Chinese Rolls-Royce

Meet the Geeley Ge! It’s the Chinese clone of Rolls-Royce recently presented at the Shanghai Auto Show. I believe this time the Chinese went too far! Luxury cars are simply not their piece of cake, even if they cost five times less than the original! Luxury cars are good not only because of the comfort they provide but also because of the brand associated with this comfort and high status! Can you imagine a billionaire riding something called Geeley Ge?

Drag-Racing "Cool Bus" Crashes In Texas [Drag Racing]

GM ready to let Opel go for free?

General Motors wants out of Opel, and according to new reports, it is willing to let the German automaker go without receiving any money for it. The only requirement is that the buyer must inject €500 million (around $652M USD) into Opel for operations. While GM CEO Fritz Henderson has said there are six serious investors in discussions for Opel, and that a deal should be done by early May, the fact that GM has said "if you pay the bills you can have it" indicates that GM is ready to work with anyone who's willing to sign. Making a deal would not only free GM of Opel's current burdens, but the obligations it would have if Opel shuts down under its watch. Another outlet is reporting that Opel sold a range of technologies to GM in 2005 for which it's still owed hundreds of millions of dollars. If GM returned the patents (currently held by the U.S. government), then GM could lower its debt load and Opel would get an asset with which it could secure alternate financing.

War on buttons extends to automotive front with Chrysler's iPhone-like dashboard

 

by Tim Stevens, posted Apr 15th 2009 at 8:21AM

It's no secret that Apple doesn't like buttons, making the iPhone nearly free of the things and then further pushing the offensive by cropping the 3G Shuffle down to one massively overloaded input. Nartron Corporation is Apple's partner in button hate, bringing that bias to Chrysler of all places to develop a next-gen dashboard for the company's 200C concept. The system is called iQ Power and is unabashedly iPhone-inspired, featuring big, colorful controls and even cover-flow album art for media browsing. Interestingly the system will allow "any smartphone" to be used as an intelligent key, unlocking doors and even accessing a video stream of the car's interior -- which should do wonders for your auto's battery life. The system naturally offers UConnect and features a wireless tablet that allows passengers to send music recommendations to the driver's console. Of course, passengers could also just speak up, but when you're as flush with profits as Chrysler is, why not blow some cash researching useless tech like in-car messaging?

Mercedes shows off Splitview display, other dashboard perks in the 2010 S-Class

by Paul Miller, posted Apr 15th 2009 at 4:14PM

Sure, the cold metal exterior looks like a regular old car, but the 2010 S-Class from Mercedes-Benz has a fuzzy technological heart, including an abundance of readout displays and a Splitview screen. Quite like it sounds, the Splitview display offers up one view to the driver (like a map), while the passenger sees a completely different image (like a movie, or a picture of somebody looking at a map), and after hearing all about it for the past while, Mercedes is actually giving us a glimpse of it in an overly-dramatic promo video for the latest S-Class to clutter up the roads. Check it out after the break.

Start-up Bee pledges 'affordable' British e-car

Four-seater 'leccy hatch for under £7000, anyone?

By Alun Taylor

21st April 2009 10:40 GMT

Exclusive Reg Hardware can bring you exclusive details and images of what could become the UK's most affordable e-car.

Bee's Bee.One: four-seater EV for seven grand, anyone?

The four-seat, five-door Bee.One from British e-car start up Bee is scheduled to go into production in 2011 with a target price of £12,000 ($17,700/€13,600). And that's before the £5000 ($7400/€5600) e-car subsidy the government recently announced.

Designed primarily as a second car, the One will be pitched at buyers who want a 'leccy vehicle for local use rather than as a replacement for the family motor. Speaking to Reg Hardware, Bee boss Stephen Voller described the government subsidy as a tipping point that should make e-cars a genuinely attractive mass-market proposition.

According to Bee, the One will have a top speed of 80mph along with a maximum range of 200 miles. That 200 miles is at an “average speed”, though - keep the needle at 80 and it decreases to 100 miles. Power will come from two modular battery units mounted under the floor, each designed to be easily removable in anticipation of battery-swap stations springing up across the land, or for when new and superior battery chemistries make the purchase of an improved power pack a sensible option.

Drive comes from two electric motors that power the front wheels. Bee say that the One's dual motor set up will be unique and does away with the need for a heavy and expensive differential.

3G-connected for software downloads, diagnostic uploads

Each Bee.One will be permanently hooked up to a 3G cellular network that will allow updates to the car's management system software to be downloaded, and performance and usage data to be sent in the other direction. Drivers will then be able to log on to a dedicated personal web page to view the information and also to arrange service work as and when the One's diagnostic systems think it necessary.

A service partner is already in place, Bee said, which will turn up at your doorstep and take your car away and then bring it back - all arranged on line - making the One ideal for those drivers who resent having to deal with garages and filling stations.

In the interests of weight and cost, the One will forsake a conventional in-car entertainment system in favour of an iPod dock which Bee sees as being more than adequate for most drivers ICE and navigation needs. The company is also working on ways to hook up BlackBerrys and other smartphones to the One for the chronically iPhone-phobic.

Removable battery packs designed in

Unlike some e-car start-ups, Bee has conservative expectations and expects to make just 12,000 Ones a year to begin with.

Alongside the One, the company is also working on a two-seat roadster called the Bee.Four that should be able to hit 60mph in under three seconds, and a 'leccy F1-style hill climb racer that will run under the famous BRM badge. The BRM Bee Four ERV will use four in-wheel electric motors developed at Oxford University to generate 520kW (700bhp) and will have a top speed of 250mph. ®