Since the 2012 Paris Motor Show started, the great car models on display here have completely taken our attention from every other thing around us. Today, we were dragged back to the reality. The day started on a gloomy note when more than 1000 workers from PSA Peugeot-Citroen (France‘s biggest automaker), and from some other companies took to the street to protest over job losses. The economy has eaten deep into carmakers’ pockets, and some (many are set to follow) have announced steep job cuts!
The protest got a bit out of hand later when the police tried to disperse the demonstrators. Some of them retaliated by throwing bottles at the police, who fired several rounds of teargas at them in response. There were no reports of injuries in the demonstration.
Away from the protest, these are what we heard today at the 2012 Paris Motor Show:
Ferrari has confirmed that it will unveil its first hybrid which will replace the Enzo (named after the company’s founder) in January at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. When the sophisticated carbon fiber chassis Ferrari FF concept car was unveiled on the third day of the show, little did we know that the production ready version would soon be released.
Toyota Prius gave us the impression that hybrid vehicles are just gas-saving smaller cars, but Ferrari has reminded us that a hybrid drivetrain can also be a way to boost performance. According to the Italian automaker (a unit of Fiat Auto), its most powerful car will be produced in a limited-edition, special series. It has also confirmed that the hybrid system is a V-12 gasoline engine mated to an electric motor in a Hy-KERS system (Hybrid Kinetic Energy Regeneration/Recovery System), which is a system used on Formula One racing development. The Power rating of this hybrid energy is expected to be around 900 horsepower.
Hybrid systems are known to have more weight than the gasoline engines, so the electric motor will deliver low-speed power to overcome the additional weight. Ferrari is also going to use carbon fiber to keep the weight low; around 3,009 pounds (1,365kg). The hybrid system will add 150kg to the weight; 100kg for batteries and 50kg for the electric motor and controls. Ferrari is still keeping the name close to its chest, but there are speculations that the vehicle will be called the Ferrari F70. Starting from the F40 that was released at the company’s 40th anniversary in 1987, Ferrari has been predictable with its naming. F50 came after that before the limited-edition supercar Ferrari Enzo was released. The release date and price were not disclosed.
Jaguar is working on its C-X75 hybrid supercar model. The car will also use the KER system we talked about earlier. According to Jaguar, the car will go faster than 200mph when at top speed, and will be able to accelerate from 0 to 100mph in 6 seconds. It will have a range of about 30 miles on battery power only. Acura also announced that the next generation Acura NSX hybrid all-wheel drive supercar will be on sale by 2015.
Related posts:
- 2013 Lamborghini Gallardo and Ferrari FF debut at the 2012 Paris Motor Show: Day 4
- New Skoda Rapid, Clio 4, Citroen DS Numero 9 and SsangYong e-XIV Unveiled at 2012 Paris Motor show
- 2012 Paris Motor Show : Day One
- 2012 Paris Motor Show overview
- 2012 Paris motor show: Rolls-Royce, McLaren and Mercedes-Benz are here
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