Toyota’s Prius has become the first hybrid car to outsell all other vehicles in Japan, figures show.

It sold 22,292 Prius vehicles in June, from 6,231 in the same month a year earlier and from 10,915 in May said the Japan Automobile Dealers Association.

A new model had helped bolster sales, analysts said.

In May the Prius had already become the top-selling car - a category that excludes popular mini-vehicles with engines of up to 660cc.

Honda’s Fit was the second most popular vehicle in the June, with sales of 13,016 vehicles. The firm’s Insight, a hybrid marketed as a cheaper alternative to the Prius, was ranked fourth.

Tax breaks

Hybrid cars are powered by both by petrol and electricity.

High oil prices and growing concern about emissions blamed for global warming has encouraged Japanese carmakers to lead the global development of hybrids.

The sale of fuel-efficient vehicles has also been helped by the government making them tax free.

The car industry hopes that hybrid cars will re-energise the flagging market, which has suffered in the global economic downturn.

*Article reposted verbatim from http://news.bbc.co.uk/

Photo courtesy of www.zimbio.com

An illustration of Karl Benz’s Patent Motorwagen, the first road vehicle with an internal combustion engine.

A restored version of the three-wheeled Motorwagen

The Motorwagen’s 4-stroke engine that ran on gas and used a water cooling sytem.

Did you know that it was Karl Benz, founder of Mercedes-Benz, who made the first internal combustion engine for a road vehicle?

The vehicle, which he named Motorwagen, ran on gas and had a 4-stroke combustion system. Its engine had a 958cc displacement and produced 0.75 horsepower. Running with electric ignition and an evaporation type of cooling system, the Motorwagen was a three-wheeled vehicle and patented on January 29, 1886.

Okay, so here’s another you’ll-probably-never-gonna-get-your-hands-on car.  To be produced in only 10 units, the Vulca surely will get the exclusivity and rarity its Italian maker Faralli & Mazzanti wants it to get.  Each unit will be individually numbered and, news has it, will be produced in a span of 11 months by  hand, not by computer-controlled machines!  Boy, that would definitely make it a very not affordable car.

Well, not being able to afford it doesn’t mean we can’t check it out…err, online that is.

So here are some of Vulca’s technical details and photos.

Engine:                  5.8l V10*       (Two engines are available: V12, 7.1l, 520 hp – V10, 5.8l 630hp (“S” Version).)

Capacity:               5771    ccm

Bore:                     93       mm

Stroke:                  85       mm

Compr.Ratio:         11,0

Power:                  630HP @ 7500rpm

Torque:                630Nm @ 5500rpm

Max. Speed:         > 335Km/h

Acc. 0-100:          < 3.9 s

…Or else you might also get what one guy got in his engine compartment when he didn’t check up on it the whole winter: an opossum’s nest.

Peek-a-boo

Bet it’s warm there, huh?

source: http://izismile.com

If you only get to see ordinary street cars’ engines, well, better get a napkin ready–you might literally drool on these trio:

(click on images to view in full resolution)

With modern vehicles running on petrol, electricity, or a combination of both, who says we can’t have vehicles running on air?

Definitely not Professor Hua Zhao from Brunel University in London.

Zhao heads the research team of engineers who have designed a cost-effective way to convert petrol engines into hybrids that can also run on air.

By storing the air from the engine’s compression stroke in a tank, the pneumatic hybrid engine could then later use the stored compressed air to drive its pistons.  Through simulation tests, they found that the air hybrid engine can cut down fuel costs by 30% and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Unlike petrol-to-electric hybrid conversion, converting to this air hybrid is far cheaper and requires very little alterations to the engine.

Currently, the Brunel team is working to try their “major breakthrough” with auto manufacturers.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/motoring/article-1162667/Emission-impossible-The-hybrid-car-runs-air.html

After Lamborghini’s Murciélago (Spanish for “bat”) 640 and 650 models, now comes the Murciélago LP670-4 Super Veloce.

Its V12 engine has a displacement of 6.5 litres (6,496 cc), can produce as much as 670 horsepower at 8,000rpm and 660Nm at 5,000rpm.

The engine is aluminum-made and located at the longitudinal central rear of the car. It can send you driving from 0 to 100 km/h in only 3.4 seconds, and can run as fast as 330 km/h.

Top those off with a Lambo-designed body, Batman would definitely swap his car for a Batmobile ala Lamborghini.

Here are more underhood artworks (just click on the image to view in full resolution):

Engine cover with bloody red flames

An engine cover probably inspired by King Arthur's shield

And just when you probably thought you can paint only the engine cover and the fuse box…

A Stitch-in-Elvis-Presley-outfit underhood design

"Glossed over" underhood

An air filter cover set on fire

Get additional "horsepower" with these black coated valve covers with fiery blue stallion design

Your engine definitely won't overheat with these flaming valve covers

Presenting the first hybrid in Porsche’s modern fleet of cars—the Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid.

A 4-wheel drive SUV, the Cayenne Hybrid has a supercharged DOHC diesel engine with 6 cylinders. It has a 3.0-liter displacement and can give out 333 hp. Augmenting the Cayenne’s engine is a 52 hp AC-synchronous electric motor, which uses a 240-cell nickel-metal hydride battery with a 288-volt capacity.

You get seamless shifting from diesel to electric power in the Cayenne. And by using both systems simultaneously, you can get as much as 374 hp from the engine.

Outstanding features of this Porsche hybrid are the ability to accelerate from zero to 60 mph in just 6.4 sec and coasting at high speeds. Using a special clutch between the engine and the electric motor, the auto system turns off the engine by disconnecting it from the drivetrain. This lets you save fuel and coast at speeds up to 86 mph. You simply step on the gas pedal to reengage the engine very smoothly.

Photos courtesy of AutoblogGreen.com