The X-Bow was built by a motorcycle maker.
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Just like an F1 car, the steering wheel is loaded with controls.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Motorcycle maker KTM's success in racing, including repeated first place wins in the Paris-to-Dakar rally, led it to venture into four-wheel racing. The X-Bow, shown at the 2007 Geneva Auto Show, is built as a track car, with a body designed specifically for racing. Style loses out to function when it comes to necessities such as an exposed suspension spring over the hood or massive air intakes in front of the rear wheels. X-Bow's tech specifications are very impressive. The car weighs just over 1,500 pounds and is powered by an Audi-sourced 2-liter turbocharged four cylinder engine. Its 220 horsepower drives the X-Bow to 62mph in 3.9 seconds.
One of the cars from winning Team Repsol.
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This BMW X3 finished 6th in the rally.
(Credit: CNET Networks)The grueling Paris-to-Dakar rally finished last month, and a few proud automakers showed off their winning cars. Mitsubishi has the honor of many consecutive first place wins with its Pajero SUV. One of the Team Repsol Pajeros, which took first place, is on display in Mitsubishi's booth at the 2007 Geneva Auto Show. Another successful entrant, which placed in the top 10, was the X-Raid diesel-powered BMW X3. Volkswagen, which put out a lot of press during the rally about its top 10 placing Touareg entrants, neglected to bring any of its cars to Geneva.
A cutaway shows how the hybrid system works in the LS 600h.
(Credit: CNET Networks)We generated a little controversy last year at CNET Car Tech by rating the Lexus LS 460L a perfect 10. Subsequently, the LS 460L also won our Tech Car of the Year award. Lexus shows off a cutaway model of what's likely to be this year's perfect 10 at the 2007 Geneva Auto Show, the Lexus LS 600h. This car takes the LS 460 and simply adds a hybrid system, increasing drivetrain power and efficiency. Lexus is using the Geneva show to push its hybrids in the European market, showing off and advertising its RX 400h and GS 450h, as well as this pre-launch demonstration of the LS 600h.
Bertone's 95th anniversary roadster.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Car designer Bertone has been around for a long, long time. To celebrate its 95th anniversary, the company did what it does best: it designed a car. Shown at the 2007 Geneva auto show, the Bertone roadster takes a retro design and adds modern components. The doors swing up on hinges integrated into the rear wheel fenders. Transparent inserts in the doors show off the use of modern plastics in body components.
Bertone's roadster concept is an homage to the 1947 Fiat 500.
(Credit: CNET Networks)The Bertone roadster shape hearkens back to the 1947 Fiat 500, an example of which is also on display in the Bertone booth. The Bertone roadster is built on a Fiat Panda platform, a car that has received acclaim in Europe for excellent and fun handling. The Panda's engine is a 1.4-liter four-cylinder making 100 horsepower, so the Bertone roadster isn't going to be the fastest thing on four wheels. But it would be one of the coolest things, if it could ever become anything more than a concept.
The EDAG LUV is based on the Honda Ridgeline.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Most people intimately familiar with Intel never heard of Brabus, and, likewise, people that know a lot about Brabus often don't know much about Intel chip architecture. But both logos appear on design house EDAG's new LUV concept, shown at the 2007 Geneva auto show. LUV stands for luxury utility vehicle, although the concept is built on a Honda Ridgeline. A wood hood and other wood exterior accents are designed to appeal to the yachting type, a niche potentially underserved by the automotive market. Or possibly the designers at EDAG took a cue from the new Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe, deciding the wood is in this year.
Brabus and Intel logos, together at last.
(Credit: CNET Networks)But back to Brabus and Intel. For you computer types, Brabus is a high-end European tuner noted for souping up Mercedes-Benz cars. For you gearheads, Intel is one of the top two designers of computer chips for personal computers. The LUV uses a Brabus-tuned engine, a 6.1-liter V8 putting out 462 horsepower that can run the car to 62mph in just over 6 seconds. The Intel part of the equation comes in the form of two UltraMobile PCs (UMPC) set in the headrests, allowing the rear seat passengers to work, hold Web conferences, or play games. The UMPCs also are connected to the car's entertainment systems so the driver can access their music libraries. EDAG is working to advance the PC-car connection, and will show off the next generation of LUVs at the 2007 Frankfurt Auto Show.
The Greeny is an electric city car, shown here in leopard print.
(Credit: CNET Networks)We're not really sure what the leopard print has to do with an electric car, except maybe to suggest that the Greeny is not only eco-conscious, but stylish as well. The Greeny, seen here at the 2007 Geneva auto show, is a 2+2 seater and uses a pack of lead-acid batteries mounted under the front seats to give it a range of 50 to 80 kilometers (30 to 50 miles). Although that may seem a short distance, it's plenty for most urban environments where typical driving distances are under 20 miles. The batteries fully recharge in six hours, although they can be charged to 50 percent in only 90 minutes. Built in India, the cars are currently sold in London and Norway. London is a particularly positive environment for the cars because they are exempt from the city's congestion charge and get free parking.
Toyota's chrome Auris show car.
(Credit: CNET Networks)To celebrate the launch of its all-new Auris at the 2007 Geneva auto show, Toyota built a show version with a chrome body. The chrome Auris certainly stands out on the show floor, but Toyota makes no attempt to suggest any metaphor between the show car and the launch in its marketing materials. The new Auris is a C-segment hatchback for Europe, coming in three- and five-door versions. Toyota emphasizes that it's the tallest car in its class. It's available with either a 1.4-liter or 1.6-liter four-cylinder gas engine, or a range of three diesel engines. Besides its chrome body, the show car gets 18-inch alloy wheels, Brembo brakes, and a sports suspension. Notes to Toyota marketing: Use chrome as a metaphor for the shiny, new Auris. Or have the show car done in a gold body color and play up the idea of Auris as Latin for "gold."
Slot cars demonstrate GM technology.
(Credit: CNET Networks)GM's booth at the 2007 Geneva auto show features a particularly featureless slot car setup. The orange and white cars racing around the track show no marque or model distinction, instead designed to represent an "everycar," just as the featureless buildings around the track represent an "everycity." This display is not intended to demonstrate GM's lack of style, but rather its vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication technology. As the cars race around the track, another car pulls out of a parking garage, causing an obstruction. Both approaching cars receive a warning through their V2V hardware, and both slow down even before the car pulling out becomes visible. Likewise, at an intersection on the track, the second car waits for the first to cross.
The V2V hardware consists of a GPS chip and wireless LAN which broadcasts car data, such as location and speed. Other cars receive this data through their V2V hardware and signal their drivers if the other car represents an obstruction or hazard. For example, if a car is stalled, it broadcasts its speed as zero. An approaching car receives this information and can alert its driver with a signal on the dashboard or an audible warning. GM also suggests that vibrating seats could work as a driver signal, but too many people are likely to enjoy the sensation and intentionally become driving hazards.
The all new BMW M3, except it's only a concept.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Sure, it's just a concept. Nothing to get excited about. Concepts hardly ever make it intact to production, anyway. But it's the new M3, and we're just going to go ahead and get our hopes up anyway. BMW unveiled the new M3 at the 2007 Geneva auto show, and this picture hardly does it justice. It's a sleek, beautiful-looking car and we want it now. In the press materials, BMW nonchalantly says that it will use a high-performance V-8, typical of what you would expect in an M3. We actually expect quite a bit.
The car keeps its weight down with carbon fiber, most notably for the roof. BMW chose to make the carbon fiber visible, giving the roof an almost translucent look. That design element might be the only thing we're willing to part with for the production version. The concept's multiple air ducts and bulging hood signal its power. All we can say is, BMW better get it to market in a hurry, what with Audi S4s everywhere you look and the Lexus IS-F already announced.
Working with technology used in the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge, Subaru is trying to give its cars sight. A display at Subaru's 2007 Geneva auto show booth shows how two cameras can produce stereo-optic vision, which can be processed to show how far objects are away from the car. In the demonstration, the single image processed from the two cameras identifies people and other cars and uses a color coding system to show how far they away they are. If this system were deployed in a car, the car could let the driver know if he or she is about to hit a pedestrian or a less movable object. Or the car could just hit the brakes for the driver, all depending on how intrusively the system is designed. Subaru has no plans to deploy the system any time soon--the display just lets the world know the company has the technology.
Images before and after processing.
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