Archive for August, 2011
2012 Audi S7: 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show
Posted on 31. Aug, 2011 by admin.
The Audi A7 has only been in showrooms for a short while, but the model we’ve been waiting for is still almost a year out from its sales debut. We are, of course, referring to the new Audi S7, which is set to go on sale in Europe in the spring of 2012 and should arrive in U.S. showrooms shortly after as a 2013 model. The svelte four-door…
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2013 Audi S7: 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show
Posted on 31. Aug, 2011 by admin.
The Audi A7 has only been in showrooms for a short while, but the model we’ve been waiting for is still almost a year out from its sales debut. We are, of course, referring to the new Audi S7, which is set to go on sale in the spring of 2012 and should arrive in U.S. showrooms shortly after as a 2013 model. The svelte four-door coupe…
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2012 Audi S8: 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show
Posted on 31. Aug, 2011 by admin.
The 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show may still be two weeks away, but what fun would it be if automakers waited until the show to reveal all their wares? Audi has revealed the new 2012 S8, and the sporty four-door proves why it’s Audi’s S flagship. The S8 shares the same twin-turbo V-8-engine TSFI engine with its jointly revealed siblings–the S6 and…
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Porsche 959 Successor: Flat-Eight Engine, $450K
Posted on 31. Aug, 2011 by admin.
Porsche has barely gotten the wraps off the 2012 911 and it’s already jumping to the next best thing. Rumors of a mid-level Porsche supercar have been frothing for nearly a year now. And CEO Matthias Mueller admitted that Porsche had its sights sent on a mid-engined sports car between the 911 and 918 earlier this year. This week, he gave a little…
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Justin Bieber Unhurt After Crash In Ferrari
Posted on 31. Aug, 2011 by admin.
Pop sensation Justin Bieber was involved in a crash in a Ferrari, which occurred around noon yesterday in Studio City, Los Angeles. The Ferrari, which was described only as black and possibly belonging to someone else, is said to have suffered only minor damage, which was caused by the driver of a Honda Civic. According to a police statement, the…
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Land Rover DC100 Concept: 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show
Posted on 31. Aug, 2011 by admin.
Land Rover says its new DC100 concept, set for the upcoming 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show, is a precursor to a new Defender. The SUV maker indicates a new Defender is on the way–but in the release accompanying these photos, says there’s been no plan to market a version of the new off-roader in North America. The new-generation Defender will be…
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The Truth About The FT-86. Straight From The Mouth Of The Chief Engineer
Posted on 30. Aug, 2011 by admin.
“When we started working on the FT-86 we had no idea where we would end up,” said Tetsuya Tada, whom I met last Sunday to talk about his work. “Was it going to be a ridiculously expensive car? Or one anyone can buy? All we knew it was going to be a sports car. The [...]
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2011 Land Rover DC100 Concept: 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show Preview
Posted on 30. Aug, 2011 by admin.
Land Rover says its new DC100 concept, set for the upcoming 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show, is a precursor to a new Defender. The SUV maker indicates a new Defender is on the way–but in the release accompanying these photos, says there’s been no plan to market a version of the new off-roader in North America. The Defender will be launched by 2015…
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Ford Evos Concept: 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show
Posted on 30. Aug, 2011 by admin.
As promised, Ford is scheduled to unveil a brand new concept car at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show in just two weeks’ time, and in the lead up to the event the Blue Oval has released the first images and details of it: the striking new Evos plug-in hybrid sports coupe. Not only does the Evos point at a possible future front-drive Ford coupe…
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Ford Evos Concept at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show
Posted on 30. Aug, 2011 by admin.
- Looks like: Ford's take on the Aston Martin Rapide
- Defining characteristics: High-mounted grille, tiny headlights
- Ridiculous features: Four gull-wing doors, information screens galore inside
- Chances of being mass-produced: Not in this form, but expect design cues to grace future Fords
Ford likens the four-door Evos concept to the Iosis concept introduced at the 2005 Frankfurt Motor Show. You’ll notice the Iosis’ influence on Ford cars you see today, like the new Focus and Fiesta. Near Detroit last week, chief designer J Mays (no relation to this writer) said to expect similar influence from the Evos.
“We got a lot of mileage out of Iosis as the precursor to what became Kinetic Design,” Mays said, referring to Ford’s current design ethos. “What we’re looking for is a design DNA that will take us through the next five years.”
Designed in Germany and built in Italy, the Evos is about as long as a compact car, but the sucker is wide. At 77 inches, it eclipses even the full-size Taurus. The thin lights and glass-bisected roof mirror Ford’s Vertrek crossover from last January’s Detroit auto show. Thin lights appear to be Mays’ latest inclination: “Headlamps have grown to absurd proportions,” he said. “They’ve become part of styling. [But] headlamps are technical.”
The Evos has an arsenal of sports-car cues. A trapezoidal Aston Martin-like grille sits just below the hood. Muscular fenders border spindlier wheels. Up front, horizontal side portals flatten the car’s stance. The Iosis’ vertical slats, cribbed later by the Fiesta, communicated height.
The Iosis and Evos do share gull-wing doors. The Evos goes one step further. When closed, the rear doors run clear out to the rear bumper and trunk lid — areas where an ordinary car has cut lines. It masks the door’s outline, so all you notice are the front ones. Among four-door cars that masquerade as coupes, the Evos fools best — but don’t bet on this making it to any production car.
Nor will much of the interior, we suspect. A thin rail flows from the instruments to the center console, with information screens across that rail and the driver’s door. The passenger side of the cabin looks pretty minimalist. The spindly center console clears up some space; we hope that suggests roomier cabins in future Ford models.
Being a concept car, the Evos carries a barrage of technology: a plug-in hybrid drivetrain from Ford’s C-Max Energi, health-monitoring seats that adapt to your current mood, and adaptive driving dynamics and entertainment through cloud-based driver information.
Mays promised design cues will grace Ford cars in four months, not four years. Will a production car with Evos DNA debut at January’s Detroit auto show? Mays wouldn’t say, but by our (very limited) math skills, his timeline ends sometime around a frigid January day in eastern Michigan. So stay tuned.
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