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Archive for the ‘Automobile’ Category

QNX – now owned by Blackberry – ripped the guts out of a 997 Porsche 911 Cabrio to showcase its latest blend of infotainment, navigation and connectivity solutions. If nothing else, it’s one of the better looking interfaces found at CES.

The system integrates the standard music, nav and telephony functionality with one-touch Bluetooth pairing over NFC, a sweet-sounding VOIP system and the potential – in theory, at least – to run Android apps thanks to its Blackberry Playbook roots. Get a feel for it in the video after the break.
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The Nissan Juke R is a gaggle of impressive numbers: 1,540 hours and 22 weeks of development time, 11 videos of its development, several upset bosses, 480 GT-R-derived horsepower and 428 pound-feet – and to that group we can add a 3.7-second 0-to-60 time and a top speed of 160 miles per hour. Yes, 3.7 seconds may be a second slower than the GT-R, but it’s only two-tenths of a second slower than the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG.
Speaking of the videos, the eleventh and last in the series has been released and it’s the final teaser before the real thing explodes onto the scene in Dubai. You’ll find it after the jump, and when you’re finished with that you can watch them all here. We’ve included the 10th vid after the jump as well, because who isn’t interested in a track shakedown of the crossover Beelzebub uses to take his little ‘bubs to soccer practice?
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Across the Audi stand from the new A3′s interior and updated Audi Connect system was a prototype of the next-next-generation of heads-up display technology. The display comes in three parts: one in front of the driver, another in front of the passenger and yet another sitting between the two, viewable by both people in the front seats.
While the addition of two more displays is more novel than functional, the way you can pass information between them makes it noteworthy. If the passenger, say, looks up a restaurant on their display, they can push navigation instructions to the center display and on to the driver. It’s a slick setup, but likely won’t come to market for at least a few more years. Get the brief demo video below the fold.
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So long, AppRadio. Hello, AppRadio 2. Here at CES 2012, Pioneer was on-hand to showcase its newest smartphone powered in-vehicle audio system. The latest iteration touts the same functionality as the original, but adds compatibility for many of the latest Android smartphones equipped with either the Mobile High Definition Link (MHL) or a micro HDMI connection. It’s boasting a 7-inch (800 x 480) capacitive touchscreen, built-in Bluetooth for hands-free calling, an input for an optional vehicle-mounted rear facing back-up camera, an input for interfacing with the vehicle’s steering wheel controls and two sets of pre-amp outputs for connection to external amplifiers.The new guy will be shipping in April for $499, and if you’re looking to keep steady with the original, that one will continue to be available for $399. In related news, Pioneer also revealed a boatload of new in-car head units, all of which are painstakingly detailed in the source links below.
SOURCE via Pioneer (1), (2), (3), (4), (5)

The Acura NSX Concept was only just unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show and here it’s already in a Gran Turismo 5 video. The newest take on an ecological supercar features Honda’s recently pointy concept-design language, as well as a V6 amidships getting help from three hybrid motors and Acura’s SH-AWD.
The real thing has been promised three years hence, but if this stab at it does get to production, we have no doubt we’ll be seeing a lot more of it before then. The next phase in the NSX-fest begins after the jump, with two minutes of the supercoupe on an angry run through GT5 vistas. Read more…

Toyota can justifiably be proud of its position not only as one of the largest automakers in the world, but also the world leader in hybrid vehicles. In fact, the Japanese automaker claims that half of all hybrids sold are Toyotas. But it didn’t get there by resting on its proverbial laurels, and it isn’t going to maintain (let alone increase) its market share by doing so, either. That’s where the concept car you see here comes in.
Taking position as something of a Prius of the future, the NS4 concept cuts a striking profile – certainly more striking than the current kamm-tailed Prius. But even though the technologies it encompasses are targeted to reach the market by around 2015, the show-car details – like that eminently dentable front beak –probably won’t.
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The Scion team is still giddy about the FR-S, and we can’t blame them. We were in the mood for 200 horsepower and 2,700 pounds, and the FR-S is ready and willing to tickle our fancy. So it was understandable that Scion didn’t have an all-new model to show us this week at the Detroit Auto Show, but Toyota’s car-loving brand did provide a taste of the FR-S “race” car.
The drift car isn’t just a fun project. Instead, it’s the result of a partnership between Scion Racing and GReddy, and will compete in the 2012 Formula DRIFT series with veteran driver Ken Gushi.
We’re guessing that the production FR-S won’t go anywhere near 600 horsepower without some serious aftermarket work, but we’ll at least have this drifter to drool over.

The Lexus LF-LC Concept has been officially revealed, and it’s one heck of a concept car. If I were at Detroit’s Cobo Hall, I can imagine spending good time just standing and staring at this sculpture. Awe inspiring, and check out that cabin!
Challenged by the Lexus Center in Japan to come up with a design for a future hybrid sport coupe concept, the company’s Calty design studio in Newport Beach, California, sought to “advance the redefinition of Lexus” with emotive, avant-garde beauty and advanced technology, yet remain within reach for premium buyers.
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As any Acura diehard would be quick to tell you, a revival of the iconic NSX is long overdue. In true Honda fashion, the automaker decided that, if it was going to go to the trouble of producing a legitimate sportscar, it was going to take on the very best in the industry. Suffice it to say, the NSX delivered the goods.

We now have a new concept to drool over. While the last conceptual sportscar Acura showed off left NSX purists with a sour taste in their mouths – a V10 engine mounted up front was a far cry from the lightweight and high-revving mid-engine V6 of the original – we have a strong feeling that nobody is going to turn their noses up at this new NSX Concept.

Like its forebear, this latest take on the NSX promises to shed excess weight through the use of a high-tech platform made from the latest lightweight materials. Power, as with the original, will come from a V6 mounted behind the two occupants that sends its power to the rear wheels; except this time, it will be augmented by an electric motor.

Acura’s latest SH-AWD incorporates one electric motor in a dual-clutch transmission, forming a hybrid setup. Additionally, two more motors can instantly send negative or positive torque to the front wheels during cornering for improved handling and efficiency, and the whole package can be tailored via software. Acura says the new all-wheel-drive system will provide “supercar acceleration while offering outstanding efficiency.”
We’re not so sure environmentalists are ready to accept the notion of an eco-friendly supercar, but it’s clear Acura’s parents at Honda are keen to keep emissions and fuel usage in check. “In this new era, even as we focus on the fun to drive spirit of the NSX, I think a supercar must respond positively to environmental responsibilities,” says Takanobu Ito, president and CEO of Honda Motor Co.

Acura isn’t saying how much horsepower its V6 engine and three electric motors will amount to, but we’re not expecting outlandish figures. The automaker says it’s aiming for an “extremely favorable power-to-weight ratio.” We like the sound of that, and hope the production version, which is expected within the next three years, delivers on this laudable promise.

Somewhat lost in the fanfare of BMW introducing a hybrid version of its best-selling 3 Series at the Detroit Auto Show was a brief mention of its new navigation technology. The 2012 ActiveHybrid 3 will be the first hybrid to use its nav system to help predict the best time to use and recharge its battery. This will go well beyond currently available navigation technology that plots economical travel routes based on traffic and speed limits, also incorporating altitude, final destination and other real-time data to wring the most out of those electrons.
For example, suppose there’s a big hill on your route. Since the 3 Series hybrid “knows” you will be descending, and thus afforded a good opportunity for recharging, it can drain more of the battery on the way up. BMW says it is still working on the system, but it will be included as a standard feature on the ActiveHybrid 3, and will eventually spread to the ActiveHybrid 5 and other hybrid models. While we don’t have much in the way of details, the opportunity here seems pretty vast, effectively allowing the car to hypermile for you.
While that’s impressive enough, BMW also tells us that it’s toying with the idea of allowing the car to perform similarly even when the navigation system is not in use. This would work by identifying driving patterns from day-to-day. For instance, if you are traveling the same route to work every morning, once you head out on your commute the car would recognize this and make the same sorts of predictions as if you had punched the destination into the navigation system.
Of course, operating in this manner would require the car to track your driving, which opens a whole can of worms regarding privacy. BMW says the 3 Series does not currently have a “black box” to record such data, although it seems that such information could certainly be sent off to reside on a cloud-based server. Regardless, BMW says the concept is still under development.
The ActiveHybrid 3 doesn’t go on sale until fall, so BMW has some time left to finish its work. The company didn’t say exactly how much benefit you might expect from such a system, and we’d imagine it would vary greatly depending on driving conditions. It did tell us the hybrid 3 Series is expected to return 37 miles per gallon on the highway, and that’s before any improvement from the navigation-hybrid integration, as this sort of benefit wouldn’t be shown in the fuel economy displayed on the window sticker.
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