Hyundai officially unveiled the eight-passenger Hexa Space Concept at the New Delhi Auto Show. This MPV features clever hexagonal seating designed to optimize interior room, with each chair fitting into a honeycomb matrix, allowing passengers to sit three across without feeling cramped or crammed together. The seats can also be folded flat to allow for expansive cargo room. Outside, the vehicle makes use of the Hyundai fluidic sculpture design language. A bold front fascia with exaggerated headlight displays and a sprawling front grille define the Hexa Space Concept’s nose, while large LED tail light arrays mark the vehicle’s rear.

Under the hood, a 1.2-liter turbocharged, direct-injection engine is paired with a six-speed automatic transmission. Not surprisingly, Hyundai doesn’t have any plans to bring the Hexa Space to market any time soon, though a similar MPV-style creation could show up in the Indian Market to do battle with the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga in coming years.

Hyundai HND-7/Hexa Space concept unveiled in New Delhi originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 06 Jan 2012 09:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Infiniti FX has always been a bit of a wild child in the premium crossover segment. It has a polarizing exterior style, and it’s capable of reaching illegal speeds rather quickly. Infiniti has partnered up with Formula One racer Sebastian Vettel to make it even more extreme, and the result is the (rather blandly named) Infiniti FX Sebastian Vettel Version.

What does it take for a F1 star to apply his moniker to anything other than a sports car? Money. Serious upgrades to the overall performance of the vehicle. Vettel worked with Infiniti engineers to transform the FX50 into a lower, sleeker machine. The vehicle sits 20 millimeters lower and wears aero bits that help improve its coefficient of drag by 30 percent.

Those changes are rather welcome because Vettel wanted the FX bearing his name to hit a pretty impressive speed target. The goal was 300 kilometers per hour (186 miles per hour), and this Infiniti FX Vettel Version is capable of achieving that mark.

Engineers were able to squeeze an additional 30 horsepower out of the 5.0-liter V8, bringing total output up to 414 horses. This was done by way of a new exhaust system and reflashing the the engine’s computer. Still, 186 mph is a tough task for a bulky vehicle like the FX, so taller gearing was called for. Despite this, Infiniti says the Vettel FX manages to run from 0-60 miles per hour quicker than the standard FX50.

For the moment, the special FX is considered a concept car, though the rumormill has suggested for some time that Infiniti is working toward premium performance models with their cohorts from Red Bull Racing, so a production derivative isn’t entirely out of the question. Read more about the Infiniti FX Sebastian Vettel Version by checking out the full press release posted after the jump.

Continue reading Infiniti FX Sebastian Vettel Version unveiled by… Sebastian Vettel

Infiniti FX Sebastian Vettel Version unveiled by… Sebastian Vettel originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In the annals of Batmobile history, we’re not sure where to peg this latest version. The good: It’s dark, it’s carbon fiber and it spits flames from a carbon-ceramic afterburner. The bad: It’s just really freaking dull. But because it’s been designed by Gordon Murray of McLaren F1 fame (not to mention the strange-but-somehow-cool T.27 city car), we want to love it. But can’t.

Unlike the jet-engined powered Batmobiles of yore, Murray’s design is an odd attempt at the Dark Knight going green, with a hydrogen fuel cell and a brace of lithium-ion batteries. The carbon fiber body supposedly “breathes” and the “virtual wheels” are ringed in LEDs. How either of those features help the caped crusader fight crime is beyond us, but then again, so is the idea of the Batman Live World Arena Tour it’s been built for.

You can check out Murray’s original sketch in the gallery below and watch a duo of videos after the jump. We’re going to weep quietly as yet another childhood dream vehicles succumbs to the PC overlords.

Continue reading Gordon Murray’s Batmobile unveiled [w/video]

Gordon Murray’s Batmobile unveiled [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 18:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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