While quite a few automakers will be absent from the upcoming Tokyo Moor Show, the Nissan Motor Company has prepared a new zero emissions concept car that is ready to solve the problem of personal transportation in congested urban environments while still offering a spirited driving experience for both the driver and passenger; Nissan is calling it the Land Glider. Now the Japanese automaker is not the first to come up with an inline two sear that leans into turns, however they are the first to combine the concept with the forward thinking power train of a battery electric vehicle. This is quite convenient because crowded cities like London for example charge significantly higher taxes on automobiles based on their emissions, while some low emissions and especially zero emissions vehicles are exempt from some of those additional charges to operate inside the city center, making the efficient Land Glider a perfect choice to not only navigate congested cities but escape from them as well.
The Land Glider offers seating for two in tandem, with the driver sitting up front and room for only one passenger behind. The traditional round steering wheel is replaced with a unit more like the stick on an airplane, and the gauges match the aviation theme and make the concept’s cabin feel more like a cockpit. The only thing that reminds you that the Land Glider is intended for road use are the leather wrapped bucket seats and a more traditional three pedal layout. On the outside the Nissan Land Glider comes complete with 21st century styling like swept back headlights, floating fenders, angular body panels, large glass surfaces and a strip of LEDs for a taillight. From the side, the Land Glider has a profile similar to a Smart car, but from head on the Nissan concept is no more than a few feet wide.
Aside from having a very narrow footprint, the instant torque of its electric motor and lightweight construction make the Land Glider reasonably quick off the line. The low drag design means that the shape will be able to slipstream up to speed and then carry it through the curves by using a sophisticated suspension and drive train setup that makes the zero emissions concept lean into the turns and increase its capacity for high speed cornering.
We don’t understand too much Japanese, but we do know that we were caught by surprise to find out that the recently-revealed Toyota FT-86 Concept is actually a playable car on Gran Turismo 5.
Shortly after the concept car was revealed to have a ticket for the Tokyo
Motor Show, a video of it joining its predecessor, the Toyota AE86 Corolla in an all-out run where both cars end up sliding sideways.
Now since Sony was kind enough to share us this video, it makes us all the more excited to cop the game as soon as it comes out. You never know what other yet-to-be-unveiled concept cars GT5 has in store for us.
Now that you have delighted quite enough with the FT-86 Concept, is time to move our attention to the second Toyota concept to be revealed in Tokyo: the FT-EV II, which stands for "Future Toyota Electric Vehicle II". It is a four-seater concept that previews the upcoming small city electric vehicle set to be released by 2012. The FT-EV I was revealed at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show.
The FT-EV II Concept is placed under the iQ in Toyota’s line-up. It measures 2730 mm in length, 1680 mm in width and 1490 mm height. The vehicle has no steering wheel or foot pedals-symbols of vehicle performance. In addition, it has not been designed simply as a means of transport, but instead based on the premise of collaboration with communications functions, a concept that differs from earlier vehicles.
The car is powered by a lithium-ion battery pack that has an autonomy of 56 miles and can hit a top speed around 62 mph.
The speculation is over, the Japanese automaker Toyota has finally shown the world the highly anticipated successor to the original AE86 "Hachi Roku" with the FT-86 Concept. The old Toyota Corolla was celebrated for its lightweight fun to drive layout. The new project has previously been referred to as a Toyobaru because the affordable sports car was developed in collaboration with Subaru and is scheduled to make its world debut in just a few weeks at the Tokyo Motor Show. We are happy to report that even though this is just the concept, the production model will look a lot like it, with the only revisions being done to the cars interior. However we won’t know for sure until the end of 2011.
The Flash Red FT-86 Concept is inspired by the Corolla based AE86 sports coupe from the 1980s, and carries a very strong resemblance to the FT-HS Concept that was revealed back in 2007 at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The FT-86 is a compact, rear wheel drive sports concept powered by a 2.0 Liter horizontally opposed, naturally aspirated four cylinder gasoline burning engine supplied by Subaru. In its non boosted form, the flat four make a maximum output of 150 HP, but the automaker is toying around with the idea of a more powerful super charged version depending on consumer demands, but for now we will have to settle for a simple boxer engine connected to a 6 speed manual transmission and equipped with ADVICS brakes.
When designing the FT-86 Concept Toyota’s engineers wanted to give the car a very low center of gravity for improved handling and efficient aerodynamics so that it can cut through the air with ease. So the four passenger FT-86 ended up being 4,160 mm long, 1,760 mm wide and 1,260 mm tall with a wheelbase of 2,570 mm. Toyota’s design team has also included quite a few sporting touches to the concept’s interior; starting off with a flat bottom steering wheel, aluminum pedals and red stitching to accent the leather wrapped steering wheel and parking brake lever. The grey instrument panel is seamlessly molded into the darker dash and from the looks of things, is ready to hit Fuji Speedway.
To see what the Hachi Roku is all about, check out the video and Press Release after the jump.> More
A few weeks after it was unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show, the Audi e-Tron Concept has finally received the ‘go’ signal for production.
The announcement was made by Johan de Nysschen in an interview done with Autonews. Among other things, the Audi of America president said that the overwhelmingly positive response to the concept car at the IAA has resulted in the brand to release an electric version of the car, which is expected to make roll out in the US sometime in 2011 or 2012.
Powered by four electric motors on each axle, the e-Tron Concept can travel a distance of 154 miles by only using the packed lithium-ion battery inside the car. As far as performance goes, the car is capable of producing 313 horsepower and around 4,500 Nm of torque.
This one caught us by surprise, not because the car was given the green light, but because it happened sooner than we expected. Nevertheless, you can’t keep a good idea down, and judging from the response the e-Tron Concept received in Frankfurt a few weeks ago, we can safely say that Audi may have hit a goldmine with this one.
In the event that the Bugatti 16C Galibier concept goes into production – which a lot of people seem to believe – don’t expect it to come cheap.
And by cheap, we mean less than a million dollars.
As the successor to the omniscient Veyron, the 16C Galibier is shaping up to become a worthy ‘replacement’ to Bugatti’s record-breaking super car. Though not as powerful as its 1001 horsepowered predecessor, the 16C Galibier does adopt a few things from the Veyron, particularly it’s ginormous 8.0-liter quad-turbo W16 engine.
Despite the same engine powering the two supercars, the Galibier is expected to come short of the Veyron’s record-setting speed, mainly because the former is a little bit bulkier than the latter and, at the same time, will only carry with it a relatively pedestrian ‘800 horsepower engine.
As a result, the Galibier is expected to reach speeds of ‘only’ 220 mph, compared to the 250+ the Veyron has been known to achieve.
Nevertheless, the Galibier is still expected to fetch quite a hefty price. According to Autocar, in the likelihood that Bugatti’s newest toy reaches production in 2013, expect it to be sold for around £900,000 – that’s a mind-numbing $1.3 million in the US.
Mitsubishi’s attendance at the Tokyo Motor Show next month should come with a bevy of concept cars in tow to unveil to the automotive world. One of its newest – and Tokyo-bound – showcase vehicles is the PX-MiEV, a next-generation hybrid crossover CUV that the Japanese automaker says was created to maximize fuel efficiency, decrease emissions, all while keeping the Mitsubishi standard of performance at a high level.
The PX-MiEV comes with a 1.6-liter inline-four powerpack for the front wheels and a revolutionary auto-volt plug-in system. Similar to previous Pajero models, the PX-MiEV is capable of running on either front or all-wheel drive, only this time the CUV also has a hybrid mode plus a parallel hybrid system when the PX-MiEV is running on heavy. Mitsubishi also gave some of its Evolution X configurations to the PX-MiEV, including the S-AWC and E-AYC systems, which is capable of triggering power shuffling in any part of the car whenever the need arises.
As far as the car’s interior is concerned, Mitsubishi installed a bevy of technological features, including what looks like two touch-screen configurators found in the front and rear of the car. The PX-MiEV also comes with a revolutionary safety system that – by all accounts – should make its way to a number of Mitsubishi vehicles down the road. The system, which in all appearances looks just like a camera, warns the driver of any potential problems through visual or audio warnings, in addition, of course, to alerts of the vibrating persuasion.
The CUV is set to be unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show where it is expected to be one of Mitsubishi’s meal tickets during the two-week event.
The Tokyo Motor Show is shaping up to become a personal showcase of Japanese car brands after most of the international delegation decided to skip the event.
One local brand that’s expected to participate in the event is Suzuki, where the brand is already on tap to unveil a Swift-inspired plug-in hybrid concept. The concept’s hybrid drivetrain is similar to that being used on the Chevy Volt – a drivetrain that houses both a small gasoline engine and a lithium-ion battery pack.
The car, which is being pegged to be exclusively electrically-powered, runs after it’s charged from any electrical socket and as soon as the battery runs low, the engine revs up to power a generator that charges the battery.
If that confused you, look at it this way: the gasoline engine isn’t used to make the car run. It’s used to charge the batteries SO the car can run.
Pretty nifty, don’t you think?
Further details behind the Swift hybrid have yet to be disclosed, but as soon as any new information becomes available about the car, we’ll definitely provide more updates.
Looks like a regular next-generation van doesn’t it? The truth is, there’s nothing ordinary about Honda’s new concept MPV, the Skydeck.
The six-seater hybrid MPV, the Skydeck is the latest example of Honda’s versatile IMA technology. The car’s innovative design comes with a flat and see-through glass roof, a higher-than-usual rear-end, and scissor doors at the front to complement the sliding doors at the sides. The hybrid MPV runs on a high-powered battery, which is located on the MPV’s center tunnel, as opposed to traditional hybrids whose batteries are usually located behind the car’s rear seats.
The glass roof from which we believe the name ‘Skydeck’ was taken from is another nice touch to the car, in addition to the stylish – and spacious - interior that looks more and more like an office space rather than a car’s interior.
Further details surrounding the car will be revealed in Tokyo. For now, we can give you a first look at what you can expect from Honda’s new hybrid MPV.
Taking a page out of a design that was made over four decades ago, Honda has released the first look at the retro-looking EV-N Concept. If you think you’ve seen that front design before, you probably have; it looks like the N360 micro car.
A small four-seat, electric car, Honda created the EV-N with an attempt to bridge old-school flavour with new-school technology. The car, which is set o be unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show in a few weeks, comes with a solar panel roof, door-mounted U3-X personal mobility devices, and the all-new car-communication technology, the Honda Electric Mobility Loop (HELLO) -
it’s a technology that allows Honda’s outfitted with it the chance to ‘communicate’ with each other, hence the name HELLO.
That’s as much as we know about the EV-N for now. We’ll keep you posted on anything new that comes up leading up to Tokyo where the car will be introduced along with the CR-Z concept and the Skydeck concept.
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