The Demo Site

This weekend, the MINI brand and its worldwide community is celebrating the 50th birthday of the brand. The MINI United Festivail takes place at the famous British race track in Silverstone and fans around the world have gathered for this special event.

With this occasion, MINI took the opportunity to introduce two special edition models. The two cars are being derived from the popular Cooper, Cooper S and Cooper D models, and are being branded with the names MINI 50 Mayfair and MINI 50 Camden. The new models are set to launch in September 2009 and they will run in limited numbers.

Some of you might wonder where the naming convention came from, the 50 Mayfair and 50 Camden, were named after famous boroughs of London. To quote from the long MINI press release, ” Both in their design and their features the MINI 50 Mayfair and the MINI 50 Camden stand out clearly from the current, “regular” production models. Numerous features helping to make these two cars truly unmistakable are indeed reserved to these individual anniversary models, making each version truly unique in its own right.

Special body paintwork, light-alloy rims tailored to the car, special materials and surfaces within the interior as well as a range of colors tailored specifically to the MINI 50 Mayfair and, respectively, the MINI 50 Camden underline the exclusivity of these special models available only for a limited period.

The jubilee placard proudly surrounded by chrome trim on the radiator grille provides clear testimony to the tradition of the brand now going back fifty years, bearing the number “50” in typical MINI design and boasting the colours of the Union Jack – red, white, and blue.”

It remains to be seen how serious Cerberus is about keeping Chrysler LLC going or if anyone else will step forward to take control of the Auburn Hills-based company. While the gang in the executive suite determine the company's fate, the engineers at the ENVI division have their shoulders to the grind-stone turning out a fourth electric vehicle for the 2009 Detroit Auto Show. This time the team has applied it's extended-range electric-drive powertrain to the Jeep Patriot. Like the earlier Town and Country EV, this one has an electric motor driving the front wheels, in this case a 150 kW unit. A lithium-ion battery pack of indeterminate capacity gives the Patriot EV a claimed 40-mile range per charge.
A surprisingly small 60-hp internal combustion engine/generator combo keeps the Patriot going after the battery is depleted for up to 400 miles. Since the Patriot is a rebodied Caliber, it seems plausible that if the lights are still on by the time we get to Chicago or New York, we might see an ER-EV version of the Dodge at some point, too. Unfortunately, unless the economy picks up and Chrysler's mainstream lineup is improved, the efforts of the ENVI team might all be for naught.

Navigon and Rand McNally have teamed up to develop some interesting new GPS features that make it easier for users to personalize their trips.
Landmark View 3D is s a $40 upgrade for Navigon's 2200T model and has the ability to display 600 North American landmark buildings in 3D to aid directions... or at least add some novelty to your nav. In keeping with the tourist theme, scenic routes and city guides will be available for $20 each. The scenic routes will feature weekend getaway suggestions, picturesque tours and regional trips. More than 1,400 cites are covered in the guides and routes can be customized to fit your interests. And for another $30 a year, Navigon owners can now be alerted to red light camera locations.
Headed overseas? Add maps of 38 European countries to your Navigon for $130. The update comes pre-loaded on an SD card and covers 4.5 million miles of road and millions of points of interest. The new features will be available for download from the Navigon Fresh software website sometime in the Spring.

Alpine has had iPod compatibility for years, but the user interface has been decidedly un-Apple. Alpine hopes to rectify matter with its new touch-screen iXA-W404 unit works, which boasts a new interface, new features and all the connected goodies audiophiles on the move require.
iPod and iPhone owners will notice that the Alpine's 4.3-inch, touch-screen face displays album art of the current song, and the names of the next two and most recent songs played. Song selection can be made from an alphabetical list just as on the iPod Touch and iPhone or by flipping through the album art in an animation similar to Apple's Cover Flow. Alpine's newest unit also supports video playback from an iPhone or any 30-pin iPod. W404 owners can choose to display three of five "widgets" included with the unit, which include a clock, calendar and photo viewer. The unit can be upgraded by adding components from Alpine's lineup, ranging from GPS, HD Radio, rear-view camera and Bluetooth connectivity. The W404 head unit can even control video display on rear-seat monitors.
The 2DIN iXA-W404 will be available in April for a suggested retail of $550. Alpine's HD radio tuner is a $230 add-on, the rear-view camera system is $220, the Bluetooth module is $180, navigation capability is $350 and a dual seven-inch headrest monitor package is $750.

Chinese manufacturer BYD is planning to have vehicles on sale in the U.S. within two years, with similar ambitions for the European market. The company took a step closer to reaching those goals by launching the world’s first mass-produced plug-in hybrid vehicle in China last month, and at this week’s Detroit Auto Show it confirmed that it plans to enter the U.S. with a range of pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. BYD's future lineup will include the F3DM and the battery-powered e6, a mid-size five-passenger crossover vehicle with a driving range of up to 250 miles on a single charge.
BYD Auto F3DM plug-in hybrid

Behold, "The Great Indian Traveling Machine." According to Mahindra, the company's new XYLO has been completely engineered around the customer, and it is nothing short of a frontal assault on the era of sedans. The Indian automaker's new crossover/MPV spells almost certain doom for a project between Renault and M&M to develop a seven seat version of the low-cost Logan. The XYLO and Logan MCV would compete directly, and Mahindra has gone with its own product instead. 57 Mahindra dealerships will be the elite points of sale for this new vehicle that adds luxury items like captain's chairs, dual-zone air-conditioning, and "flight trays" to a vehicular market that requires ruggedness above all.
The XYLO's powertrain packs a 2.5-liter diesel engine that delivers a run to "60 kmph" in 5.8 seconds. 5.8 seconds to 40 miles-per-hour isn't exactly scorching performance, but it's not like traffic in India fosters wide open running, and being comparatively coddled while stuck in New Delhi gridlock strikes us as a serious selling point. As does its 624,500 INR starting price, roughly $12,700 in US dollars. Laugh at it if you will, take xenophobic shots if you must, but Indian automakers are rounding the learning curve quickly.