First it was BMW. Then Toyota followed next. Now, it looks like Renault is headed out the door too.
Renault’s F1 team executives met in Paris recently and rumors have spread that the French-based company is contemplating on following Toyota in leaving Formula One.
After a tumultuous – and that’s an understatement – season that involved the sacking of team principals Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds, Renault is now looking at the possibility that participating in Formula One may not be in their best interests anymore.
Although the meetings have gone on continuously, an announcement is not expected in the coming days because the company, led by president Carlos Ghosn, is scheduled to have an event promoting the brand’s new direction in introducing zero-emission vehicles, as evidenced by the recent news that the Zoe Zero Emissions Concept will be launched in 2012.
In the event Renault does pull the curtains on their F1 tenure, it would make them the third team from the 2009 grid to leave Formula One, following the recent departures of BMW and Toyota.
By our count, that’s now four major teams – including Honda last year - that have left Formula One in the past year and we’re beginning to fear that this could be the beginning of what is already becoming a mass exit out of the sport.
Photo courtesy of Renault F1.
Though it has yet to be confirmed by company big-wigs, Automotive News has reported that Porsche is on its way to making a convertible version of the Porsche Panamera.
Unlike the standard hard-top Panamera, the convertible version will come in a two-door variety, partly to increase the car’s rigidity to compensate for the added weight that comes with the soon-to-be-added soft-top roof.
For its part, Porsche has remained tight-lipped on the matter although if we can take history as precedence, it would only be a matter of time before a convertible Panamera moves its way into production.
According to Wolfgang Duerheimer, Porsche’s development head, “We have a broad range of 14 derivatives of the 911 that are very successful.”
"So it stands to reason we should diversify the line-up for the Panamera as well,” he adds.
It’s been a standard practice for Porsche to produce off-shoot versions of cars that have been successful out on the market, something the Panamera is slowly becoming. Adding even more weight on the situation is the Volkswagen factor. Since VW’s takeover of Porsche, the latter’s resources have quantified, making it even more plausible for us to see a convertible Panamera seeing the light of the day pretty soon.
The overwhelmingly positive response of the ‘Jetsons-esque’ Vision EfficientDynamics may have given BMW the shot in the arm it has long waited for.
Due to the glorious feedback generated by the concept car, BMW is not tinkering with the idea of bringing back the M1 by 2012 where it would be based on the 2+2 coupe concept of the Vision EfficientDynamics.
The rumoured M1 will also come with the same hybrid powertrain that comes with the Vision EfficientDynamics concept, a sign that BMW may be more serious than anyone ever thought about the its efforts in becoming more eco-friendly.
In the event that it does use the hybrid powertrain, the M1 will be expected to carry a 1.5-liter three-cylinder engine that comes with an electric motor. The power output expected to come out of this set-up is expected to reach as much as 350 horsepower and 600 Nm of torque.
As far as aesthetics are concerned, we’re not expecting the M1 to look remotely close to that of the Vision EfficientDynamics concept, although we are anticipating that BMW will take a few styling cues from the concept and adapt it to the M1. After all, what’s the point of basing the car to the concept if it won’t have any resemblance to it?
In any event, if this supposed reincarnation of the M1 is all BMW says it would be, then we can expect it to generate the same type of reaction the Vision EfficientDynamics concept got in Frankfurt. And that’s going to be great news for the boys of BMW.
Photos courtesy of Fox Syndication
John Lennon asked the world to accept their dreams back in 1971 by imagining a better tomorrow, New York native and owner of the sole Ferrari P4/5 in existence; Jim Glicknehaus is definitely one of the people that answered the call. Not only did he commission the design house that shaped the Enzo to tear one apart only to build a modern day super car homage to the classic Ferrari 330 P3/4 racecars of the 1960s. The final product was so loved in Maranello, that the unique creation is officially documented in the Ferrari registry.
The man who made his money on hedge funds, Mr. Glickenhaus, has hopes to go racing with a P4/5 Competizione model at the German alternative to the French race twice around the clock at Le Mans. In fact it is the only official race that takes place on the old Nordschleife circuit when the Nürburgring 24 takes place in the middle of May next year. This wouldn’t be such an impossible undertaking if he chose to beef his own 650 HP Enzo based P4/5 up to race spec, but instead he is thinking about using a different and so far unspecified Italian super car engine and chassis combination for the positive minded project. Jim admits that "there are a lot of stars that would have to align for this to happen but it’s not impossible," and that is exactly the attitude that he needs to get this done in the short 8 month time span from now until May 13th, 2010.
It is quite coincidental that Mr. Glickenhaus is looking to create a new curvaceous racecar right after the shapely 458 Italia officially debuted at the Frankfurt Motor Show a few week ago. The engine is still behind the driver, and although there are a third less cylinders, the 458’s all new 570 HP V8 shouldn’t be too bad around the ‘Ring. The classic lines of the P3 would be maintained, although it would be a bit smaller than the full scale P4/5 Pininfarina puzzle, but now we are really dreaming. Mr. Glickenhaus is still undertaking the daunting task of finding sponsorship for such a bold endevour, however if there is anyone who can pull this off, Jim is the man.
After the luxury car builders from Germany Audi and Mercedes Benz unveiled their electric super car concepts at the Frankfurt Motor show, it looks like the luxury super car builder Rolls Royce is planning a shocking ride of their own. Apparently back at the Goodwood revival a spokesman for the classic English brand turned German owned coachbuilder has been toying around with the idea of a battery powered Rolls Royce Phantom. The Phantom is one of the unique cars that could actually see some weight savings by replacing the rather large gas burning V12 power plant with a lithium ion battery pack, not that the bulky electric motors would make much of a difference to the current luxury sedan’s nearly three ton curb weight.
The obvious benefits of an electric car that would fit in perfectly with Rolls Royce’s perfect passenger experience like an almost silent ride, zero emission operation and loads of torque that will be instantaneously available starting at 0 RPM, perfectly suiting the luxury brand’s wafting acceleration. The only problem that we foresee with an all electric Phantom, and is the same for any battery powered vehicle, is how will the German engineers be able to give the large luxury sedan a suitable range due to the weight of the components that are driven by the flow of electrons.
Perhaps Rolls Royce’s parent company, BMW can figure out how to fit the working parts of the new Vision EfficientDynamics Concept underneath the coach built bodywork of a next generation Phantom. Perhaps the answer to an all electric super car is a small displacement diesel engine with its incredible range and efficiency is the ideal solution to keeping the ultra low emissions hybrid luxury vehicle running long after any lithium ion battery would run out.
Speculation is running rampant as to which cars are going to be making an appearance at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show this week. While other notable vehicles have already been confirmed for the guest list, some brands are keeping tight-lipped until the 11th hour.
One of the cars that is rumoured to show up is the Audi RS3 and while nothing has been confirmed regarding its appearance, one Audi dealer in Cape Town, South Africa seems to know more than we do.
In a tweet he posted on his Twitter site, the dealer said: "Looking forward to the unveiling of the new Audi RS3. 2.5L five-cylinder turbocharged engine, 4WD & 335Bhp. See it at Frankfurt Motor Show."
A number of other sources, most notably those coming from Ingolstadt – Audi’s headquarters, have also let the cat slip out of the bag, despite no formal announcement coming from Audi themselves.
In any event, the Frankfurt Motor Show is only a week away so any and all rumours regarding the appearance of the RS3 is bound to pick up as the days leading to the show winds down.
We’ll keep you posted with any new developments.
It looks like MINI is ready to unveil their new crossover vehicle sooner than we thought.
Rumors are running rampant that as early as next week, MINI will be ready to show the whole world their very first crossover vehicle. While there isn’t an exact date as to when this happen, a number of sources have indicated that the unveiling is likely to happen before the Frankfurt Motor Show.
The company had initially intended to unveil the crossover vehicle at Frankfurt next month, but apparently the company figured that lifting the veil on the car sooner than expected could drum up public interest leading up to the highly-anticipated motor show.
The MINI Crossover, which, according to a number of sources, has been given the name ‘Countryman’ is MINI’s first foray into the SUV market.
It would be interesting to see how the general public reacts to the car when it is officially unveiled. For the most part, the car has received positive reviews from people who have seen renderings and spy shots of the car.
The new crossover vehicle is definitely a ground-breaking step for MINI, especially since they’re a brand that has rarely – if ever – ventured outside the hatchback market. If the MINI Countryman proves to be as good as advertised, then it wouldn’t be too far off to assume that it could end up selling like hot pancakes.
You don’t need to look far to find proof that the auto industry is turning over a new leaf – no pun intended – than to look at sales figures for hybrid cars. With the world beginning to become more eco-friendly, it was only a matter of time before car manufacturers would jump at the opportunity to release their own hybrid vehicles.
The most successful car brand to take advantage of this shift in consumer preference has been Toyota, all thanks to their Prius hybrid. The car has become such a sales hit that the company even found itself running out of batteries for the car. Since Toyota is being hailed as the foremost hybrid car maker, it was only inevitable that its luxury line, Lexus, would produce its own hybrid vehicle, the Lexus HS 250h.
Now, it looks like Toyota may have rubbed some of its hybrid magic on its high-end brother after reports out of Japan have said that the HS 250h is falling short in supply due to overwhelming demand. We can’t say we’re surprised, can we? Not when you consider that the brain thrust behind the HS 250h had the best mentors at their disposal.
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The Grand Prix of Europe has just wrapped up, and unfortunately for the sole Spaniard in the race for the 2010 Formula One Championship he was unable to allow his fans in Valencia to hear La Marcha Real, or the Royal March, Spain’s national anthem especially considering that he wasn’t even able to finish the race last year. It was the Brazilian Rubens Barichello who stood atop the podium when the bubbly was handed out with last year’s champion Lewis Hamilton coming in second and the focused Fin Kimi Räikkönen piloting hist F60 Formula One car to a much needed podium finish.
Although it hasn’t been confirmed – and we suspect it won’t be until a few more months – word on the Formula One paddock has it that Fernando Alonso may be switching teams again next year, this time to those red jumpsuit-wearing boys from Ferrari. According to an interview done with BBC Sport, Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren’s team boss, the two-time world champion is expected to move to Ferrari by season’s end. We’ve heard this rumor before but it really never gained enough steam because Ferrari’s incumbent drivers, Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa are both still under contract with Scuderia until next year.
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It appears that the German luxury automaker, BMW is struggling with whether or not to replace the engine in their high performance halo car for 2011. The next generation BMW M5 will either powered by a more efficient version of the current car’s V10 engine or if speculators have their way, the next 5 Series super sedan could be motivated by a healthy helping of boost. That is because BMW is already running a high performance twin turbocharged V8 in both the X5M and X6M sport activity vehicles, and with a little bit of innovative German engineering the BMW boffins could have the mill screaming to the tune of over 600 HP.
Reports have shown that BMW are cautious about continuing to use the V10 because of the CO2 emissions regulations in the U.S. a problem that can be avoided by going with a pair of less pistons. However if the M5 is to maintain its status as one of the brand’s premier vehicles then it would help to have something special under the hood, something not found in any other Bimmer, something to make it even more desirable.
So the question that the BMW engineers have to ask themselves right now is, what would be the better plan for the future? An all out high performance naturally aspirated V10 might sound like a fantastic idea for a sports car power plant, but with the current trend of environmentalism and efficiency, the idea of downsizing and turbo charging is becoming a widely accepted practice in the automobile industry. So what is BMW going to do? Stay tuned to find out.
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