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The Saab Aero X is the latest in a series of concepts from Saab, each accentuating different brand qualities. These include the ‘four-dimensional’ 9X (IAA Frankfurt 2001), the 9-3X Cross-over
Conceived as a study to explore future design directions, its innovative features preview the development of an enhanced design language that will inspire future
The Renault Altica might be a pure styling exercise, but expect some of its design cues to appear on the next Laguna mid-size sedan. The Altica has a 2.0-liter 177-hp diesel engine mounted transversely and front-wheel drive.
The Buick Enclave is the first of the large unibody SUVs that GM is preparing to introduce in the next year.
The new platform has a 119.0-inch wheelbase and an overall length of 202.3 inches, which makes it as large as the Chevy Tahoe. Initially, the new sport-utes will be powered by V-6s - the Enclave Concept has a 270-hp, 3.6-liter V-6 - but a V-8 may become available later.
The little known Orochi concept is a creation of small Japanese car manufacturer Mitsuoka, specialists in retro concepts. The Mitsuoka Orochi is a radical design by anyone’s standards.
The name Orochi means ‘Serpent’ in Japanese, and a sinister, scaly, reptile-like resemblance is not impossible to see. The Orochi is powered by a mid-mounted 3.3 litre V6.
The Audi R- Zero concept is the work of a transport designer and two digital designers from the International Design School, France. Franck Levivier, Rémi Marchand and Pierre-Olivier Wagner’s collaboration centered around a desire to create a concept supercar for a time when the world could no longer rely on oil for a source of power.
Essential to the R-Zero’s design was a belief that despite the cars environmentally friendly credentials it should have the ability to excite.
A projected 1091 horsepower comes from four individual in-wheel electric motors powered by a row of batteries positioned just forward of the rear axle.
One of the advantages of the electric drivetrain layout is that it has allowed the R-Zero’s designers to capitalise on the cooling airflow provided by the front grille. Running the length of the Audi R-Zero is a hollow backbone frame which channels airflow in though the front grille, distributes cooling air to various temperature sensitive components - like the brakes, and then expels the air out the central rear grille.
Despite its gorgeous lines and innovative engineering, the Audi R-Zero is only a concept. There are no plans to build a working one-off. Let alone put the vehicle into production.
There’ll be some high octane thrills from
The WTCC Ultra will be the focal point of the Chevrolet stand in Hall 5 at the Paris Expo, and is much more than just a styling study.
For beneath the bold, muscular exterior, styled by 25-year old designer Ewan Kingsbury, is a fully working vehicle, that’s not just ready for the road, but raring to go on the racetrack.
The concept clearly illustrates Chevrolet’s commitment to using GM’s global resources. Kingsbury himself works for GM in Australia, while development work on the concept was carried out in the UK, Germany and Switzerland. The Ultra’s engine was built in Korea, and the prototype was assembled in Japan.
It’s equipped with a 190PS common rail turbodiesel engine, based on the 2.0-litre unit that will debut in the Captiva SUV and Lacetti models next year, and unlike most motor show styling studies is a fully-working vehicle, with performance to rival high performance petrol cars.
The concept exists as a vision of a new generation of World Touring Cars, and follows on from the success of Chevrolet’s WTCC race team, which took its second victory of the season earlier this month at Brno in the Czech Republic. British driver Rob Huff successfully held off championship leader Andy Priaulx in his BMW, and set the fastest lap time, to lead from the first lap.
Also drawing the crowds to
Is it just a clever 3-D projection or maybe a mirage of a four-wheel art object? Or is it actually a real car sitting there? Some visitors to this year’s Geneva Auto Show (March 8th thru 18th) will ask themselves just these questions when faced with the new fully transparent Rinspeed creation “eXasis.” The insect-like body and even the floor pan of the seemingly “glass” concept car from the renowned Swiss powerhouse for new designs and ideas actually consist of a transparent high-tech plastic with a tinge of pale yellow.
The “eXasis” has open wheels, a cigar-shaped body with fore and aft tandem seating, and has elements of the legendary Auto Union race cars from the first half of the last century combined with a modern Baja-1000 off-road vehicle.
The transparency “dematerializes” the car to a large extent. Behind the seemingly fading matter the spirit of the “eXasis” reveals itself: The ideas, thoughts and imagination that were the basis of its development. For Rinspeed boss Frank M. Rinderknecht the “eXasis” symbolizes this development process, a process that takes immaterial spirit and turns it into matter, transforms a mere vision into a concrete car: “And in all its transparency the “eXasis” still seems as if it hadn’t arrived fully yet in the material world.”
Definitely part of the material world is the engine of the concept car: A compact and powerful two-cylinder 750-cc engine provides some 150 environmentally friendly horsepower for swift conveyance. Bioethanol that reduces CO2 emissions powers the tiny supercharged engine. With a projected vehicle weight of just 750 kilograms thanks to plastic lightweight construction each horsepower has to account for just five kilograms - on a level with a Porsche.
Altogether these figures give plenty of reasons to expect of loads of driving fun and numerous visionary technologies and innovations from Rinspeed’s “eXasis.” A very special thrill will be the view through the transparent floor pan - it will be an absolutely unique anniversary ride.
The powertrain for the All Wheel Drive
“We believe that the FlexiFuel also has great potential for larger engine sizes and we are planning to expand our range of bio-ethanol-powered engines in the coming years,” says Magnus Jonsson, Senior Vice President, Research & Development at Volvo
The powertrain for the Volvo XC60 Concept uses the same six-cylinder, 3.2-litre, in-line petrol engine that was introduced in the all-new Volvo S80 and revised XC90 in mid-2006. The engine has been optimised for E85 (85 percent bio-ethanol, 15 percent petrol). This gives acceleration from 0–60 mph in 8.2 seconds and a top speed of approximately 143 mph. Fuel economy when running on E85 reduces to 19.2 mpg, as the energy content of ethanol is 40% lower than that of petrol.
Environmental benefits
Bio-ethanol is an entirely renewable fuel that can be produced from just about any biomass source, such as corn, wheat, sugar-cane or cellulose. On top of these environmental benefits, in many markets the car owner is compensated at the fuel pump through the lower price of bio-ethanol.
“One single renewable fuel will not be able to replace today’s fossil fuels, and the range of alternative fuels will probably be far wider in the future. Many different fuels and technologies are therefore being developed in parallel. Ethanol reduces dependency on fossil fuels and Volvo’s FlexiFuel programme makes a vital contribution to our strategy of environmental sustainability,” says Fredrik Arp, President and CEO of Volvo Cars.
Bio-ethanol – the future?
The demand for renewable bio-ethanol is growing steadily in Europe. There are already 23 plants producing ethanol in Europe which is expected to rise to just over 60 by 2008. Approximately 720 million gallons of ethanol are produced annually within the European Union, primarily from sugar beet and various grains. Capacity is expected to increase threefold by 2008.
In comparison, the USA has 101 bio-ethanol plants with a capacity of 4.8 billion gallons per year. It has a further 39 bio-ethanol refineries under construction, which will add more than 2.5 billion gallons capacity. There are already about 1,000 filling stations for E85 in the USA.
Volvo Cars has already launched a four-cylinder bio-ethanol-powered FlexiFuel engine in three of its nine models – the C30 SportsCoupe, S40 saloon and V50 Sportswagon – which are available in several European countries – Sweden, France, Norway, the Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Austria and Switzerland – and plans to introduce them to more countries in 2007, including, probably, the UK. Volvo predicts sales of 7,000 FlexiFuel cars worldwide in 2007.
