February 20, 2013 - Swadeology

The most interesting motor show of any given year – the Geneva Motor Show – is almost upon us. These are the cars from the debut list maintained by Just Auto that have got my motor running. Some are genuine interest and some are passing interest, but all have something interesting about them.

Sorry Volvo, I just couldn’t get you on the list. Something new from Polestar might have been good.

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Alfa Romeo 4C: carbon components, 1.7 turbo, to be built by Maserati in Modena

Alfa Romeo Gloria concept: full scale model created by I.E.D. students

Aston Martin Rapide S: Could James Bond go four-door in his next film? 5.9-litre V12. Woof.

Audi RS Q3: – I’m not sure what to say. It’s a small, hotted up SUV that’s absolutely useless in my eyes but will sell like hot cakes.

Audi S3 Sportback: same 221kW (300hp) engine as S3

BMW 3 Series GT: five-door hatchback, 200mm longer than a 3 Series Touring

Citroën C3 Hybrid Air: – Compressed air technology isn’t just Koenigsegg’s realm. It’ll be interesting to see how this stuff progresses.

Ferrari Enzo successor: – this isn’t it, just a fanboy’s admirable attempt to draw what’s billed as their fastest ever supercar. Are new Ferraris still interesting given that they’re mostly pretty much just a variation on previous one and marketed with all sorts of kitsch goods? Yes, they are.

Kia Pro_cee’d GT: powered by a 150kW 1.6-litre turbo – the car with the most annoying name in autodom is getting more interesting. KIA are hitting their straps and show no sign of slowing down. Interesting that they’ve got several ‘production’ concepts but sister Hyundai has none of any note.

McLaren P1: – it’s a McLaren. ’nuff said. This is the production-ready version of the car we’ve seen previously as a concept.

Mercedes-Benz A 45 AMG: 265kW (360hp) 2.0-litre turbo and standard 4MATIC. Most hype surrounding a Merc in years. Reminds me of the BMW 135i hype a few years ago.

Peugeot 2008 HYbrid Air: compressed air tech – I guess if it’s OK for Citroen….. this is the 2008 in basic form and I’m guessing the Hybrid Air version that’ll show in Geneva won’t differ from this except from a badge (maybe)

Pininfarina Sergio concept: anything from Pininfarina is at the least, interesting to see. This is a tribute to Sergio, the boss, who passed away last year. This is all we’ve seen so far.

Qoros 3: C-segment sedan – launch vehicle for Qoros’ emergence into the automotive world with a focus on Europe.

Qoros Cross Hybrid concept: petrol-electric version of a 3-based five-door hatch

Qoros Estate concept: previews a future 3 wagon

Rolls-Royce Wraith: the coupe version of Ghost. I’ll never get one. I’ll probably never physically get close one, but it’s a new Roller and this shaded image looks AMAZING.

Spyker B6 concept: how could one not be interested in what Spyker and Victor Muller are doing now?

Toyota FT-86 Open concept: the much rumoured convertible of the 86 appears for the first time in Geneva (aside from this spy pic from a few days ago)

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How does this sound?

30% more torque.
30% more power.
30% less fuel consumption.
50% less emissions.

Not bad, eh? That’s what Christian von Koenigsegg forecasts will be achievable when Cargine’s pneumatic valve technology finally takes off.

I won’t say any more for the moment. Just watch the video below. This is the 7th video of the Inside Koenigsegg Series and for the tech-heads, it’s quiet exciting.

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Cargine was prominent back when Christian was leading a group trying to buy Saab Automobile in 2009. There was talk back then of the $600m EIB loan they were trying to secure being used in part to finance the further development of this system. It’s four years later and the system is still finishing development, so I’m guessing some of that EIB money would have been very welcome.

I visited Koenigsegg in 2010 and spent a wonderful day getting a look around their facility. Part of that tour included a drive in their Cargine 9-5.

The picture to the right shows the top end of the engine in the car I drove. As you can tell, it’s very different from the one you just saw in the video. Basically, if the current generation of Cargine is Windows 7 or 8, the version I got to drive was Windows 3.1. Here’s what I said about it back then:

I drove the 9-5 they had on site, pictured above with an early incarnation of the system. It’s now moved ahead since that system was fitted. The car drove extremely well, with just a little jerkiness when you lifted the throttle. This jerkiness, however, was not related to the Cargine system itself, but to the ground-up engine software they wrote (in a hurry) so that they could run the car without cams.

Removing the camshaft from the mechanical equation means energy losses are reduced, resulting in more power making it through the combustion cycle unhindered. Normal driving was very smooth, with the car easily able to carry speed in high gears with very low revs.

It was an amazing feeling to drive the future.

Christian’s allegory of playing the piano is most fitting. Instead of hitting the keyboard with a broomstick (i.e. a camshaft), engineers using Cargine will finally be able to play the instrument with their fingers. The possibilities that opens up really are mind-boggling.

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You can see Episode 1 of this series (Carbon Fibre) here.

You can see Episode 2 of this series (Triplex Suspension) here.

You can see Episode 3 of this series (Perfect Paint) here.

You can see Episode 4 of this series (Interior Surfacing) here.

You can see Episode 5 of this series (Test Drive) here.

You can see Episode 6 of this series (The Brain) here.

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Day: February 20, 2013

The Most Interesting Cars of the 2013 Geneva Motor Show

Inside Koenigsegg – the future of combustion