Audi Intelligent Motion Project

Bertone Mantide Concept

Rally Fighter Interior Design Competition: the winners

Local Motors has announced the winners of the Rally Fighter Interior Design Competition. The first three prizes were won respectively by Mihai Panaitescu, Artem Popkov and Anthony Collard.

Started back in February, the Rally Fighter Interior Competition is the first interior design contest organized by Local Motors.

The brief was to design a global aesthetic for the first Local Motors production car, the Rally Fighter, designed by Sangho Kim and targeted to American Southwest market.

The grand winner of the contest is Romanian Mihai Panaitescu, who already placed first in the Boston Motors Competition with his “Boston Bullet”, and second in Chicago Motors Competition, and earned the first prize of $2,000.

Mihai’s InteriorConcept features an attractive minimalist aesthetic which includes only the necessary features.  It is defined by Local Motors as “difficult but appropriate for a true rally vehicle.”

The concept is characterized by the adoption of aluminum panels and other visual linksbetween the interior and exterior, like the door handle shape, which creates an overall pleasing and flight-inspired interior. 

The most outstanding feature is the center console, which seems to be floating on wings between the two front seats. The design will set the global tone for the Rally Fighter’s interior.

Russian designer Artem Popkov placed second and earned the $400 prize with his 4CE Project, featuring “a clean and confident design language which lends itself well to the military-style interior.”

While simple, this interior is able to incorporate the drivers’ existing, but not built-in, technology, like iPhones, GPS, etc.

Anthony Collard placed third with his Navy Blue project and earned the $200 prize. 

This design invigorates a sense of adventure and conquest with a standout orange roll cage, a true cockpit style dashboard, and unobtrusive back seats, which are molded directly into the car’s body.

For more information visit Local Motors.

(Source: Local Motors)  

            

Obama Rolls In An Armored Cadillac Stagecoach

General Motors has once again built the First Limo, which isn’t so much a car as an armored personnel carrier wrapped in Cadillac bodywork. It is code-named “Stagecoach” but given its weight, wheelbase and bunker-like level of protection, Caddy One has been nicknamed “the Beast.”

The limo that carries President Obama down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House today is the latest in a long line of Cadillacs to join the First Fleet over the years. Although GM and the Secret Service jealously guard the vehicle’s specs and secrets, you can bet Obama’s ride is the toughest, most sophisticated car anywhere. Think of it as the road-going equivalent to Air Force One.

“Although many of the vehicle’s security enhancements cannot be discussed, it is safe to say that this car’s security and coded communications systems make it the most technologically advanced protection vehicle in the world,” Nicholas Trotta, assistant director for the Secret Service Office of Protective Operations, said in a statement (.pdf).

GM had even less to say, noting “one of the specifications is we don’t talk about the specifications.” But spokesman David Caldwell says the redesigned car “is a fresh, more modern, more expensive” version of the Cadillac DTS that has carried President Bush since his second inauguration in 2005. Obama’s car, he says, is “a little bit more vibrant, if you will.”

Even if no one’s got anything to say about what’s under all that armor, there are some things widely believed to be known about Caddy One’s security measures.

The car is one of a small fleet of what is believed to be no more than 25 presidential limos General Motors built for the Obama administration, according to the Detroit News. Although presidential limos have a lifespan of about a decade, the Commander in Chief gets a new one about every four years. Hand-me-downs are used to carry the vice president and visiting heads of state.

GM says the car occupies the “same footprint” as the current presidential ride, but it is a little taller and the windows a little bigger to improve visibility. Limo One is believed to weigh between seven and eight tons, and spy shots suggest it rides on a GM medium-duty truck chassis propelled by a diesel engine. The body is sheathed in military-grade armor as much as 8 inches thick on the doors (each of which weighs as much as the cabin door on a Boeing 747, Motor Authority says). The armor reportedly is a mix of dual-hardness steel, aluminum, titanium and ceramic. The windows are ballistic glass said to be 5 inches thick, and Dan Neil of the Los Angeles Times says there’s probably a woven Kevlar mat covering the floorboard to protect the car from blasts. The cabin is believed to feature a sealed air recirculation system to protect its occupants from chemical attacks.

“I think he will be surprised about how when he’s in the limo, it’s a cocoon,” Joe Funk, a retired Secret Service agent who served as President Clinton’s driver, told CNN. “The everyday noises will be gone, and he will be totally isolated in this protective envelope.

Still, despite being at least as secure as a hardened missile silo, GM says Caddy One features the same hand-sewn leather interior you’d find in the CTS at your local dealership, and supposedly it’s got a 10-disc CD player. And, of course, it’s packed with the latest communications technology.

“I think he will be surprised at the communication capabilities, how the phones, the satellites, the Internet – everything is at his fingertips,” Funk said. “So at one end, you are totally removed from society. The other side of the coin is that he can have any communications worldwide at a moment’s touch.”

Obama’s limo is the latest in long line of presidential cars Cadillac has built in the 100 years since Congress approved funding for a presidential motor pool. President Wilson rode in a Caddy during a parade marking the end of World War I. President Coolidge sported a lavish 1928 Cadillac Town Car, which was among the first Caddys parked at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. It featured a 341 cubic inch engine and a robust (for the time) 90 horsepower.

In 1938, the US government received two Cadillac convertibles, each 21.5 feet long and weighing nearly 8,000 pounds. They were dubbed the “Queen Elizabeth” and the “Queen Mary” after the ocean liners. Each featured back-up generators, two-way radios and an arsenal of weapons. They served presidents Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower and were replaced by the Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Mary II, which remained in service until 1968.

Cadillac returned to the White House in 1983, when President Reagan rode around in a Fleetwood famous for being the last equipped with the Turbo Hydra-Matic 400 3-speed automatic transmission. President Clinton rode in a Fleetwood Brougham powered by a 454 cubic inch (7.4 liter) V8.

The largest collection of presidential limos is held by the Henry Ford Museum, but President Bush’s limo will not appear in it. The Secret Service has since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, required that presidential limos be destroyed upon retirement to preserve their secrets.

GYM Concept Car (Generates Powered By Your Exercises)

The future is coming and in the future, the cars powered by fossil fuels will be forgotten therefore designers will have to come up with new ideas for new types of fuel. While hybrid and solar-powered cars seem to have an advantage, the GYM concept car comes with a new and revolutionary idea: a car which harnesses the energy from your workout.

You might be wondering if you can generate enough energy to power your car, but the thing is that the GYM concept will feature an electrical engine and batteries which will be charged thanks to you. You will be able to do that via a plug-in socket which will be connected to your exercise equipment.

The GYM concept will be an one-seated car and will be made of lightweight materials like molded magnesium alloy and carbon-fiber. The design resembles a fighter aircraft from World War 2 and maybe with all this exercises you are getting ready for war. Just kidding here. Unlike many other concepts, I hope that the GYM car will become a reality in the future.

Versa-Quatic Concept Car

Here is a useful concept car. Why useful? Because you will have to move your body a lot in order to drive it. This concept was inspired by marine life and it was designed by Christopher Lavelanet and being a car of the future, it will be eco-friendly.

Th car is called Versa-Quatic and it’s two-seater. The driver will have to seat in bike-like position and he will use its upper and lower body to turn, accelerate or break the car. It seems like we will have a lot of work to do, but this is great as we will drive and exercise in the same time.

Well, the car will be eco-friendly thanks to the electrical engine and to the battery pack that will make the Versa-Quatic energy efficient. Once again, I have to say that this car is only a concept and that it may never see the sunlight. However, the eco-friendly technology is already here, the design looks great and I can’t see why this car wouldn’t enter on the market in the next decade.

RCA Green Concept Cars

The Royal College of Art turns 40 years of existence next year and their fame will be honored by the graduates of their vehicle design program who are one the best in the world. As everything in the future should be green, they decided to design green and sustainable concepts for the cars of the future.

Although the cars are very futuristic and they look like they will destroy the environment, all the concepts will feature energy efficient engines with few emission and also they will be made of glass which will allow them to be very aerodynamic.

RCA unveiled these cutting-edge cars that look like rockets and one of them is kind of a combination between a motorcycle and a sidecar. One of the best designs is the Airflow concept which was envisioned by Pierre Sabas and it will feature an exterior made of glass, ultra-weight materials and an electric engine.

Another impressive concept car is Nuaero which was designed by Jon Radbrink and it will be based on airfoils for aerodynamics, also a venturi-tunnel, and an underbody inspired by a catamaran.

Other designs include Sergio Loureiro Da Silva’s Pheonix, Nereus concept by Ceri Yorath, a concept car from Ilaria Sacco, Joonas Vartola’s really attractive Iomega, Noah concept by Jung Hoon Rhee, Enigma concept by Paul Howse (one of my favorites) and a concept car from Yunwoo Jeong.

I was about to forget about a design by Arturo Peralta Nogueras which consists of a car that runs on algae and which uses evolving solid hologram technology in order to adapt to the environment and passengers. Check out the photos tell us which one is your favorite!

RCA via Wallpaper

Toyota’s Lightweight 1/X Concept

It seems like every other day now that a car company announces a new concept that is redefining what it means to be an environmentally friendly vehicle. However, when Toyota says it, we tend to take a closer look. It was Toyota, after all, that created the Prius, the standard to which all subsequent hybrid vehicles are measured. The Toyota 1/x concept, which recently appeared at the Chicago Auto Show, is Toyota’s latest attempt at redefining what a green vehicle means. And to them, it is all about making it weigh less.

The name 1/X refers to the reduced amount of weight, emissions and fuel consumption that the vehicle has compared to that of other similar vehicles in its class. It is made from a carbon fiber reinforced plastic frame, that is quite strong but much lighter than conventional framing system. The shape of the vehicle is a result of a desire by Toyota’s designers to create a smaller space, that would have a feeling of openness. It has the same amount of space as a Prius, yet weighs about a third.

The roof is transparent, heat and noise insulating, and made from abio-plastic derived from kenaf and ramie plants. The seats of the vehicle are extremely light, yet, according to Toyota, quite comfortable. The entire front of the vehicle is clad in an LED lightingsystem that provides a soft glow, illuminating the entire front surface of the vehicle. And, due to the light weight of the vehicle, the 1/X’s wheels are smaller and thinner than those of a regular vehicle. They have even reduced the amount of water splashed by the tires when traveling on wet surface.

The 1/x is meant to operate at a fuel efficiency that is double that of the Prius. It comes with a plug-in hybrid unit and a small fuel-engine. This design, combined with the lightness of the car means that it can travel for over 600 miles on a four-gallon tank of fuel. Overall, a pretty impressive technology package from Toyota.

+Toyota 1/X Concept Makes North American Debut At 2008 Chicago Auto Show

CLEVER Project CNG Concept

If you read last week’s Transportation Tuesday, you might be doing a double take – after all, we are featuring another ultra-thin, super cool looking, three wheel vehicle. Last week was the electric Smera. This week’s sleek ride is the distinguished CLEVER concept – a 3 feet wide vehicle that runs on compressed natural gas and is perfect for urban driving.

The CLEVER was designed by theTechnical University of Berlin, which together with a number of partners, including BMW, wanted to develop a type of vehicle that would be suitable for urban use. The result was a low emissions, three wheeled, two person vehicle that can tilt around corners, and look quite stylish doing it.

The CLEVER, which stands for compact low emission vehicle for urban transport, is 3 meters long and 1 meter wide. It weighs less than 400kg, and combined with the fact that it is powered by natural gas, will give you around 60g/km (compared to 100 g/km for a small vehicle). The top speed is 100kph, and it has an acceleration of 0-60kph in about 7 seconds.

Unlike the Smera, the CLEVER is unlikely to go into production any time soon, as it was intended to be more of an exploratory model, rather than a full solution. We’re definitely hoping that some of the research in this design shows up in some form or another soon.

+ CLEVER Project

Toyota Hi-CT

Odd-looking doesn’t even begin to describe this hybrid concept vehicle, but the Toyota Hi-CT is a reflection of what a cool and enjoyable vehicle should look like, according to Toyota’s team of young Japanese and European designers. The Hi-CT evolved from the theme of “unbalanced” – the concept behind the entire design of the front-centered proportions. Wanting something that would make you stop and take a good look, Toyota has succeeded. And the young team of designers behind the Hi-CT have given this cool and enjoyable vehicle some very green aces up its sleeve.

The Hi-CT is a plug-in hybrid with a 1.5L motor and uses lithium-ion batteries, which are located underneath the floor of the vehicle in order to maximize the interior space of the car. While it looks quite boxy and big, it is in fact quite small. The entire vehicle is 3.3 meters long, 1.6 meters wide and 1.7 meters high. It is, effectively, a cube on wheels. Due to the tiny size, it can only carry two persons. However, being a “lifestyle” car, there’s enough space inside it for everything that an active user or two could need. The rear trunk can be modified so that surfboards, bicycles and camping equipment can be carried around for those days where you need to get out to nature.

The car certainly looks a little out of the ordinary, but not in an unappealing way and especially not with its green credo to back up its unfamiliar form. If nothing else, this once again proves how by thinking outside the constraints of the gas engine, car manufacturers have certainly started to think outside the box for their car designs as well.

+ Toyota Hi-CT