Lexus Rocks the F-Sports at SEMA 2009

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  • Tesla To Build Model S Sedan Plant In California

    Tesla To Build Model S Sedan Plant In California October 30th, 2009 By Nelson Ireson's avatar Nelson Ireson, Author, October 30th, 2009 Nelson Ireson 4 Comments

    Tesla To Build Model S Sedan Plant In California

    Regardless of what Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger may or may not be saying between the lines to California assemblyman Tom Ammiano, his message is clear when it comes to Tesla Motors: a break on the sales tax on $320 million worth of equipment has enticed Tesla to build its new sedan plant within the state's borders.

    The exact location for the plant isn't yet known, but the cities of Long Beach and Downey are both front runners. This would put the sedan plant--where Tesla will build its 2012 Model S Sedan--near the Los Angeles area, rather than midway up the coast where its current Menlo Park offices are located.

    About $238 million will be...

    Regardless of what Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger may or may not be saying between the lines to California assemblyman Tom Ammiano, his message is clear when it comes to Tesla Motors: a break on the sales tax on $320 million worth of equipment has enticed Tesla to build its new sedan plant within the state's borders. The exact location for the plant isn't yet known, but the cities of Long Beach and Downey are both front runners. This would put the sedan plant--where Tesla will build its 2012 Model S Sedan--near the Los Angeles area, rather than midway up the coast where its current Menlo Park offices are located. About $238 million will be spent on the plant itself, while another $59 million will go to upgrade the existing Palo Alto powertrain production facility. All of these funds come from the U.S. Department of Energy loan secured earlier this year, worth $465 million. The 2012 Tesla Model S sedan, in addition to being seriously good-looking, is expected to be one of the first all-electric sedans to market. It will also carry forward some of the perform legacy built by the Tesla Roadster, with an expected 0-60 mph time of 5.5 seconds in the running with many gasoline sports sedans. In some configurations the sedan will also be capable of a 300 to 600-mile range. Starting price for the Model S will be $57,500, though a $7,500 tax credit will help bring its total cost down to about $50,000. It's expected to go into production by mid-to-late 2011, reaching retail sale by early 2012. [Reuters] Read More

  • BMW Joins Forces With Carbon Fiber Manufacturer For Megacity Vehicle

    BMW Joins Forces With Carbon Fiber Manufacturer For Megacity Vehicle October 29th, 2009 By Nelson Ireson's avatar Nelson Ireson, Author, October 29th, 2009 Nelson Ireson 0 Comments

    BMW Joins Forces With Carbon Fiber Manufacturer For Megacity Vehicle

    BMW's Megacity Vehicle, which will be launched under a sub-brand during the first half of the next decade, will employ a vast array of lightweight composite materials to enable its super-low emissions goals. To that end, BMW today announced a joint venture with carbon fiber and composites experts the SGL Group.

    Both the technology and the materials developed by the SGL Group will feed into the Megacity Vehicle. Ultra light yet still structurally very strong materials will be key to meeting both environmental and safety goals for the car.

    The Megacity Vehicle is expected to come under a BMW sub-brand, possibly the Isetta brand, with the...

    BMW's Megacity Vehicle, which will be launched under a sub-brand during the first half of the next decade, will employ a vast array of lightweight composite materials to enable its super-low emissions goals. To that end, BMW today announced a joint venture with carbon fiber and composites experts the SGL Group. Both the technology and the materials developed by the SGL Group will feed into the Megacity Vehicle. Ultra light yet still structurally very strong materials will be key to meeting both environmental and safety goals for the car. The Megacity Vehicle is expected to come under a BMW sub-brand, possibly the Isetta brand, with the first car under the sub-brand arriving as early as 2012. Talk of collaboration with Toyota on the project, leveraging the iQ city car platform, has also emerged, which would help BMW meet the tight timeline. Project i is the over-arching project that will spawn the Megacity Vehicle, however, meaning that not all cars built under the BMW sub-brand will necessarily share the Megacity's super-high-tech goals. Some may be simpler, cheaper, and more readily available. The Megacity Vehicle is also likely to take several years more development, with the outside window of 2014 or 2015 being more likely for retail release. The Mini E electric vehicle prototype, for example, was the first vehicle to come out of the Project i works. Still, the joint venture with the SGL Group will help BMW reach the economies of scale necessary to produce carbon fiber and carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) at volumes and prices realistic for mass production. BMW is, of course, no stranger to carbon fiber, having employed its use extensively in motorsports as well as the CSL versions of its M Division vehicles over the years. [BMW] Read More

  • Mercedes-Benz Planning New R&D Center: U.S.-Built Diesel Hybrids On The Way?

    Mercedes-Benz Planning New R&D Center: U.S.-Built Diesel Hybrids On The Way? October 28th, 2009 By Nelson Ireson's avatar Nelson Ireson, Author, October 28th, 2009 Nelson Ireson 0 Comments

    Mercedes-Benz Planning New R&D Center: U.S.-Built Diesel Hybrids On The Way?

    With the U.S. sales debut of the 2010 Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid just behind it, Mercedes is now looking to the future of its American alternative powertrain vehicles, and one of the key steps may be already in the works: today's announcement that it will open a new R&D center on the Detroit Diesel campus in Redford Township, Michigan.

    The decision works for Mercedes-Benz by allowing its Mercedes-Benz Hybrid LLC subsidiary to buy $2.3 million in equipment and invest millions more with advantageous tax rates and incentives. But the financial side of the deal is only half of the equation: the cars being developed there will use alternative...

    With the U.S. sales debut of the 2010 Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid just behind it, Mercedes is now looking to the future of its American alternative powertrain vehicles, and one of the key steps may be already in the works: today's announcement that it will open a new R&D center on the Detroit Diesel campus in Redford Township, Michigan. The decision works for Mercedes-Benz by allowing its Mercedes-Benz Hybrid LLC subsidiary to buy $2.3 million in equipment and invest millions more with advantageous tax rates and incentives. But the financial side of the deal is only half of the equation: the cars being developed there will use alternative engines, transmissions and electronics. Exactly what sort of cars might come out of the R&D center are unknown, but Mercedes has been working on hybrids, diesels and diesel hybrids for some time now. With the cessation of development on the Two Mode hybrid system in cooperation with BMW, GM and Chrysler, Mercedes may now be looking to chart its own path. That path is likely to include a diesel-electric M-Class SUV in the nearer term, following on the heels of the soon-to-be-released ML450 Hybrid unveiled earlier this year. Work for its development is already underway, but similar powertrains and the offspring of those designs are likely candidates for the testing center in Redford. Mercedes is also planning many more Hybrid and AMG models, with the all-electric SLS AMG coming in 2013 to lead the brand's alternative efforts in a flagship role. Below that halo car, a hydrogen fuel-cell B-Class vehicle is also being worked on, as are possible hybrid variants of the next-gen C-Class and current E-Class. When the CLS sees its redesign in 2011, it could also get a standard hybrid powertrain. The next major commercial step forward beyond the upcoming M-Class diesel hybrid powertrain, however, is likely to be a plug-in hybrid powertrain like that previewed in the S500 Plug-in Hybrid Concept. [Detroit Free Press] Read More

  • Subaru Talks About Hybrid Plans In Tokyo

    Subaru Talks About Hybrid Plans In Tokyo October 23rd, 2009 By Nelson Ireson's avatar Nelson Ireson, Author, October 23rd, 2009 Nelson Ireson 0 Comments

    Subaru Talks About Hybrid Plans In Tokyo

    We've covered Subaru's hybrid plans for well over a year now, and this week's details dropped at the Tokyo Motor Show confirm what we've heard before: Subaru has plans for a hybrid car, to be built with aid from corporate partner Toyota. Leveraging Toyota's already excellent hybrid platform is a no-brainer, but Subaru will have to do a lot of engineering work to develop a system suitable to its own cars.

    Speaking from the show floor, Fuji Heavy Industies president Ikuo Mori told Automotive News that Subaru won't be able to just lift Toyota hybrid systems directly--a simple transplant won't work. But that's nothing new from Subaru, with the...

    We've covered Subaru's hybrid plans for well over a year now, and this week's details dropped at the Tokyo Motor Show confirm what we've heard before: Subaru has plans for a hybrid car, to be built with aid from corporate partner Toyota. Leveraging Toyota's already excellent hybrid platform is a no-brainer, but Subaru will have to do a lot of engineering work to develop a system suitable to its own cars. Speaking from the show floor, Fuji Heavy Industies president Ikuo Mori told Automotive News that Subaru won't be able to just lift Toyota hybrid systems directly--a simple transplant won't work. But that's nothing new from Subaru, with the strong design and engineering background that's driven all of the company's automotive products. The impetus for the latest flash of discussion on the subject is Subaru's Hybrid Tourer concept, which demonstrates in a much more realistic fashion Subaru's design and platform directions for its hybrid passenger cars. Previous proof-of-concept designs like all-electric and plug-in hybrid R1 and Stella have shown off technology and future city car themes, but the Hybrid Tourer concept features a layout that's more likely to be seen here in the U.S., and in the near future. Powered by a direct-injected turbocharged 2.0-liter mill and twin electric motors, the all-wheel-drive hybrid combines the best of the fuel-saving technology with the best of Subaru's go-anywhere attitude in an attractive and spacious package. The modality of the hybrid's function is somewhat unique as well, with factors like hill ascent or descent determining the role of the gasoline and electric powerplants. Like almost all modern hybrids, the Tourer concept features stop-start technology and brake energy regeneration. Key elements of any production Subaru hybrid will be retaining the performance and utility associated with the Subaru nameplate as well as maximizing fuel efficiency and minimizing emissions. There will, of course, be compromises in the name of practicality, but we're keen to see what Subaru has in store for a final production vehicle. We don't expect to see a Subaru hybrid on the road before 2012, however, so we'll have to be patient. [Auto News - sub. req.] Read More

  • Mazda Considering SKY Diesels For U.S.

    Mazda Considering SKY Diesels For U.S. October 22nd, 2009 By Nelson Ireson's avatar Nelson Ireson, Author, October 22nd, 2009 Nelson Ireson 8 Comments

    Mazda Considering SKY Diesels For U.S.

    Mazda caught a lot of flak earlier this year for stating outright that it would answer every other brand's hybrids with clean diesels, then promptly flip-flopping and saying it was working on hybrids. Now the pendulum has swung back again, though it's likely to come to rest somewhere in the middle, with the recently unveiled SKY D diesel engine complementing the company's hybrid strategy.

    The latest news comes straight out of Tokyo as the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show continues on, with the company's head of R&D Seita Kanai saying that it makes good engineering sense, though the business case will be the hard part.

    There are applications where...

    Mazda caught a lot of flak earlier this year for stating outright that it would answer every other brand's hybrids with clean diesels, then promptly flip-flopping and saying it was working on hybrids. Now the pendulum has swung back again, though it's likely to come to rest somewhere in the middle, with the recently unveiled SKY D diesel engine complementing the company's hybrid strategy. The latest news comes straight out of Tokyo as the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show continues on, with the company's head of R&D Seita Kanai saying that it makes good engineering sense, though the business case will be the hard part. There are applications where a diesel engine is simply a better choice than a hybrid, particularly on heavy vehicles that require lots of low-end torque for acceleration or towing capacity. Lighter vehicles benefit greatly from hybrid drive because it's easier to store sufficient energy in a reasonably-sized and -priced battery pack. Whether that can readily translate into an affordable option that Americans will buy, especially in preference to a relatively efficient, direct-injection gasoline engine--something Mazda has no shortage of, especially with the gasoline models of the SKY family--is an entirely different question, however. Still, with new CAFE legislation bearing down and more and more manufacturers, including Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and even potentially Nissan, pushing forward with U.S.-market diesels, it could soon become both economically and environmentally feasible for Mazda to bring clean diesels to the U.S. What do you think? Would you rather have a hybrid, a clean diesel, or a high-efficiency gasoline engine? Why? Let us know in the comments below, or if you've got a lot to say about it, write up an article and get it published--right here at High Gear Media. Read below for details on how to get started. [Auto News - sub. req.] -------------------------------- Write your own car blog at High Gear Media! Sign up to write and tell car enthusiasts and shoppers what you think about your vehicle or today's car news and get published to High Gear Media sites like AllSmallCars, LexusReports, FamilyCarGuide and more! Read More

  • Infiniti Confirms Electric Luxury Vehicle Plans

    Infiniti Confirms Electric Luxury Vehicle Plans October 21st, 2009 By Nelson Ireson's avatar Nelson Ireson, Author, October 21st, 2009 Nelson Ireson 1 Comment

    Infiniti Confirms Electric Luxury Vehicle Plans

    So far the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show has been surprisingly eventful for hosting so few carmakers. Japan's core of brands has been hard at work releasing new products and concepts. One that almost flew under the radar was Carlos Ghosn's announcement that Infiniti will build a zero-emissions electric vehicle.

    A concept version is already being developed, with an eye toward the production vehicle's design goals of a stylish, compact, yet high-performance all-electric four-seater. Nothing else about the new car has yet been released, but it's not outside the realm of possibility that Nissan's LEAF electric vehicle will share some of its technology...

    So far the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show has been surprisingly eventful for hosting so few carmakers. Japan's core of brands has been hard at work releasing new products and concepts. One that almost flew under the radar was Carlos Ghosn's announcement that Infiniti will build a zero-emissions electric vehicle. A concept version is already being developed, with an eye toward the production vehicle's design goals of a stylish, compact, yet high-performance all-electric four-seater. Nothing else about the new car has yet been released, but it's not outside the realm of possibility that Nissan's LEAF electric vehicle will share some of its technology over to the premium Infiniti brand. External appearances are likely to be very different, however--despite sharing many platforms between the brands, there are markedly different styling and profile characteristics between Nissan and Infiniti products. Do expect there to be a fair bit of styling influence from the Essence concept, as that model is billed as a sort of distillation of the near future of Infiniti design. Rumors of a possible Infiniti-branded Audi A3/BMW 1-series-sized EV began to emerge on Monday, so the announcement wasn't entirely a surprise. Infiniti has also previously announced that it will build a hybrid version of the 2011 M sedan, due in 2012. The newly-announced all-electric compact is expected to make its debut around the same time, though no official dates have been released. [Infiniti] Read More

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