Maserati Kubang crossover unveiled at Frankfurt Motor Show
Italian luxury carmaker Maserati has confirmed their intentions of joining the crossover four-wheel-drive bandwagon with the debut of Maserati Kubang concept at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show.
The Kubang concept, which is in its second iteration, first one being the one that was unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show back in 2003, will be a high-end “sport-luxury” SUV aiming to provide supreme driving pleasure and a luxury atmosphere. While the Kubang’s engine, which shall be mated to an 8-speed automatic gearbox, is set to be developed by Ferrari, expect this Maserati SUV to borrow some basic 4×4 juice from its Fiat-owned sister brand Jeep; and rumours are that this may even roll out from the same plant as the Jeep Grand Cherokee since it will share the same platform.
There is no word on any specific details of the Kubang, nor there is any confirmation on when the Kubang shall go into production. And whether it really can roll in with a bang remains to be seen.
Maserati Kubang SUV: Super luxury vehicles belie gloomy outlook
-
Lamborghini's racy Gallardo, Maserati's concept SUV and the new hardtop Ferrari 458 Spider on display at the Frankfurt Auto Show immediately dispel any gloom emanating from the European Central Bank tower across town where bankers are trying to salvage Europe's single currency.
The super luxury automakers are coming out in force — pledging higher sales and offering ever sexier models despite growing economic uncertainty.
Maserati showed off its new sport luxury SUV Kubang, which it plans to start building in 2013, completing a range that currently includes the GranTurismo four-door sedan and the QuattroPorte two-door coupe. Maseratihas also announced plans to add a small sedan to the lineup.
Maserati CEO Harald Wester's goal is to produce 20,000 of the SUVs a year in an ambitious bid to boostMaserati's worldwide sales to 40,000 by 2014, from 6,400 in 2010.
BMW Motorrad Concept e - Web Exclusive Design concept for a BMW electro-scooter. Read more: http://www.europeancarweb.com/news/epcp_1109_bmw_motorrad
Building on almost 90 years of experienced in the field of motorized two-wheel vehicles, BMW Motorrad is drawing on the conceptual benefits of single-track vehicles to develop innovative solutions, adding a new dimension to the area of urban commuting.
Before the end of this year, BMW Motorrad will establish its new
Based on the BMW Group's sustainability strategy, BMW Motorrad aims to put a premium offer on the market in the area of electromobility in the foreseeable future. At the Frankfurt International Motor Show (IAA), BMW will be presenting its design concept in this area for the first time: "BMW Concept e".
Visionary design for a new drive concept.
At the IAA in Frankfurt, BMW i presents visionary vehicles which are individually tailored to their respective purpose - the BMW i3 Concept and the
BMW i8 Concept. They have a completely new "LifeDrive Architecture" specially developed for electrical drive and radically different from conventional vehicle construction. With its fascinating overall concept, the BMW i8 Concept with plug-in hybrid drive is the vision of a sustainable sports car come true. The BMW i3 Concept is the automobile with consistently sustainable design, conceived specifically for an urban setting.
With its Concept e, BMW Motorrad shows how attractive and fascinating the interpretation of the theme of electrical drive on two wheels can be in terms of design, while at the same time attracting attention to its new business area "Urban Mobility".
Concept e - a vision with a future.
The shaping and precision achieved reflect the core values of BMW Motorrad: emotion, dynamic performance and innovation. At the same time, the purist, clear design, coloring and choice of materials instantly suggest a clean, efficient yet agile single-track vehicle which allows one to move effortlessly through city traffic.
So the design concept study Concept e is more than just an idea for a new vehicle. In addition to technical functionality and quality, the BMW Motorrad designers attach importance to an emotional dialogue between rider and vehicle. Their basic premise is that a vehicle has to do more than just function - it has to arouse the rider's emotions, too. It has to inspire the rider again and again, as well as reflect its specific technological features.
So in the case of the Concept e, the main aim was to translate the special character of electric drive technology to the vehicle's outward appearance.
The Concept e is the conceptual blueprint of a scooter able to set new standards with innovative premium electrical drive and provide a sound alternative form of mobility suitable for everyday use in the dense traffic of the constantly expanding conurbation areas and cities of the world today.
BMW i3 and i8 concepts feature new LifeDrive platform
These are the BMW i3 and the i8 Concepts, the two members of the new BMW i family that BMW previewed last week at Messe Frankfurt. The BMW i3 was originally known as the BMW Megacity Vehicle, and it will be BMW’s first series-produced all-electric vehicle, and you’ll see the i8 sports car in the upcoming Mission Impossible movie.
BMW started off the BMW M sub brand for high performance versions of its cars. The company had to evolve with times, and with the rise of the popularity of the SUV came the BMW X brand along with xDrive.
Now as the world continues to change with the times and the idea of mobility continues to evolve – BMW has responded with the creation of a sub-brand which meets the changing needs of customers head-on: BMW i. BMW i is all visionary vehicles and mobility services, inspiring design, and a new understanding of premium that is strongly defined by sustainability.
“The purpose-oriented and sustainable mobility solutions from BMW i mark the dawn of a new era in personal mobility for the automotive industry,” said Ian Robertson, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for Sales and Marketing.
The BMW i brand started off as a think tank called project i back in 2007. BMW had set project i up to explore sustainable mobility solutions, intended to generate a transfer of expertise into both the company as a whole, as well as future vehicle projects.
Quite interestingly, the sustainability goals extended way beyond just the vehicles themselves. The development engineers focused on the entire value chain – not just the end result products. Every parts-related process, technology, supplier – they’ve all been required to contribute to the sustainability rating of the products. The goal is to reduce resources consumption and emissions per vehicle produced by 30 per cent over 2006 levels by 2012.
But the i3 (and the i8) are not “conversion” cars. Their chassis architecture was built from ground up to house an electric drive train. While in a combustion engine car it might make sense for the engine to be up front with the gearbox, the petrol tank at the rear and etc, this might not be the best way to house the components necessary for an electric drive.
Electric drive components place totally different demands on a vehicle when it comes to installation space and cannot be integrated into that vehicle without adding weight and compromising interior and boot space.
These are the BMW i3 and the i8 Concepts, the two members of the new BMW i family that BMW previewed last week at Messe Frankfurt. The BMW i3 was originally known as the BMW Megacity Vehicle, and it will be BMW’s first series-produced all-electric vehicle, and you’ll see the i8 sports car in the upcoming Mission Impossible movie.
BMW started off the BMW M sub brand for high performance versions of its cars. The company had to evolve with times, and with the rise of the popularity of the SUV came the BMW X brand along with xDrive.
Now as the world continues to change with the times and the idea of mobility continues to evolve – BMW has responded with the creation of a sub-brand which meets the changing needs of customers head-on: BMW i. BMW i is all visionary vehicles and mobility services, inspiring design, and a new understanding of premium that is strongly defined by sustainability.
“The purpose-oriented and sustainable mobility solutions from BMW i mark the dawn of a new era in personal mobility for the automotive industry,” said Ian Robertson, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for Sales and Marketing.
The BMW i brand started off as a think tank called project i back in 2007. BMW had set project i up to explore sustainable mobility solutions, intended to generate a transfer of expertise into both the company as a whole, as well as future vehicle projects.
Quite interestingly, the sustainability goals extended way beyond just the vehicles themselves. The development engineers focused on the entire value chain – not just the end result products. Every parts-related process, technology, supplier – they’ve all been required to contribute to the sustainability rating of the products. The goal is to reduce resources consumption and emissions per vehicle produced by 30 per cent over 2006 levels by 2012.
Anyway, let’s look at the two concept cars. First up – the BMW i3 concept, previously known as the BMW Megacity Vehicle. It is the BMW Group’s first all-electric car intended for series production, focused on the mobility challenges of ultra urban areas. BMW is not the first to the end of the line in the race to start selling a production EV – there are already other cars on sale such as the Nissan LEAF, but this is a premium EV.
It kinda looks like a typical hatchback, and you can even imagine perhaps that space in front of the passenger cell where the combustion engine might be in a conventional car might house the i3′s electric motor.
But the i3 (and the i8) are not “conversion” cars. Their chassis architecture was built from ground up to house an electric drive train. While in a combustion engine car it might make sense for the engine to be up front with the gearbox, the petrol tank at the rear and etc, this might not be the best way to house the components necessary for an electric drive.
Electric drive components place totally different demands on a vehicle when it comes to installation space and cannot be integrated into that vehicle without adding weight and compromising interior and boot space.
Because of a chassis designed for a combustion engine, many of these “conversion EVs” have lots of restrictions and compromises because of the legacy architecture they are based on, and sometimes the cars end up having an odd weight distribution, or a very heavy weight. The MINI E is an example of a conversion electric car – a regular MINI chassis converted to use batteries. BMW says the i3 is much lighter than the MINI E because it was designed from ground up as an electric car. The 1-Series was also ‘converted’ into the BMW ActiveE Concept.
Enter BMW’s LifeDrive architecture, which is built from ground up for electric car construction. It’s divided into two parts – the Life module which contains the ‘life’ or the passengers, and the Drive module which contains the drive equipment like the engine, electric motor and batteries. These modules are said to be separate, independent functional units.
The Drive module houses the vehicle’s suspension, battery, drive system, and structural and crash functions into a construction made mainly from aluminum. The secure arrangement of the battery in the Drive module gives the vehicle a very low centre of gravity and optimum weight distribution.
The passengers sit in the Life module, consisting of a high-strength and extremely lightweight passenger cell made from carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP). The use of CFRP ensures the Life module is remarkably light, helping counter the weight of the other components, thus helping achieve better range and power.
You might worry about the idea of something that has the word “plastic” on it surrounding you and protecting you on the highway. Like the cockpit of a F1 car, the CFRP passenger cell provides an extremely strong survival area. While regular metal chassis constructions require the addition of large energy absorption zones, special deformation elements in the CFRP structure allow large amounts of energy to be absorbed in an amazingly small area.
With the drive components located in the Drive module, there is no centre tunnel running through the passenger compartment. This allows, if necessary, the left and right seats in a row to be connected with each other by a continuous seat surface, which allows for a relatively more comfortable entry and exit via the front passenger side of the car and means you can park one side of your car up close to walls, for example.
All of this sounds very high tech but it actually kinda reminds me of the old way of constructing cars – body on frame instead of unibody, a technique still used today in most pick-up trucks.
Although both the i3 and the i8 are based on the LifeDrive architecture, the geometric implementation of the concept differs in the two models, having been adapted to suit their different usages. The BMW i3 Concept features a horizontal-split variant of the LifeDrive platform optimised to accommodate the car’s electric drive system.
Here, the Life module is simply mounted on top of the Drive module. The 170hp/250Nm compact (smaller than a typical internal combustion engine, and 40% smaller than the MINI E’s motor) motor is mounted at the rear axle, while the rest of the space in the Life module contains a large battery to provide the electric-only i3 Concept a longer range. The battery is penned in by aluminium profiles, which protect it from external impacts. Crash-active structures in front and behind it provide the necessary energy absorption in the event of a front- or rear-end collision.
An integrated liquid cooling system keeps the battery at its optimal operating temperature at all times, which helps to significantly boost the performance and life expectancy of the cells. The climate/heating system cools the fluid circulating in the battery housing via a heat exchanger. Because the cooling system of an electric car is different, there’s really no need for a radiator grille at the front, so to improve aerodynamics, the i3 is designed with no air vents at the front – the kidney grille is decorative.
The battery can be fully recharged in six hours at a standard power socket. If a high-speed charger is used, an 80 per cent charge can be achieved in just one hour. The i3′s electric motor via a single speed transmission gearbox takes it from 0 to 60km/h in under 4 seconds. It hits 100km/h in about 8 seconds. It hits an electronically governed top speed of 150km/h.
If necessary, BMW has designed for the i3′s LifeDrive platform to be able to accommodate a small petrol engine as a range extender. This range extender (REx) engine will be integrated together with the electric motor in the rear axle.
The BMW i3 Concept also has a high recycled material content. 25 per cent of the interior plastics by weight have been replaced by recycled and renewable materials, as have 25 per cent by weight of the exterior thermoplastic components, while the CFRP used in the Life Module consists of 10 per cent recycled material.
The use of recycled CFRP in this form is currently unique. The CFRP produced by BMW’s joint venture partner at the Moses Lake plant in USA is made with electricity generated entirely from hydroelectric power. A total of more than 80 per cent of the aluminium used in the BMW i3 Concept is produced either using renewable energy or from secondary materialFRANKFURT: BMW I8 Meet BMW's range-extender supercar
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
