Arias Pistons 12.5:1 Compression 82mm Bore Honda B-series on 2040-parts.com

Smart Forspeed concept signals new design direction

Smart will unveil a new concept at the forthcoming Geneva motor show that signals a new design direction, hints at future product and confirms parent company Daimler's renewed commitment to the brand. Car Design News was granted early access to the concept, baptized Forspeed, at a secret photography studio in Stuttgart last week and heard the head of advanced design, Steffen Kohl, explain how the two-seat, electric-powered vehicle prefaces design themes in both the next Fortwo and the revived Forfour, which will be launched in 2014. "The fullness of this concept's exterior surfaces is important and will be reflected in future production models," said Kohl, "Smart will still be short, spacey, agile, and with wheels at the corners of the car, but with an added sporty and emotional design and without losing all the brand's iconic elements like its ‘plastic fantastic' aspect and the safe and hi-tech modular tridion shell assembled with all these changeable body parts.

Toyota condemns the Electric Car

Electric cars - like the Reva NXG - are not a viable mass-market option. Toyota’s head of R&D in Europe – Masato Katsumata – said in a speech that the electric vehicle won’t be a mass-market phenomenon, and that the future – at least in the coming decades – will be petrol engine hybrids. “We don’t see any short-term breakthrough in battery technology” he said.

Audi A1 E-tron, A8 Hybrid at Geneva motor show 2010: first official pictures

Audi’s A1 was only officially unveiled at the 2010 Geneva motor show, but such is the plethora of new Ingolstadt product on the way that an A1 E-tron electric concept shared the stage with the production supermini. Also on display was the new A8 Hybrid. Yes, after the R8-based concept and the R4-previewing show car, and Audi wants E-tron to become a zero emissions brand in its own right, just as the Quattro tag is inexorably linked to its four-wheel drive models.