It seems that Ferrari head Amedeo Felisa has plenty to talk about when it comes to the future of his legendary brand, and that includes alternatives to traditional fuel sources. Speaking to Autocar in the UK, Felisa had this to say in regards to the hybridized 599 that the automaker has been testing for quite some time:

The technology is not ready. The suppliers are not ready. Everything is underdeveloped. There is a lot of work to so. It is not for tomorrow. We haven't decided when [it will be introduced]. It will be around 2015, but not before five years.

While it is going to take some time, Ferrari will indeed push forward with hybrid technology, which is said to improve the fuel efficiency of its traditionally highly thirsty V8 and V12 engines by 25 percent. That's great, but couldn't Ferrari do even better by going full electric? Not so much. Felisa explains that the Italian supercar manufacturer has no plans to introduce electric cars, saying:

If you look at global warming, the right solution is not full electric. It's more a marketing solution than a real one, sound is just as important as design and performance for Ferrari. We will not make engine sounds with speakers.

We can agree that electric cars shouldn't need fake engine sounds, but we're not so sure that EVs don't have a future in the high performance realm. Still, fuel efficiency is of real concern for Ferrari, to the point that the company would reportedly consider adding V6 engines to its lineup of pricey exotics. A new, fuel efficient Dino with a hybrid V6 setup sounds just dandy, no?



[Source: Autocar]

Now that the initial excitement over the new Trexa electric vehicle (EV) platform has subsided somewhat, the start-up has decided to issue information that is typically a bit more sobering, the price. In this case however, the six digits just might create much ado anew. How does $15,999 grab you? Yeah, us too.

For that price, new EV companies could spring forth like so many daisies, each with their own innovative ideas about what kind of vehicle to mount atop the scalable skateboard. Conceptual configurations might get constructed in weeks instead of months. EV and hydrogen advocates may finally make lasting friendships. But before we get too far ahead of ourselves we should say what that price includes. A car don't roll if it ain't got no wheels. Luckily the base Trexa comes with a full set of hoops and, along with them, everything else you need to have a self-powered prototype. We're talking a motor, 7 kWh battery module with built-in management system, a charger, a choice of wheelbase lengths (up to 96 inches) and a vehicle developer's kit (VDK) that gives you CAD (computer assisted design) models as well as some other hardware bits.

But what if you wanted the whole twin-motor four-wheel-drive, 28 kWh, 6 kW charger super-deluxe kit and kaboodle? What then? Price tag apocalypse? According to our highly-placed sources, the company thinks it can offer a package all-kitted out for under $32,000. The mind boggles. We can only hope these newcomers can keep up with expectations and (hopefully) demand. Official press release after the break.



[Source: Trexa]

Read more →

In 2009, Ford UK dealers collected 23,000 ruined bumpers from cars that had been in accidents. Why would they do this? In order to do a bit of recycling. Some of the material from those bumpers is now back in action, having been turned into bumpers – and other plastic parts – used in new Ford models like the Ka. Those 23,000 bumpers translate into 70 tons of landfill (giving each bumper an average weight of 6.8 pounds, since 70 long tons, used in the UK, are equivalent to 156,800 U.S. pounds).

The dealers aren't doing this solely because it helps the environment. They used to have to pay to have the bumpers hauled away in the trash. Now, because of the Ford Motor Company-sponsored bumper collection bins, they get to save that money. Ford's announcement about the program today gives the example that one dealer, Ford Ringways, saved around £15,000 last year.



[Source: Ford]

Read more →

Car sharing company Zipcar has responded to the Toyota Prius recall by shutting down rentals of that particular model until the "brake concerns have been addressed appropriately by Toyota." How many Priuses are there in Zipcar's fleet? All told, Zipcar has around 6,500 cars, and less than one percent of them are Priuses. Earlier, Zipcar stopped rentals of 2009 and 2010 Toyota Matrix models because of a safety recall.

In other car sharing news, Frost & Sullivan has calculated that, in America between 2007 and 2009, membership in car sharing organizations jumped up 117 percent. The future looks even better for car sharing groups, with total membership reaching 4.4 million in North America and 5.5 million in Europe by 2016.

What are the reasons for the increase? Frost & Sullivan estimated that each vehicle in a car sharing fleet "replaced 15 personally owned vehicles in 2009 and carsharing members drove 31% less than when they owned a personal vehicle." This means CO2 emissions were reduced by 482,170 tons. The analysts predict that a person who "drives 12,000 miles a year at an average driving speed of 30 miles per hour can save $1,834 by shifting to a carsharing service." City commuters, take note.

[Source: Frost & Sullivan via Treehugger, Boston.com]

Better Place has been signing deals to install its battery swapping and electric vehicle recharging station network around the world, for example, in Denmark, Tokyo and Canada. Not everyone is a fan of Better Place's methods, but now people in the company's home turf of Israel can get a closer look at what the deal is with the opening of the company's first electric vehicle (EV) demonstration center in Israel. To make the point totally clear that plug-in vehicles are a way to get off oil, the center is built inside a refurbished oil tank (pictured above). The center includes a 1.5 kilometer (one mile) test driving track for visitors to drive an EV on. The center opens February 14th.

As part of the center's opening, Better Place announced that it has so far signed up 92 corporate fleet owners and a new partnership with Dor Alon, one of Israel's leading gas station operators, to install battery switch stations. There was a number included in the Better Place release that we hadn't seen before: the company's new partners "have agreed to convert a portion of over 45,000 internal combustion engine cars to electric vehicles from Renault when commercially available in 2011." 45,000 conversions? Hmmm.

[Source: Better Place]

Read more →

Members of the StreetCar car sharing service in the UK now have the option to rent a BMW from as little as £6.95 per hour. Like ZipCar and other similar services, StreetCar is a membership program that allows participants to rent cars by the hour, day or week and not have to pay for fuel, insurance or parking. Members get a smart card to remotely unlock cars they have reserved. The cars can be reserved online or over the phone using an iPhone application that also shows you where the car is.

Both the 1 and 3 series are now available from StreetCar and all models are equipped with BMW's efficient dynamics technologies like brake energy recuperation and automatic start-stop. The 1 series costs £6.95 (about $13) per hour while the 3 goes for £8.95 (about $16.83).



[Source: BMW]

Read more →

Nothing says style like the blah color of grey, right? Usually, grey is a step up from beige, but the new Smart Fortwo Edition Greystyle, the latest special edition Fortwo from Daimler, actually makes grey look pretty good. Kind of Batman-esque. The new Batman. Not old school Batman like the Batsmart from the 2008 SEMA show.

What turns a Smart into the Greystyle? On the outside, an exclusive matt dark grey paint with odd lime green mirror caps are key, as are the 15-inch six-spoke alloy wheels. Open the door and you can find nappa leather – just like on some Mercedes-Benz models – on the seats and a three-spoke steering wheel. The Greystyle comes in both coupe and cabrio flavors. Under the hood, the Greystyle offers either a 52 kW (71 horsepower) engine that has micro hybrid (start-stop) capability or a standard 62 kW (84 hp) engine, as is common in the Smart Passion trim line. The Greystyle is now available in Germany for €16,135 ($22,129 at today's exchange rates). More information after the break.



[Source: Daimler]

Read more →

It would seem that Toyota has an interesting and hitherto unknown concept vehicle up its sleeves, judging by a European patent that L'Automobile in France was somehow able to dig up. Despite our best efforts, we weren't able to locate the actual patent filing ourselves, so you'll have to head on back after clicking here to see the rest of the associated images.

So, what do you think? Judging by the absolutely minuscule engine compartment and Toyota's well-earned position at the top of the hybrid vehicle food chain, it would be a reasonable assumption to conclude that this is some kind of new hybrid vehicle concept. It does seem to share some design cues with the 2007 1/X concept, though it could also be an all-electric, fuel cell or conventional engine design.

L'Automobile seems to think that this vehicle may wear a Lexus badge and could possibly debut at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show, but we can't say for certain. In any case, it's an intriguing design that shows what styling direction the Japanese giant may take with future people movers.

[Source: L'Automobile (translated)]

Ford's electric vehicle (EV) naming scheme is becoming clear: add the word "electric" to a vehicle's standard name and presto, you've got the name of your new EV. Example Number One: the Ford Focus Electric. Example Number Two: the Ford Transit Connect Electric, which will get its official North American debut at the Chicago Auto Show this week. The 2011 Transit Connect Electric will go on sale into production later this year and will offer a range of 80 miles per charge and a top speed of 75 miles per hour. The van's 28 kWh battery recharges in six to eight hours.

Businesses that like the style and practicality of the the Transit Connect but don't necessarily think a plug is the way to go can choose a Transit Connect version that is powered by Ford's engine prep packages that burn compressed natural gas (CNG) or propane (LPG, or liquefied petroleum gas). This model, too, will arrive later this year. More details after the jump.




[Source: Ford]

Read more →

In the least surprising announcement of the day, Toyota has officially announced that it would recall 2010 model Priuses and Lexus HS250h models in globally along with the Toyota Sai in Japan to fix an issue the performance of the brake system. The latest in a series of safety-related problems with Toyotas became public last week when Toyota acknowledged that customers of the third-generation hybrid had complained of a loss of stopping power at low speeds.

Toyota also acknowledged that it had developed a software update to improve the blending of the regenerative and
friction braking systems and implemented into new production models sometime in January. The automaker did not, however, order a recall of vehicles in the field until more than a week after reports of the issue turned up in the media.

The Prius, Prius PHEV, HS250h and Sai (a Toyota-badged version of the Prius sold only in Japan) are all being recalled for the update. In total, about 400,000 vehicles are involved in this recall. First- and second-generation Priuses are not included since they have a different braking system.

In the same release, available after the break, Toyota also announced that it would recall about 7,300 2010 model Camrys to inspect a power steering hose that may sit to close to a brake hose and cause it to wear through.



[Source: Toyota]

Read more →