Honda has whipped the sheets off of its EV-STER, a rear-wheel drive electric roadster not dissimilar in size and scope to the late, lamented Beat kei car. If you’re looking for a successor to Honda’s S2000 or a Mazda MX-5 Miata rival, this isn’t it – the EV-STER is significantly smaller than those cars, and with a pure electric drivetrain, this showcar is more suited to top-down fun in the city than the open road.

Purely a concept for the moment, the EV-STER offers a 160-kilometer range, a 0-37 mph (60kph) time of 5.0 seconds and a top speed of 99 mph, though Honda isn’t offering much in the way of hardware specifications.

Attractive in both general form and detail, we could admittedly do without the yoke-style steering interface employed here and in Honda’s other Tokyo Motor Show concepts. Steering wheel aside, we hope Honda finds a way to bring something like the EV-STER to market… and we wouldn’t mind if it weren’t a EV, either.

Continue reading EV-STER rear-wheel drive electric sports car looks to recapture Honda’s sporting spirit

EV-STER rear-wheel drive electric sports car looks to recapture Honda’s sporting spirit originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rolls-Royce may sell as many motor cars in Hong Kong and Dubai as they do in their own domestic market, but if you had to pick one city that embodies the Spirit of Ecstasy, that’d be London. So to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the iconic Rolls-Royce mascot, the company rolled out a parade of 100 of its vehicles around the sites and streets of the English capital.

The latest Phantom and Ghost models lead the procession that included shining examples from the company’s history – including Silver Ghosts, Clouds, Shadows and Spurs – past such local landmarks as Big Ben, Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus. Full details in the press release after the jump.

[Source: Rolls-Royce]

Rolls-Royce parades through London on the Spirit of Ecstacy centenary drive originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 09 Feb 2011 08:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Though hood ornaments were once commonplace on high-end automobiles, they’ve all but completely gone the way of the dodo. Mercedes-Benz sedans still use the simple but iconic three-pointed star, and its upscale sister brand Maybach has its own Double-M. Some Bentley owners opt for the Flying B ornament, but the Jaguar leaping cat is even less common. Few carry the mantle as proudly as Rolls-Royce though.

The Spirit of Ecstasy has been the Rolls-Royce mascot for decades, and remains so today. Back in its heyday, though, Rolls dealers often displayed oversized sculptures – a couple of feet tall or more – of the Spirit in their showrooms. Afficionados, however, can still get these to display in their homes or offices thanks to an English studio called Priory Fine Arts.

Priory crafts replicas of the classic statuettes out of brass, optionally plated in silver or gold. You can get your hands on one for ,150. The price is listed as negotiable, but the precious-metal leaf will undoubtedly add a few extra greenbacks. Have a closer look at the continuation sculptures – soon to celebrate the centenary of the 1911 original – in the gallery below, or follow the links to inquire about ordering your own.

[Source: Priory Fine Arts via Hemmings]

Priory Fine Arts flies the Spirit of Ecstasy with reproduction sculptures originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 21 Nov 2010 17:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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