A fleeting glimpse of GM hybrid
General Motors Corp. provided a sneak peak this week of the new design for its hotly anticipated Chevy Volt gasoline-electric hybrid.
The automaker released a photo purporting to show the Volt’s aerodynamic new lines but looking mostly like a blur with a Chevy badge.
What’s also not perfectly clear is whether GM will be ready to unveil the redesigned Volt at the big Detroit auto show next month.
But based on the photo, it’s certain to look considerably different from the eye-catching concept car that GM unveiled last January.
That car had rakish sharp edges that looked fittingly futuristic but weren’t particularly good at reducing drag. (One GM exec joked that the car displayed better aerodynamic qualities when driven in reverse.)
GM is eager to reduce the Volt’s aerodynamic drag, which accounts for about 20% of the energy consumed by an average vehicle, according to the automaker. And that’s an important issue for a car that GM has said will be able to travel up to 40 miles on electric power alone.
GM has said it plans to have the Volt ready for showrooms by late 2010, although that date is in part contingent on perfecting the car’s advanced lithium batteries. GM is bench-testing the batteries now and is expected to begin road testing them early next year.
Ford Shelby star of new ‘Knight Rider’
The 1980s TV automotive cheese fest “Knight Rider” is coming back to the small screen, but with a different character in the lead role.
A 2008 Ford Shelby GT500KR will take the place of the Pontiac Trans Am that rampaged through the series’ 1982-86 run. That car (known as KITT, for “Knight Industries Three Thousand”) was equipped with artificial intelligence and could go 300 mph.
In the new two-hour version, which NBC may pick up as a weekly series for the fall, the Ford Shelby is equipped with a super-hacking computer and, thanks to nanotechnology, can shift its shape and color.
The 2008 Shelby is a 40th-anniversary limited edition of the classic muscle car based on the Ford Mustang. Due to launch in the spring, the car is expected to deliver 540 horsepower. (The “KR” in the car’s name, by the way, stands for “king of the road.”) Ford wouldn’t reveal how much it paid to have the car featured in the show.
David Hasselhoff, who starred in the original Knight Rider, is expected to return. It’s not clear whether the classic ‘80s perm he sported in the original will be making an encore as well.
