Tags: automotive technology / concept vehicles / electric cars / Faraday Future

Faraday Future's Zero1 Concept: the Real-Life Homer

- Sabtu, 23 Januari 2016 No Comments

If you didn't catch the Faraday Future reveal of its ultra-secretive Zero1 Concept vehicle last night, you didn't miss much. I watched it online and immediately wanted that 45 minutes of my life back. The really sad part was I was excited to see what the company had in store, because I'm all for shaking things up and getting more electric cars out there.

When the sheet was pulled off  the car, the first thing I thought was that the whole thing was a joke. Like so many others, I saw the leaked photos of the FFZero1 concept online a little before the reveal, and dismissed them as pure rubbish. But there it was, plain as day, a car so zany-looking and impractical that it was shocking.

It reminded me of something I couldn't quite zero in on. Later, I realized what it was: The Homer, that ill-fated car from the Simpsons that sunk a man's career.

Instead of giving us a vehicle that is made for the everyman, Faraday Future decided to make something only billionaires could possibly afford. It's a bad foot to start off on, despite the company claiming it will quickly debut more practical models for production. Maybe it will, but right now things don't look so good.

Tesla has been struggling to really pump up its sales numbers because most people can't afford the Model S or Model X. The Model 3 will be incredibly important simply for the fact it promises accessibility.

One other thing about the Faraday Future reveal: the company's executives love the sound of their own voices. There was more talk than substance in the presentation, with the phrase "the future of mobility" thrown out at least 30 times. Topping it all off, the car on the stage was a shell, with no electric powertrain, no batteries and no fun. I won't go so far as to call Faraday Future vaporware, but I'm not defending it against people who are.

Tags: concept vehicles / crossovers / hybrids / Toyota

Toyota Hinting That the C-HR Will See Production

- Selasa, 06 Oktober 2015 No Comments

Toyota C-HR Concept. Photos courtesy of Toyota.

Toyota lately has been getting pretty bold with its designs, which are gravitating more and more toward what one would expect only from concept vehicles. Nissan's been doing something similar, but for the most part automakers have been avoiding this kind of a strategy, choosing instead to play follow the leader.

Not that long ago, Toyota was falling in line with everyone else, hence why the Avalon right now looks like it could easily be a Hyundai. While I'm not a huge fan of the edgy, geometric look of new Toyotas, nobody can accuse the company of not pushing the envelope. Personally, the huge spindle grilles on Lexus models and other angular features remind me too much of what Cadillac started doing in the early 2000s, which I hated as well.

In any case, Toyota is going to be pushing even further into uncharted waters with the possibility of the C-HR concept getting the green light to production. The design was polarizing when it was revealed at last year's Paris Motor Show.

If it does make it to market, the Toyota C-HR (or whatever the production name might be) would be a hybrid crossover that would compete in the C-segment market. Supposedly, it's designed to look like a hardened gemstone that's been cut with the greatest precision.

Will car shoppers warm to this ugly face? I have no idea, because I still can't figure out why the Nissan Juke is so popular.

Tags: concept vehicles / electric cars / hybrids / Jaguar / Land Rover

Jaguar Land Rover Working On Several Electric Vehicles

- Jumat, 02 Oktober 2015 No Comments

Photos courtesy of Jaguar Land Rover

While everyone's raving about the new Tesla Model X, few people took note of another important announcement in the quest to electrify SUVs: Jaguar Land Rover is working on several concept models that could one day lead to an electric off-road machine.

It's a smart and necessary move as more consumers begin to demand partially- or fully-electric vehicles, particularly in the luxury segments. German automakers are toying with similar ideas, which has spurred Jaguar Land Rover further even more as it quests to be taken more seriously in the grand scheme of things.

One concept has a mild hybrid powertrain. It uses brake energy to charge up a battery, which then supplies electricity for ancillary functions like the air conditioning, not moving the vehicle forward in any way. The hybrid module is located between the engine and transmission, making it a fairly compact design. Some are questioning why the automaker is even playing with a half measure, but they're forgetting it's a step in the right direction.

The second concept is a plug-in hybrid which actually uses electricity to turn the wheels. The electric motor is still placed between the engine and transmission, but the vehicle can drive using either a mixture of the gasoline engine and electric motor, or on only electricity for limited distances. This is a setup that's become increasingly common, such as the plug-in hybrid version of the new Volvo XC90.

Looking more toward the future is the third concept, which has a fully-electric powertrain. It's designed for the company's lightweight aluminum vehicle platform, which is being used successfully in several new models like the Jaguar XE. An electric motor is mated to each of the axles, meaning the vehicle is by default all-wheel drive.

Jaguar Land Rover is also playing with some other cool tech that would make better use of energy, including infrared panels strategically placed inside vehicles to help keep people warm and seats that can draw warm air through them to help everyone cool off during the summer. 

Tags: Aston Martin / Audi / Bentley / concept vehicles / Ford / Land Rover / VW

Is Ford the Copycat Automaker?

- Kamis, 02 April 2015 No Comments

Back in its heyday, Ford was responsible for some rather iconic vehicle designs, such as the original Thunderbird and the Mustang. These days the Blue Oval's designs are more infamous than breathtaking, because a growing number of people are accusing the company of outright stealing designs from other automakers.

The boiling point came recently when Bentley's head designer called out Lincoln (which Ford owns) for cribbing the design of the Flying Spur for the Continental Concept. I have to admit, the first thing I thought when I saw the new Lincoln concept was how much it looked like a Bentley, while rear fascia had a weird Audi/Volvo bastardized mixture going on. The closer I look at the vehicle, the more convinced I become that Lincoln might have actually copied the design.

2015 Lincoln Continental Concept, courtesy of Lincoln

2015 Bentley Flying Spur, courtesy of Bentley

When the new Ford Fusion launched, plenty of people said it looked like a wanna-be Aston Martin. I used to deny it, but looking at it closely there's definitely a strong resemblance that you just can't deny.


Being a Land Rover fan, I immediately noticed that the 2016 Ford Explorer is incredibly similar-looking to the Range Rover. What's funny is that a Chinese company copied the Range Rover, and people went ape. Ford does it, and I guess that's okay because it's Ford? Go figure.

2016 Ford Explorer, courtesy of Ford

2015 Range Rover, courtesy of Land Rover

I started digging more and found accounts of how Ford supposedly cribbed the design of the VW Passat to create the 2005 Ford Five Hundred, and that the Lincoln MKC is a ripoff of the Audi Q5.

2015 Lincoln MKC, courtesy of Lincoln

2015 Audi Q5, courtesy of Audi

Is Ford really so unoriginal? Can it just not design nice-looking vehicles without cheating off others' work? Sure, the company does have some original designs, like the Mustang, but the trend lately seems to be stealing from the luxury brands of Europe, which in effect cheapens their products.

Tags: concept vehicles / Japan / robot cars / Transformers

Video: Japanese Company Creates a Real Transformer!

- Senin, 27 Oktober 2014 No Comments

When I was a kid, I fantasized about having my very own robot that could transform into a car. Of course, back then Go-Bots and Transformers came about, showing through animation what I fantasized could be real. In more modern times we've been able to see such marvels in CGI (minus any real value to such movies). Now, two Japanese companies are promising that we will all be able to experience a transforming robot/car in real life.

Brave Robotics and Asratec Corp have teamed up to create a cute little transforming robot called J-deite Quarter. It's a weird name, but Japan is known for weird names (like the Acura/Honda Integra) so that's not a huge deal. It is important to understand that the robot is called "Quarter" because it really is just a quarter-scale prototype. In other words, the final product will be four times as large.

That Basically means the final (production?) product will be the size of a real car, which will make the robot pretty tall and intimidating. In fact, the companies say the little robot is 1.3 meters-tall, or about 4.3 feet-tall, so the full-size version supposedly would be over 17 feet-tall! The goal for making such a thing is the year 2020, so mark that year as the time when our robot overlords finally come into being.

In all seriousness, people are wondering why the robot has been built, and what is the point of the upcoming life-size version. Are they going to be for military operations? Comic book conventions? Dangerous outdoor rescue operations? For now nobody is saying, but it still seems like a cool idea I would gladly drop money on if I was too burdened with large sums of cash.

Tags: concept vehicles / front-wheel drive / Honda / Nurburgring / performance vehicles

The New Honda Civic Type R is Completely Insane!

- Kamis, 23 Oktober 2014 No Comments

All images courtesy of Honda

I'll admit that at one point I thought Civics were great cars. Since then I've moved on as my automotive tastes have shifted, but part of me still wishes consumers in the United States could have that one Honda unicorn, the Civic Type R. While you might see guys who slap a Type R badge on the back of their Civic, in reality you can't get them here, and that guy didn't tune his to be just like the Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) Type R.

My desire to see a Type R offered on this continent has grown by quite a bit after seeing the new model. Honda has really flexed its muscles with this one, producing a front-wheel drive car that pumps out 280 horsepower. That kind of power is coming from a turbocharged i-VTEC 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, which isn't that much bigger than the one that was in my Civic back in the day. The redline is set at a screaming 7,000 rpm.

Honda is making quite a few tall claims about the car, which has not been fully revealed yet. While we don't know the torque output from the engine (and the horsepower figure is just a ballpark, apparently), it is supposed to be greater than what has been produced by every other Type R vehicle ever made. That includes the Integra and, even more unbelievable, the NSX. The throttle response is also supposed to be faster than on all other Hondas. And even better, it only comes with a six-speed manual transmission, the way performance cars were meant to be driven.

Among the little information that is known about the new car is the fact that there will be a +R button that will be located on the steering wheel. Drivers just push the button and the steering response, torque-mapping of the engine, and the dampers at all four corners of the vehicle change settings. This is to switch the car into track mode easily.

Essentially, the new Civic Type R is a real road-legal racer. Honda has said that the goal with the car is to make the fastest production front-wheel drive car at the Nurburgring, which seems to be a pretty realistic aspiration at this point.

Tags: concept vehicles / Geneva Motor Show / Godzilla / Infiniti / North American International Auto Show

An Infiniti with Godzilla's Heart!

- Rabu, 12 Maret 2014 No Comments

Photos courtesy of Infinity.

Infiniti has dropped a huge bomb with the Q50 Eau Rouge Concept, and I mean that in the best way possible. The concept car was first unveiled during the Detroit Auto Show (okay, okay, it's now called the North American International Auto Show, but still...). There was a pretty big stir about the car back then, mostly because it was based on a Q50 but just about every body panel was completely different, making it look oh so much better. The real show-stopper was the candy-coated red paint job, which I showed excitedly to my wife like a little eight-year-old boy looking at a toy catalog. The car was beautiful and was a good design study, but that was about it.
And then Infiniti popped the hood.

Everyone gasped, because hiding under that hood was Godzilla's engine! Yes, that's right, Infiniti "borrowed" the twin-turbo 3.8-liter V6 from the Nissan GT-R. If that doesn't mean much to you, hopefully this does: 560 horsepower and 442 lb.-ft. of torque, all-wheel drive with a 50/50 front-to-rear torque split, 0 to 60 mph in under four seconds, and a top speed of 180 mph! (Check out the video at the end of the post to hear the monstrous engine and turbos in action)

All of that hot performance is wrapped in a highly aerodynamic body that provides optimal downforce at the front and rear during track runs (because we would never drive that fast on an empty country road -- oh no). Infiniti says it put the car together using all of its knowledge it has gained from Formula One racing.

Will the Q50 Eau Rouge ever become a production vehicle? We can only hope, right? At the very least, it will likely influence Infiniti to make more high-performance models, especially since Lexus is now turning up the heat with its F Sport vehicles. And let's be honest, Infiniti does performance so very much better than Lexus.