POWER AND THE FASHION
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday September 19, 2009
Mean cars or green cars? RICHARD BLACKBURN sifts the mixed messages from the Frankfurt motor show. THE car industry's split personality came into full view at this week's Frankfurt motor show, when old-fashioned grunt and glitz collided with new-age, green concept cars.Showgoers were treated to electric vehicles on almost every stand, in a display of green intent wildly disproportionate to the miniscule number of zero-emission vehicles actually out on the road.French brand Renault led the electric charge with four all-new plug-in concept cars, while most other stands had at least one plug-in or hybrid electric car.But while some of the Frankfurt exhibition halls were focused on zero-emissions concept cars, multiple formula one world champion Michael Schumacher was creating his own electricity with the new V8-powered Ferrari 458 Italia.The supercar, which uses more than three times the fuel of the petrol-electric Toyota Prius, was one of a dazzling array of ultra-expensive €” and thirsty €” production cars that made their global debut at the show.Battling with the Ferrari for the limelight were a drop-top version of Lamborghini's Reventon (above), Aston Martin's first four-door sports sedan, the Rapide, Mercedes' striking 21st-century remake of its iconic 300SL €śGullwing€ť coupe, powerful convertibles from both Maserati and Audi and V8 limousines from Jaguar, Bentley and Mulsanne.But luxury companies Porsche, Audi and BMW gave an insight into a future where blistering performance and zero emissions could exist in harmony.Porsche left jaws agape when it declared it would build an electric sports car, while Audi unveiled its e-tron, a concept electric version of its R8 supercar. BMW delivered a concept sports car that accelerates like a V8 but uses less fuel than the most frugal car available today.The conflicting messages from Frankfurt highlight the challenges faced by the industry as it deals with growing community pressure to develop greener vehicles and consumers' unwillingness to pay extra for zero-emissions technology.While most car makers were making all the right noises about environmental sustainability under the bright glare of the assembled media, many were equally keen to hose down expectations of an overnight revolution in the cars we drive.Land Rover boss Phil Popham echoed the sentiments of many at the show when he suggested the average person was still years away from owning an electric car.€śOur belief is there's no silver bullet when it comes to sustainability," he said. "You've got to do everything you can to make cars more efficient in the future.€ťHe said the company was looking at both hybrid and electric versions of its range but doubted their appeal in the short term.€śThere's not that many customers out there who are actually willing to pay the high cost of some of these alternative technologies,€ť he said.Land Rover could do more for the environment by concentrating on other fuel-saving technology, Mr Popham said, such as using lightweight materials, more efficient engines, low-friction tyres and stop-start technology, where the engine is turned off when the car is stopped in traffic.His comments regarding the cost of electric vehicles were echoed by Ford's chief engineer for small cars, Gunnar Herrmann.€śWhen you look at the technology, it's fairly expensive,€ť he said. "For the battery technology, you could buy a small car.€śFrom a customer perspective, it is an extremely expensive entry at the moment."The president of Mazda Europe, Jeffrey Guyton, agreed with this view.€śFor maybe the next five years, the vast majority of vehicles will still rely on internal combustion engines, including hybrids ... so we're focused on the internal combustion engine because it gives us the widest coverage for our customers," he said. "We're not about making a couple of high-performance derivatives that deliver fuel economy and then abandon the rest of our customers. We need a breakthrough in batteries and a breakthrough in where electricity comes from because it doesn't do us much good to have zero CO2 emissions from the car if we're burning coal and using fossil fuels to generate electricity.€śWe've focused on basic vehicle technologies like combustion, weight, aerodynamics and friction and we're confident that we are going to achieve the sorts of CO2 reductions that are required by consumers and legislation with that recipe.€ťIt's clear the car industry, for all the hype about electric vehicles, is unconvinced they are the future. Aston Martin owner David Richards, in Frankfurt for the global launch of its brutal V12 Rapide, said people would always be drawn to beautiful sports cars.€śElectric cars are still not taken very seriously,€ť he said. "In the coming years it will change but I don't imagine our approach will change. We still haven't lost the great art of making beautiful cars."Maybe it's a sign of the times that everyone is on our stand,€ť he said.For more of Drive's extensive coverage of the Frankfurt motor show, go todrive.com.au/frankfurt09Green carsHYUNDAI ix-METROTHE ix-Metro is a hybrid mini-SUV powered by an electric motor and a three-cylinder, turbocharged petrol engine.The concept's designer, Sandy Hartono, says it draws inspiration from outer space. €śSpacecraft are the universal symbol for innovation, so we took our inspiration from NASA and even science-fiction movies about space,€ť he says.The car has no pillars between the front and rear seats but rather than use hinged doors, the designers have introduced sliding rear doors.Inside, the design inspiration was a little more down-to-earth €” designers "took a cue from the humble pine cone". Instead of traditional controls, it has a silicon surface with touch-operated displays.RENAULT TWIZY Z.ETHIS was one of four electric concepts Renault unveiled. The company says all will go into production by 2012.The runabout uses a 15kW electric motor to produce similar acceleration to a 125cc motorbike, although its top speed is just 75km/h.It measures 2.3-m long and weighs 400 kilograms.The wheel fairings are octagonal, and cover the tyres entirely so the wheels can't be seen rotating. The passenger sits behind the driver. Renault says the car's footprint is similar to a scooter. The 100-kilometre range is depicted by a lotus flower display that loses leaves as the car runs out of charge. It can be recharged in 3 hours.CITROEN REVOLTECITROEN has reinforced its reputation for eccentricity by building a car with a velvet sofa behind the driver's seat.The Revolte electric concept car has a cabin designed to look like the inside of a make-up bag.Apart from the plush wraparound lounge, the car has been styled to look as if it has eyelashes, mascara and eyebrows above the headlamps.Instead of wood panelling and plastic inside, it has woven black leather, thick crimson velvet and aluminium highlights. It also has an integrated baby seat and rear-hinged doors for easy access.The car, a modern take on the iconic 2CV, is a plug-in electric vehicle with a tiny petrol engine that can drive the car and recharge the battery.PEUGEOT BB1SIMILAR to the design strategy employed for other light cars, Peugeot's BB1 is an electric car that seats four people in a body measuring just 2.5 metres.Driving the rear wheels are two electric motors and each produces 10kW of power and 320Nm of torque, enough to move the BB1 from 0-30km/h in 2.8 seconds. Top speed is 90km/h, while range is set at 120 kilometres.The BB1 only tips the scale at 600 kilograms but a significant part of the weight is the batteries, which account for 100 kilograms.Underneath, the BB1 is a motorcycle-inspired tubular space frame clad in a lightweight carbon fibre shell. Solar panels on the roof help recharge the BB1's batteries and run the air-conditioning.VOLKSWAGEN L1THIS is the second iteration of VW's streamlined two-seater, following the "1-litre" concept of 2002.It uses a third of the fuel of a Toyota Prius, with a fuel-economy figure of 1.4 litres per 100 kilometres.The new, 3.8-metre-long version looks like a jet-fighter canopy on wheels, though the styling is edgier than the bubble design of the original.The L1's super-low economy is achieved through a combination of slippery aerodynamics (co-efficient of drag of just 0.195, compared with 0.30 for a typical car), a featherweight 380-kilogram kerb weight and a diesel-electric hybrid drivetrain.The L1 teams an electric motor with an 800cc turbo-diesel engine to give a top speed of 160km/h and a claimed 0-100km/h time of 14.3 seconds.MERCEDES-BENZ F-CELLMERCEDES-Benz has revived the environmental debate over clean, hydrogen fuel-cell technology as a fuel of the future. Largely forgotten in the recent race to develop electric and plug-in hybrid cars during the past few years, hydrogen fuel cells were once seen as the environmental saviour, something Mercedes-Benz still believes is likely.It will become the first brand to mass produce a fuel-cell vehicle (albeit in low volumes and with a price tag stretching into hundreds of thousands of dollars a car) from early next year.As well as the hydrogen F-Cell, the stylistically similar E-Cell electric car and E-Cell Plus plug-in hybrid (pictured) demonstrate Benz's desire to have a finger in every pie.Mean carsLAMBORGHINI REVENTON ROADSTERLAMBORGHINI has chopped the top off its Reventon supercar and declared it the company's most extreme model yet. It will certainly be extreme in price, because the Reventon Roadster is expected to cost even more than the $2 million Reventon coupe. Just 20 will be built.Powering the roadster is the same 6.5-litre V12 as the coupe, producing 493kW of power and 660Nm of torque. It's enough to propel the roadster from 0-100km/h in 3.4 seconds, with a top speed of 330km/h.Lamborghini chief executive Stephan Winkelmann says the Reventon Roadster is "the most extreme car in the history of the brand".FERRARI 458 ITALIAEVEN Ferrari can be green when it puts its mind to it and the all-new 458 Italia is proof of that. With a redeveloped V8, the 4.5-litre engine has direct fuel injection and a newseven-speed dual-clutch auto. Fuel consumption is down from 18.3 litres per 100 kilometres to 13.7L/100km.Ferrari hasn't lost its performance focus, though, for the car that will reach Australia in mid-2010 with a price tag of more than $500,000. It claims it will sprint from 0-100km/h in a remarkable 3.4 seconds €” more than half a second quicker than the F430 €” and reach a top speed of 325km/h.The single front grille and air intake opening also features flexible "aeroelastic" wings that, when speeds rise, bend to close up the intakes and reduce drag for higher speed and improved fuel efficiency.ROLLS-ROYCE GHOSTLIKE the new baby Rolls-Royce? Well, it's going to cost you a fair fist of money and you'll need to go right to the back of the queue to get one.The British luxury marque used Frankfurt to confirm that the Ghost €” the smallest and newest member of the Rolls family €” will sell from $695,000 when the first deliveries arrive later this year.But competition will be fierce, with Rolls-Royce's Australian general manager Bevin Clayton confirming he is already sitting on 24 orders for the car.It is powered by an all-new 6.6-litre, twin-turbo V12 developing 420kW of power.McLAREN MP4-12CTHE McLaren MP4-12C is the formula one team's first supercar since the fabled McLaren F1 of the 1990s.With McLaren and engine supplier Mercedes renegotiating their partnership, it's perhaps not surprising the MP4-12C cuts into the Gullwing's territory.McLaren claims its new two-seater supercar boasts a better power-to-emissions ratio than any petrol or diesel car on the market. A mid-mounted, twin-turbocharged 3.8-litre V8 sends about 441kW to the rear wheels.McLaren says the supercar's Proactive Chassis Control system will also give €śground-breaking ride and handling€ť that will allow the 12C to deliver flat cornering for racing tracks while also being able to offer the suspension compliance of a luxury sedan.The MP4-12C is accessed the same way as the F1 €” by "dihedral" scissor doors. This contributes to the clean look of McLaren's new supercar, designed by the man behind cars such as the BMW Mini and Fiat 500, Frank Stephenson.McLaren says it wanted to rewrite the rules of sports-car design and that the 12C will surprise people when it launches.Green meets meanAUDI e-tronTHE Audi R8-based e-tron relies on purely electric drivetrains and lightweight construction. The low, super-light e-tron features electric motors at all four wheels, delivering only 230kW of power but a jaw-dropping 4500Nm of torque €” more than 10 times the output of a V8 petrol-powered R8. It's able to push the e-tron from 0-100km/h in an impressive 4.8 seconds. Audi says it is also developing other recharging options for the car, including a rapid charging station that can fill the batteries to capacity in about 2 hours. More importantly, it is working on a home-based wireless charging system. The system doesn't require the car to be plugged into a socket.BMW VISION EFFICIENT DYNAMICSTHE Vision Efficient Dynamics gives a tantalising look at what's possible when you combine light weight with a high-performance hybrid drivetrain. At the heart of the new car is an advanced diesel-electric hybrid system. The primary means of drive hails from a compact turbocharged 1.5-litre three-cylinder engine, which teams with two electric motors (one small, one large). There are also active aerodynamics and other fuel-saving measures, many of which boost performance.MERCEDES-BENZ VISION S500 PLUG-IN HYBRIDTHE Vision S500 Plug-in Hybrid is designed to show how technology, performance and class-leading economy can live in one vehicle.With lower fuel use than Toyota's hybrid Prius in a full-size limousine that can reach 100km/h in a sportscar-like 5.5 seconds, the concept car can be recharged from a regular power point and driven for up to 30 kilometres before a V6 engine fires into life to extend the driving range and deliver improved performance.MERCEDES-BENZ SLS GULLWING eDRIVEAS IF the gullwing doors don't turn heads enough, replacing the AMG-designed V8 engine with four electric motors in the Mercedes-Benz SLS eDrive should do the trick. Almost matching the V8's 420kW output, the 392kW in the eDrive should prove tempting when the electric Gullwing goes on sale in a couple of years. Of course, the head-turning styling that's an interpretation of a classic promises to create almost as much interest.PORSCHE ELECTRIC CARHOW things have changed for Porsche now that it's owned by Volkswagen, one of the world's biggest car makers. Newly appointed Porsche boss Michael Macht says the German sports car specialist is working on an electric sports car and will expand its suite of petrol-electric hybrid cars to include the iconic 911. €śSince this trend towards electric power is unstoppable, our engineers are already working hard on this challenge,€ť he says.
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald