Showing posts with label Citroen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Citroen. Show all posts

BMW and PSA Peugeot Citroën Form Joint Venture to Produce Hybrid Components


Already partners in developing 4-cylinder petrol engines, BMW and PSA Peugeot Citroën have decided to set up 50-50 equity joint venture named the BMW Peugeot Citroën Electrification, which will primarily focus on developing hybrid components. Sharing the cost of research and development as well as production and component purchasing, the two companies expect to achieve significant economies of scale.

The hybrid components in question include battery packs, E-machines, generators, power electronics and chargers, alongside the necessary software to operate them that will also be jointly developed. The new technologies will be used by the two automakers for their upcoming electric vehicles and could be sold to other companies as well.

The joint venture is expected to be fully operational in the second quarter of 2011 and it’s estimated that the first series production hybrid components will arrive in 2014.

“This cooperative venture will enable us to achieve significant economies of scale in the field of electrification. It also represents an important step on the road to sustainable mobility”, said Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG.

“With this joint venture, we are sure to develop and expand our expertise and to build a European leader in the field of automotive hybrid innovation”, noted Philippe Varin, Chairman of the Managing Board of PSA Peugeot Citroën.

By Csaba Daradics


Euro NCAP's Best and Worst Performers of 2010


The European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), which is similar to the American IIHS testing regimen, has released a list with the safest car in each vehicle category and the two worst performers overall of 2010. The cars that attained the coveted five star rating and achieved the highest overall score in their respective segment are:

------ Executive category: BMW 5 Series
------ Small Family category: Alfa Romeo Giulietta
------ Supermini category: Honda CR-Z
------ Small off-road 4×4 category: Kia Sportage
------ Small MPV category: Toyota Verso

On the other side of the fence are two models that achieved the poorest results of 2010. These are the Citroen Nemo with three stars and China's Landwind CV9 that received only two stars.

The European body noted that the cars in the top list "accomplished a high combined score based on the scores in each of the individual four areas of Euro NCAP’s assessment, while notably exceeding the thresholds for a 5 star overall rating". Along with the five top achievers, Euro NCAP said that the Suzuki Swift, Kia Venga, BMW X1, VW Sharan/Seat Alhambra, Citroen C4 all exceeded the 80% mark in overall score putting them on the runner-up list for the safest cars of 2010.

Commenting on the results, Dr Michiel van Ratingen, Euro NCAP Secretary General said: “Every year, car manufacturers constantly work to innovate and make their cars better and safer for the driver, whatever the size of the vehicle. The presence in these categories of high performing 5 star cars demonstrates car manufacturers’ commitment to safety for all sizes of vehicles.”

In early 2009, Euro NCAP implemented tougher crash testing procedures that make it more difficult for vehicles to receive a five-star rating. Last year, the European body crash tested a total of twenty-nine vehicles from numerous categories, of which 65 per cent reached the five star rating, compared to 90% in 2009.



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The new Citroen DS3 Racing

Check out the new sporty hatch from Citroen - the DS3 Racing. Based on the DS3 DSport, the car is powered by a BMW-PSA

204bhp 1.6-litre turbo petrol engine, front wheel drive with a six-speed manual box. The car goes from 0-62mph in 6.5 seconds and has a top speed of 146mph.

Apparently there are only 200 cars available for consumers in the UK. The car costs £23,100 which makes it more costlier than a MINI Cooper JCW.



The car is available in two colour schemes: one with Obsidian black body with sport orange roof an one polar white body and carbon grey roof.

My Top 10 Concept Cars of 2010


In less than two weeks, 2010 will draw to a close. So what better time to look back at the real stars of this year’s motor shows: the concept cars! Enter into a world where considerations like practicality and profitability fall by the wayside and the world’s designers and engineers show us their true potential. Let’s count down...my Top 10 Concept Cars of 2010!


10. Kia POP

Kia’s POP small electric vehicle study is a designer’s wet dream: a one piece glass windscreen and roof, scissor doors and an interior that looks more like a space capsule than a car. It also offers further proof that the South Korean company has evolved from a budget buyer’s first choice into a proper, world class automaker.


9. Citroen Lacoste

Again and again, Citroen has proved that it can do concept cars like no other automaker. Alas, with so many other awesome concepts this year, the Lacoste never made it further up our list than here. Still, this beach buggy for the 21st century has some standout features like its funky LED dashboard, semi-open design and plastic-clad body.


8. Renault DeZir

Renault has never been so cool. In a perfect world, this electric two-seater would be the French automaker’s Audi R8. In reality, it’s just another fantastic shoulda-been from France’s dullest automaker (Renault Sport models notwithstanding).


7. Mercedes Benz BIOME

The BIOME is pure flight of fancy. Designed to be seeded in an orchard and grown like a cob of corn (no, really), the BIOME emits nothing but oxygen and marketing hyperbole. Am I the only one who thinks this looks a bit like the 2001 SEL from Spaceballs?


6. Peugeot EX1

Part car, part motorcycle: Peugeot’s eccentrically electric two-seat, three wheeler packs 250 kW / 340 hp between its narrow front wheels. This isn’t Peugeot’s first three wheel concept (remember 2005’s 20 Cup and 2009’s RD?) and is unlikely to be the last. Tres magnifique!


5. Lotus Elise

2010 has been a great year for Lotus concept cars, what with the Aston Martin Rapide rivalling Esterne and the relaunch of two classic nameplates in Esprit and Elan. Still, this teaser for the next-generation Elise is my favourite. 2013 can’t come too soon.


4. New Lancia Stratos

A fabulous one-off that’s drivable to boot, the new Stratos is underpinned by the same (if tweaked) 510 hp V8 that powers Ferrari’s 430 Scuderia. Designed and built by Italian design house Pininfarina, the new Statos recalls the much loved HF rally and road cars of the 1970s. Here’s hoping Pininfarina secures the licence to put this schoolboy’s wet dream into limited production.


3. Lamborghini Sesto Elemento

If there’s one 2010 concept car that divided opinion like no other, it’s Lamborghini’s Sesto Elemento. Between its stealth fighter styling, cacophony of oddly shaped intakes and outtakes and the de-saturated grey and red colour scheme, this was one of the wildest concepts to come out this year. Still, there’s no arguing with its 570 hp V10. We’ll take two.


2. Audi Quattro Concept

Raise your hand if you weren’t utterly enraptured by the rebirth of Audi’s ur-Quattro of the 1980s? No one? I thought as much. With its lightweight body, historically accurate 5-cylinder engine and 911-rivalling performance, what’s not to like? And the styling is to die for. The 1980s never looked so good.


1. Jaguar C-X75

And so here it is, my #1. 2010 had a lot of great concept cars, but none so much as Jaguar’s fabulous C-X75. Here is a gas / electric hybrid with 780 hp with a body fashioned out of texalium and vapour-blasted aluminium. This car is so cutting edge you have to wear gloves. It’s the perfect mix of exotic materials, futuristic technologies and pure styling jizz, and the top dog in our top ten.


So there you have My Top 10. What? You don't agree? Does putting a Kia on this list outrage your sensibilities? Are you disappointed that there are no American cars on the list? Is Jaguar's C-X75 and poorly conceived attempt to elevate the brand beyond its upper-class retiree roots? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

By Tristan Hankins



Citroen DS3 Racing Edition Limited Design

Citroen DS3 Racing Edition Limited Design
Citroen DS3 Racing Edition Limited Design
Citroen DS3 Racing Edition Limited Design

The Citroen DS3 Antagonism copy is a bound run archetypal of alone 1000 units to be produced that will get apparent abutting ages at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show.
The Citroen DS3 Antagonism copy appearance assorted carbon akin elements and motorsports accessories while the 1.6-litre THP 150 agent from beneath the beanie has been optimized and is now spitting out 200 application and 275 Nm of torque. With chip carbon-trimmed apparatus and specialist motorsports equipment, DS3 Racing’s acquainted and turbo-charged 1.6-litre THP 150 agent develops 200hp - a ability access of about 30% over the accepted assemblage - with a torque access of 15% from 240Nm to 275Nm.
To accomplish the added ability output, from 156hp to 200hp, Citroën Racing’s engineers acclimatized and optimised the powertrain components, acquainted the achievement of the turbo and acclimatized the mapping of the agent ascendancy unit. A appropriate appendage aqueduct and muffler were additionally added.
Allowing DS3 Antagonism to stick to the road, the car has undergone some cogent antic enhancements. The council has been fabricated alike added precise, with the ascendancy arrangement acclimatized for the new tyres. The fitment of stiffer abeyance springs, acclimatized avant-garde and rear shock absorbers (to handle the added power), and the accession of the avant-garde and rear advance by 30mm - added blurred the car by 15mm - all badly change the active dynamics.
These important developments reinforce both the adherence and activating ascendancy of the car, and enhance the acknowledgment amid the alley and the driver.
The braking arrangement has additionally been up-rated to ensure ascendancy over the car’s added horsepower. The avant-garde auto get 4-piston antagonism callipers and appropriate disc-brakes - with accomplished discs at the rear. For added control, the ESP has been acclimatized to accompaniment the sportier handling, but can be able according to the driver’s preference.
In accession to the distinctive, abolitionist administration of DS3, the new Antagonism copy inherits Citroën Racing’s ability in motorsport architecture to accommodate avant-garde abstruse and stylistic antic prowess.
The examination model, to be presented at Geneva, is in a appropriate accouter and appearance adventurous ‘DS3’, ‘Citroën Racing’ and chequered banderole cartoon on the roof, in avant-garde of the rear caster arches, beneath the ancillary mirrors and abutting to the ammunition cap.
Measuring 3.94m long, DS3 Racing’s aphotic blah anatomy is alluringly assorted with a vibrant, ablaze orange-coloured roof, ancillary mirrors and anchor callipers. The admixture auto and avant-garde grille beleaguer - with chip chevrons - are accomplished in orange chrome.
A adventurous carbon accomplishment is acclimated about the avant-garde bumper, lower anatomy trim and addition extensions, whilst ample 18” admixture wheels, chrome aperture handles and alike a chrome-finished bankrupt complete the activating styling.
Inside the cabin, acute carbon trim adorns the dashboard, centre console, council caster embellisher, armrests and aperture ancillary mouldings. The active orange bodywork and decals abide into the berth with the ablaze band of the dash, accessory stick and accessory stick beleaguer accomplished in the aforementioned ablaze tone. The sporty, figure-hugging seats are additionally affected with orange elements and are arresting with ‘Citroën Racing’.
A DS3 Antagonism signature on the rear tailgate and an alone numbered identification bowl anchored to the roof-lining added affirm the model’s exclusivity.
On the road, DS3 Racing’s WRC full-blooded is evident. Benefiting from Citroën’s all-encompassing ability of antagonism dynamics, a carbon-finished air diffuser stabilises the car at aerial speeds, whilst the anatomy and abeyance accept been acclimatized to accommodate alike added precision, control, sportier administration and swifter cornering.
Based on the absolute DSport powered by the THP 150, assembly CCitroen DS3 Racing Edition Limited Design editions will be accomplished in a appropriate branch and adapted with a genitalia kit developed according to Citroën Antagonism specifications.

Citroen 2CV




Citroen 2CV Crystal White CarCitroen 2CV Crystal White Car

Citroen Gtbycitroen




Citroen Gtbycitroen CarCitroen Gtbycitroen Car

2010 Citroen DS3 Pictures

2010 Citroen DS3 Wallpaper2010 Citroen DS3 Wallpaper

2010 Citroen DS3 Interior2010 Citroen DS3 Interior

2010 Citroen DS3 Picture2010 Citroen DS3 Picture

2009 Citroen GTbyCITROEN Concept

2009 Citroen GTbyCITROEN Concept Front View2009 Citroen GTbyCITROEN Concept Front View

2009 Citroen GTbyCITROEN Concept Car Show2009 Citroen GTbyCITROEN Concept Car Show

2009 Citroen GTbyCITROEN Concept Rear View2009 Citroen GTbyCITROEN Concept Rear View

Citroen C1 Ev'ie - UK's first 4-seater electric car



UK's first 4 seater family car was launched last weekend. The Citroen C1 Ev'ie was developed and built by the Electric Car Corporation.

It is available in 3 or 5 doors versions. According to their site, the car has a top speed of 60 mph with a range of 60- 75 miles on a full charge. Charging from domestic 13 amp socket overnight takes 6 hours.

The cars cost £16,850.