After showcasing the Concept Universe (above) at last year’s Shanghai Auto Show, Volvo will unveil an all-new concept at the Frankfurt Auto Show in just a few week’s time. This latest project will be used as a platform to promote the brand’s new 4-cylinder engine lineup that it claims won’t reduce driving pleasure or the luxury experience.

“It’s time to stop counting cylinders,” says Volvo R&D boss Peter Mertens. “At the Frankfurt Motor Show we will reveal a new concept car. It proves that downsized engines can go hand in hand with our customers’ expectations on luxury and driving pleasure.”

The new VEA (Volvo Environmental Architecture) engine range will include both gasoline and diesel engines with power equal to current six-cylinder engines, with efficiency beyond what today’s 4-cylinders offer. In addition, Volvo claims these new engines will use roughly 60% fewer parts than the current engines and will weigh as much as 200 lbs less.

At Frankfurt Volvo will also announce a new SPA (Scalable Platform Architecture) that will underpin a new line of future models. Weighing 220 to 440 lbs less than the current architectures used by Volvo it will also allow for all future models to receive some sort of electric drivetrain, be it hybrid or fully electric.

And on the topic of electrification, Volvo will also tout its new KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) that it will test on a road-going vehicle this Fall. Storing brake energy in a flywheel, this system will allow the power to then be used to add power during acceleration or simply to keep the car moving at cruising speeds. Mertens says the Volvo KERS system will add 80 horsepower while improving fuel economy by 20 percent.

Finally, Volvo’s new concept car will also give a hint at the brand’s new styling direction. Often criticized for building boxes on wheels, Volvo promises “to give forthcoming Volvo models more exciting looks.”

GALLERY: Volvo Concept Universe

The Williams Formula 1 team has a long and somewhat checkered history at the pinnacle of motor sports, and like some of its competitors, have delved into the business of sports cars. Williams was full at hand with the development of the Renault Clio Williams from the early to mid ’90s, and had even developed a concept van called the Renault Espace F1, which was a minivan with a Renault engine taken from an F1 race car.

While on the motor sport side, Williams is still doing business with Renault (with whom they have just signed on with again for the 2012 season), however it is also working with Jaguar on a very special road car.

The car in question is the C-X75 supercar that Jaguar has decided to put into production. This hybrid supercar will use kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) similar to the ones used in Formula 1 racers, and Williams is responsible for perfecting this technology for use in this super Jaguar.

Williams chairman Adam Parr wants to take thing even further, saying; “We would like to become the competition and sporting side of Jaguar.” In other words, Williams could become the AMG of Jaguar road cars.

Williams has been on hand with the C-X75 from the very beginning. Parr said; “When the C-X75 was first envisaged it was powered by two turbines manufactured by Bladed Jets, which is part owned by Jaguar owner Tata Motors. But we have concentrated on adopting a path that will make the C-X75 the cleanest and more environmentally friendly supercar of all time. “So at the moment we are concentrating on a downsized internal combustion engine combined with some pretty amazing kinetic energy recovery systems.”

This partnership could lead to this technology trickling down to more Jaguar road cars, and could also spawn the return of Jaguar in competitive racing.

Time will tell what more this partnership will bring. For now, expect to see the production C-X75 to hit the showrooms in about two-years time.

GALLERY: Jaguar C-X75

[Source: Autocar]

Formula 1 has decided to implement the 1.6-liter V6 for the 2014 race year. Teams have been grumbling over the 1.6-liter turbo four-cylinder plants but are more eager to compromise with the V6.

The difference in size between the two engines may seem very small, but the idea is to get all of the current teams to agree on a standard so the series doesn’t lose any of its relatively few participants. A Kinetic Energy Recovery System hybrid has also been part of the new proposal. With the 1.6-liter V6 already approved, the next step is for the World Motor Sport Council to vote.

Stay tuned for more info!

[Source: Motor Authority]

Volvo has announced plans to develop and test a new flywheel kinetic energy recovery system. Volvo says the KERS system (or FKERS as Volvo calls it) is “a light, cheap and very eco-efficient solution that makes a four-cylinder engine feel like a six at the same time as fuel consumption drops with up to 20 percent.”

The KERS system is fitted to the rear axle of the car (displayed in video). When braking, the energy causes the flywheel to spin at up to 60,000 revs per minute. When the car starts moving again, the flywheel’s rotation is transferred to the rear wheels via a specially designed transmission. This will allow fuel efficiency to improve by 20%. Horsepower and acceleration are also improved under this system.

Volvo is planning to begin testing the system later this year with the hopes of launching it ”within a few years.”

Check out the video after the jump!

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Infiniti might not have their own F1 team, but that little detail isn’t stopping them from helping the Red Bull team with an energy-recovery system for their F1 team. Consider it Infiniti’s foot in the grand prix door.

Infiniti’s and Nissan’s electric car expertise are what drew Red Bull to them in the first place, and Infiniti is helping them develop their Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) for their Renault-powered F1 cars, which will help F1 cars recapture energy lost from heavy braking. “There are long-term goals for the partnership to go beyond that of a straight sponsorship deal and enter a sharing of engineering information,” said an anonymous source at Infiniti.

Red Bull is already using the Infiniti badge on their Renault-sourced engines, in order to promote the Infiniti brand in Europe. Of course, the fact that Renault, Nissan, and Infiniti are all under the big happy Ghosn-raised family is making this possible.

[Source: What Car?]

The next-generation Porsche 911 is set to make a significant departure from past models, including the use of a Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) on all models.

The system will be similar in principle to that introduced in Formula 1 cars back in 2009, storing energy from braking and then transmitting that energy as an acceleration force. Unlike those KERS systems, however, the Porsche design uses a mechanical flywheel design rather than a complex system of electronics and heavy batteries.

According to a report by Autoblog, Porsche’s KERS system is suggested to be the reason why the next-gen 911 gains roughly 4-inches in wheelbase, as it will sit between the engine and transmission. Previous reports have suggested the added length will also be used to transform the 911 from a rear-engine car into more of a mid-engine one.

The new Porsche 911 could debut as early as this Fall’s Frankfurt Motor Show.

[Source: Autoblog]

Formula 1 will revert back to its craziest era in 2013, when it adopts a 1.6L 4-cylinder turbo engine for its series. The last time the turbo 4-banger was offered, it made in excess of 1,300 horsepower, but the new rules will be focused more on efficiency rather than outright power.

With a maximum redline of 12,000 rpm and an onboard KERS mild hybrid system, the new cars will also have to make engines and gearboxes last longer, as their allotted replacements are reduced after 2013.

[Source: Autocar]

While we continue to anxiously await a possible NSX successor for the street, Honda has been out at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan testing an NSX Hybrid for the upcoming 2012 Super GT season. The 2012 season will allow teams to equip and utilize a hybrid system on their race cars in the series.

Made by Zytech (the company that handled McLaren’s Formula 1 KERS system), the hybrid drive has 40kw of output power and can be used to power the car in pit lane (full electric).

The battery can be fully charged in just one lap on a course and has about 20 seconds of use when the driver opts to turn on the overtake button. The system adds another 220 lbs or so to the race car and to determine just how big of a difference it makes Honda enlisted the driving expertise of Katsutomo Kaneishi.

Kaneishi was able to lap Twin Ring Motegi in 1 minute, 49.468 seconds. It was 4.453 seconds behind the fastest lap time recorded in that session. Development of these hybrid systems for Super GT will continue for the next year and change, so we’ll anxiously await the results and how it’ll impact the Super GT race series.

Now if Honda could pair a powerful KERS system with a high-output version of one of its V6 engines and drop it in the HSV-010 GT race car chassis and make it street legal … now we’re talking!

[Source: 7Tune]

Check out more pics of the NSX Hybrid in action after the jump:

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Ferrari has announced that it will run a Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) in its Formula 1 cars next season. The team had tested a KERS system in 2009 but scrapped the plans for 2010 when all the competing manufacturers collectively agreed to avoid the system in a bid to cut costs.

Ferrari has been pushing for a return to using KERS, asking for rule changes to make the systems more effective. The reason behind the resumed interest is that Ferrari is pushing to bring to market a street car using the KERS system in the next few years and, as always, Ferrari sees the race track as the best place to test its upcoming road car technology. At the Geneva Auto Show earlier this year, Ferrari unveiled the HY-KERS concept, a bright green Ferrari 599 which uses the hybrid system to deliver extra bursts of power, while also improving fuel economy iduring low speed driving.

As for the F1 system, Ferari had been pushing for regulations that would permit a more powerful electric boost but that has been scrapped in favor of a higher minimum weight for all vehicles, allowing Ferrari to make use of that extra weight allowance for the KERS system.

Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali has said the current plan is to run the KERS system in every race next season. Mercedes is expected to announce if it will use a similar setup in the coming weeks.

[Source: ESPN]