The world famous automakers have used the Geneva Motor Show to show the latest electric and hybrid cars. We present the most interesting five appearances.

The new “green wave” has reached the automakers present at Geneva Auto Show. Normally, the latest technological solutions were presented both on the models that already exists, but also on the new concepts. I chose five of the most important electric and hybrid models from Geneva Motor Show 2011.

1. OPEL Ampera

New Opel Ampera came at Geneva Motor Show 2011, in world premiere in series version. Last year, the Opel engineers had come to Switzerland Auto Show with an Ampera from Rüsselsheim and were very satisfied with the results. New Ampera is a hybrid in series configuration (The guys from Opel it named electric model with an extend autonomy system) that receiving an electric motor and a gasoline engine which, when the battery is empty, acts as a generator. The Ampera battery is charged from a normal outlet in four hours and the 25-50 miles electric autonomy power is extended to over 250 miles after the gasoline engine enter in action.

Opel Ampera

2. VOLVO V60 PLUG-IN HYBRID

New series hybrid model launched by the guys from Volvo at Geneva Auto Show 2011 has a technology that can not be found in any other automaker in the world. We are talking about the diesel-electric hybrid system and the V60 Plug-in- Hybrid battery can be loaded, if necessary, from a normal outlet. The Swedish model can run exclusive in electric mode for 31 miles and the hybrid mode enabling the 2.4-liter diesel engine and 215 HP, which works in parallel with the electric motor, which have 70 HP. If is used in the most eco mode as possible, the V60 special version consumption falls below 78 mi/gal.

Volvo V60 Hybrid

3. PORSCHE Panamera S Hybrid

I could skip the second model from Porsche history with a hybrid powertrain. It is Porsche Panamera S Hybrid, a version that receives the same drive train that I saw at Cayenne and also on Touareg Hybrid (380 HP and 428 lb-ft), this allowing to the German model to reach a good consumption for a model in this range. We’re talking about 34.5 mi/gal, a consumption that reaches half by the announced gasoline version of Porsche Panamera S version.

Porsche Panamera S Hybrid

4. BMW ActiveE

BMW shown at Geneva Motor Show 2011 the series prototype version of the compact 1 Series electric version. The first road models will be launched later this year. Based on the 1 Series Coupe version , the electric version can not be bought, but can be rented, BMW will produce a series of 1000 copies. The 170 HP and 184 lb-ft provide by the electric motor propels the new ActiveE from 0-60 mph in 9 seconds, guaranteeing a top speed of 90 mph, electronically limited to not discharge the battery resources. The announced autonomy by the guys from BMW is up to 100 miles.

BMW ActiveE

5. ROLLS ROYCE 102 EX Concept

What would you say if Rolls Royce would be released an electric Phantom? If ten years ago this idea would have aroused laughter, now the idea could be real. The reason: 102 EX Concept presented at Geneva Motor Show 2011, predict such a model that could be launched in future in the British brand range. It is not known if this concept will be produced in series, the only thing known is that after the Geneva Auto Show, Rolls Royce 102 EX Concept will make the world tour. If they will show interest, the electric Phantom will be produced in limited series.

Rolls Royce 102 EX Concept

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BMW 5-Series is set to receive an electric version by the end of the year. The electric model will be sold only on the Chinese market, being developed in a partnership with Brilliance Auto.

BMW will develop an electric version for their 5-Series model, a car build exclusively for the Chinese market. The model will be developed in a partnership with Brilliance Auto Holdings, the company that has a joint-venture agreement with BMW, for penetrating the Chinese market. For now there is no official informations and specs of the electric vehicle, but the concept previewing the electric BMW 5-Series will be displayed at this year’s Beijing Auto Show edition.

BMW Group already sold 169,000 units in China in 2010, with an 87% raise compared to 2009. In 2011, the Germans want to launch the new X3, 6 Series – in both body versions – and Mini Countryman, cars that should lead to an increase in sales. BMW doesn’t expect to build the new model in large volumes, but only to offer the Chinese customers a new propulsion version.

BMW and Brilliance Automotive Co have a join-venture deal in China, allowing them to build Chinese version of BMW 3-Series and BMW 5-Series. Both models are built in Shenyang. The Chinese can also buy a special version 5-Series, which has a longer wheelbase. The BMW 5-Series L (Long) is built exclusively for the Chinese market, and it seems that the electric 5-Series will have the same destiny.

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NVIDIA is one of the most famous and respected video cards manufactures. Rumor has it that the American company is set to sign a partnership with BMW and Tesla Motors for supplying video cars on their next models.

The video cards will be incorporated in the infotainment system, so it will feature more realistic colors and graphics. The new NVIDIA video cars will allow the driver use even more realistic GPS maps and even a gaming platform for the passengers. It seems that BMW and Tesla want to use 17 inch touchscreen monitors for their vehicles.

NVIDIA recently presented their new infotainment system at CES 2011, a system that was incorporated in a BMW 5-Series. The new touchscreen monitors will be able to display a resolution of 1280×600 pixels.

The new infotainment technology developed by NVIDIA is very efficient in terms of energy consumption, so the electric cars manufacturers will be able to use the monitors on their electric vehicles. Tesla Motors will use NVIDIA technology for the electric gauges and for the dashboard controls.

When asked about their partnership with BMW, Dan Vivoli, Senior Vice President at NVIDIA said: “BMW has built their reputation on creating the ultimate driving experience. They are taking that to an entirely new level with NVIDIA GPUs.”

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The 2011 year brings the launch of an impressive number of new models, while the economic forecasts are not exceptional. Whether they will sell it or not, the automakers will launch both new models and improved versions of previous models, provided in the current ranges.

I make a selection with ten models that will debut in 2011.

1.Aston Martin Cygnet

Although it is an exclusive model for those who already have an Aston Martin, Cygnet has no way to not arouse the curiosity waves. We are talking about to a redesigned Toyota iQ, with a completely changed interior and no changes to the engine, which sell price was doubled, and the logo was replaced with that of the mark from Gaydon. There are big chances that all the copies available to sell like hot bread, although the model has not the dynamism that Aston Martin offers.

2.Audi A6

The new generation of Audi A6 is the last competitor of the premium trio from Germany that debuts in this segment. After Mercedes-Benz has surprised everyone with E-Class and BMW has raised the bar to a new level with 5 Series F10, it’s the time that Audi to look at what they worked so hard.

3.Audi Q5 Hybrid

New Audi Q5 Hybrid is the second new hybrid model in the automaker range from Ingostadt, after Audi A8. This time, we are talking about to a more accessible model, which should help those from Audi to debut on the hybrids market. On the fuel economy level, the model should be very close to a diesel, but the real achievement will be at the CO2 emissions chapter, that will be reduced dramatically.

4.BMW 6 Series Convertible

The debut of the new BMW 6 Series Convertible is expected in March 2011. Normally, the most automakers launch their convertible models in spring, to give customers enough time to order a copy until summer. Finally, the model looks interesting and is built on 5-Series platform.

5.Citroen DS4

The second member of the DS premium range of the guys from Citroen is based on the new Citroen C4. Since the DS3 model has managed to be a very attractive without altering the beauty of Citroen C3, we expect to something special from the new Citroen DS4.

6.Citroen DS5

Also in 2011 we will see the third member of the DS range, based on the 3008 and 5008 “brothers”. The model will be a luxury van and will have both an innovative design, as the guys from Citroen have accustomed us, and also numerous practical features for everyday life for the customers and for their families. The debut is expected at the Geneva Motor Show 2011, with Citroen DS4.

7.Peugeot 508

We already know how it looks the new Peugeot 508, how much costs and with what engines is offered. But we don’t know how it drive, and the first units have just arrived at the dealers. The new Peugeot 508 is a premiere in the automotive world, because the model will try to replace two models from two segments at the same time, without to contradicting himself. This year we will see what the customers think about the new creation of the French from Peugeot.

8.Lamborghini Jota

In this chapter, not much to say. We speak by a true supercar that will provide outstanding performance and an attractive look. Its price will be big, a small number of customers in the automotive world can have the new supercar of those from Lamborghini. The production version will have an aspirated V12 engine with a displacement of 6.5-liters, which delivers 700 HP and is coupled to a seven-speed gearbox.

9.Volkswagen New Beetle

The third further of a legend, or Volkswagen New Beetle. Although the original model has never left the factory with the Beetle name, and the second generation has not experienced as much popularity as its predecessor, the guys from Volkswagen hopes to hit the new “New Beetle”. This time we talking about integrated modern technology in a retro way, along with other attributes of the Volkswagen brand, as we know already.

10.Mercedes CLS Shooting Brake

The niche of a niche. As can be easily characterized Mercedes-Benz CLS Shooting Brake. We are talking about a four-door coupe of premium class that has become a high wagon in the premium segment. Since the Germans from Mercedes has achieved a such model, means that they have customers willing to buy such a vehicle. The debut may occur in the second half of 2011.

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Carlos Sainz won the second stage of Rally Dakar 2011 as well and remains the leader of the ranking.

It looks like Carlos Sainz is still unbeatable in Rally Dakar and after the second stage deployed on Monday on a route of 324 km between the Argentinian towns of Cordoba and San Miguel de Tucuman.

The Spanish, defending this year the title won in Dakar 2010, was timed with 3 hours, 11 minutes and 28 seconds, being followed in rankings by his team-mate of Volkswagen, Nasser Al-Attiyah.

But the performance of the Quatar driver was not good enough to gun down Stephane Peterhansel, the rival racing in a BMW X-Raid, currently holding the 2nd position of the general rankings, the gap between the two drivers being now of only 14 seconds.

Volkswagen Team occupies at the end of the second day of Dakar 2011 three of the first four places, but Mark Miller, the fourth driver of the team suffered an accident on Monday, loosing almost 50 minutes. Almost the same thing happened with Robby Gordon, who competes at the steering wheel of a Hummer, loosing over half an hour after an accident.

Here’s the complete rankings of the second stage of Dakar 2011:

1. Carlos Sainz Volkswagen 3h11m28s
2. Nasser Al-Attiyah Volkswagen + 1m03s
3. Stephane Peterhansel BMW + 1m34s
4. Giniel de Villiers Volkswagen + 5m43s
5. Orlando Terranova BMW + 8m14s
6. Krzysztof Holowczyc BMW + 8m57s
7. Guerlain Chicherit Mini + 11m09s
8. Leonid Novitskiy BMW + 14m42s
9. Ricardo Leal dos Santos BMW + 16m42s
10. Guilherme Spinelli Mitsubishi + 17m47s

The overall ranking after two days of Dakar 2011 looks like this:

1. Carlos Sainz Volkswagen 5h30m00s
2. Stephane Peterhansel BMW + 3m05s
3. Nasser Al-Attiyah Volkswagen + 3m19s
4. Giniel de Villiers Volkswagen + 10m49s
5. Krzysztof Holowczyc BMW + 16m04s
6. Orlando Terranova BMW + 18m25s
7. Leonid Novitskiy BMW + 28m23s
8. Guilherme Spinelli Mitsubishi + 29m47s
9. Christian Lavieille Nissan + 33m32s
10. Nani Roma Nissan + 35m45s

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The most difficult rally in the world is hosted for the third time by Argentina and Chile. Sainz, De Villiers and Al-Attiyah are the three Volkswagen drivers with chances to win.

After the 2008 edition of Dakar Rally, which was celebrating 30 years since the start of the first edition, was canceled it was moved from Africa to South America. Now they passed from the adventures between the dunes of Sahara Desert to the adventures between the dunes of Atacama desert and crossing the Andes. Argentina and Chile are hosting the adventure that starts from Buenos Aires on January 1, then it stops for two days in Arica (Chile) on the shore of Pacific for returning in the capital city of Argentina on January 15.

About 10,000 km are scheduled for the 2011 of Rally Dakar, the route making the competitors running at high speeds even at an altitude of over 2,500 m. They will end up further North than in previous editions, the Dakar 2011′s route being very close to the Bolivia and Peru border.

For Dakar 2011 the gasoline-powered cars can increase the diameter of the air intakes to 34 mm. More than this, the teams that use gasoline engines can now use six gears transmissions, compared to the teams that use diesel engines which have to equip their cars with five-gears transmissions. These new regulations need to balance the fight between the cars with gasoline engines and the ones with diesel units.

Compared with the classic rallies, in rally-raid the co-driver has a more important role, given that he needs to dictate for hundreds of kilometers every day. For several years the officials are making changes o reduce the influence of GPS, highlighting the use of road-book. In 2011, the big new thing is that the distance to use the GPS to help you get to the check points (WPM) was reduced. If years ago this distance was of three km, in Dakar 2011 the GPS will show you the direction only 400 m before.

This year, the factory drivers and some other drivers that ended the last two Dakar editions in the first 20th will use in 2011 450 cmc bikes. KTM, the manufacturer that won the last nine editions of Dakar Rally, have developed because of this rule a new bike. Now the Austrians, and more precisely the two official drivers, Marc Coma and Cyril Despres will have to fight for victory against five more bike manufacturers. Besides KTM, at Dakar 2011 Aprilia, Sherco, BMW, Husqvarna and Yamaha will take the start.

VW developed for this edition of Dakar 2011 a new Race Touareg and has three drivers that can win the South American rally. Sainz, the former WRC champion won the rally in 2010, while his South African team-mate won in 2009. Al-Attiyah finished second in 2010 and the Quatar driver is able to finish first at then end of 8,000 km of special stages.

Anyway, there are not few saying that in 2011, just like in 2010 we will see a VW podium. Peterhansel, with his BMW X-Raid can also climb on the podium, while Cuerlain Chicherit and Juan Nani Roma might fight for the fifth place, who, a month before Dakar 2011, was offered a deal to drive a Nissan Navara for Team Overdrive.

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The Spanish driver, Carlos Sainz (Volkswagen) won, on Sunday, the first stage of Dakar Rally 2011, car class, between Buenos Aires and Cordoba. Sainz finished the 222km long stage in 2 hours, 18 minutes and 32 seconds.

The last year’s winner, Carlos Sainz, had a good start in Rally Dakar 2011, being the quickest on the 222 km the drivers had to face. The Volkswagen’s driver was 1’31″ faster than Stephane Peterhansel, than the other Volkswagen drivers finished the stage Nasser Al-Attiyah (+2’16″), Mark Miller (+4:17″) and Giniel de Villiers (+5’06″). On 6 and 7 finished the drivers of the X-raid BMW Team, Krzystof Holowczyk (+7’07″) and Orlando Terranova (+10’11″).

There was some heavy rain falling on certain segments of the stage, so it was not an easy one for Sainz, the Spanish facing visibility issue, but he still managed to be the fastest.

Guerlain Chicherit, driving a Mini All4Racing, lost almost an hour after some mechanical issues forced him to stop for a couple of times. Robby Gordon (Hummer) also lost about 10 minutes and Juan Roma (Nissan) over 17, after he drove the entire stage without a windshield defogging system.

Ruben Faria was the fastest in the bikes class, overpassing Cyril Despres with 29 seconds, while Marc Coma finished third, 1 minute and 15 seconds behind. At his fourth win in Dakar, the Portuguese said: “I managed to keep a good tempo from the beginning to the end. This special stage looked very much like what I am used to seeing in Portugal. I am glad to know that in the end it paid out and I got the day’s best clock.” Faria, who fulfills a supporting role for Despres, helped him win in 2010, wen he offered him some of his bike’s parts and was the last winner of the last edition.

Marc Coma, a road opener today is very close to his main rival, Cyril Despres, and Juan Pedrero followed him closely, a minute behind. All three of them are running on KTM bikes.

Mani Cyenes, competing with number 45, had a great first stage, finishing 22nd, with a delay of 11’53″.

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BMW Connected App

BMW is one of the most popular car makers in the world while the iPhone is definitely the most popular smartphone of all time so these guys needed to connect in one way or another. Well, BMW has released an iPhone app for BMW car owners which will allow users to access their music library, Facebook and Twitter accounts among others.

The app is called BMW Connected and it is now free to download. So if you will go to the App Store and you have a BMW, then make sure that you will download BMW Connected free.

This sounds too good to be true and of course there’s a catch. The BMW Apps feature costs €150 (and it will be released in March 2011), the BMW Navigation with Bluetooth costs €3,800, while the special USB interface costs €400.

Now sure what to think of this, but if you have the money to purchase a BMW, then you might as well add some special features like these ones so that you can control the music on your iPhone via the all-popular iDrive system.

You can download the BMW Connected app for iPhone here.

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BMW launches the most powerful 1-Series version in history. The 2012 BMW 1-Series M Coupe comes with the 3.0-liter in-line six engine on the Z4 and hits 60 mph in 4.7 seconds.

After a long waiting spiced with teasers and spy shots that made both the enthusiasts and journalists eager to see what’s coming, BMW unveiled today the official first pictures and information of the New BMW 1-Series M Coupe, the most powerful version in the history of the smallest BMW model currently on the market.

The new performance model of the Germans is using the six cylinder twin-turbo 3.0-liter developing 335 HP. We are talking about the same engine version fitted on Z4 sDrive 35is, managing to propel the German compact from 0 to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds. The BMW customers will have only one transmission to choose from, a six-gears manual one.

The 2012 BMW 1-Series M Coupe comes with all the features of its brother in the M range, the M Drive selector, improving the throttle response and manages to make the river squeeze everything out of his German performance model.

When compared to the previous top version of the range, BMW 135i Coupe, the 2012 1-Series M Coupe is not just more powerful. According to the BMW official press release, 1-Series M Coupe is wider and comes with 77 pounds less. In order to complete the technical performances, BMW have fitted the new model with 19 inch rims belonging to the M collection, wearing 245/35 tires in the front and 265/35 in the rear.

The New BMW 1-Series M Coupe 2012 will have its world premiere at Detroit Auto Show, scheduled for January. The European debut is expected for the spring of 2011.

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The engine of the coming 1-Series M will be installed on the next M3 F30, of course an enhanced version of it. According to sources, the 6-cylinder turbocharged engine will deliver around 445 HP.

Rumor has it that the N54B30T0 of BMW will deliver 445 HP. The unit will equip both the next BMW M3 F30 and the new 1-Series M. While the engine that will power 1-Series M will develop 340 HP, the unit of the next M3 will have the same engine block, the same main parts, but will deliver 100 extra HP. The use of the same engine in two power versions will give BMW a cut in production and development cots, so the investment will be recovered a lot more quicker, and the customers will enjoy a warranty of performance when choosing aftermarket tuning kits.

The Bulgarians of Automedia.bg claim that the electronics is the main difference between the two engines, and this hypothesis is plausible. It’s enough to analyze the Valvetronic system, which regulates the air intake into the cylinders, and the high-pressure direct injection system of the BMW and we can conclude that a merger of the two technologies can make a significant difference in the way the engine works. The most interesting thing is that both power versions of the engine are set to benefit from the two technologies, and the difference will be made by a tweaked ECU and small technical changes under the hood. Anyway, it is rumored that M3 F30 to feature a new, bigger turbine to deliver a higher performance level.

The next BMW M3 is set to drop, for the first time, the naturally-aspired configuration, and, in the same time, the 4.0-liter V8 engine of 420 HP used until now. At least partially, BMW is coming back to the roots, using a new in-line six engine, but using a turbine in order to squeeze some extra performances. Although they will use the same engine, the price of the two models will be completely different – BMW 1-Series M has a goal to attract new customers, while BMW M3 F30 will fight its traditional rivals and will try to attract typical M3 customers

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