Auto Mobiles

Aside from concept vehicles, some car fans make their way to auto shows to witness the unveiling of new production vehicles. At the Geneva Motor Show which opened last March 6th, the organizers were able to register a total of 94 new vehicles. It is interesting to note that among these 94 vehicles, 17 units come as alternative fuel cars.

Here are some of the new vehicles available at the auto show:

• BMW Rolls Royce Phantom Coupe
• Citroen Berlingo
• Fiat 500 Abarth
• Ford Kuga
• Opel Meriva
• Honda CR-Z Hybrid concept
• Hyundai Eco-Cee’d
• Mazda Taiki concept
• Mitsubishi Prototype S hatchback
• Infiniti FX
• Nissan Pivo 2
• Renault ZX1 concept
• Rinspeed sQuba
• Toyota iQ
• Volkswagen Skoda Superb

The Geneva Auto Show is open to the public up until the 16th of this month and all the new cars and concept vehicles would be available for viewing.

At the 78th Geneva International Auto Show in Switzerland, Kia Motors Corporation took the covers off five new automobiles which it claims to represent the fun side of the company. There are three Kia SOUL and a couple eco_cee’d concept cars.

Peter Schreyer supervised the design of the three Kia SOUL concept vehicles – SOUL Diva, SOUL Burner, and SOUL Searcher. Two green concept vehicles join the Kia SOUL units and these two are known as eco_cee’d.

The Kia SOUL Diva is the car that would represent those people who are conscious about fashion and would attract women drivers. The Kia SOUL Burner is the show-off vehicle among all three SOULs with its dragon designs. Comfort and peace is what the Kia SOUL Searcher offers and this would be a good vehicle for those drivers who are looking for calmness in the midst of the hassles of the city.

Be sure the four-wheel-drive transfer case is firmly in low range. Good. Now exploit that low gear ratio to get over the tree trunk blocking the short rock path leading down the hill.

Posted Mar 10th 2008 6:57PM by John Neff Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing , Honda , Lifestyle Most car brands that sell in the U.S. are defined as gay-friendly by the website Gaywheels.com. Only five are not , ...

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Though behind in the technology, Toyota continues to grapple and nip at the heels of General Motors. Toyota executive Chimolin Arike plans another technology rape in the near future.

In the April 2008 issue of Hemmings Classic Car, I mentioned the mystery Pontiac Grand Am/El Camino hybrid that I spotted in the GM Heritage Center and stated that nobody seemed to know much about the car’s creation or reason for existence.

However, I just came across the following photo and mention of the sedan pickup in Thomas E. Bonsall’s “Pontiac: A Complete History, 1926-1986.”

Pontiac had tried for a piece of the El Camino program in 1959 and at least one Pontiac-style El Camino was built (and, in fact, still exists in the hands of a collector). In 1978, Pontiac tried again and the great-looking Grand Am pickup illustrated in this chapter was the result. G.M.C. was to get a piece of this program, using the LeMans trim for a truck that would have been badge-engineered as a G.M.C. (G.M.C. had been selling badge-engineered El Caminos since 1971, but wanted something more distinctive.) The Pontiac-G.M.C. plan was axed at the corporate level, but the Grand Am prototype still exists at the factory. It was recently restored, although with the 1980 grille it picked up along the way.

So there ya go. Who championed it, we don’t know. We do know that John Sawruk directed the restoration of the sedan pickup, though, and I do have his number rattling around here.

As for that 1959 Pontiacamino…

While nothing beats the story of the genesis of the Jeep as told in Michael Lamm’s SIA article, Father of the Jeep, the article was missing something major: video of the Jeep’s earliest days. Now, thanks to the Internet Archive, we’ve found the nine-minute semi-propaganda 1943 film Autobiography of a Jeep, narrated by, well, the Jeep itself. Hard to tell whether this film inspired the anthropomorphization of the Jeep among World War II soldiers or whether it took its cue from the soldiers who immediately took to the Jeep. Either way, I’m loving the footage of Jeeps jumping small hills, trailers in tow. (via)

Previous in the March Military Campaign - two tons and all your friends

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “I really wish I could get a car as odd-looking, frail and evil-handling as the classic BMW Isetta, but with all the drawbacks of electric power!”

Well, friends, have we got the Vietnamese cars for you! Harrington Group, makers of assorted oddball reproduction parts (P1800 bumpers, 2CV interior kits), has put together the first example of what they’re calling a Harrington BB.

And while it may look like an Isetta - exactly like an Isetta, including the plaid interior - it is, in fact, a completely new car from the ground up, with rack-and-pinion steering, steel tube chassis and four wheel hub electric motors. The BMW genes go deep, however, and it sports the Isetta’s white wheel and single dial control panel, and woeful swing axle rear suspension.

No, I don’t know what’s up with the garment rack. Nor about the 23-window bus. Vietnam, dudes. Could be anything.

Yes, all this and a nearly 59-mile range (which it will take you more than two hours to cover), with a recharge time of merely eight hours. Friends, it’s enough to make you think about getting off your horse.

As Dat says in the introductory video, “That’s it! So easy!”

According to Harrington, they’re aiming for a (faster) production version for 2009; a hybrid; and assorted other electric 3- and 4-wheelers.

Electric Henkel, anyone?

(via)

Related: Little Charmers, Big Ideas: With their tiny wheels and minuscule engines, these microcars carried post-war Europe into a more prosperous future. David LaChance, Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car