’t be – it will continue to be available on all models. read more »
The DeTomaso Guarà was the last project of company founder and namesake, Alejandro de Tomaso. First shown at the Geneva Motor Show in 1993, the Guarà could be had as a closed-roof coupe or open-top barchetta.
A more practical canvas-roof Spider was eventually added as well, but only five were ever made. The Guarà was based on the 1991 Maserati Barchetta Stradale concept and was built from 1993 through 2004, when the struggling Italian automaker went into liquidation.
During its production run, 10 to 12 Barchettas and about 50 Coupés were built, along with the handful of Spiders. The early cars, including all of the Spiders, were powered by a BMW 4.0-liter V8 putting out a modest 272 horsepower.
Later cars, and all, um, two of the cars that have somehow found their way into America are powered by a 320-hp version of the Ford 4.6-liter V8 from the Mustang Cobra. read more »
By and large, the Geneva Motor Show isn’t like U.S. auto shows in that grandiose press conferences just don’t exist like they do here.
Or, at least, like they used to here. Most vehicles just show up on the show floor and we snap photos at a fevered pace in an effort to get those pics to you as quickly as possible. The upside for us is that we can rip through posts at a fevered pitch for your enjoyment.
The downside is that every once in a while we miss something, and this year we forgot to cover the Dacia Duster, though we did tell you about it in advance. Still, our bad.
Renault’s Romanian-bred SUV is built to be affordable, attractive and capable, with a 30 degree approach and a 36 degree departure for relatively some serious off-roading. The Duster even comes diesel-ready, with a 105 horsepower, 266 pound-feet of torque powerplant that we’d love to try for ourselves. read more »
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