Since first hearing that ex-McLaren F1 supercar designer Gordon Murray had left the famous racing company to create his own design house and that its first product was to be a revolutionary city car, we've been anxiously awaiting more details to come to the surface. Lucky for us, they just have. Murray promises that his low-cost car will cut emissions in half and be cheap to purchase and manufacturer. In fact, twenty-percent fewer parts are said to be necessary for the assembly of the vehicle. So far, no real details on what will power the vehicle are available.

We do know that Caparo, makers of the extremely impressive T1 supercar, are heavily involved in the project. This leads us to believe that some major use of composites is in order as carbon fiber is a specialty of Caparo. Murray has no plans to actually produce the vehicle; instead he will sell the plans to other automakers for them to offer to the public. Interestingly, Murray also claims that shipping expenses will also be reduced as the vehicle can be flat packed Ikea-style.

[Source: Autocar]

Ah, those Italians and their penchant for rolling art. While the Fiat Phylla solar car concept may not yet exist in drivable form, it's asymmetrical styling sure is an attention getter. Presented a few days ago in Turin, Italy during "Uniamo le energie," this city car is designed to use solar panels and a hydrogen fuel cell to send power to each of its four wheels yet emit nothing but water and good vibes.

The project involved many different entities and agencies including the Piedmont Region, which sponsored and funded the undertaking, From Concept to Car and the Institute of Applied Art and Design, to name just a few, while the effort was directed by the Fiat Research Center. Besides its environmental goals of producing a high efficiency, recyclable vehicle powered chiefly by alternative sources of energy including solar, hydropower and biogas, the group sought to create a product that would be amenable to car-sharing programs and be inexpensive to operate. Indeed, since the Phylla is said to be capable of traveling 18 kilometers (11 miles) with just the energy it captures from the sun during the day, we think it is within reach of at least some of its goals.

At October's Paris Motor Show, Mazda will be the latest manufacturer to unveil a new city car with the new 1. Based on this initial sketch, the micro sized 1 will apply the swoopy lines seen the company's recent concepts and apply them to a competitor for the VW up! and Toyota iQ. The concept version that will be shown in Paris may have sliding doors to ease entry and exit. In concept form, power may come from fuel cells and batteries although the production version will probably have either a small internal combustion engine or battery power.

[Source: AutoExpress]

If you live in the UK and have been pining for a chance to buy the i-MiEV all-electric city car when it appears on your shores, now is the time to register your interest with Mitsubishi. According to poster Nikki on the Electric Vehicle Discussion List (EVDL) Mitsubishi has told her (I'm assuming it's a "her") the cars may arrive as early as Q1 next year. Quantities will be extremely limited at first so if you are sure you want one you should take immediate action by clicking here and give them all your contact info. Curiously, Misubishi refers to the car as the "i-EV" on this site.

If you live in the U.S., there isn't anywhere to officially declare our purchasing intentions though unofficially you can always sign this petition to Mitsubishi and hope that gets their attention. We'll let you know if it does.



[Source: EVDL via G-Wiz Owners Club]

Click on the link for more images

As part of a project to create a Volkswagen concept city car for the year 2020, Stefan Mathys, Christoph Bigler, Florian Kaufmann, and Thomas Spycher came up with the City Transport Cell (CTC). Besides being completely electric, there are some novel ideas in this concept, not the least of which are the full-height doors and customizable seating-arrangement. The year 2020 is not nearly as far away as it once seemed (funny how that always happens) but we don't imagine that our roadways will be filled with anything resembling the CTC anytime soon. Still, we think that it's good for designers to push the boundaries of current car design in an effort to invent something truly revolutionary.


[Source: Stefan Mathys Design via Tuvie.com]

The video above is of a BAE Systems' electric-powered military vehicle. According to one of video description, BAE Systems has made military vehicles with "electromagnetic hub mounted wheel motors from MST." The military is very interested in the silence and efficiency of electric vehicles because of the tactical advantages of stealth and long ranges. Below the fold you will find a video of MIT's concept electric city car. The car stacks in a row, which allows for a better use of space and the car at the end of the stack to recharge. The cars can even be customized to match the drivers preferences. Watch it change colors in the video.

[Source: YouTube]

...there is the CityCar! This is a joint concept first issued by MIT, GM and Frank Gehry back in 2004. It has gone thru a number of iterations since then until this version appears in the current Business Week "IN" section. Filled with the necessary technology to survive in a 21st century urban area – electric power, wheel motors, small overall dimensions and apparent all weather capability – the CityCar attacks one of the main drawbacks of conventional automobiles regardless of how they are powered – they take up too much space! Everywhere you take a car you need a parking space. The more parking spaces you have, the more cars you can attract and the less appealing is the said urban area. Two tons of metal to haul around perhaps 200 or 400 lbs of person(s)! Make four stops on a day of errands and you need (22 ft x 10 ft) of space at each location. That is over a 1,000 sq. ft. of parking space including your home space. These CityCars are supposed to allow 6 to fit within one standard parking space.

These cars are meant to be rented for a particular day or trip and they are just for urban use. That would mean they would be used in lieu of, say, a taxi for that last portion of a trip that already includes public transit such as subways, buses, railroads, or airlines. They would fill that last, sometimes frustrating, gap in a trip from an origin to a destination. Various local rental sites, with a preauthorized smart card, would be where the cars could be picked up or dropped off.

Why should transportation in the 21st century follow the traditions of the 20th century? This idea deserves some consideration.

Related:

• MIT creates a foldable, stackable "City Car"

[Source: Newsweek]

Click image to enlarge

While US automakers like GM ponder whether or not our market is ready for an ultra-compact city car, in Europe, the segment's old news. Ultra-compact, easy on the wallet, and stingy with fuel, urbanites have a wide range of vehicles from which to choose. Toyota has a stylish entry in the Aygo, which is also sold in French guise as the Citroën C1 and the Peugeot 107. Named one of the UK's top 10 green cars of 2006, the Aygo is powered by a 67-horsepower 1.0L VVT-i 3-cylinder that gets over 60 mpg (Imperial gallons) in the combined cycle.

Last summer, the special-edition Aygo Black color and equipment package was released in the UK. This year, it looks as if Toyota GB is ready for a follow-up, unveiling the Aygo Blue, which joins the Aygo Black in the lineup. Like it's darker brother, the color is the overriding theme, with Lagoon Blue metallic paint, color-coordinated floormats, and blue accents on the dash and instrument panel, and Bluetooth connectivity (nice touch) all finding their way onto the spec sheet. Additional interior features are included, and the car can be further dressed up with optional packages that add items such as foglamps and alloy wheels. Pricing comes in at £7,995 for the 3-door and £8,245 for the 5-door.

Full details in the press release after the jump.

[Source: Toyota GB]

Last month we brought you a report that Volkswagen was developing a city car to challenge the Smart ForTwo. At the time it was reported that the new car would be smaller than the current Fox but would still be a four seater. Now Auto-Bild has rendering of what the new car look like. Like the Smart, the "Lupo II" would appear to be rear engined, but would be about 11.5 ft long. The base version would be stripped down, but all kinds of extra features would be incorporated via modular production techniques to keep the manufacturing cost down. Presumably, a diesel version will be available as well.

[Source: Auto-Bild]

Ever go to a big city and wonder how in the world you were going to get around? This happens to me, as my wife and I make several trips to Chicago every year for weekend getaways. The problem is that there are tons of cars there, traffic snarls a lack of good places to park, unless you want to pay big bucks for a 24 hour parking garage -- which is usually what we end up doing. And, Chicago is nothing compared to New York or Las Angeles.

Researchers at MIT think that they have a solution to this problem. Rather than designing a futuristic new type of car, they are scaling everything back. Not that the vehicle is not high-tech, mind you, because it is. One researcher, Ryan Chin, referred to it as "a big mobile computer with wheels on it," Chin said. "This car should have a lot of computational power. It should know where the potholes are." The car is built on a foldable, stackable chassis made possible by centralizing the electric drivetrain, suspension and steering components into each of the four wheels. The vehicle can turn in circles due to each wheel being steerable and powered.

General Motors is a part-sponsor for the program and uses programs such as this one to motivate their own designers to come up with new ideas. MIT hopes that GM will showcase the vehicle at an auto show in the coming years, and hopes to make them crash-worthy for use on city streets as well.

[Source Boston Globe via Tree Hugger]