Mazda Kazamai

Mazda presents yet another concept car. This time it’s called Kazamai which means “swirling crosswinds” in Japanese. The concept is based on Mazda’s long-term vision for technology development, Sustainable Zoom-Zoom, which aims to provide a unique balance between sporty driving fun and superior environmental and safety performance. Kazamai will be joined at MIAS by the Russian debut of Mazda’s CX-9 SUV, which was crowned 2008 North American Truck of the Year in February.

The Antro Solo from Hungary is a gas-electric hybrid car with a unique power arrangement that also utilizes solar energy.

While the Antro Solo is obviously in the prototype phase, many of its technologies are fascinating. To keep weight low, it’s built entirely out of carbon fiber and composites. The engine is a gas-electric hybrid with a twist. A large array of roof-mounted photo-cells can charge the battery to extend the EV range. The Solo comes with pedals that each passenger can crank in order to charge the battery.

Leonardo Fioravanti of the awesome vehicle design house, Pininfarina has put together a prototype car, called Hidra, which has a windshield that negates the necessity for conventional wipers. The design relies on aerodynamics and surface treatment alone, which will supposedly be enough to keep a fly-away tree branch from obscuring your line of vision. The chemical treatments applied are where the autonomous cleaning action really happens, and they actually sound quite interesting.

Attempting to create a truck that can adapt to varying load sizes designer Haishan Deng looked to nature for inspiration.

This bionic cargo transport uses an innovative segmented body remarkably like that of a centipede. This enables the truck to adjust its size to the cargo load. The resilient soft tarpaulin shelled body is strong enough to protect its cargo but also absorbs impacts in case of accidents. As an added benefit fuel savings abound since the truck’s weight is slashed in half.

Is it just a clever computer animation or maybe more a fiction from a Hollywood movie? Or is it actually a real car sitting there? Many visitors to the upcoming Geneva Motor Show (March 6th thru 16th, 2008) will ask themselves just these questions when faced with the new Rinspeed creation “sQuba” - the worlds first real diving car. This astonishing concept vehicle from the renowned Swiss powerhouse for new designs and ideas looks almost like it just came out of a James Bond movie.

Its capabilities not only to drive on roads - and this also at a push of a button autonomously (thus without a driver, passenger or further assistance) - but also to agitate as an amphibious vehicle and to protrude to water depth of up to 10 meters (33 feet) go beyond the scope of many human virtues of imagination.

No longer must drivers confine themselves to the limitations of conventional sports cars, with cramped interiors, aerodynamically compromised styling and body-battering ground clearances. The new all-electric sport cruiser’s performance-tuned suspension cuts aggressively through turns, while its four powerful hub motors—individual electric motors built into the wheels that generate a combined 450 horsepower—send it blasting down straights, reaching 60 mph in less than four seconds on its way to a top speed of 200 mph. But the real innovation is its aerodynamics: Instead of fighting high-speed airflow, the car takes advantage of it, channeling the air around the central, low-slung pod to generate huge downforce. Furthermore, the hub motors eliminate the need for a large engine, freeing space for three passengers to ride in a unique 1+2+1 seating configuration.

This truck fits your life. It’s efficient, clean, tough as they come—and has one big trick up its sleeve. The Extender, a 400-horsepower, all-electric, four-wheel-drive monster (which uses the most powerful DC motors yet devised for the automotive industry), has an adjustable payload bed. When not in use, the bed retracts unobtrusively into the rear of the truck. It extends by way of an electric piston up to a full-size 4×8 bed with thin-but-sturdy armored sidewalls and a structural support system that can handle the toughest terrain and the heaviest loads.

Models steer Toyota’s I-Real concept car at the Tokyo Motorshow

Japan’s three biggest car firms, Nissan, Toyota and Honda have unleashed their latest batch of crazy-looking concept cars ahead of this week’s Tokyo Motor Show.

As the world’s biggest motor show, the ‘Big Three’ are taking the oppotunity to wow the public with their quirky concepts and space-age ideas.

Leading the way is Toyota’s latest version of its one-seater concept, which they have been working on since 2005 under various guises.

Like a futuristic wheelchair The I-Real allows drivers to lean back and cruise at high speeds on roads or crawl at walking speed upright along the pavement.