Silex is Golden

Welcome to the Silex Power Cheerios - sorry, Chreos.

This is a start-up based in Malta and the initial publicity and drawings remind me of the early releases from Eterniti with their Hemorrhoid, which eventually transmogrified into the re-jigged Porsche Cayenne that is the Artemis - so nothing like they were initially claiming - and with most of their setting up done by Porsche.

Another thing that makes me sceptical about the Chreos is that everything shown so far is computer-generated.

And some of their claims seem highly optimistic:

This is an electric car with a range of 1000km (620 miles in real money) and a full charge time of just 10 minutes.

It can also do 185mph and has a sub 3 second 0-60 time.


Fisker must be very worried.

If the claims are to be believed, then this will be an electric car that could be used in the real world in place of a petrol car.


GM, Ford, Toyota etc. must all also be worried.


Silex Power's Website has a promotional video that looks OK:
although the font they use is a bit tricky to read. The car looks like a Bugatti Galibier from the side and an Alfa-Romeo from the front but since it's all CGI that doen't really mean much yet.

They are being very cagey about their batteries but say it is just a development of existing technologies, They also say that the recharge uses something called Hypercharging - there is some information on their site about how this will work but it involves lots of numbers and talk of inverters and kilowatts and amps that went over my head.

They say that they will build their first full-size prototype in July and be selling the cars in 2015.


If they are right, then this is a very big deal. Fox News have picked up on the story but, apart from them, I'm not seeing a lot of coverage.

Is it too good to be true?

Ask a serial optimist...


...or a cereal optimist.

Geddit!?



Oh well, cheerio.

Au Revoir Arnoux Clochend

This month's Top Gear Magazine arrived yesterday and I was sorry to see the news that Arnoux Clochend is now undergoing a course of residential therapy after being removed from his post of European Junior Deputy Under manager of Design at the Hang-Su Motor System.

According to my Blog Stats, I get quite a few hits from Google through him. This is because when you type in "Arnoux Clochend", it is my earlier piece, "All-New" Top Gear Magazine that leads the search results. Today's post may be nothing more than a shameless attempt to get some more hits.

I guess it had to come to an end soon, because his writings have been about preparing a concept for the Frankfurt Motor Show which starts on Tuesday.

One concept that may be there, although I am still sceptical, is the Eterniti Hemera as reported by Autocar today. It looks like a real car but could be a photoshop job but is obviously a modified Porsche Cayenne - certainly not like the Peugeot in their original drawings. Plus, the name sounds too much like Haemorrhoid.

Anyway, I'm going to miss old Arnoux and his seriously undervisited Facebook Page.

Oh yes, and I DO KNOW HE WAS NEVER REAL!

Conceptually Speaking...

In my most previous posting, I used this picture:of the Eterniti - a luxury British SUV to be launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show.



I described it as a "cardboard cut-out of a Peugeot" and claimed it would never appear in the metal.



Looks like I was wrong!



Only thing is, Peugeot themselves have built it.



It's called the HX1 and it's their concept for a 2020 MPV. It's a Plug-in Diesel/Electric Hybrid and the details and more photos are here on the Autocar site today.

To Infiniti and Beyond

What could be beyond Infinity?



Eternity?



Nah. And what happens when you spell them wrong?



Infiniti are Nissan's answer to Toyota's Lexus - luxury well-built cars but a bit boring. I mean look at this G37...It even looks quite Lexusish.



Infiniti have stated that they want to seriously up the numbers they sell in the UK next year. Up to now they've gone for the exclusive angle with a minimal number of dealerships hidden around the country - next year they're opening a few more.



But would anyone want to copy them?



Apparently so.This child's cardboard cut-out of a Peugeot with big wheels is supposed to be the new Eterniti luxury British car launching at the Frankfurt Motor Show next month. It's supposed to be an SUV - a posh Cayenne-type for Aston Martin money.



Lots of motoring sites including Autocar and me are mentioning it but I'm not sure why - I doubt if it will ever exist in the metal.



Unless Mattel do a Hotwheels version.



In fact, that looks like who they've nicked the wheel design from.