Remember when Ford and Chevrolet put a V6 in the engine bay of their respected muscle cars? The consensus of muscle car aficionados was akin to something like Tim Horton’s taking away Boston cream donuts. It apparently was just unthinkable.

Well now there might be something in development for the Mustang which would be akin to hell freezing over for pretty much any ‘Stang fan, or muscle car junkie in general.

Apparently Ford may be looking into making an all-electric Mustang. Impossible you say? Maybe not. Consider this:

1) All-electric vehicles are making a come back in a big way. There are currently at least ten automakers investing heavily in the technology, not least of which is Ford with the preparation of the launch of the all-electric Focus to bow very soon.

2) Automakers like Tesla with their Roadster, Audi’s E-Tron or BMW with their i8 (I know, the latter is not fully electric, but there’s a lot of electric technology in there) are proving that electric vehicles don’t have to be boring. In fact, performance electric vehicles is a new emerging segment. Therefore Ford could easily nab the “cheap” performance electric vehicle title with an all-electric Mustang.

3) This is probably the most important point of all. I have a source that has revealed exclusively to Car Driven that a prototype is already made, in fact it was witnessed in seclusion by said source. It’s possible this was just a regular electric car conversion, however considering the fuss made when a picture was trying to be taken, it’s clear this is something that Ford wants quiet for the time being.

While all of this remains speculation at the moment, you can be sure that Car Driven will do more digging to see what else is out there on the electric ‘Stang.

What do you think of the idea of an all-electric muscle car?

With the leaves starting to change colour and steadily falling to the asphalt, this seemed like a fitting time for Nissan to introduce another kind of leaf to Nova Scotia’s roads: their all-electric LEAF 5-door hatchback.

It was announced yesterday that Nissan Canada will partner with the province of Nova Scotia and Nova Scotia Power to introduce the electric vehicle to the province.

“This announcement adds the Province of Nova Scotia and Nova Scotia Power to a growing list of like-minded partners equally as committed as Nissan to promote and encourage the adoption of zero emission vehicles as a way to combat climate change,” said Allen Childs, President of Nissan Canada Inc. “As a manufacturer we provide innovative vehicles that Canadians love and want to drive, but our partners play an important role in helping build the infrastructure support for electric vehicles that will make a roll-out of the Nissan LEAF, and other electric vehicles in Nova Scotia possible.”

Indeed a key partner in promotion and building infrastructure is Nova Scotia Power who also announced their purchase of 10 Nissan LEAF’s for its ShareReady Electric Vehicle program. The program will help NS Power to study and understand the impact of electric vehicle use in Nova Scotia.

Here’s hoping I can snag a LEAF sometime soon for a review!

[Nissan Canada]

This is the North American version of the Mitsubishi i-Miev. It’s a substantially bigger than the Japanese version. It’s 11.2 inches longer, 4.3 inches wider and 0.2 inches taller. You know, because North Americans are so fat that making it bigger is necessary.

But what really caught my eye aside from the obvious bump in size was something in the picture above. Look closely. Notice anything strange? I mean, aside from the rather odd bubble like shape, do you notice anything specifically off?

I’ll help you out. Look at the windshield wipers. Is that a third wiper? Or maybe it’s two wipers with the passenger side wiper being angled at a 90 degrees. In any event, it’s a really strange set up and I’m not quite sure what the advantages would be.  Since it’s 4.3 inches wider, that naturally means a wider windshield, so you would have to alter the wipers, but isn’t that just as simple as using bigger wipers? I checked out pictures of the Japenese i-Miev and it appears to have regular wipers. Weird.

Anyway, the all-electric i-Miev should make it’s North American debut in 2011. We’ll get better pics and maybe even an explanation well before then, I’m sure.

[Mitsubishi]

Nissan has been officially taking orders for its new all-electric game changer, the LEAF, for the past few days. In 65 hours is has received 6,635 customers sign up to reserve one. A $99 refundable deposit is required to reserve a LEAF.

Demand was particularly high within the first three hours as 2,700 eager beavers couldn’t wait to reserve one.

So far people from Tennessee, Oregon, San Diego, Seattle and the Phoenix/Tucson region in Arizona are the ones mostly signing up – exactly Nissan’s targeted market.

Nissan also added that they have introduced six other colours for the LEAF, should the standard blue you see above all over the internets not tickle your fancy. Oddly enough, green is not an available colour. Perhaps Nissan figured that would be a bit too cliche?

“No one is going to pay a $15,000 premium for a car that competes with a (Toyota) Corolla. So there are not enough idiots who will buy it” -Audi of America President on the Chevolet Volt.

“They’re for the intellectual elite who want to show what enlightened souls they are” – Audi of America President on electric vehicles.

We’re not sure how Johan de Nysschen still has his job after making comments like that, especially since they are now proving to be immensely hypocritical.

Audi’s E-tron concept, an all electric sports car, will indeed make it into production for the 2012 year. The E-tron is supposedly only 88 pounds heavier than its gas engine twin the R8, so that combined with  309 horsepower electric motors means some serious competition for the Tesla Roadster.

The newly introduced A1 will also become electrified as it makes its debut at the Geneva Auto show. It’s going to have a Wankel range extender, so expect the little hatchback to do quite well for city driving.

With expectations of a Q5 plug-in hybrid and an A8 hybrid Concept already debuted, we guess Audi doesn’t think the Chevy Volt is for idiots anymore since both will cost a much larger premium for a car that gets worse mileage than a Toyota Corolla. We’re just sayin’.

Think next time you speak, de Nysschen!

Yes, we are aware that that is not the 599 you see above, but any opportunity to post the ridiculously good looking 458 Italia will be taken advantage of.

The 599 will be the model selected to get the hybrid treatment, but don’t expect it any time soon. 2015 is the projected release, and even that isn’t written in stone. The head of Ferrari Amedeo Felisa recently said of the 599 hybrid:

“The technology is not ready. The suppliers are not ready. Everything is underdevelopped. There is a lot of work to do. It’s not for tomorrow. We haven’t decided when (it will be introduced)”

While we are a bit disappointed in the 599 hybrid’s excessive delay, Felisa’s no-nonsense approach to being interviewed is appreciated. Just tell it like it is.

There are some people who aren’t so impressed at the idea of a hybridized Ferrari though. Ferrari’s are the epitome of performance not efficiency and any attempt to address the latter would likely compromise the former which is blasphomy in the Ferrari world. But the fact of the matter is, this new venture into efficiency is not an option for Ferrari, it’s a necessity or else its existence will fade away quicker than George W. Bush’s credibility.

But Ferarri has another trick up its sleeve.

Ferrari is toying witht the idea of a V6. Blasphomy again, maybe, but Ferrari engines are already so superb that the engineers could likely tune a V6 to meet acceptable Ferrari approved performance.

But what about electric cars? Tesla can get its all electric roadster from 0 to 100 in 3.9 seconds, which is the exact same time it takes a regular Ferrari 599 to make the sprint.

Forget it.

Says Felisa “If you look at global warming, the right solution is not full electric. It’s more a marketing solution than a real one, sound is just as important as design and performance for Ferrari. We will not make engine sounds with speakers”

True, that would be pretty tacky. And the exhaust note of a Ferrari is  enough to make you pass out with amazement, so reluctantly, we sort of agree.

What do you think is the best method for Ferrari to beat its gas chugging habits?

…there’s really no need to make them this ugly. Seriously, electric vehicles take enough criticism without the fake chrome hubcaps, ridiculous ninja turtle paint matched with red windshield wipers.

Appearance aside, high school students in Hawaii did a pretty good job of converting a 1995 Toyota Corolla. This was also their second vehicle conversion!

This electric Corolla has a top speed of 120 kph with a range of around 96 kilomtetres before needing to be recharged.

It sure beats our old high school projects…

BMW is known for being the benchmark in many areas, specifically handing and performance, but not many people would consider the brand when it comes to efficiency or the environment.

Well it seems BMW wants even more accolades as it is trying to take the ‘Green Leader’ crown in the premium segment as they have confirmed production of a hybrid supercar. On top of that BMW finally has their awesome diesels for sale in both the 3 series and X5 in our market, they’re in pilot production stages of an all-electric Mini, they recently introduced an all-electric 1-series concept and now comes word that BMW will add two small cars beneath the 1-series. This new venture into the green territory is likely the result of new stringent efficiency standards, but if anyone can somehow match performance with efficiency, BMW is likely to do it.
Find out more about the new models after the jump
The first of the two new introductions is an all electric Megacity car which appears to have a set up similar to the Chevy Volt. Details beyond that are quite scarce.

The second vehicle is rumoured to be a small front-wheel drive hatchmack. Yes, you read that correctly, front-wheel drive.  This new hatch is rumoured to be dubbed the “o-series” (one thing that BMW apparently sucks at is vehicle name schemes) and is supposed to be offered as an alternative to a Mini owner who is looking for more premium aka someone who just wants a BMW badge to show off to the neighbours.

Seriously, if people wish to have a premium hot hatch from BMW, then bring over the 1-series hatch, match it with that superb diesel of theirs and- ta da! You’ve got a proper rear wheel drive efficient hot hatch. It’s really not that hard.

BMW purists are sure to shout blasphemy from the rooftops, but truthfully BMW has proved with its Mini brand that it could make front-wheel drive cars fun too. Again, leave it to BMW to seemingly do the impossible. But we would tend to agree that any vehicle that dawns the BMW name should be rear or all-wheel drive. Leave the front wheel drive business to the Mini division.

2013 is going to be a very good year.

Possibly the most innovative concept to come out in a while, BMW attempts the difficult task of combining power with efficiency. Also, BMW obviously couldn’t just stand by while their main rival Audi releases their all-electric E-tron.

The production version will obviously be a lot tamer than the concept you see, still, expect a shapely supercar like body.

What’s under the hood? Well, not what you’d might expect. It will reportedly feature a 3-cylinder diesel with a range extender and two electric motors. Sound underwhelming? Well the complicated hybrid set up will produce around 356 horsepower and a ridiculously insane 590 pound feet of torque!

There’s more good news. Vision EfficientDynamics will not be the name of the production version. BMW may be considering reviving the M1 moniker for it.  But really, they could call it pig-farter and we’d still buy it.
Check out more pics over at autoblog.