Looks like electric cars and coming hard and fast!

Mike Lucey

Hi Guys,

I know we have a lot of car buffs here so I thought I'd mention Renault's DeZir concept that they will be showing in September. Its a really nice design and very quick. The only let down is the 100 mile range. Still its nice to see some 'pretty' electrics coming on stream.

Here is a link to some good info on the DeZir .... errr 'Desire'??? A bit cheesy I think but it looks good.

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/08/renault-offers-sneak-peek-at-its-dezir-concept-car/

It reminds me of a Christmas present I got when I was 6 years old. It was a toy model of the Merc 300SL Gullwing. I remember building a cardboard race track for it. The toy was steerable via a handheld control, great fun. That was back in 1956-7. I wish I kept the toy in the box, it would probably be worth a small fortune now. The real thing cost £4,393 in 1954 and today one is worth £235,000 plus!

We should be seeing the Nissan Leaf electric very shortly. I see its capable of 1-100kph in around 5.5sec! While its not that attractive a design, it would be good fun smoking a 5 Series BMW at traffic lights The €30K price tag I think will hinder sales though.

Now down to practical stuff. One of my favourite car designers, Gordan Murray, the man that produced the McLaren F1 has been working of the T25. Its tiny but is capable of holding a driver and two passengers, using his famous seating arrangement. It should be on the roads soon for around £6,000. This would be the idea car for popping over to France from the UK for a weekend as the driving position is central. There is also a turbo version coming and an electric model, the T27.

Some links,