TMR News and Features
Having recently driven between Sydney and Melbourne on a single tank of fuel in a Golf diesel, we can attest to the economical way in which the modern diesel performs in the real world (that road test is coming soon). Peugeot has just completed an altogether more serious “Coast2Coast” challenge in South Africa with their 308 HDi.
The Peugeot 308 HDi in question, has driven exactly 1689.7 km across South Africa on a single tank of diesel, that’s an average fuel consumption of a ‘hybrid like’ 3.4 L /100 km. Read Article
Rumours of a Lexus-branded dedicated hybrid model have existed for some time, however it’s only now that speculative renderings of what such a car may look like are starting to surface.
Ah, the inexorable march of technology. Those of us over the age of 20 no doubt have fond recollections of being wowed by the LED-driven digital dashboards that plagued many a 1980s-vintage automobile, but times - and tastes - change. These days it seems you’re more likely to be laughed at for owning a car that sports such an ‘innovation’, but that doesn’t mean automakers have given up on increasing the geek factor of the humble instrument cluster.
smart Australia has announced that its fuel-sipping quasi-hybrid variant of the fortwo city car is on its way to Australia, where it’s sure to endear itself to bowser-fatigued inner-city motorists.
In a plan announced yesterday, Australia looks set to be the third country in the world to establish an electric car network. International company Better Place is teaming up with AGL Energy and Macquarie Capital Group, with a view to putting the infrastructure in place that could see this country’s vehicle fleet (some 15 million or so vehicles) running on battery power in the future.
The project will involve the establishment of ‘charging spots’ and ‘battery exchange stations’ in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Charging spots would be located in car parks, shopping centres and even home garages. It is envisaged that battery exchange stations would be set up along major highways, allowing drivers to exchange batteries if covering distances longer than 160kms.
For a long time now Toyota has enjoyed a virtual monopoly over the hybrid market. Sure, there was the first-generation Honda Insight and the current Civic Hybrid, but those models never really posed much of a threat to the dominant force of Toyota and its Prius and Lexus hybrids.
In a recent interview with the New York Times, Toyota’s president of sales in the US, James E. Lentz, said that he has been actively pushing for a separate Prius brand. Lentz’s logic is that with Toyota’s efforts to lead the way with hybrid vehicles, it would be worth launching a whole new brand to make the most of it.
This sort of thing certainly isn’t beyond Toyota, and a precedent has been set for the brand twice already with Lexus and – in the US – Scion. Lentz says the main difference with the Prius badge is that, unlike Lexus and Scion, it would be sold in Toyota dealerships alongside regular Toyota vehicles.
The stylish Lexus LF-Xh, first revealed late last year in Tokyo and slated to replace the still-sexy but ageing RX, was also previewed last month in Paris. It’s now made the trip down-under for the Sydney Motor Show before going into production in 2009. Read Article
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