Hasta La Gadget!

Anyone who watched The Jetsons as a kid has been eagerly awaiting the day we can take our personal vehicles to the sky, zooming away towards the clouds to pick up a pizza or the dry cleaning. Such a reality isn’t here yet, but Terrafugia’s new TF-X concept gives us yet another glimpse into what that future could look like, showing off a car that looks similar to an older Ford Taurus that sprouted half a pair of X-Fighter wings.

Of course, this isn’t the first time Terrafugia has waved around a flying car, having first done so way back in late 2006 with the Transition, a work-in-progress that was said to function as both a car and a personal air vehicle. Not surprisingly, the Transition isn’t zipping around our skies, but that hasn’t stopped the company from unveiling its latest ambitions, the TF-X.

The TF-X is said to be a VTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) vehicle with four-seats and a plug-in hybrid system under the hood. According to the announcement, Terrafugia has already discussed the vehicle with the FAA, which it says is agreeable to the technology. It also goes on to say that the Transition is “nearing” production, with the TF-X concept eventually going a step farther.

Said Terrafugia’s CEO Car Dietrich: “This is the right time for us to begin thinking about the future of the company beyond Transition® development. We are passionate about continuing to lead the creation of a flying car industry and are dedicating resources to lay the foundations for our vision of personal transportation.”

[via Terra Fugia]

Terrafugia’s TF-X concept flying car makes every road its launch pad is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Ford has decided that this year, it will surpass its hybrid sales record. It’s highest annual amount of hybrids sold dates back to 2010, the year it sold 35,496 of its Fusion and C-Max hybrids. Currently, the car manufacturer has sold 29,561 hybrids this year alone, meaning that it only needs to sell about 6,000 more hybrids to beat its original record, a feat that it believes can be accomplished within this month.

Erich Merkle, the U.S. sales analyst for Ford, stated that the company is doing everything it can to grow its sales in the “largest hybrid markets in the country.” Ford’s hybrid market share reached 18% in April, but it still has a long ways to go to reach Toyota’s 58% hybrid market share. However, things are looking bright for Ford, with the company’s Fusion hybrid deliveries increasing by up to 5 times this past April.

While the sales of its hybrids are rising, demand for Toyota’s hybrids is decreasing. Sales of Toyota Camry’s hybrid decreased 26%, and the sales of the Toyota Prius have dropped 21% in April and 12% this entire year. Toyota stated earlier last month that the sales of its hybrids may fall short of its targeted 250,000 sales goal this year. While that’s bad news for Toyota, it’s great news for Ford.

Ford still has a long ways to go before catching up to Toyota’s hybrid sales, but with the demand of its hybrids going up and the demand for Toyota’s hybrids going down, it feels optimistic. The 3,989 sales of the Ford Fusion surpassed the 3,257 Toyota Camry hybrids that sold this year, although the Toyota Prius surpassed both cars’ sales combined with its 19,889 vehicles sold. It may be a long while before Ford can match up to Toyota, if it ever can, but even if it doesn’t, things are looking better for its hybrid sector. For more news related to Ford, be sure to check out our Cars Hub.

[via Bloomberg]

Ford plans to surpass its hybrid sales record this month is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

As promised yesterday by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the auto maker has addressed criticism and announced changes to its Model S financing plan by extending loans to reduce monthly payments, as well as offer a best value guarantee that will match other premium sedans from companies like BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, and Jaguar.

New loans will be extended by 11, going from 63 months to 72 months, in order to give buyers the ability to get lower monthly payments. The company faced recent criticism that their financing plan was a bit vague, and some of the math didn’t quite add up. For instance, the company said that the out-of-pocket cost of a Model S would be in the $500 range per month, but monthly payments would actually be around $1,200.

Furthermore, Tesla is now also guaranteeing a resale value of 50% after three years, which is up from 43% previously. Beforehand, the company agreed to match the resale value of the Mercedes S Class, but they’re now including any and all premium non-limited edition sedans, which sounds like a pretty sweet deal from the looks of it.

Musk admits that their initial financing plan “wasn’t quite right,” and he’s giving credit to the critics who called out the company on the confusing financing plans. Musk says that these people “were right,” and the company is “upping the ante by providing the best resale value guarantee in the automotive industry.”

Tesla Model S financing plan adjusted to guarantee best resale value is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Jaguar’s striking F-Type may already be wowing drivers as a convertible months out from launch, but it’s taken some premature patent digging to see exactly what the eventual coupe version might look like. The car company has previously conceded that a hard-top F-Type will eventually reach forecourts, but has played it coy on how close to the original C-X16 concept it might be. Fortunately for us, while Jaguar’s designers may be tight-lipped, its lawyers are a little more open.

A cluster of renders expected to closely resemble the final coupe have been dug up as part of a design patent Jaguar filed ahead of the car’s expected 2014 release, Germany car site Auto Motor & Sport reports. Things don’t deviate too far from the C-X16, thankfully, with a tapering rear window that notches in crisply with the distinctive light clusters.

It’ll be a handsome beast in profile, too, if the patent CGI is anything to go by. One of the concerns had been how the relatively flat trunk lid of the convertible F-Type might work with the extra metal of a coupe, but Jaguar’s design team has handled that well.

By starting out with a drop-top and only bringing a coupe on later, Jaguar claimed it was making sure both would have the sort of on-the-road dynamics that drivers expect from a two-seater. Curb weight for the coupe isn’t known, but given the car company opted for a fabric hood rather than a folding metal roof – arguing that it helped keep the center of gravity low – there may not be the common difference between the two versions.

As well as the photos, the car site also claims to have heard that Jaguar will be offering a different engine option alongside the supercharged 3.0-liter V6 and supercharged 5.0-liter V8 already announced. A 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, the new engine is borrowed from the Range Rover Evoque – albeit with some fettling involved in the process – and should help bring the cost of entry to F-Type ownership down to less than the $69,000 starting point that preorders opened at.

[via Jalopnik]

Jaguar F-Type coupe unofficially previewed (but you’ll have to wait until 2014) is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Mitsubishi is currently struggling in the United States as an automaker after finding its products unable to compete effectively on the market in most segments. Despite the company’s troubles, it hasn’t stepped away from research and development when it comes to making electric vehicles more practical for your average driver. Currently there are several things about electric vehicles that are preventing them from gaining popularity.

Issues often cited by shoppers when looking for a new vehicle that specifically apply to EV’s include things like range anxiety and having to remember to plug your vehicle in every time you come home or get to the office. With the huge ecosystem of wireless charging products available for smartphones and other gadgets, it makes a lot of sense that people don’t want to have to fiddle with plugging in their car when they get home. Mitsubishi is currently working on a new charging system for electric vehicles that will allow for wireless remote charging.

Mitsubishi is working with Kyoto University and a group of Japanese organizations to develop a remote charging solution for electric cars. The group consists of 22 companies and 13 different universities with the goal of making a long distance electric vehicle charging a reality within the next five years. The technology will reportedly use microwave transmissions, but that’s really the only detail known about the tech this time.

The same technology is also being considered to keep gadgets such as smartphones and tablets powered up and working indefinitely. It’s even being considered for powering things like military drones indefinitely. The goal of the group of developers with this technology appears to be wireless remote charging with the potential to keep an electric vehicle powered as it cruises down the roads allowing an indefinite driving range. I can see a big challenge with determining how exactly the charge drivers for power in a system like this. Considering the Mitsubishi is working with so many other universities and organizations on this technology, it will likely find its way to vehicles other than Mitsubishi’s own i-MiEV electric car.

[via Dvice]

Mitsubishi wireless EV research could recharge your car remotely is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.