The most eye-popping of concepts to come out at the Beijing Motor Show must be the Chery Ant. In fact, eye popping will be an understatement for the concept rolled out by Chinese car manufacturer Chery.

If it becomes a reality, it could usher in Vehicle Platooning on to freeways using the infrastructure proposed by General Motors China in its EN-V concept.

Let’s get to the looks of Chery’s innovation first. Well, they have named it aptly for it looks like an ant. Small, compact, in fact a little too compact for comfort if you are a person of larger proportions.  But it’s rather cute and on congested Asian roads or narrow European ones, this cutie will be practical. Parking problems will be out of the window with the Chery Ant as it literally takes the same space required to park a super bike.

Let’s get to Platooning  Ants can go anywhere on its own but it can also attach to two or more Ants with an automated telematics systems by pairing up one car’s rear wheels with the front wheels of another.

This is possible because Ants can see and communicate, comparing destinations with other Ants via the cloud. And if two Ants are heading in the same direction they can be put together, making the journey energy efficient and faster. How efficient, it’s yet to be known.

There are claims that up to 10 Ants can be tagged together as a train but no official video or photos are available of the Ants in Platooning action.  It will be great if this concept works though.

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The eccentric designers at Lamborghini’s lair at Sant’ Agata Bolognese in Italy have suddenly become a little down to earth.

The Italian sports car maker’s new offering neither looks like a bat mobile nor will it be guzzling gas. It isn’t a sports car even, but an SUV. The Urus SUV concept, which Lamborghini unveiled at the 2012 Beijing Motor Show, is more a family car, with space for kids, their school bags, shopping bags and all the house hold necessities. It’s clear that Lamborghini is looking to re-enter the segment where other sports car manufacturers (more notably Porsche with Cayenne) have already cashed in.

Lambo is not new to SUVs. They were the pioneers in the luxury SUV segment after they launched the LM 002, more popularly known as the “Rambo-Lambo”.  But unlike the beefy, boxy, muscular, green-beret built Rambo-Lambo, the Urus is more a ballet dancer – a slightly big ballet dancer though.   With four seats, it has enough space inside to accommodate a family of four bears and their accessories coming back from a fishing trip. Outside, the Italians have stuck with the trademark sexy lines of Lamborghini.   The Urus doesn’t have rear view mirrors, just aerodynamic small cameras which record and feed video to two screens on both sides of the cockpit.

Yeah cockpit, for the steering wheel and the panels, with the touch screen monitors and paddle switches and buttons gives the feeling of an aircraft cockpit. But the buttons and panels are not spacecraft-ish.

Sources at Lamborghini revealed that the company’s target output from the power-plant for this all-wheel drive beast is 600hp (449kw) while the light weight carbon fiber technology used in the body ensures an agile with low emissions and I dare say, fuel economy too, compared to other Lamborghini’s that is.

The Urus might look big but it’s likely to handle like a sports car with its low weight, low centre of gravity and variable height bodyshell adding to its aerodynamic stability. An adjustable front spoiler will ensure good obstacle clearance too, important for an SUV.  Signs show that Lambo is keen to convert this concept into a production model and they will be targeting markets in the Middle East, US, UK, Germany, Russia and of course China. No wonder they unveiled the concept in Beijing.

Unlike the Rambo-Lambo, which saw just 300 hit the road in six years of production (1986-1992), Lamborghini is targeting around 3000 cars each year with the Urus to cater to the demands it is expecting.  Going by the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ Urus received in Beijing, those numbers may not be enough too.  Why shouldn’t we go for Urus. After all it’s a Lamborghini and you get to own one way cheaper than say the Gallardo or any other model of theirs. Besides, Urus will keep your wife and kids happy too; it’s a family Lambo!

[ source ]

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Italian design house Stile Bertone is famous for some of the most beautiful cars in history and none of the company’s concepts are more famous than the 1970 Lancia Stratos HF Zero. The futuristic design of that prototype will always be alive in the hearts of many sports car fans around the world. And it appears like the company is planning to keep it that way. They have released teaser sketches of a new concept car which will be shown off at the Geneva Motor Show next month. It has been designed by Michael Robinson, the company’s Design Director.

Named Nuccio, after Giuseppe “Nuccio” Bertone, the son of the founder of the company, the new concept sports car will be part of the company’s centennial celebrations and appears to be possibly inspired by the wedge-shaped mid-engined rear-wheel drive supercar designs of the 1970s, the best example of which is the HF Zero (pictured above).

From the sketches, it looks more like a next generation Stratos HF Zero. Similar to the HF Zero, the new concept sits very low to the ground and has been colored orange. But it has been modernized and features LED single-bar headlights and taillights along with a more curved body.

We can see muscular haunches with massive wheels, and twin rear windows. We definitely won’t have to wait too long to learn much more about it such as what’s under the hood. But since they are modernizing it, a solar panel on the top will be a wonderful addition. What do you think?

After its debut at the Geneva Motor Show, the Nuccio will make its way to other exhibitions including the Beijing Motor Show in April, the Museum of Turin in May, Laguna Seca USA in August, and Florence in September.

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