Mercedes-Benz to Produce First Ever Diesel Hybrid

A lot of people tend to wonder why no one has thought of combining a diesel with hybrid technology, as oppposed to a regular gasoline combustion engine, since diesels are inherantly efficient to begin with. Seemingly combining two forms of efficient technology would be the ultimate in both efficiency and power as diesels tend to have high torque ranges.

Well, someone has thought of it before. Mainly mostly every car manufacturer. The problem with a diesel hybrid set up is that diesels are bigger and heavier than traditional gas engine. Therefore, there generally isn’t enough room in the engine bay for both the diesel and electric motor. On top of that, the set up would be quite costly. Both hybrids and diesels tend to be more expensive than gas engine vehicles, so having a vehicle with both likely would likely produce some sticker shock.

But, that of course doesn’t stop manufacturers from trying. Kia has recently been flirting with the idea of a diesel-hybrid, and Mercedes-Benz has just announced a production diesel hybrid version of their E-Class sedan.

Details after the jump.

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Porsche 918 Spyder: 0-100 in 3.2 Seconds + 3 l/100 kms!

Granted there is likely some catch to the effect of it not being able to achieve 3l/100kms while it’s doing 0-100 in 3.2 seconds, but still, it is quite impressive nevertheless.

This plug-in concept will feature a V8 producing 500 horsepower matched to an electric motor that produces 218 horsepower for a combined horsepower rating of 718. The 918 Spyder concept operates like any other parallel hybrid where the gas and electric motor can work in conjunction with each other or indepentendly depending on the driving conditions. The car also features electric drive (E-Drive) which means it can travel up to 25 kilometres on the electric motor alone.

On the environmental end, Porsche claims a CO2 raiting of just 70 grams per kilometer.

Except to see many more supercars attempting to acheive performance yet efficiency as BMW is hoping to pull off a similar trick with its production version of its Vision EfficientDynamics concept and with Ferrari expecting to introduce a hybrid version of its 599 at Geneva very shortly.

Oh Hi: 2011 Porsche Cayenne

Meet the facelifted Cayenne.

This new Cayenne has Panamera-esque headlights, a reworked front facia, new LED tail lights and an updated interior.

There will be lots of flavours to choose from: A V6, a Cayenne S, a Cayenne Turbo and an all new Cayenne Hybrid. Since there’s no mention of the diesel version, we’re guessing it got the axe, which is unfortunate.

The Hybrid will use a supercharged version of the 3.0 litre V6 making 333 horsepower along with a 47 horsepower electric motor. Porsche claims V8 performance with V6 fuel economy with this set up.

The Turbo will get a twin-turbo V8 producing 500 horses, the Cayenne S will get a V8 making 400 horses and the V6 will be good enough to produce 300 horsepower.

Porsche has managed to knock off 400 pounds from the already porkly Cayenne and is claiming fuel savings of up to 23% as a result. In turn, CO2 levels also get reduced to around 193 g/km for the hybrid.

The new Cayenne is expected to go on sale in June of this year.

See more pics after the jump.

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Canadian Car & Utility of the Year Announced

Great minds think alike. We chose the 2010 Subaru Outback as our pick for the Canadian Utility of the Year, and AJAC agreed. You might as well give us our membership now, AJAC.

Volkswagen took Car of the Year honours and even though our pick was the BMW 335d, there is absolutely no disagreement from us that the GTI is just as deserving.

Congrats to the VW and Subaru!

To find out the winners in each individual category, hit the jump.

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Ferrari’s Future: Hybridized 599 Coming In 2015

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.

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Oh Hi: 2011 Volkswagen Touareg

Very nice!

After saying that it would make its official debut about a month from now at the Geneva Auto Show, VW decided that we couldn’t wait that long and gave us a few pics to oggle.

The upgrades help it stay more in line with VW’s new three barred grille theme and tail lights get a similar family resemblance treatment as well. The sides are a lot more sculpted and eye-catching. The overall size remains the same. Although the previous generation’s design is now eight year’s old, we are still fans of the old version. This new Touareg is still agreeable though.

Apparently fuel efficiency was a big factor in the Touareg’s redesign. We criticized the current generation Touareg for being obese, which negatively affects fuel consumption. VW obviously read our review ( we like to tell ourselves that anyway) and took our advice of putting the Touareg on a diet. The 2011 version will lose 460 pounds.

Also helping out in the fuel efficiency department will be a hybrid model in addition to the great TDI engine (only making its debut for the 2010 year). The hybrid will be VW’s first ever and will have a 3.0 direct injected V6 matched to an eight speed automatic. Normally we’d make some smart ass comment about that being too many gears, but for the benefit of fuel efficiency, it actually makes sense. The Touareg Hybrid is expected to produce a combined rating of 8.3L/100 kms. The diesel is expected to be tweaked for efficiency as well and will get an expected 7.3L/100 kms.

More pics here

Toyota Brake Issues Expand to Lexus, But It May Help Them Sell More Cars

It’s starting to get to the point where there should just be a big ‘FAIL’ stamped on Toyota’s head office as these gas pedal/brake problems don’t seem to be dying down. In fact, they’re expanding.

Toyota’s Lexus division is now feeling the heat as the rookie model of their line up is now on watch for the same brake issues as the Prius. The HS250 and Prius are close cousins. Notice that they’re both hybrids? The regerative braking process used in hybrids likely has something to do with it, and is why people are complaining of unusual brake fade and temporary loss of braking.

UPDATE: Toyota is expected to announce a global recall for all 2010 Priuses in the very near future, no word on if the HS250 will be included in the recall as of yet. Toyota has officially announced a recall of 437,000 Pruises, and HS 250h’s for brake problems. Pre 2010 Priuses may be affected as well as similar problems are now being reported but there is no official recall from Toyota on previous generation Priuses just yet.

But no matter, these braking set backs may actually help Toyota sell more Priuses. Find out why after the jump.

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Prayers = Answered. BMW Vision EfficientDynamics Going Into Production!

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.

Canadian Car of the Year Finalists Revealed! We Make Our Picks!

Those lucky ducks that have coveted AJAC (Automobile Journalists Association of Canada) memberships all recently got together to rate the best new car of the year from the Canadian perspective for 2010. They tested them, rated them, and broke down the finalists into five categories.

Since Car Driven is literally only hours old as we write this, it seems a bit premature to have our own COTY awards. So instead, we’ll just use AJAC’s finalists and make our own picks.

Find out the finalists and our picks after the jump!

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