The Ford Fusion hybrid gets the Lincoln treatment.
What Is It?
A hybridized Lincoln MKZ or a Lincoln-ized Ford Fusion hybrid—either would be an accurate description of the 2011 Lincoln MKZ hybrid. Indeed, if you know anything about Ford’s excellent Fusion hybrid (a 2010 10Best winner), very little about its new-for-’11 entry-luxury twin will present any surprises. The MKZ hybrid drives its front wheels only and is powered by the same combination of a 2.5-liter Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder and an electric motor, with a total system output of 191 hp. Likewise, it features the same CVT, and achieves the same impressive EPA fuel-economy ratings of 41 mpg in the city and 36 on the highway.
Craig Henderson piloted his 1,500-pound, diesel-powered Avion from Blaine WA, to Mexico - a 1,478-mile journey - and he burned just 12.4 gallons of fuel along the way. Some simple math shows that this featherweight vehicle achieved an astounding 119.1 miles per gallon, but the mileage numbers don't tell the whole story.
Henderson and partner Bill Green began designing the Avion in 1984. They set out to build a prototype high-mileage vehicle and sell it to the public. The business floundered, but Henderson couldn't let his work on the Avion be for naught. He tinkered for years and made modifications that reduced the vehicle's weight and improved its aerodynamics. The end result tips the scales at just 1,500 pounds and packs a puny, 800cc diesel engine. Due to the Avion's light weight and enhanced aerodynamics, a scant four horsepower is required to maintain speeds of 55 miles per hour.
Henderson organized the run from Washington to Mexico as a promotional stunt to showcase the vehicle's abilities. On August 29th, Henderson fired up the Avion and took to the roads. His 1,478-mile trip ended three days later near Chula Vista, CA and eclipsed the Avion's own record-setting result of 103 mpg back in 1986. In 2008, the car managed 113.1 mpg. The car was entered (and then dropped out of) the Automotive X-Prize but Henderson's promotional run has renewed his interest in selling the Avion. We're inclined to believe that this mileage champ could win buyers over on its fuel-sipping abilities alone.
Encouraged by the success of the Genesis, Hyundai drives further up-market.
When Hyundai announced the Genesis luxury sedan in 2008, some were skeptical. A $40,000 Hyundai? But the Genesis has been a hit with buyers, outselling the Audi A6 and Lexus GS combined. After two years on the market, sales of the Genesis are still increasing. Hyundai says this is a sign that American consumers are seeing the brand differently, and are ready for Hyundai to head even further up-market. And so, with the 2011 Equus, the company has its sights set on the top of the luxury heap: cars like the Lexus LS and Mercedes-Benz S-class.
Some days are a little more exciting than others, and today certainly falls in the former category: McLaren dropped by the office to show off its new MP4-12C supercar. (A full gallery lives at the end of this post.) While neither the company reps nor the factory technical specialist handed over the keys, they were kind enough to let us poke around it for a bit. We also heard a few more details on the car itself, got an update on the brand’s relaunch in the U.S., and were impressed by the nearly absurd measures taken to reduce weight.
Revealed last September, the MP4-12C is motivated by a twin-turbocharged, 592-hp, 3.8-liter V-8, which was developed by McLaren in partnership with Ricardo. Now that we’ve all seen the car in person, we agree that it looks better than in photos, especially with this car’s matte-black wheels. A few editors still think it’s a little bland in the styling department, however, although the fact that the body panels exist solely for aerodynamic purposes is a good excuse.
Weight remains an obsession for McLaren, and it offered this pearl of an anecdote to show just how far it went: The supplier building the magnesium cross brace had planned to emboss the part—in raised lettering—with the McLaren name; McLaren rejected the idea because it would add weight, instead suggesting that the lettering be recessed into the brace. The resultant weight savings: approximately a hundredth of an ounce. But wait (or is it weight?), there’s more (or less): The wiring for the car uses hexagonal sheathing in order to keep things tidy—they fit together better than round ones—and inside you’ll find wires made from aluminum, rather than the traditional copper, saving roughly nine pounds. This infatuation with avoiding fatness has resulted in a claimed dry weight of 2866 pounds; we expect a curb weight of roughly 3200 pounds, or about 200 lighter than a Ferrari 458 Italia.
With the über-rare McLaren F1 a distant memory now, McLaren is launching this brand essentially from scratch, and it has linked up with experienced exotic-car dealers in eight North American markets: San Francisco (Marin County); Los Angeles; Chicago; Dallas; Greenwich, Connecticut; Tampa; Toronto; and Miami, with plans for dealers in Philadelphia and Newport Beach, California, as well. McLaren expects to have somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 North American dealerships as the company grows over the next decade.
McLaren elaborated on its plans to build a lineup of two-seat sports cars—no SUVs! no sedans!—saying that it will introduce a new model every year until mid-decade, for a total of four models including the MP4-12C. Expect the list to include convertible and higher-performance MP4-12C variants, as well as a second, all-new car.
Before additional McLarens arrive, though, the MP4-12C must go on sale; it will arrive in the summer of 2011 as a 2012 model. The base price will be between $225,000 and $250,000, and there will be options galore. The extras on the car we saw today included carbon-ceramic brakes; navigation; carbon-fiber engine-bay trim; and a front-, rear-, and in-car multi-camera system that allows the owner to export the footage via USB to a flash drive—perfect for analyzing track days. Beyond that, McLaren will of course trim your supercar however you like, and it has already had the sort of bizarre requests that lead to things such as, say, all-canary-yellow Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupés. (Google it and then rinse your eyes.) Yes, that’s vulgar, but after hearing the small V-8 roar to life in the parking lot (hear it for yourself in the video above), we’re thinking we could learn to live with even a bright-pink MP4-12C.
This infatuation with avoiding fatness has resulted in a car that McLaren says has a dry weight of 2866 pounds, meaning that we can expect a curb weight of roughly 3200—that’s some 200 pounds lighter than a Ferrari 458 Italia.
Until now, one of the big downsides of battery electric vehicles (EVs) was the risk of running out of energy before getting back to a charging station. When an internal combustion vehicle runs dry, a driver can always call roadside assistance to bring some fuel or just hike to a station and bring back a can of gas or diesel. Under the same circumstances, an EV would require a tow to an outlet somewhere.
A research team led by Zafer Sahinoglu at the Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories in Cambridge, MA is developing a system of portable chargers that could be deployed to locations where EVs run low. The plan would be to equip electric vehicles with live telemetry that transmits battery state of charge and location information to a central server. The portable charging stations would likely be a giant battery pack on wheels that would be charged at a central depot and then sent to wherever EVs need replenishment. Supposedly, five mobile units could cover 100 EVs on a 60-mile stretch of highway. Sahinoglu is presenting his concept at the Vehicular Technology Conference in Ottawa, Canada, this week.
Opel GTC Paris - Click above for high-res image gallery
With the recent launch of the LaCrosse and Regal, it's clear that the big, floaty Buick sedan is a thing of the past. However, the debut of the Opel GTC at the upcoming Paris Motor Show begs the question; will we soon see a Buick hot-hatch to take on the Volkswagen GTI? The GTC is a stylish, three-door hatchback version of the latest-generation Astra compact that debuted last year. Buick has already confirmed that it will introduce a four-door sedan version of the Astra in the U.S. market (which may or may not be called the Verano).
As usual, Buick doesn't like to talk about unannounced products, but we can't help but wonder how a three-door like this with a waterfall grille can succeed in America? Imagine a base version with the 1.4-liter turbocharged inline-four from the Cruze and a performance variant with the 220 horsepower, 2.0-liter direct-injected turbo from the Regal. That latter engine is what Opel has installed in the show-car, along with an automatic start-stop system and six-speed manual gearbox. We'd drive one.
Mark your calendars, dust off your driving shoes, practice your electric car speak and get ready to pilot the world's first mass-produced, battery-powered family vehicle of the modern age. The Nissan Leaf is headed your way and test drives are coming to an area near you. We'd recommend that you schedule a drive ASAP, but the choice is certainly yours.
Nissan's Drive Electric Tour kicks off on October 1 and the company has revealed tour dates, locations and has provided a nifty button on its website, which allows you to schedule a test drive of its breakthrough electric vehicle. The Drive Electric Tour starts with a stop at the AltCar Expo in Santa Monica, CA. For the first leg of the tour, the Leaf will travel along our nation's west coast. By December, the Leaf will make its way across the southern portion of the U.S. The tour concludes in Nashville, TN near the end of March. Tour dates and locations are posted on the Drive Nissan Leaf site. If this sounds like a must-attend event, hit up the site, schedule your drive and then patiently wait for your chance to pilot the "game-changing" Nissan Leaf. Hat tip to Michael!
Shawn Lawless on his record-breaking electric motorcycle - Click above to watch video after the jump
It appears the guys over at Orange County Choppers have put their bike building skills to good use on another battery-powered machine. This time, instead of a fancy looker meant to generate headlines and adorn a corporate office somewhere, the motorcycle in question was purpose built to accomplish a set of not-so-modest missions: to be the quickest and fastest electric motorcycle on the planet.
OCC teamed with long-time builder and racer Shawn Lawless on the project for a two-part episode that should air sometime this Fall. On August 29th, Lawless piloted the brand new beast down the dragstrip at Quaker City Raceway and wrested away the quarter-mile crown (though not the official NEDRA record) that had adorned the handlebars of the Killacycle for quite some time. The new time? 7.77 seconds at 165 miles per hour.
While you can learn all the details when the episodes are broadcast, we have learned a few powertrain details. The 13" motor is a 200+ lb. brute that was originally rebuilt to motivate Denis Berube's S-10 called "Smoke Screen." With the help of an undisclosed amount of A123 cells, the DC unit should put out about 600 horsepower and is running at 360 volts. Hit the jump for a shaky-cam view of the run as well as smoke-filled footage from its very first crack at a track.
Knowing full well that automotive journalists, like children, often do the exact opposite of what they’re told, BMW has registered the domain dontblogaboutthis.com and posted pictures of a mysterious prototype car plastered with the address. The car shown wears dead-for-2011 BMW 6-series coupe body panels aft of the A-pillars, though the text notes, “This is more than a 6-series. But the car is not yet in its final stage.”
Now for the clue-mongering. Out back, there is but a single, small exhaust tip. The tires, which are labeled “TEST,” are large enough in diameter to fill the wheel wells, yet their 195 width looks far too skinny for the 6er body. The wheels themselves are flat with five elongated holes and, despite their narrowness, stick out enough from the body that fender extensions were necessary.
When lightened via the magic of Photoshop, the image showing the front end reveals an unusual hood design with several panels intersecting at various angles. The hood very obviously does not meet up with the 6-series’ cowl. The front fascia, too, stretches lower and appears to sport unusual fins, likely aerodynamic aids. Finally, the accompanying videos show the prototype car moving with very little noise, suggesting either a quiet, efficient engine or some kind of electric drive.
All this leads us to believe that, rather than a new 6-series or a replacement for the recently departed M6, this car is an engineering mule for some other future BMW product. One strong possibility, given the skinny tires, aero tweaks up front, and wind-cheating wheels, might be an EfficientDynamics vehicle of some sort. (Remember the wacky Vision EfficientDynamics concept from last year’s Frankfurt show, the one BMW says will be produced?) The fact that the company is making the effort to supply us with faux spy shots supports the idea that this is some kind of future feather-in-the-cap car. We’ll let you know when we learn more, but for now be sure to check the rest of the internet for baseless, rampant speculation.
While the rumors continued fly, Toyota never confirmed its intent to build a Yaris-based hybrid and, without official word from the company, the number of speculative reports quickly dwindled down to nothing. Until now. Reuters is reporting that Toyota will begin production of its Yaris-based hybrid at its factory in France next April. Unsurprisingly, Toyota still won't comment on future plans, but the report suggests that the hybrid version will be built alongside the conventional Yaris. Citing the Mid-Japan Economist, Reuters also notes that the Yaris hybrid will be available in Europe, but it appears as though the surging strength of Japanese yen could keep Toyota's subcompact hybrid away from U.S. soil.
OCC teamed with long-time builder and racer Shawn Lawless on the project for a two-part episode that should air sometime this Fall. On August 29th, Lawless piloted the brand new beast down the dragstrip at 
