There’s nothing conspicuous about a heavily camouflaged mid-size Mercedes, so parking one in the heavily trafficked Arlanda International Airport was surely a winning idea. According to the super Swedes at Bilfeber, what you see here is an abandoned 2010 Mercedes E-Class test vehicle. We’re big fans of the pseudo-BMW kidney grille from the clever Benz mechanics.
Despite earlier reports the four-door Zeta-platform GMC concept pickup truck would be coming to the New York Auto Show, we’ve been told by people in the know it’ll be hitting the floor at the Chicago Auto Show. We guess we’ll be seeing it much earlier than expected. Maybe “Maximum” Bob Lutz was just having a senior moment of some kind. Our sources also indicate it’ll have a drastically different look than anything else out of Australia with a truck bed — including the Holden Crewman ute up top. But it’s not just the looks that’ll be different.
We’re told the form factor will be an entirely unibody design — not just the weird-ass unibody front end with a half-chassis welded on to the back like the Crewman. A true car-based pickup truck. The mere thought’s causing our pants to start to tighten. We mean, is this GMC an xtremely interesting development or what? Come on, is this seriously the new GMC — Caballero? We can only hope. But one thing’s for sure, we’ll have more info later on as the story develops.
We don’t know if these images from World Car Fans are official sketches, but they look pretty darn certifiably real to us. The concept, rumored to be coming to the 2008 Geneva Motor Show, is supposedly a lightly disguised production version of the Euro Spec 5 door Lancer Ralliart. The car will undoubtedly be powered by the same 240 hp turbocharged four banger we get here in the states with the all wheel drive gadgetry and active yaw controllers thrown in for good measure. We’ll look for more info as this develops. [Carscoop]
More exciting action from the D.C Auto Show as Ford snuck some E85 news into the 2009 Ford Escape press release. The company’s E-Series vans, Navigator and Expedition will be able to run on E85 fuel this year, which is good news for the small percentage of the people reading this that have access to the approximately 0.01% of gas stations in the United States that actually offer Ethanol and are suddenly in the market for a bold-faced commercial van. Excuse us if we’re not that excited. We really wanted them to announce they were building an E-Series van that runs on straight vegetable oil. Press release below the jump.
Press Release on E85
WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 22, 2008 - Today at the Washington Auto Show and Automotive News World Congress in Detroit, Ford Motor Company announced its hot-selling compact SUVs, the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner, will become more fuel efficient, more powerful and more connected for the 2009 model year.
Ford also announced that it is expanding its commitment to biofuels by adding three additional vehicles to its E85-capable flexible fuel line-up for 2009 - the E-Series van, as well as the standard and extended-length models of the Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs. These additional product actions are part of Ford’s sustainability strategy, which also includes high-volume introductions of EcoBoost gas turbocharged direct injection engines.
Speaking today at Automotive News World Congress in Detroit, Ford Motor Company President and CEO Alan Mulally met with industry leaders and media to share today’s announcement and discuss how Ford is accelerating the development of new products and technologies customers want and value. Mulally also reaffirmed that Ford will reach benchmark levels of new or significantly freshened products, delivering a showroom with 70 percent new or freshened vehicles by the end of 2008 and 100 percent by 2010.
“This year, we make good on our commitment to freshen our showrooms,” Mulally said. “We just introduced the new 2009 Ford F-150 last week, and it was a hit. We also have Lincoln MKS and Ford Flex coming, as well as a new Mustang early next year.”
At the Washington Auto Show, Sue Cischke, Ford senior vice president, Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering, outlined the company’s high-volume customer-focused strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve fuel economy.
“Ford Motor Company is increasing fuel economy and cutting greenhouse gas emissions with affordable technologies for millions of customers,” said Cischke. “In the near term, we will leverage existing technologies to achieve those goals, including advanced engines and multi-speed transmissions. The 2009 Escape and Mariner are great examples of how we’re delivering today.”
[D.C. Auto Show]
The final concept of Chrysler’s trio for the 2008 Detroit Auto Show is the Jeep Renegade Concept. We actually find this one the most interesting, both in terms of design and feasibility. The Renegade features all-aluminum construction to keep its weight down, as well as what appears to be a parallel hybrid drivetrain consisting of the same 40-mile lithium-ion battery pack used in the Chrysler ecoVoyager Concept sharing duties with a small-displacement BLUETEC diesel engine. Jeep claims the Renegade would be good for more than 110 miles per gallon, which we think is probably accurate. Hopefully we’ll begin seeing fuel economy numbers like that when lithium-ion battery packs become more prevalent, as well as diesel engines for that matter.
The Renegade’s design is typical Jeep, focusing on adventure in all weather conditions. The speedster windshield and roll bar add some sportiness to the aesthetics, while the lower-door openings and hosable interior show it’s a true Jeep with a trail-busting attitude. The lack of any front overhang and the vertical headlights give the front end an aerodynamic yet rugged look that we think works well Jeep’s trademark seven-slot grille.
That’s the last of Chrysler’s concept trio that we were given a sneak peak of today, though all will be present and accounted for in January at the Detroit Auto Show. We’re not sure yet what the company plans to show in terms of production cars, redesigns and refreshes, but when we find out you’ll be the first to know.
[Source: Jeep]