Concepts

After publishing sketches and blatantly live-testing the vehicle in a crowded German square, Audi released more renderings of the Audi Urban Concept that it will unveil at the upcoming International Motor Show in Frankfurt. The biggest finding from the graphics is that the electric micro car has a convertible twin.

The Audi Urban Concept is an electric two-seater that takes its styling cues and lightweight construction from sports cars. Designed for dense urban environments, the concept is powered by two electric motors.

Based on previously released information and sketches of the Coupe version of the Audi Urban Concept, the doors appear to slide back like a minivan's. On the Spyder, which looks a little more like a 1960s Formula 1 car, they open diagonally to the top. How functional that is and exactly how they work remains to be seen. Both EVs seat two in staggered formation to maintain its narrow body design. … Read more

Infiniti released no details about a new concept car it would unveil at the 2011 Frankfurt auto show, beyond the fact that F1 champ Sebastian Vettel would be on hand to introduce it.

Infiniti says that Vettel helped design this concept, which looks nothing like the open-wheel F1 cars Vettel drives as part of the Red Bull racing team.

From the photo released by Infiniti, the new concept is clearly based on the FX crossover. The major body styling seems to be a more raked profile in back. With its hatchback body and fender vents, it also looks like a … Read more

Has Cadillac made a new classic? GM's top-of-the-line brand unveiled a new convertible concept at Pebble Beach that's a new take on how America's old money should roll.

The Ciel is a convertible touring sedan with contemporary retro styling that's a throwback to the old days when Cadillac's land yachts ruled the country club lots. Not exactly a fuel sipper, the four-seater is a hybrid powered by a 425-horsepower 3.6L V-6 engine with twin turbochargers, and its lithium-ion battery can propel the vehicle at low speeds.

Its dimensions are equally impressive. The Ciel has … Read more

Ahead of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, Infiniti showed off a concept version of the JX. This new vehicle has three rows of seating for seven passengers, yet is marketed as a crossover.

Infiniti currently offers the EX and FX crossovers, both five-passenger vehicles, and the QX SUV, a badge engineered version of the Nissan Armada. The JX offers similar passenger space as the QX.

Infiniti says the JX, the production version of which will debut at the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show in November, will be powered by a V-6 engine. Unless Infiniti has developed a new engine, the V-6 should be from its VQ series, which ranges from 3.5 to 3.7 liters, and is used in many Infiniti and Nissan vehicles. … Read more

We've driven just about every variant of Kia's Optima sedan and the consensus is that they're all pretty good. We've even gone as far as to call the SX Turbo variant "sporty." However, for the handful of you holding out for a true sports sedan from Kia, the automaker has something even better on the horizon: a rear-wheel driven sports sedan concept that's set to debut in Frankfurt.

The jury's still out on the power train, as the automaker hasn't announced anything beyond the rear-wheel drive configuration and that it's &… Read more

An electric car based on a two-seat, lightweight platform from a British manufacturer may sound familiar, but this Morgan electric vehicle concept is no case of deja vu. A group of British companies is converting the Morgan Aero to electric drive.

Zytek, one of the primary contributors, is building the electric motor and components for the car. It will give the Morgan EV only 94 horsepower, but 221 pound-feet of torque. No estimations for range or other performance were announced. Zytek built a concept Lotus Elise electric in 1997 and has developed a KERS system used in F1 racing cars. … Read more

After not-so-secretly releasing a prototype of its electric microcar into the urban wilds for testing, Audi let loose sketches of its Audi Urban Concept. The camouflaged vehicle was caught on video in Berlin, and drawings and descriptions confirm that the Audi Urban Car concept is an electric two-seater meant for dense urban environments.

The prototype seems to be Audi's more aggressive and daring answer to BMW's electric city car, the i3. With its open wheel design, narrow body, open nose cone, and retractable roof, it kind of looks like a 1960s Formula 1 car if you squint really … Read more

Automotive blog Jalopnik got a tip this week that one of Google's autonomous cars, a Prius, got in a fender bender near the search giant's Mountain View campus. Google issued a statement noting that the car was being driven by its human pilot when the accident occurred.

The Google Prius and another Prius were involved in a minor collision, although there are no details as to which driver might have been at fault. When Google revealed that its autonomous cars had been road testing in California a few years ago, it acknowledged that there had been one minor accident, but that the other car was at fault. During its testing of the cars, a driver has been at the wheel, ready to take over if the self-driving systems should fail.

Google should be able to confirm the details of this recent accident using the Prius' computer logs. If its sensors were turned on, they should paint a picture of what was happening around the car. Additionally, its systems would show if it was being driven manually, with details such as speed, braking, and wheel turn. … Read more

Tesla Motors is getting the hang of this electric car thing, and plans to debut the alpha version of the Model X crossover way ahead of schedule, according to an article in VentureBeat.

During its quarterly investor call, CEO Elon Musk reportedly told listeners that the company will unveil the alpha version of the seven-seater electric SUV sometime in mid-December, which is in half the time than the company planned, and about one-third of what it budgeted. But don't add the Model X to your holiday wish list yet--the crossover isn't expected to go into production until 2013. When it does, Tesla expects to produce only 15,000 units per year of the SUV when it ramps up production in 2014.

The Model X is the third electric vehicle that Tesla is producing. The SUV is designed as a 5+2, and uses the same power train as the Model S sedan, which will also seat up to seven. Tesla recently began assembling the Beta version of the Model S electric sedan and, according to VentureBeat, expects to reveal it in October. … Read more