Revenge Design GTM-R Supercar

Specialty designer and production car maker Revenge Designs, unveiled its GTM-R Super Car today at the 2009 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

The automaker said the US$145,000 Revenge GTM-R Super Car is powered by a General Motors LS7 engine rated at 376kW.

Fitted with a roll cage, Pirelli tyres and beefy performance brakes it also comes with a remote-controlled air ride adjustable suspension that provides a setting for ride, competition or anti-theft park mode.

Headquartered in northeastern Indiana, Revenge Designs is run by president and CEO Peter Collorafi, a vehicle designer from Queensland, Australia, who has been designing and installing custom modifications for factory-produced vehicles since 1980, including the Revenge GTO that won best Exterior Design at the Spring 2007 SEMA expo.

Audi Sportback Concept pre-Detroit leaked images preview upcoming Audi A7 four-door coupe

First hi-res images of the Audi A7 Sportback Concept (the nameplate on the car seems to say Audi Sportback Concept) set to be displayed at the Detroit Auto Show tomorrow have been unveiled on the internet. The front-end looks alot like the ones shown on the Audi metroproject quattro and its evolution, the Audi A1 Sportback Concept, except the front grille loses the vertical slats, leaving only the horizontal ones.

It has a fastback roofline, more like the Porsche Panamera rather than the Aston Martin Rapide, which might lead some to think its going to have a hatchback boot, but a look an image of the rear after the jump and you can see the bootlid’s lines do not really meet the rear glass in a way that a hatch would, but then again Audi could also be doing a hatchback-sedan dual bootlid combo much like Skoda’s new Superb.

The Audi A7 is said to be larger than the Audi A6 and built on the new Audi MLP platform, which is modular in terms of length and width to suit different sizes of cars while retaining many components in the interests of economies of scale.

Lexus C-segment premium hatch due in 2011?

Lexus sales in Europe only commands 1% of the total market, but Lexus plans to hopefully increase this to 150,000 units a year by the year 2015. Spearheading this push is a new premium hatchback that’s now been confirmed by Lexus Europe managing director Tadashi Arashima, but a launch date has not been set yet. A tentative guesstimated launch has been set for 2011. Europe is quite fond of premium hatchbacks such as the BMW 118d that recently won the World Green Car of the Year award. The new Lexus hatch will rival the likes of that car, and the Audi A3.

Internally, the new Lexus hatchback is called the C-Premium. It’s development is in such early stages that it’s not quite sure at the moment whether it will be a rear wheel drive platform based on the IS, or a front wheel drive platform likely to be based on the Toyota Auris, which spawned a premium C-segment hatchback in Japan called the Toyota Blade.

Source

Freight*BUS Concept by Hugh Frost

This is the FreightBUS, a concept bus that can handle both passengers and goods, in hopes of getting transport vans off the roads. The FreightBUS’s interior can automatically be adjusted by the driver or the conductor to very between passenger space and freight space according to needs and demand.

According to inventor Hugh Frost’s own calculations, public bus occupancy in London only averages out at 20%, which makes them not as efficient as they should be as there are plenty of unused capacity. The idea is to use them to carry freight at off peak hours such as the evening and overnight so that ROI on the buses can be maximised.

When the loading area is dedicated to passengers, it can fit 90 seated passengers and 40 standing passengers, or 52 seated passengers with 98 standing passengers. In full freight configuration it can accumulate 35 europallets. An europallet is a standard size transport structure which measures 80cm by 120cm by 12cm.

The FreightBUS can be configured to be an EV or a fuel cell vehicle. Fuel cell stacks together with hydrogen tanks or EV batteries can be stored in the 200mm deep space in the main floor of the bus. It can use either a centralised motor or in-wheel motors. An 80% recharge is said to be possible in 1 minute, with a specialised charger of course.

The Future of Flying: Finnair Forcasts Aviation in 85 Years

Finnair may not be the world’s most high-profile airline, but after celebrating 85 years of existence in the air, the company feels as if it has something to offer on the future of the industry. Teaming with the innovative minds at Airbus, Finnair is offering up five examples of what it believes aviation could look like in 85 more years. The concepts run from quite plausible, super-sized luxury liners, to more out-of-box conveyances to outer space. Have a look at the group, with attendant explanations and stats from Finnair, in our gallery above.

Caption:

Finnair A1700-2400 Cruiser
A charter aircraft with turning engines located in front – designed for both gliding and vertical take-off. In an emergency, the aircraft can land on water.All of the vessel’s 1,700 to 2,400 passenger places are in one- to four-person cabins, which have their own toilet and shower as well as internet and satellite links. Some cabins have windows. All cabins also have AV windows, offering zoomable views of the sky or downwards to earth. The AV windows also act as display terminals and receivers, on which passengers can watch television transmissions or even follow shows held in the vessel’s restaurant.
Specs
• Passenger seats 1,700–2,400
• Length 118.30 m
• Width 98.70 m
• Height 32.60 m
• Maximum take-off weight 422,000 kg
• Cruising speed 160–750 km/h
• Maximum cruising level 14,800 m
• Runway length when taking off 2,100 m
• Runway length when landing 1,300 m
• Flying range 21,600 km
Engines
• Take-off power along runway 7 x 530 kN
• Take-off power vertically 12 x 850 kN
• Take-off speed along runway 210 km/h
• Landing speed along runway 165 km/h