Carbon Fiber
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Everyone is talking about carbon fiber these days. The material, well-known for its strength and relative lightness to steel and aluminum, is finally beginning to become less exotic than it once was. BMW plans to lead the charge toward extensive use of the material. BMW is already investing heavily in carbon fiber, with a focus for now on its i sub-brand. In a partnership with SGL Group, a leading manufacturer of carbon fiber, BMW is building a U.S. plant to produce the lightweight stuff. It has already revealed the carbon fiber structure of the upcoming i3, and it's pushing carbon fiber...
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Audi Working On Lightened R8 ‘NF’ Supercar?
Audi already has a lighter and more hardcore version of its R8 supercar, the new 2011 Audi R8 GT, which comes packing a 560 horsepower V-10 engine and a 220 pound lighter curb weight than the regular R8 V10 model. However, according to a new report, Audi engineers are developing an even lighter...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Audi Latest To Form Carbon Fiber Partnership
The common theme of late amongst the major luxury automakers is to form industry partnerships with experts in the field of advanced lightweight structures, with an aim to eventually build lighter cars that are still relatively safe in the quest for improved fuel economy. We’ve already seen...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Report: BMW May Lease First Batch Of Megacity Vehicles
With the launch of its new Megacity Vehicle, BMW’s first production vehicle with an electric drivetrain and full carbon fiber construction, the luxury automaker will essentially be launching a whole new class of vehicle. It will be technologically advanced, fun-to-drive and premium, yet it...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Daimler Forms Carbon Fiber Joint Venture With Japan’s Toray
As we first reported back in April of last year, German auto giant Daimler and Japanese carbon specialist Toray will be forming a partnership to speed the development and manufacture of lightweight carbon fiber components for cars. This week the two firms have announced plans to form a joint...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Video: Lexus LFA Carbon Fiber Loom In Action
In the latest episode of the Lexus ‘The Hard Way’ promo, a series that details the intricacies involved in manufacturing Lexus vehicles, the automaker shows off its advanced mechanical loom that’s used in creating carbon fiber pieces for its LFA supercar. Using a similar process...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Earlier this year reports came out claiming that the upcoming Aston Martin One-77 supercar, which is to be produced in a limited run of just 77 cars, had already been sold out and that 10 of the cars were going to just one buyer from the Middle East. While these reports later proved to be untrue, the One-77 has been a roaring success for Aston Martin and most of the cars have in fact been accounted for--despite a pricetag ranging as high as $1.87 million before taxes are included. According to Aston Martin, 60 of the 77 supercars have been sold. Interestingly, most of the One-77 customers are...
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Lamborghini Drops Sixth Teaser For New Paris Concept
The 2010 Paris Auto Show gets underway this week, and that means so is Lamborghini's upcoming Paris concept. Today we have a new teaser image of the concept in addition to Lamborghini's original sports car "manifesto." The game is about to change for Lamborghini, and this is how it will happen...
Nelson Ireson -
Lamborghini Announces Advanced Composites Research Center (ACRC)
Having already established the Advanced Composite Structures Laboratory (ACSL) at the University of Washington in the U.S., and having recently shown off its carbon-fiber talents at a composites tradeshow in Paris, Lamborghini is already well poised to be a leader in the auto industry when it comes...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Lamborghini Shows Off Carbon-Fiber Talents At Composites Show In Paris
Carbon-fiber is seen by many in the auto industry as one of the most effective ways of reducing vehicle weight and improving fuel economy and emissions levels, but the relative expense of the material means that it’s still reserved for only a handful of high-end production cars. BMW has...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
ZF Unveils Carbon-Fiber MacPherson Suspension Strut
Carbon-fiber is seen by many in the auto industry as one of the most effective ways of reducing vehicle weight and improving fuel economy and emissions levels, but the relative expense of the material means that it’s still reserved for only a handful of high-end production cars. BMW has...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
BMW Building U.S. Carbon-Fiber Plant For Future Megacity Vehicles
BMW is partnering with carbon-fiber and composites expert SGL Group to build a new manufacturing plant in Moses Lake, Washington that will specialize in lightweight carbon-fiber products for the automotive industry--BMW's upcoming Megacity vehicle. For those who don’t know, the Megacity vehicle...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
The Automobili Lamborghini Advanced Composite Structures Laboratory will provide the setting for testing and machining of carbon-fiber materials.
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Audi A5 Aluminum Prototype Sheds 220-Pounds
Audi has swapped the steel construction of the A5 Coupe for aluminium and carbon-fiber to save up to 220-pounds.
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Elite unveils hardcore, lightweight LMV/R Aston Martin Vantage
There's no shortage of customized or modified Aston Martins, Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Porsches, but few go as all-out toward pure, unadulterated speed as the Elite LMV/R. Comparing its creation to Lamborghini's Superleggera cars or Ferrari's Scuderia and Stradale offerings, the Elite LMV/R, based...
Kenneth Hall -
Mega gallery: Mansory's 1,100hp Vincero Bugatti Veyron
Customized Bugatti Veyrons are almost as common as the cars themselves, which is to say not common at all. But this particular car, modified by Mansory, is less common than even most other custom Veyrons. In March, at the Geneva Motor Show, the modified Veyron was put on display for the first time...
Nelson Ireson -
Brembo forms new joint-venture to bring carbon ceramic brakes to the masses
Seek out any modern supercar and chances are you'll see some carbon ceramic brake discs behind its wheels, often with the Brembo logo emblazoned on them. Now, Brembo is announcing a new partnership with SGL Group, a company specializing in carbon-fiber production, and together the two will jointly...
Kenneth Hall -
Schedoni unveils new carbon-fiber briefcase
As an expensive and hard to manufacture material, carbon-fiber is usually found in high-end applications such as supercars and airplanes but now an Italian company is offering up some carbon-fiber briefcases that should prevent any limp-wristed execs from straining themselves too much. The new...
Jeremy Weber -
Japanese tuning house Wald International has a wide range of styling and performance kits for nearly every major luxury car brand on the market, but this time the company has focused its attention on a humble Nissan, albeit one of the fastest Nissans ever produced. The car is the Nissan GT-R, a vehicle whose lines and shape were dictated almost exclusively by the drive for optimal aerodynamics. New photos reveal the car in more detail than ever before, highlighting Wald's precision work. Improving on the original design would be a tough task for any tuner, and not surprisingly most of the...
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Acer unveils Ferrari 1200 notebook
The somewhat odd tie-up between laptops and supercars has taken another step forward with Acer's latest Ferrari edition laptop, the 1200. This time around the package is a 12.1in ultraportable with impressive specs for such a small computer. Released in the UK, the 1200 features a 12.1in...
Ralph Hanson -
IDING Power Ferrari F460GT conversion
With more power and even more aggressive aerodynamics than the factory-built 430 Scuderia, IDING Power's new F460GT offers a new take on a super-performing F430 variant. Boring out the engine and replacing stock parts with carbon fiber are the primary modes of improvement. As the name suggests, the...
Kenneth Hall -
Porsche 911-based W3 Triposto extreme custom
Custom Porsche 911s are almost as common as the cars themselves, but the W3 Triposto is not likely to be lumped in with the crowd. With a center-seated driving position, speedster profile and outlandish design, the Triposto is anything but common. Built in 2005 by Clyde and Hugh Kwok, a father-son...
Alex Kaufmann -
Prototype carbon fiber child seat takes inspiration from racing
The Art Center College of Design has turned out some of the most highly regarded designers in the automotive industry, including Chip Foose, Chris Bangle, Henrik Fisker and Frank Stephenson. One of the college's current students has now unveiled a prototype carbon fiber child seat modeled after a...
Ralph Hanson