Cars
Toyota iQ greens by shrinking
Displayed at the Geneva International Motor Show this month, Toyota’s new iQ is following a recent trend by manufacturers (Tata, Audi, Subaru, Mitsubishi) to take their smallest models and shrink them even further. The iQ, with is 3+1 seating capacity, was received so well that it will go into production in late 2008.
VW Golf TDI Hybrid debuts in Geneva
Volkswagen is not as widely known for its hybrid powertrain development as, say, Toyota, Honda, Ford or Mercedes-Benz. Up until this year it has fielded several Bluemotion models – diesel vehicles with economy-oriented modifications like lower riding heights and special tyres. It is therefore significant that VW recently unveiled is Gold TDI Hybrid at the […]
Tata Nano in South Africa - update
I’ve managed to get in touch with Tata SA regarding their $2500.00 Nano. While the answer I received wasn’t very informative, at least it’s something.
Here’s what Dean Thomas, Tata SA Sales & Marketing Manager, had to say:
The car is only going to be launched towards the end of the year in India, and only after […]
Tata’s air car delayed.
Earlier this month there were a couple of reports that Tata and MDI’s air car would be ready for launch in 2008.
Well, it now looks like that’s not quite accurate. According to the Mumbai News, the air car is still at least two years away.
In the article, Tata’s head of corporate communications, Debasis Ray, […]
Video: Tata chairman addresses saftey/emissions concerns.
In the video below, Ratan Tata takes pains to assure the world that Tata’s $2500 Nano meets “all current safety requirements of a modern day car” and “will meet all current legislated emission criteria”. While this is somewhat reassuring, it’s a bit vague. Exactly, which emissions/safety standards will be met. Still, even meeting the Indian […]
Tata/MDI air car - info
Last year already, Tata Motors signed a deal with the MDI Group to work together on an air car. The video below demostrates the MDI Citycat in action, and explains quite nicely how the technology works - it’s just a pity that the presenter sounds like Eric Bana’s character in The Castle.
Tata’s sub-R20 000 car launched.
Indian automaker, Tata, has been causing a MAJOR stir amongst automakers with talk of a small car that will retail for under $2500.00. For months now, there has been speculation about exactly how they will be able to produce a car that sells for so little. Well, the speculation ends today with the launch […]
0.78l/100km car - order books are open
You might not have heard of a strange little 3-wheeled vehicle called Aptera, but if the claims being made by its creators are true, this might change because it seems to be a very revolutionary piece of automotive engineering indeed. The Aptera is made by a small California-based company called Accelerated Composites and it […]
Inflatable cars: coming soon.
Yep. You read that correctly. Inflatable cars. But no, the picture here is not of the actual blow-up car I’m talking about.
An American start-up company called XP Cars, inspired by NASA’s Mars rover, is set to start selling the Whisper (lol @ the name) - an inflatable electric-powered car. Each Whisper will be shipped directly […]
“Very low” CO2 emissions Lotus Elise on the cards
Lotus already has something of a good name with green car fans due to their ability to make great sportscars using relatively modest engines. The very low mass of the Elise and Exige enables them to be great-handling, quick machines that don’t require massive engines that produce obscene amounts of power and torque. Also, don’t […]
