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2009 Kia Soul Debuts In Seoul, Korea…How Cute

On Monday, September 22, 2008, Kia Motors debuted Scion xD look-alike, the 2009 Kia Soul, at the Seoul Motor Show in Seoul, South Korea. Intended to be the flagship vehicle for Kia’s brand new design direction, the Kia Soul illustrates the heavy influence of newly hired head designer, Peter Schreyer, formerly of Volkswagen.

Intended to hit dealer showrooms in the U.S. next spring, the Kia Soul’s most distinctive feature is its redesigned grill, which will be used as the “seal” for each redesigned vehicle in Kia’s line-up. Described as an “urban crossover”, the Soul is powered by either an 124-hp 1.6L or 142-hp 2.0L engine and is expected to be extremely fuel efficient. Although official details will be withheld until its grand entrance at the Paris Auto Show in October, the Kia Soul Hybrid concept reportedly averaged 50 mpg, which experts predict will translate to about 30-40 mpg for the production version. Pricing for the U.S. has yet to be announced, but the 2009 Kia Soul is listed in Japan for 14 million won, or approximately $12,600.

[Source: Edmunds]

RideLust Reaction: The 10 Finalists of the 2008 Peugeot Design Contest

Peugeot had it’s 5th design contest recently. The winner of the competition will be announced on the Peugeot stand at the Paris Motor Show on October 2nd 2008. Peugeot CEO, Jean-hilippe Collin, will award the “la Griffe” trophy and $15,000 dollars to the winner.

A full-scale model of the winning design will be produced as prototype and will be presented to the public at the Shanghai Motor Show in the spring of 2009.

Every year they have a specific theme for the design contest. The theme of this contest was:

“Imagine the Peugeot in the Worldwide Megalopolis of Tomorrow”
Create a Concept Car which is designed to evolve within the cities of the future, whilst retaining the key values of the 21st century. The projects should bear Peugeot’s stylistic codes and must contain the following four aspects included in this design competition: environmental awareness, social harmony, interactive mobility, and economic efficiency.

Below are the ten finalists and their cars:

1. GALapagos: Igor Yastrebov

2. Peugeot 888: Oskar Johansen

3. Vision: Shinji Nukumi

4. Rugir: Onur Guvenc

5. ego: Emre Yazici

6.OXO: Lou Ke

7. RD: Carlos Arturo Torres Tovar

8. MoVille: Woo-Ram Lee

9. P.R.O: Ke Guo

10.Seed: Yann Terrer

More info can be found at Peugeot’s Design Contest website.

The RideLust Reaction

The French designer Yann Terrer has probably the slickest design sensibilities with the Seed. His pictures and quality of design are the nicest and look the cleanest. He even foresees a circular ‘parking rack’ type of device that could be used specifically for the collapsible Seed. I like that, I like how he thinks, how he sees it in the context of the future city.

As for which one I’d like to be driving? If the RD held more than one person, then it’d be a toss up between that and the 888. They’re both exceptionally beautiful designs, both have the folding function in the center for space saving, but the 888 holds a passenger, and that is crucial. Who’s going to buy a car for one person?

Honorable mention to the MoVille for having omni-directional wheel balls.

The rest of the 10 are the standard fare of never-going-to-be-made concept cars. They’re fun to look at though.

Ener1 Predicts 50% Drop in Lithium-Ion Battery Costs

Battery manufacturer Ener1 has recently announced that they’ll be seeing a 50% drop in the price of lithium ion batteries as production increases. Statements indicate that the majority of the price decrease will come from scaling up manufacturing, and that it won’t happen until their dealing in hundreds of thousands of units. That means it’s a very optimistic prediction, to say the least.

Ener1 has also announced that they’re expecting two new development deals this year. They already provide the lithium ion batteries for Think’s City Car in Europe. But the CEO is promising that these deals will be with much larger car companies. And even though GM and Toyota and Mitsubishi already have their providers lined up, there are still quite a few car companies without a firm supplier of lithium-ion batteries.

Since the lithium-ion batteries are a significant part of the cost in hybrid cars, a 50% decline in price would mean a big drop in hybrid car cost.

Some automotive futurists have predicted that within ten years, every new car on the road will have a lithium ion battery pack. I find that a difficult prediction to make, considering the inherent dangers in lithuin ion technology and the advancements already being made with lithum-polymer and silver-zinc batteries and any unseen technologies that may arise. Still, it’s be good news if it happens.

Chevy Volt Photos Leaked, For Once We Don’t Enjoy Admitting We’re Disappointed

Recently, spy shots and leaked interior photos of the highly anticipated Chevy Volt have hit the auto blogging world, leaving most motorheads foaming at the mouth. I, on the other hand, sort of feel like I showed up to meet an eHarmony.com date and he turned out to look more like Boy George than George Clooney.

Full Gallery After The Jump

As a result of spending months upon months gazing at images of the Chevy Volt concept car, we admit we’d envisioned something a little…cooler, than the sedan revealed in the spy shots. Captured during filming for the Transformers sequel, from what we could make out, the production version of the Volt looks almost nothing like the concept Volt of our hybrid dreams. While the disappointment we feel is admittedly our fault for being delusional, we’re still a little dismayed.

The interior shot that’s being circulated was supposedly lifted from an internal presentation, hopefully entitled “Rejected Ideas For Volt Interior Console.” To us, the blunt white styling suggests one of two things: a partnership with Apple in an attempt to compete with Ford’s acclaimed Microsoft SYNC technology, or a complete lack of design sense. We’re inclined to lean more towards the former, which only disappoints us in the sense that we don’t find ass-white very attractive.

Leaked Photo of Chevy Volt Interior

[Photo Source: The Torque Report]

Daryl Hannah’s Bio-Diesel El Camino finds a Winning Bidder

Darryl Hannah's BioDiesel El Camino

Daryl Hannah’s bio-diesel, flat black el Camino as found a winning bidder on ebay. Closing at a wallet friendly $15,600 the auction winner will be awarded his Hannah friendly el Camino and its bio-diesel pumping 55-gallon fuel drum as soon as he is ready to pick it all up we can only presume. Because why would you go through all of this and then pass up the chance to meet the cars owner in the flesh?

While I am personally not one for movie memorabilia or autographs of the stars Daryl Hannah’s el Camino might have been a possible exception. At least it is something that can be driven and has some environmentally kind purpose, and since the auction for the car closed at a relatively acceptable price it might not be a purchase that would be too hard to swallow. That is until the first time it breaks down and spends some time in the garage with my other project car. Then I might not feel so good about my purchase.

Source[AutoblogGreen]

…Get yourself some Chocolate Diesel.

Andy Pag is taking part in the world’s first carbon negative expedition using biodiesel fuel made with waste chocolate There seems to be a number of people and firms and companies out there looking for the next alternative fuel. We have had numerous suggestions from corn to methane to sugar cane to algae to electricity derived from the sun. But the latest news of a new entrant into the alternative fuel hunt is the sweetest of them all. A company called Ecotec out of the UK is taking the waste from a Chocolate Factory and turning it into 100% bio-diesel. And to prove the effectiveness of their delicious alternative fuel (no, the fuel is not edible but the idea is pretty sweet) they plan to drive their chocolate fueled car from the UK to Timbuktu. At a cost of 15 pence a litre (approx. $1.16 US per gallon) that is a far more affordable trip than if it were fueled by regular diesel. (more…)

Starving for a VW Golf GTI W12? Then Link this to all your friends

The internet has been paying a fair bit of attention to the VW Golf GTI W12 since the concept cars unveiling. But do not let the term Concept Car fool you, as this is a living, breathing little road monster that has plenty of swag.

With a 6.0 liter Bentley engine mounted behind the front seats this mid-engine VW is sure to leave a trail. The Golf GTI W12 manages a zero-to-62 time of just 3.7 second and with 650 horses behind the driver there are no questions why. With a wider stance, plenty of ruber and many air scoops feeding cooler air to the W12 engine the Golf GTI W12 manages to make its presence known whether it is moving or just sitting still.

The UK’s AutoCar recently managed to get some seat time in the VW Golf GTI W12 on a closed course. Take a look at what they had to say about it.

Last Auto News Blog

2009 Kia Soul Debuts In Seoul, Korea…How Cute

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