Green Car Design

This is what we are all about - green car design! The automobile as we know it must grow up, accept its inefficiencies and dress for the times. Our environment, awareness, and sense of responsibility has matured so must the car industry...this board may applaud the good and question the ugly but it will never be a bore.
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Light Alchemy
Touch and sight, materials and light. The senses of ‘feel’ and ‘see’ are almost entirely responsible for how we perceive things. Sound, taste and scent are also important but are called into action less often. Jaguar’s installation at this year’s Clerkenwell Design Week is not only more abstract than the clay C-X16 model sportscar exhibited last year but is also more poignant and certainly more indicative of the brand. Break Jaguar’s philosophy down to its component parts and you’re left with...
Aston Martin: Just Add Hydrogen
The Aston Martin Hydrogen Hybrid Rapide S, to give it its full name, will use a twin-turbo 6.0-litre V12 that can take either gasoline or hydrogen exclusively, or a mixture of the two for maximum power. It’s a unique, relatively inexpensive and altogether more straightforward application of hydrogen mobility in comparison to the ruinously expensive fuel cell technology that we’ve been promised by various manufacturers for the past thirty years. Auil adds that the actual application of the hyd...
Renault Captur First Drive
The new Renault Captur – pronounced ‘capture’ – isn’t an obviously green car. It isn’t powered by a battery pack and electric motor, nor is it predominantly constructed from recycled or technologically advanced materials. Renault’s ‘urban crossover’ does give us an idea of where mass production car manufacturing is currently at in terms of ecology, however, and Renault is also showing an increased awareness of design and it’s effects on buyers.
2013 Nissan LEAF First Drive
Nissan made quite a statement by launching the new, second generation LEAF in the battery-sapping cold of Oslo. Surprisingly, Norway is the biggest market for the LEAF in Europe, where Nissan’s halo EV is even the sixth best-selling car. The country encourages its citizens to buy electric vehicles with the exemption of tax on purchase, as well as offering free parking and free charging in city centres. EV owners are also allowed to use bus lanes, which turns out to be very convenient especial...
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The Volvo V60 D5 is a very good car. It's comfortable, safe, smart, well-appointed and reasonably economical, yet could never be described as remarkable. Now Volvo UK has just launched the D6, the world’s first diesel plug-in hybrid (the D6 moniker refers to the D5 engine plus one motor).
Renault ZOE First Drive
When Renault's all-electric ZOE goes on sale in June it's going to buck several trends. Starting at £13,650 it's going to cost considerably less than anything that bears comparison. With an NEDC range of 130 miles it will also go further than anything this side of a Tesla Model S. Perhaps most important, however, is that the Renault ZOE bucks the trend of aesthetically challenged electric cars. And how.
Renault Clio dCi 90 Driven
Success of the new Clio is critical for Renault. In a harsh market, with average models (setting aside the Megane Renaultsport), Renault have been struggling, and they hope - they really hope - that the fourth generation Clio will change their fortunes. We drive the cleanest of the range, the Dynamique MediaNav dCi 90 S, to see whether it has a chance.
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In 2004 the first-generation CLS broke new ground with a four-door coupé design brief. Everybody liked it; it featured long hard lines but soft detailing, and viewed from the front three-quarter it had (and still has) a stance that shames more than a few bona fide ‘sports’ cars. The CLS was a hit.
"Pretentious, moi?"
Penning perhaps the most significant and revered supercar ever built gives you a certain margin when it comes to criticising others, and given the opposing philosophies behind McLaren's almost understated F1 of 1994 and the recent sensual assault represented by Ferrari's latest supercar, it's hard to argue with Peter Stevens. Anway, we'll let you decide. Here's what landed in our inbox.
Carbon Neutral? Audi A3 g-tron
The g-tron is essentially an Audi A3 Sportback powered by natural gas as well as petrol. The headline figures are carbon dioxide emissions of 30g/km in gas-mode and a combined range of over 800 miles. That sort of range is impressive, but comparable to today's clean diesels. Using natural gas alone the g-tron is capable of just under 250 miles, with petrol making up the remaining 500-or-so miles. When running on petrol, carbon dioxide emissions increase to 95g/km, which whilst no means an emb...
All Grown Up: Fiat 500L First Drive
‘500 Goes Large’. At least that’s the tagline for Fiat’s Mini Countryman rival, the new 500L, and it’s going to be interesting to see how the battle for the wallets of fashion-conscious buyers escalates between these two reinterpreted, albeit augmented, classics. And those who immediately think, “that’s far too ugly to sell”, on first acquaintance should remember that longevity and character are the hallmarks of good design, and the 500L has both.
Volvo V40 R-Design First Drive
The V40 hit the market in the UK in August 2012 and has been selling well ever since. This month Volvo launched two new style variants, the R-Design and the Cross Country. Reinterpreted by Volvo’s Special Vehicles Team in Gothenburg, each model has a striking and distinctive look, one sporty and dynamic, the other tough and rugged.
Official: Volkswagen XL1 Makes Production
A decade after Volkswagen revealed a humble but promising prototype 1-litre concept car, the 261mpg XL1 has been green-lighted for production, marking one of the most exciting breakthroughs in environmental technology from a company whose innovation has recently been second to none. In this case the old cliché - 'the future, now' - really does apply
Accessorise: Vauxhall Adam First Drive
Building cars to be fashion accessories borders on heretical in automotive circles, but it hasn’t stopped models like MINI’s One, the Fiat 500 and – to a lesser extent – Citroën’s DS3 flowing out of dealerships at a fair old rate. Now Vauxhall want in, and in the unashamedly fashion-conscious Adam, they have a competitor.
(Almost) Better In Every Way: Ford Kuga First Drive
In a design studio, amongst designers, not all projects are equal, and it’s easy to imagine that designing SUVs generates fewer beating hearts than perhaps an exciting new two-door coupé does. SUVs, nevertheless, are big business in a crowded market, and with increasingly image-conscious buyers demanding more and more technologically as well, things are starting to get savage. Ford is wading in (but presumably not too deep) with the revamped Kuga.