Kia Unveils All-electric Naimo Concept

Kia has pulled the sheet on its Naimo concept car at the Seoul Motor Show. The Naimo (pronounced ‘Neh-mo’, meaning ‘square shape’) is Kia’s vision of an all-electric B-segment car.
Stretching 3.9 meters in length, the Naimo adopts some of the boxy styling used on the larger Soul. The Naimo’s exterior design is highlighted by a wrap-around windshield, asymmetrical sunroof and front and rear dot-style LED lights. Rear hinged doors and a three-way split hatch allow for maximum cabin access.
The Naimo also features some trick technologies for styling purposes, such as side cameras in lieu of door mirrors and a high-intensity air jet that takes the place of conventional windshield wipers.

The Naimo’s interior was “designed to evoke a strong sense of tranquility”, featuring Korean oak for door panels and the entire floor and Korean “Han-ji” paper for the head lining.


“Naimo is a perfect balance of innovation, high-tech and Korean tradition. It was heavily inspired by the purity and grace of traditional Korean arts and crafts, but combines this with cutting edge technologies to deliver a truly premium experience,” said Kia Motors’ Chief Design Officer, Peter Schreyer.
Power for the Naimo is provided by a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor generating about 110 horsepower. The Naimo has a top speed of 93mph.
The Naimo’s floor and trunk-mounted Lithium Ion Polymer batteries can be recharged to 80 percent of capacity in just 25 minutes, while a full charge requires five and a half hours. Once charged, the Naimo can travel 124 miles.
Kia hasn’t revealed if the Naimo will make production, but the concept is joining the automaker’s test fleet, indicating the electric hatch could eventually make it to Kia showrooms.

Shanghai preview: Buick Envision Concept

Buick has announced it will unveil a new SUV concept, dubbed the Envision, at the upcoming Shanghai Motor Show. The announcement was accompanied by a lone teaser image.
Buick didn’t release much in the way of details but says the Envision is powered by a plug-in hybrid system. General Motors was working on a plug-in hybrid version of the Saturn Vue before the brand was shuttered, so it’s possible that system resides underneath the hood of the SUV concept.

Buick describes the concept’s exterior design as “elegant and smooth”, adhering to Buick’s “dynamic, fluid, quiet and comfortable” design essence.


No interior information was given, but Buick says the Envision is packed with new technologies that projects “the future of Buick products.”

It remains to be seen just how large the concept is, but it’s possible the SUV previews Buick’s long-rumored sub-Enclave model.

German High-Tech Triangle

Mohammed Omar looks out of the window and allows his eyes to wander, but there’s nothing to see – far and wide, only scorched fields, an empty road and a few lonely electricity poles. There’s lots of space here in the former cotton state of South Carolina. Then Omar turns round, looks at his com­puter screen – and can see the future. “This will be the auto industry’s Silicon Valley,” enthuses the Jordanian-born engineer. “We’re now planning for coming decades.” A high-tech center of the automobile industry? Here, “in the middle of nowhere”? But Omar is serious. Together with his colleagues, the mechanical engineering specialist from Clemson University near the small town of Greenville is seeking new solutions for a traditional industry. His research is largely funded from Germany – by BMW.


While the tradition-rich US car industry in Detroit fights for its life, the Southeast is preparing for a breakthrough when the crisis is over. From Alabama to South Carolina, from Georgia to Tennessee, large and small companies from all over the world are creating a new network. At the head of this group are the German manufacturers Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen. Almost simultaneously, Daimler and BMW built their first American plants here 15 years ago: Daimler in Alabama and BMW in South Carolina. Several years later, Volkswagen is now constructing a state-of-the-art plant a little further north, in Tennessee. They are building a closely knit network of suppliers, researchers and developers – with their plants marking the corners of the “German triangle”. Familiar suppliers such as ZF, Continental, Pierburg, Hella and Dräxlmaier are settling in the tri­angle along with French tire manufacturer Michelin. ThyssenKrupp is also in the process of building a new steel plant in Alabama.

A few years ago, their ideas were still greeted with sneers from the established carmakers in Detroit. The critics even claimed that BMW stood for “Big Money Wasted”. Meanwhile, however, production is running smoothly and a large proportion of the cars are exported to Europe. BMW made 170,000 vehicles in Spartenburg in 2008 and this total is set to rise to 240,000 by 2012. “The region will continue to grow after the crisis,” says Dave Lucas of the Autodata market research company. “There’s a spirit of optimism; they’re looking to the future.” However, the great breakthrough has not yet occurred. The latest fall in demand has also seriously affected German manufacturers. They are all significantly reducing production. Some suppliers that also produce parts for General Motors or Chrysler have their backs to the wall – and are relying on help from the carmakers in the Southeast.

Although the German automakers are competitors on their domestic market, here, away from home, things are rather different. Even rivals like Daimler, BMW and VW cooperate closely. Suppliers and researchers are shared, political and legal conflicts fought together. “People know each other and help each other,” says an engineer who has moved here from southern Germany. Traditionally, German firms enjoy a good reputation in the South. Fifty years ago, the first engineering firms came from Germany to supply the then important textiles industry.

The new carmaking cluster now represents a big and perhaps the only chance for Alabama, South Carolina and Tennessee. As a result, the states are fighting hard for every new business. “Policymakers then did everything to attract BMW to Spartanburg,” remembers Douglas Woodward of the University of South Carolina. The economist has now been documenting the development of the auto in­dustry in the region for 15 years. The state investment has paid off, explains Woodward: “If BMW had to close its plant, a total of 23,000 jobs would be lost.”

Far from planning to close down, BMW actually aims to expand. In addition to the X5 SUV and the new X6 Sports Activity Coupé, the smaller X3 will be rolling off the line in the near future. The carmaker has already invested a total of five billion euros in Spartanburg and another 750 million is on the way. At the beginning of 2011 the first Volkswagens will also begin rolling off the assembly line in Tennessee. By then, at the latest, hope the carmakers, demand will be picking up again. In 2018, Volkswagen plans to be selling 800,000 vehicles a year, four times more than at present.

“German engineers and American workers – the perfect combination” is the slogan the companies are using to promote their products. The fact that the cars are made in America is crucially important on the US market. German producers together still have a market share of less than 10%. When it comes to the premium segment, however, their market share has already reached 40%.

60 Years of Innovation

1952 – Béla Barényi, a Hungarian-Austrian engineer, develops the concept of the crumple zone for Daimler-Benz. He recognizes that deformable zones at the front and rear of a vehicle can reduce the impact on the passenger compartment during a collision. The crumple zone was patented in 1952 making Barényi a pioneer in passive safety.

1958 – The rotary piston engine DKM54 becomes the very first Wankel engine. The invention of the self-taught mechanical engineer Felix Wankel is the epitome of the smooth-running engine and guarantees high speed to this day.

1950 – The Stihl company launches the first petrol powered chainsaw operable by a single person. Although its weight of 16 kilos still makes it tough to handle, the Stihl BL saw lays the foundation stone for the Swabian company’s leading world market position today.

1950 – Alfred Kärcher succeeds in developing the first European high-pressure hot water blaster, the pioneering DS 350 steam blaster.

1955 – The pharmaceuticals company Merck introduces the first medication for geriatric diseases, Gerobion. This marks Merck’s early involvement in an area that is now seen as one of the most urgent in medicine.

1958 – The Bayer subsidiary, Drugofa, launches the mosquito and tick repellent AUTAN on the market, at first as a lotion. In time the range is expanded to include sprays and sticks. Today the World Health Organization still recommends the AUTAN agent. Nowadays, the world-famous repellent is marketed by the American company SC Johnson.

1955 – The world’s first computer was developed by the Berlin inventor Konrad Zuse in 1941, the legendary Z3. 14 years later Zuse is able to present the Z11, a model that is ready to go into serial production.

1958 – The principle of the cavity wall plug invented by Artur Fischer is both simple and ingenious: tightening a screw in the plug causes the plug’s small wings to fan out for tight fixing. They cling firmly to the wall, thus preventing the plug from turning with the screw.

1960

1967 – Wilhelm Prölss believed that even the largest freighters can travel up to 20 knots and sail up to 50 degrees against the wind. In 1967 he presented the Dyna Rigg concept at the University of Hamburg – without success. But forty years later the developers of the luxury yacht "Maltese Falcon" put his ecological Dyna Rigg concept into practice.

1967 – Reduced harmful emissions, reduced fuel consumption: the D-Jetronic developed by Bosch lays the foundations for modern petrol engines. It is the world's first electronic fuel injection system to be applied in a serially produced car – a VW.

1965 – The GDR printing press producer Planeta builds the world’s first sheet-fed offset press based on the unit construction principle. The construction of the Variant 4 becomes the model for modern sheet-fed offset printing machines. Meanwhile, Planeta has become part of the Koenig & Bauer Group, one of the biggest printing press producers in the world.

1969 – The entrepreneur Eugen Lägler revolutionizes floor sanding techniques with his inventions. The famous HUMMEL of 1969 (called the bumblebee because of its humming sound) is still the most widely sold floor sander in the world.

1960 – Karl Storz's invention of the cold-light source enables the transmission of astonishingly clear images from inside the human body by conveying light through fibreglass filaments. The ongoing development of cold light source endoscopy also smoothed the way to today’s minimal invasion techniques in surgery.

1963 – The chemist Helmut Zahn from Aachen makes a progressive stride in the treatment of diabetes by pioneering the synthetic production of insulin.

1962 – Walter Bruch develops the PAL technique and paves the way to the introduction of colour television in the Federal Republic of Germany. PAL’s exceptional colour fidelity also helps to assert the technique in a lot of countries worldwide.

1969 – When Jürgen Dethloff and Helmut Göttrup patent their invention as the "identification switch", it marks the beginning of an international career. Now known as the chip card, life in the modern world is hard to imagine without it.

1970

1973 – Scientists at the Technical University in Aachen are ahead of the times. Long before hybrid engines became a trend in the automobile industry, they develop the first combination of a petrol engine and an electric motor.

1979 – In Hamburg, a number of German companies present the world’s first maglev passenger train, a forerunner of the modern Transrapid.

1976 – The Böhler & Weber Machine Factory (now Böwe Systec AG) is a trailblazer. In 1976 the company sets a record in the field of office equipment with the world’s fastest en­veloping system which can fill 12,500 envelopes per hour.

1976 – The Bauer company develops its first rotary drilling rig, the BG 7. Rotary drilling rigs are the key machinery in specialized underground engineering, for instance when creating the foundations for a wind turbine beneath the seabed. Today Bauer Maschinen GmbH is the world-market leader in the production of specialist foundation engineering machinery.

1976 – The Max Planck scientists Erwin Neher and Bert Sakmann provide the solution to numerous riddles in cellular communication with the patch clamp technique. To this day it benefits areas of medicine, for instance neurobiology.

1978 – Together with her American colleague Eric Wieschaus, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard begins developing the gradient theory based on investigations of the fruit fly Drosophila. Their insights also play a significant role in human genetics.

1974 – The somewhat cumbersome term “long-distance printing transmitter” conceals a wealth of German top-quality technology introduced by the company Infotec. The new appliance was Europe’s first digital fax machine.

1976 – As early as 1904, Merck in Darmstadt was offering liquid crystal on the market. Finally, in 1976, the breakthrough for liquid crystal displays (LCDs) came thanks to substances with better chemical and optical properties.

1980

1980 – The automobile manufacturer Audi celebrates a world premiere at the 50th Geneva International Motor Show. The Quattro is the first large scale production coupé with permanent all-wheel drive.

1981 – In 1971 Mercedes-Benz successfully completes an airbag test, but the idea is difficult to launch on the market. The breakthrough comes in 1981 when the Mercedes-Benz S-Class includes the airbag as a special accessory. Today this safety device is standard equipment.

1984 – Chipboard enables reasonably priced and ecologically friendly furniture production, because it is made from the by-products from sawmills. The ContiRoll chipboard press produced by Siempelkamp since 1984 is so efficient that it is now the world market leader.

1987 – Siemens decisively improves submarine propulsion with its Permasyn motor. It is significantly quieter, more compact and lighter than its predecessor.

1980 – The company Dornier first introduces its groundbreaking kidney stone lithotripter. For the first time it becomes possible to break up the kidney stones with the help of shock waves, thus avoiding the use of invasive surgery.

1985 – Magnetic resonance tomography provides precise images of spinal discs, the brain, the heart and other organs. The detection method evolved thanks to the FLASH rapid imaging technique invented by Jens Frahm in 1985.

1987 – How can music files be easily compressed without losing their acoustic quality? MP3-style audio data compression makes it all possible. The innovative procedure is first presented by a development team surrounding Karlheinz Brandenburg at the Fraunhofer Institute in Erlangen.

1988 – Independent of one another and almost at the same time, Albert Fert from France and Peter Grünberg from Germany discover the giant magnetoresistance effect and make the breakthrough in gigabyte hard disks.

1990

1994 – Daimler presents the NECAR 1 as the first vehicle with fuel-cell drive. Since then the company from Stuttgart has invested more than a billion euros in the environmentally friendly technology and now owns one of the world’s largest fuel-cell fleets with more than 100 test vehicles.

1995 – Three letters that stand for ideal vehicle safety: Bosch develops its landmark electronic stability programme, ESP. If a car gets out of control, the now widespread system quickly brings it back on track with individual wheel deceleration.

1995 – The model 926 marks the beginning of the Vario series 900 by Fendt, today’s most successful large tractor series in Europe. The outstanding feature of Vario 926 with 260 hp is its continuously variable transmission, then revolutionary in heavy-duty tractor technology. The subsequent model, the Vario 936, becomes the fastest and most powerful tractor.

1996 – The Kuka Robot Group of Augsburg develops the first marketable PC piloting system for industrial robots. It marks a decisive step in the high-precision interplay between software, steering and mechanical processes.

1997 – Otto Bock HealthCare presents the C-Leg, the first fully microprocessor controlled artificial knee joint. The invention is combined with precision design and convincingly enables well-nigh natural movements of the limb.

1999 – Stefan Hell experimentally produces his STED

which awakens new hope in medicine. Later, in 2008 his advanced microscope actually enables him to film a cellular life process with resolution at the nanometre scale.

1993 – Once scientists have recognized how dangerous chlorfluorcarbons (CFCs) are to the ozone layer, the feverish search for solutions begins. An early breakthrough is achieved by the company Foron in Saxony together with Greenpeace who are able to present the first CFC-free refrigerator: the environmentally friendly Greenfreeze.

1998 – Theodor Hänsch, who later won the Nobel Prize, invents the optical frequency comb technique enabling high-precision measuring procedures. Its spectacular applications range from atom analysis to space research.

2000

2005 – A juggernaut of the skies makes its maiden voyage on April 27, 2005. The Airbus A380 is the world’s largest jetliner and a joint European project that benefits strongly from German technological expertise.

2010 –Volkswagen wins the World Green Car Award at the New York International Auto Show for its BlueMotion Technologies umbrella brand created in 2009. The award honours achievements in low-emissions fuel consumption.

2007 – Liebherr’s LTM 11200-9.1 is a juggernaut of the highways. The strongest telescopic crane on the world market can reach a top speed of 75 km/h and operates with a total counterweight of 202 tons. Its telescopic boom can be extended to a record length of 100 metres. In addition, the boom is fully automated for extension to the required length.

2003 – Under the abbreviation SARS, the so-called bird flu leads to deaths and anxiety throughout the world. But a major step towards combating the disease is achieved by scientists at the Bernhard Nocht Institute in Hamburg, when they manage to identify the SARS virus.

2004 – Siemens presents the world’s fastest computer tomography (CT) scanner, the SOMATOM Sensation 64. The detection device sets new standards not only in speed but also in image quality and detail accuracy.

2002 – The ThyssenKrupp TWIN elevator system enables two separate cabins to operate simultaneously within one shaft and independently access the individual floors. This means that 40 per cent more people can reach their destination in a shorter time.

2009 – The European space telescopes Herschel and Planck are launched into orbit on May 14 2009. German technology is included on board the spacecraft and helps to deliver excellent images of the universe.

Ferrari explains unique all-wheel drive system in the new FF [Video]

Ferrari’s all-new shooting brake FF has garnered a fair bit of attention for its unconventional styling and its addition of all-wheel drive to the prancing horse brand, but now we have a video explaining the details of the later.
Although void of audible commentary, Ferrari’s video does use captions to fairly clearly explain how the AWD system found in the FF is unique, and beneficial compared to traditional systems. One of the main highlights is the reduction in weight of 50 percent compared to a traditional AWD setup, along with faster reaction times.

The Ferrari FF
Ferrari has long built its reputation on delivering extreme performance in two-door, rear-wheel drive sports coupes and cabriolets. But with the introduction of the FF, Ferrari appears to be taking an entirely new direction, likely forced by the addition of the Porsche Panamera and the Aston Martin Rapide, except Ferrari decided to tackle the four-seater (with actual room for four) question a bit differently.

For starters, the FF still retains the two-door layout, unlike the Rapide and Panamera which adopted four full doors and a more generous rear seating area than the shooting brake FF. But, the Ferrari seems to have been developed with an entirely new approach in mind – on and off road style driving in snow and rain, thanks to the first-ever application of all-wheel drive in a production Ferrari.
When watching the official video by Ferrari, it is very clear that the Italian automaker is aiming to strongly emphasize the addition of AWD, showing the FF crashing through snow entirely off of paved roads, and then through intense downpour on the streets, followed then by rally-like sprinting over a dirt trail.

In many ways, the FF looks like one of the mega-buck one-off designs commissioned by extravagantly wealthy sheiks, but this new model is set to be a volume offering – at least by Ferrari standards. The FF nomenclature derives from “Ferrari Four-seater,” meaning that this shooting brake has plenty of room for extra passengers and their cargo. Its long roofline hides a nearly 16 cubic foot cargo area that can be extended to more than 28 cubic feet with the second row of seats tumbled away.
All-wheel-drive arrives
The FF debuts Ferrari’s new 4RM all-wheel-drive system, which weighs in at about half that of a conventional all-wheel-drive system used in rivals bearing the Lamborghini and Porsche badges. Ferrari says that the FF tips the scales at under 4,000 lbs., meaning that even though it puts power to all four wheels and features an elongated roofline, it weighs around 100 lbs. less than the 612.
The light weight system helps keep weight distribution at 47/53 between the front and rear axles.
Ferrari says that the FF is powered by a 6.3-liter V12 that cranks out 651 horsepower at 8,000 rpm and 504 lb-ft. of torque at 6,000 rpm. Top speed is 208 mph and the automaker says that the FF sprints to 62 mph in just 3.7 seconds, representing a roughly 0.3 second increase over the outgoing 612.
Helping to keep things green, the automaker’s HELE start/stop system makes an appearance. Fuel consumption is down to around 15.5 mpg combined and emissions are curbed at 360 g/km – impressive figures for a Ferrari.
The FF will begin deliveries later this year, but all models for the first year have already been spoken for.

Alfa Romeo green lights Dodge Viper-based TZ3 Zagato?

With the exception of the 8C, Alfa Romeo’s lineup over the last decade or so has hardly focused on high-end performance cars, but that could change soon if new reports out of Europe are to be believed.
A one-off shooting brake designed by design firm Zagato at the request of a wealthy German owner could make production – but not over the Italian running gear one might expect. Instead, according to AutoBild, a production version of the TZ3 might actually use the running gear and platform from the recently-discontinued Dodge Viper, including its 600 horsepower, 8.4-liter V10 engine.
It might sound like blasphemy, but Dodge is hard at work on a next-generation Viper, which is being co-engineered by teams from within Fiat’s portfolio – Maserati, Alfa Romeo and, of course, Ferrari. For Chrysler part-owner Fiat to green light a platform, CEO Sergio Marchionne wants to see global appeal under at least one other marque.
The original TZ3 debuted last year at the Villa d’Este Concours, where it was presented as a descendant of the racing-oriented TZ and TZ2 models from the 1960s.
The TZ3 Stradale, as German media reports it could be called, will be larger and heavier – by as much as 1,200 lbs. – than the current Viper. Reports also suggest that it might forgo the Alfa Romeo badge for a Zagato logo.
According to AutoBild, the TZ3 Stradale will debut in production-ready form later this year at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance before entering very limited production in 2012.

CBO report supports the viability of per-mile taxing

The notion of taxing drivers based on miles driven isn’t a totally new concept, but such a measure has never been put into place. However, that could soon change as the Congressional Budget Office released a report this week stating that a tax based on miles driven could be a viable way to increase revenues.

Although not a full-on recommendation by the CBO, the report concluded that a tax based on miles driven could be a way to offset slumping revenues. The federal government is looking for new sources of tax revenues as it fears a shift to more fuel efficient vehicles could hurt highway funding.
The report states that the new form of taxing could be made possible by new technologies that can track total vehicle miles traveled (VMT).
“In the past, the efficiency costs of implementing a system of VMT charges — particularly the costs of users’ time for slowing and queuing at tollbooths — would clearly have outweighed the potential benefits from more efficient use of highway capacity,” CBO wrote. “Now, electronic metering and billing are making per-mile charges a practical option.”
However, the CBO did address cost and privacy concerned associated with VMT devices.
“Having the devices installed as original equipment under a mandate to vehicle manufacturers would be relatively inexpensive but could lead to a long transition; requiring vehicles to be retrofitted with the devices could be faster but much more costly, and the equipment could be more susceptible to tampering than factory-installed equipment might be,” CBO said.
The CBO acknowledge privacy concerns associated with the tax system, but didn’t offer any real solutions. The CBO only suggested limiting information that would be transmitted to the government.
The report isn’t yet scheduled to be brought in front of Capitol Hill, but Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, the man that requested the report, is pushing for portions of the report to be heard by year’s end.