Super Concept Cars Blog

Upon first glance, Bertone did an excellent job styling the Alfa Romeo Pandion Concept — until you get to the back. The car’s front 3/4 angle is uniquely fetching but the back end looks like an emo kid’s bad haircut.

  It’s not uncommon for some cars to look as if they’d been penned by two different teams, one at the front and one at the back, but the Pandion Sports Car Concept takes that notion to the extreme. The styling team at Bertone presented strong but aggressive Alfa nose transitioning to an dramatic profile with an interesting graphical statement in the sweep of unrealistic glass. The back end though looks like they were hopped up on Red Bull and anime. The Ariel Atom does the open-ass-end as a matter of function over form, this is based on the 8C chassis so it’s front-engined, meaning all that business out back is just junk hangin’ out of the trunk. Still, an interesting form as long as you don’t turn it around.

STUTTGART, Germany — The Mercedes-Benz F800 Style, which will be unveiled at the 2010 Geneva Auto Show, introduces a new “multi-drive” platform that can accommodate a fuel cell or a plug-in hybrid powertrain. More importantly, its overall shape and styling preview the next-generation CLS sedan teased last month in Detroit.

The five-passenger F800 Style is fitted for the show with a 300-horespower, direct-injected gasoline V6 engine and a 109-hp electric motor integrated into the seven-speed automatic transmission. Mercedes claims a total output of 409 hp for the F800.

The concept’s hybrid powertrain provides 0-60 acceleration in 4.7 seconds, says Mercedes, with top speed limited to 155 mph. On pure electric power, the F800 has a claimed top speed of 75 mph and a range of just 18 miles.

The Mercedes F800’s lithium-ion battery pack can be recharged from household current or a local charging station. The V6, we assume, can be replenished by a visit to the gas station.

Mercedes says its F-Cell technology also could be adapted to the F800, bundling a 136-hp, rear-drive electric motor that generates 214 pound-feet of torque with a fuel cell stack. Range on this version is said to be nearly 375 miles.

The F800 incorporates a number of other advanced technologies, including an enhancement on the automaker’s COMAND system with a touchpad interface. A camera in the cabin records images of the user’s hand on the pad. A transparent image of the hand is displayed over the menu functions, which are operated by applying slight pressure to the touchpad. Mercedes says the system, which controls such functions as climate, audio, phone, navigation and Internet functions, reduces driver distraction.

Benz’s Distronic adaptive cruise control also gains added functionality. Now called Distronic Plus Traffic Jam Assistant, the system will be capable of automatically steering and following another vehicle into a curve at speeds up to 25 mph while regulating the distance between the two vehicles.

Next there’s the PreSafe 360-degree collision avoidance system, which extends monitoring to the area behind the vehicle, automatically engaging the brakes milliseconds before an anticipated rear-end collision.

Access to the Mercedes-Benz F800 Style concept is provided by conventional hinged front doors and rear pivot-and-slide doors that open rearward. Inside are lightweight seats made of magnesium and carbon-fiber, backed with fine netting and trimmed in wood veneer.

Peugeot SR1 Concept

Peugeot is signalling a fresh design direction with this brave new SR1 concept car. And if it doesn’t look like a Peugeot, that’s deliberate. It’s all change at Peugeot, tacit admission that its design has erred in recent years. Until now, they claim.

The new Peugeot SR1 is a 2+1 concept car – a roadster with overtones of Aston Martin’s V8 Vantage. Seriously! The snout and body surfacing is remarkably like Aston’s triumvirate. And who’d have thought we’d be saying that about a humble Peugeot?

Peugeot SR1 concept car: what’s the point?

This is no show car today, real car tomorrow. Okay, it could influence a future 407 Coupé successor, hint the design chiefs, but that’s not this car’s intent. It’s all about drawing a line in the sand for Peugeot design. And that’s fine by us. We’ve been fierce critics of dull Peugeots for years and can’t remember the last time we got so revved up by a Pug. Excluding perhaps the soon-to-be-launched RCZ coupé.

So read this car and note a few key pointers. The front end is realistic and will influence future Peugeots ‘within two years’, new design director Gilles Vidal told CAR Online. Those narrower headlamps, that smaller, recessed grille – they’re all coming. Thank goodness; we’re no fans of the gaping shark’s gob adorning the front of most Pugs. The roaring lion is redrawn, too.

Take note also of the metalwork. Vidal talks a good game about how Peugeots are going to appear lighter, nimbler, more elegant. He is keen on sculpting away from the body surface, so those scoops appear to be gouged from the bodywork – implying lightness, taking away, rather than adding heft and bulk.

What’s under the pretty body?

The SR1 is a petrol-electric hybrid, showcasing the 218bhp 1.6-litre turbo up front twinned to a 95bhp electric motor turning the rear wheels.

This Hybrid4 system is coming to production Peugeots in 2011 on the 3008, but here it’s used to turn Peugeot’s design statement into a sporty roadster. It can operate in zero-emissions mode around town – in RWD – and yet the average figures tumble to 119g/km and 58mpg.

Perhaps the best bit of the SR1 is its interior. A pair of front seats provide accommodation for adults, and a single rear seat is centrally mounted. The front armrest slides back and forth to allow space for the rear passenger’s feet.

And there’s a neat attention to detail to the finishes inside. Leather, aluminium and ‘black nickel’ provide strokeability, clever dials appear to accelerate towards the horizon when you accelerate, and there’s a solid wooden gunwale ringing the cabin. All very lovely, but less production bound than the exterior.

Volkswagen has just taken the cover off an all-new concept called the Up! Lite, a sinister looking diesel hybrid that gets (according to VW) 70 mpg combined. As in both City and Highway. Impressive, even if that only ends up being 90 percent accurate. In fact, should Volkswagen decide to green light the unfortunately named Up! Lite, it would be the most fuel efficient and environmentally friendly four seat vehicle on the planet. Again, if the Up! Lite comes to fruition, we’ll all be impressed. Interestingly, this concept isn’t the most fuel efficient and environmentally friendly car on earth is because another Volkswagen — the L1 from Frankfurt – is. But it only seats two.

Ready for the good parts? The aptly titled Up! Lite barely tips the scales at 1,530 pounds. There are Honda Goldwings flirting with that weight class. This svelteness is achieved via a mix of aluminum, lightweight steel and carbon fiber. For instance, the roof is made entirely from the expensive weave. And those amazing wheels consist of ten carbon-fiber spokes and an aluminum fairing. Nifty, no? The tiny, stylized winglettes replace conventional rearview mirrors and contain cameras instead of reflective glass. The same holds true for the interior mounted mirror, as has been replaced by a camera.

Up front, there’s an active air dam that opens up as needed. The extra cooling will help out the TDI hybrid drive lifted from the two-seater L1. This 800cc powerplant transmits power to the wheels using a seven-speed DSG dual-clutch gearbox. Even though the diesel engine is teeny, when coupled to the electric motor, the Up! Lite can reach 100 mph and hit 60 mph in 12 seconds. Not fast by any means, but good enough – especially for an ultra-high mileage vehicle. And it can haul stuff, too – including humans. Unlike the Up! Concept we saw in Frankfurt, the Up! Lite seats four people, and with the rear seats folded, it can haul 30 cubic feet of stuff. Not bad at all.

Overall, we’re pretty impressed by the looks and promise of the Up! Lite. In our estimation, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with blending a Honda CRX with a Volvo C30. Will the Up! Lite ever make it to production? Who knows. VW claims the first Up!s(?) will go on sale in 2011. We get the sense that any future decision will be based on how the two-door Up! does. But we get the feeling the Up! Lite might give the people more of what they want.