Autoblog

Click above for more high-res images of the Tesla Roadster

The Tesla Roadster is like the gorgeous girlfriend that loves football, tunes a hotrod in her spare time, and doesn't believe in celebrating anniversaries and birthdays. The Roadster is a beautiful car, it runs on exhaust-free plug power, and it's already primed for more power. A Norwegian specialty car importer is quoting the Euro Tesla's power at or over 300 hp, with a 13,000 rpm redline and a single speed transmission.

Our man Sam tells us that the above is likely to come courtesy of drivetrain 1.5, which will be available later in the Tesla's production run. The revised gearbox drops a gear, adds an upgraded power electronics module, and provides better cooling. It seems the hype machine that is the Tesla Roadster is beginning to heat up, and more power will only make us want the green little drop-top more.


[Source: Autoblog Green]

One of the best parts about being a member of the Autoblog team, besides all the chicks and autograph requests, is driving some of the best vehicles in the world and writing about it here. When it comes to hybrids, though, we tend to leave the heavy lifting to our brethren over at AutoblogGreen, and our eco-conscious friends never let us down. Gang green got their hands on a 2008 Chevy Tahoe Two-Mode Hybrid, and they knocked the review right out of the park. Hit the link below to see how a Tahoe with two electric motors and a 300-volt battery pack fared, i.e. what kind of mileage it achieved.

Gallery: 2008 Chevy Tahoe Two-Mode Hybrid


[Source: Autoblog Green]

Click image for a high-res gallery of the turbocharged Mitsubishi i

I'm the resident kei car obsessive here at Autoblog. That means I'm the guy who actually thinks, "That is awesome," when he reads the (Google translated) announcement of yet another Suzuki Wagon R variant. Hell, I did two posts on the one-off Hello Kitty Mitsubishi i. Keis are cool. So, you can imagine how happy I was to see that Mitsubishi brought along a small fleet of its i minicars to the New York Auto Show this year.

Mitsubishi's focus at the show was squarely on the the all-electric i MiEV, which goes on sale in Japan next year and will be tested in North America this fall. The gasoline-powered version was on hand, too, though. I drove the i MiEV for AutoblogGreen, and was a passenger in a black i Turbo. Head over to AutoblogGreen for driving impressions of the i MiEV, and note that many of the observations there apply to both the electric and gasoline-powered cars.

The i Turbo you see here is powered by a 660cc 3-cylinder that delivers around 64 horsepower. It's got around half the torque of the electric i MiEV and it's buzzier-sounding (obviously), but it felt just as well-suited to city driving in New York as its battery-powered counterpart. It can comfortably transport four adults and a bit of cargo, too. Try doing that in a smart.

Mitsubishi is monitoring public reaction to the cars this week, so if you go to the show and like what you see, make sure to let them know. Me? I'll happily take one in black -- with a DAMD kit for optimum not-exactly-badassedness.

Head to AutoblogGreen for a full i MiEV review and video.



All photos Copyright © 2008 Alex Núñez / Weblogs, Inc.

Click above for mini gallery of high-res hilarity

Sister site AB Green did a post on the Tang Hua clan yesterday, but we had to get in on the fun, too. A trio of bright yellow Dr. Suess-mobiles are being displayed by the Chinese company in the basement of COBO. As you might imagine, Chinese cars don't necessarily get that much respect here in Detroit, but when they look like these three Disneyland rejects, showgoers can't help but smile. Or laugh. And they don't even have the decency to run on dead dino juice, so that just makes them even more comical here in Motor City. Each of these three "neighborhood electric vehicles" has its own charms, but we tend to like the amphibious one above the best. And what better customer to espouse your product than the "Renowned environmentalists - President Bush..."

[Source: AutoblogGreen]

The LA Times just ran a piece about how car collector extraordinaire and The Tonight Show host Jay Leno is seeing green these days. Not envious in the least, Jay in fact has several warehouses around Burbank that house hundreds of incredible vehicles that would incite lust in just about anyone with a car-loving bone in their bodies. No, the green here is the environmental push that is seemingly sweeping the world over. It seems that after spending more time with fellow celebs and enviro-warriors like Ed Begley, Jr., Jay has become enlightened to the needs of Mother Earth.

It should be pointed out that Jay has always had alternative vehicles in his collection. Most of those are early steam cars, but still, last year at SEMA he introduced the EcoJet powered by biodiesel and this year he rolled out the E85 Corvette C6RS by Pratt & Miller. People see high performance and the green movement as two diametrically opposed concepts, but Leno is one of those people who understands you can have both. Making a high performance vehicle doesn't have to come at the expense of the planet if you choose your motivation carefully. Cars like those mentioned above and Audi's diesel-powered R10 Le Mans racers come to mind. And the greening of Jay extends beyond the vehicles themselves.

Leno is investing in ideas like solar panels, wind turbines and grease-eating microbes, according to the article. He's also gradually making over his Big Dog Garage to incorporate self-generated power, energy-efficient heating and nontoxic cleaners. The article is a pretty good read, so check it out for yourself. The funniest bit in the story is Jay's half-serious, half-joking rationale for getting into the green thing:

"My thing with the green situation is: Even if you don't believe in global warming, don't you want to screw the oil company or gas company or utility company?"

Priceless.

Thanks for the tip Jay!

[Source: LA Times]

Fisker Tramonto shown for demonstration purposes

Although it barely registered on most of our radars when it was announced a few weeks ago, Fisker Automotive is set to debut an all-new hybrid vehicle. Best known until now as a custom coachbuilder that adds a new suit of custom tailored duds to Mercedes SLs and BMW 6-Series cars, Fisker is set to debut a unique hybrid at the Detroit Auto Show next year. While we reported the basic idea a little while ago, now we have a few more details to share, but still no photos. The car will be a sedan. It will be a plug-in hybrid. It will start at around $80,000. It will debut at NAIAS in January and go on sale sometime in 2009.

Fisker Coachbuild is the company that Henrik Fisker founded after leaving Aston Martin as chief designer. His designs are some of the most elegant and stylish in recent automotive history. The Aston Martins alone earn him a spot in the automotive hall of fame, but he was also with BMW for a while, helping with the Z8 among other projects. So now you might better understand why we eagerly await a glimpse of this new plug-in sedan, that could conceivably beat the big manufacturers to market.

[Source: Fisker via Fortune]

click above image to view high-res gallery of the Mercedes S300 Hybrid Concept

During the huge debut Mercedes held for the F700 Concept and C-Class Estate, it also showed off the new 2010 Mercedes-Benz S300. This is the first product of a collaboration between Mercedes and BMW to develop a less complex mild hybrid that could be adapted to most of their vehicles. Promised for 2010, this will be the first model introduced under that program. It mates the 3.0L Bluetec diesel V-6 to that new hybrid set-up and gets a combined 43.6 mpg (in US gallons) on the economy cycle.

Sounds pretty efficient to us. Mercedes also had some info on the 2009 S400 Hybrid, which uses a petrol engine instead of the diesel used in the S300, and will be the first gas-engined German hybrid on the market when it goes on sale in '09. While the car itself looks exactly like the S300 above, we added a shot of the placard to our gallery so you can see the specs.

If this sounds like a good thing to you, and frankly, why wouldn't it, click over to AB Green to read more about the car and the technology behind it. And don't forget to check out the gallery of live shots as well.

[Source: Mercedes-Benz via AutoblogGreen]

Click image for updated gallery of media and live pics

Mercedes, so far, has had the biggest stage production of any manufacturer here in Frankfurt. It was so big they needed to construct their own building next to the existing exhibit halls to house it. The three-story structure was filled to capacity as the company debuted something like 193 new models in the 20 minute show. Okay, maybe it was a dozen or so. Using dancers in some very creative ways, they managed to convey the idea of man and nature working together for a clean green future to start things off. For the debut of the new models, they were particularly keen on looking green, so the dancers helped create an illusion involving nature. Taking the form of trees and forest spirits (What was this, an anime film? -Ed.), the dancers somehow managed to turn their tree limb props into the shape of a vehicle and enclose all 12 of themselves inside of it just as Dr. Z drove out in a Bluetech sedan. After a bit of talk, the sedan went away and when it was time for the wagon (did Dr. Z call it a Model T? Probably T-Model, on second thought), it too was green. This time a C300 BLUETEC hybrid.

More info and Mercedes' full press release after the jump.

[Source: Mercedes-Benz]

With a little help from hybrid and green tech specialist Quantum Technologies, Fisker is set to enter the premium green marketplace. Would that be... jade? All kidding aside, the press release also mentions that we will also be seeing the birth of a new company, Fisker Automotive, which is a joint effort between Fisker Coachbuild and Quantum Technologies. The first fruit of this project is set to debut in Detroit next January. Fisker is hoping to offer a sub-$100,000 plug-in hybrid that will feature styling by Henrik Fisker himself. And that should make mouths water. Fisker is the man responsible for the BMW Z8, Aston Martin DB9 and V8 Vantage, as well as the Fisker Latigo CS and Tramonto. While those super premium coachbuilt cars are extremely limited production vehicles, Fisker Automotive hopes to move as many as 15,000 of these new hybrids annually.

The new plug-in's hybrid technology will be known as Quantum Drive, and it was developed by Quantum Technologies "exclusively" for Fisker Automotive. The release says that the Quantum Drive chassis will allow Fisker to design "innovative luxury cars with uncompromised proportions." They are referring to the new vehicles as ECO-CHIC, which is kind of catchy. What the release doesn't make clear is whether this new vehicle will be a sports car, GT, sedan, or pickup truck. While we doubt that last one, we really don't know what shape the final product will take until we can get some pics, sketches or clarification from Fisker. There is a rather slinky looking sports car on the company's website (seen above), but we're not sure if that's the vehicle in question or not. Maybe we'll have to wait until January like the rest of you.

Full press release after the jump.

[Source: Fisker]

The Chevy Volt concept that debuted this past January in Detroit has generated more buzz than any concept in recent memory, mainly because of outrageous gas prices, coupled with the fact that GM is working its tail off to get one built by 2010. To generate the same level of buzz across the Atlantic, team GM is prepping an Opel version of the battery-powered green-machine. The two models will vary in design, and the Opel will likely produce electricity via a diesel powerplant instead of a small gasoline engine. The European model will also charge in about half the time of the Volt, as its 220v capability can take twice the juice as our sorry American 110v infrastructure.

Since the Volt and Opel variant are both built on GM's next generation global small car platform, there is a strong possibility that the Opel version will give hints at the design of the next generation Astra. That's important to us here in the States due to the fact that Saturn will likely sell an exact duplicate of the small car. You may have to take a few days off if you plan on keeping up with the progress at Frankfurt at the end of September, there will be a lot of news, and we plan on covering all of it.

[Source: AutoblogGreen]