Articles by Philip King

Peter Barnwell road tests and reviews the 2014 Porsche 911 Targa.

Lamborghini's symbol is a raging bull and its models invariably take their names from the world of bullfighting. Non-matadors will find them obscure: the name of the new Huracan refers to a bull that took to the ring in August 1879. In Alicante.Asterion follows the tradition, though it refers to the mythological Minotaur, part bull, part man. The brand’s first hybrid combines “the strength of a bull … with the human rationale”, the maker says.Under the bonnet: Wrong place to look. Lamborghini makes mid-engined supercars and the Asterion follows suit with a 5.2-litre V10 borrowed from the Huracan mounted behind the cabin. On its own, it produces 449kW of power. Unlike in the Huracan, though, it drives only the rear wheels.Fitted to the engine is an electric motor that acts as both starter motor and generator. It feeds two electric motors at the front, driving the front wheels.With Asterion in hybrid mode, the engine and all three motors act together to deliver a total of 669kW of power to all four wheels — more than any other Lamborghini.The result is electrifying performance, with Asterion hitting 100km/h in just 3.0 seconds and capable of 320km/h flat out.But there’s more to it than that. The transmission tunnel, which normally would carry power from the engine to the front wheels, is unnecessary thanks to the electric motors. Instead, it’s filled with lithium-ion batteries. So Asterion has an electric-only mode in which just the front wheels are driven. As an EV, Asterion has a 50km range and top speed of 125km/h.The system is designed to be recharged overnight so that the car can run in pure electric mode for the next day’s commute.Lamborghini does not say how long the batteries take to fill, but the fact it can function as an electric car for 50km means it can achieve fuel economy of 4.2 litres per 100km in the official European test.Plug-in hybrids such as this are becoming the car industry’s preferred solution for hitting emissions targets and in this respect Lamborghini is following the latest technical trend.Just another hybrid hypercar? Rival brands Ferrari, McLaren and Porsche already have limited edition hybrid hypercars on sale overseas (see above), although their solutions differ in terms of the balance between engine and battery power.At one extreme, La Ferrari has no ability to travel purely on electricity. Its system is similar to the ones in Formula One racers and aims to boost power without using more fuel. Asterion is more like the Porsche 918 or McLaren P1, only with a better electric-only range. As well as reducing overall fuel consumption, these systems offer insurance against the possibility — considered inevitable by carmakers — that sooner or later cities will restrict access to trad­itional combustion engine cars.All agree that hybrids are an essential part of the future and this technology will filter down to production series cars. For example, Porsche is already selling a plug-in hybrid version of its Panamera sedan here.A different Lambo? Asterion is different from its rivals in one crucial respect. Ferrari, McLaren and Porsche set out to make flag-bearers for hybrid technology with something even more extreme than usual.Asterion is fast, of course, but fitting a hybrid system means producing a different sort of Lamborghini, the company says, because it adds a lot of weight. Even though some components, such as the drive shaft and front differential, have been removed, the net effect of fitting batteries and motors is an additional 250kg. Asterion is built around a carbon fibre monocoque but even so it weighs 1.8 tonnes. That means it’s too heavy to be a traditional sports car. “It’s not a car devoted to handling behaviour because we think this is something that is difficult to reach with a plug-in where you’ve added weight to the car,” research and development chief Maurizio Reggiani says.Lamborghini has made small run special edition models costing millions, but Asterion demonstrates that it can make a low-emissions car priced at a level its normal customers expect.Hail the hyper-cruiser: Lamborghini says Asterion represents a fresh vision of where the brand is heading. It is a "new kind of dream car...starting from an intuition: the key for anticipating the future lies in a transformation and hybridisation of Lamborghini’s own DNA", the press release says. "With the Asterion, a hyper-cruiser is born."It may not be lightweight but it still delivers on the Lamborghini promise by retaining a large capacity, naturally aspirated engine. Most manufacturers are switching to turbocharging because it makes smaller — and hence more efficient — engines more driv­able. But turbocharged engines lack the immediate response of naturally aspirated engines, don’t rev as high or sound as good.At the same time, the change in emphasis is reflected in the Asterion design. It’s softer, less angular and extreme than Lamborghini’s two current models. The change is also reflected in the cabin, with more room and better ergonomics. The doors are long for easy access, windscreen more upright and seats positioned higher.Here we go again... Lamborghini has made cars like this before, such as the Espada four-seater from the late 1960s, so Asterion would be back to the future. If it goes ahead.Other recent concepts show Lamborghini playing with a few ideas. At the 2008 Paris motor show it revealed a sedan concept called Estoque and more recently a study for an SUV called Urus, which is expected to get the go-ahead eventually. The smallest supercar brand is branching out. It’s just a matter of time.

European luxury carmakers have begun a massive rollout of plug-in hybrid technology, seeing it as the only way to meet increasingly stringent emissions standards.Cars with the system, which differs from a traditional hybrid by enabling a distance of about 30km on battery power alone, were centrepieces of almost every stand at the Paris motor show, which opened this week.Mercedes used the show to detail its S500 Plug-In Hybrid, a version of its flagship large luxury car that has "the performance of a V8 with fuel consumption of a compact model".The company says it has learned from involvement in Formula 1 to achieve fuel economy of just 2.8 litres per 100km - much less than a Toyota Prius - in a car that can charge to 100km/h in 5.2 seconds. The S500 combines a turbocharged V6 with an electric motor and can travel on lithium ion battery power for 33km.It is the spearhead for an armada of plug-ins, with Mercedes planning to launch one every four months until 2017.Mercedes chief Dieter Zetsche believes plug-in hybrids will be adopted quicker than electric vehicles, with prices in line with equivalent petrol models. "A plug-in hybrid is the 'easy entry version' for those who are still a little uncomfortable with electric cars," he said. The first luxury plug-in hybrid available in Australia is the recently launched Porsche Panamera sedan at $285,300. Porsche used the show to unveil the same system in its Cayenne SUV. It expects to sell up to 70 plug-in hybrids a year.Lamborghini was another supercar brand with a plug-in hybrid debut at Paris, with the Asterion, which combines a 5.2-litre V10 petrol engine with three electric motors for fuel consumption of 4.2 litres per 100km.It says the Asterion is a "demonstrator" but the brand has to be ready for changes in European fuel emissions rules.Lamborghini is part of the Volkswagen group and chief Martin Winterkorn warned EU regulators that companies needed time to recover the investment in new technology before emission rules were tightened further."Every gram of CO2 that we save in our European fleet costs our group almost €100 million ($144m) - €100m that we have to invest in advance, without knowing when these investments pay off," he said."That's why I worry when Brussels already now starts to cry out for new, more stringent norms for the time after 2020." Volkswagen has invested heavily in plug-in hybrids, with its luxury arm Audi committed to the system. Its Australian rollout begins with the A3 small car in March, priced at about $60,000.

Twenty years ago if you wore your cap backwards and fancied yourself a bit of a lad

All the hype about alternatives has barely moved the needle on the types of cars we buy. Overwhelmingly, the world over, we are propelled from showrooms by internal combustion engines.That isn't going to change in a hurry. Zealots for alternatives, especially those energised by battery-powered cars, overbid their prospects, and their predictions look ever more wildly out of synch with reality. Does anyone still believe that 10 per cent of new cars will be battery-powered by the end of the decade? Because that was one of the more conservative forecasts.Of course this doesn't mean the technology has no merit — far from it — but it does mean that most of the energy put into electric cars has been misdirected. Battery power works best in light-commercial applications — small vans doing inner-city runs from a central base, for example. It's easy to imagine circumstances where such a fleet would actually make practical and, more importantly, economic sense.Some electric vans are already on sale overseas, and Renault will trial its Kangoo ZE here later this year. It is happening. Slowly. There are plenty of other commercial and fleet applications where an alternative driveline would be a better solution than a diesel engine. Buses powered by hydrogen fuel cells are immeasurably more pleasant for passengers and bystanders than the noisy, fume-emitting dinosaurs that cough through our cities now.Hybrid solutions, including unorthodox ones using compressed air, can work well for everything from heavy-duty freight haulers to the stop-start runs of garbage trucks. Again, how much more pleasant would our roads be?It's not as though none of these things is happening — they are. Regulations have been tightened and hybrid trucks and fuel cell buses have been around for years, but in very small numbers. When it comes to emissions, the political and regulatory agenda has focused on mainstream cars.It has had some success, as the graphic at the top of this page shows. The changes in Europe are paralleled elsewhere but not because we're stampeding into electrics and hybrids. It's mainly because we're buying smaller cars and the internal combustion engine has made huge gains in efficiency.Hybrid-style tricks — such as energy recuperation from brakes, or idle-stop — have become everyday features of almost every new car. So, ironically, hybrid development has helped save the petrol engine. Electrically assisted petrol engines have even been fitted to the latest batch of supercars.Most of the headline emissions reductions come down to other sorts of engineering: lightweight materials, sophisticated aerodynamics and turbocharging. Capacities and cylinder counts are dropping, so turbocharging now delivers driveability.When it comes to pure electric vehicles, mainstream makers have tried to replicate the convenience of internal combustion engines. That's a losing game with the present state of battery technology, as sales numbers show.Carmakers have gone there partly due to a misplaced sense of what the consumer will find acceptable but mainly because the emissions rules heavily favour alternative solutions. However, there is no reason why the consumer should bear the weight of all this emissions effort, or why makers should develop cars that no one wants. It makes more sense to focus on the rules, the engineering, and gains in the fleet and public transport worlds. The advantages would benefit everyone. 

A row of lolly-coloured cars is moving down an assembly line as though the colour sequence had been chosen for maximum effect.

It's been a fave, and the third-generation Mazda 3 has the goods to regain top spot.

A fleet of 50 Corvette Stingrays formed an escort convoy for the Z06, the “big nasty” track version of the General Motors prize-winning sportscar, in an echo of the glory days of the Detroit motor show. Helicopter footage of the convoy, which started 30km away at GM's technical centre in Warren, was beamed to a screen in the shape of Chevrolet's bow-tie badge to a huge waiting crowd at the Cobo centre in downtown Detroit.Just a few hours earlier, the Corvette had given GM a clean sweep of the North American vehicle awards after the Chevrolet Silverado pick-up was named Truck of the Year. “I can't tell you how honoured we are to win both car and truck of the year,” GM product chief Mark Reuss told the crowd as the Z06 arrived on stage. He said the Z06, which packs a supercharged 6.2-litre V8 under the bonnet and has already blitzed GM's test track record, was the “big nasty” and “the most amazing Corvette we've ever built”. “It's a world class supercar to rival any exotic,” he said. Traditional sportscars that press enthusiasts' buttons took Detroit motor show by storm on the opening day, with Asian brands joining the party. Toyota sprang one of the show's few surprises with the FT1, a design study for a “sexy halo sportscar” that was first developed in virtual reality as part of the Gran Turismo computer racing game.The idea came from Toyota's California design studio and it won over company boss Akio Toyoda, who drives race-cars in his spare time and is on a mission to put excitement into the brand. The FT1 has yet to be approved for production but wowed the Detroit crowd with its curvaceous surfaces, “slingshot” cockpit and visible -- but unspecified -- internal combustion engine.Studio chief Alex Shun said it had been a two-year “labour of love” that revived Toyota's heritage of producing sportscars, such as the Supra. Pure driving pleasure was also the target at Kia with its GT4 Stinger, a front-engine, rear-drive, 2+2 designed as a tribute to “traditional sportscar values”.Its six designers, all dressed in black suits and ties in the manner of characters from the film Reservoir Dogs, played to the stand's movie theme after Hollywood trivia questions had amused the waiting crowd.Porsche was another to win over the cynical motor show audience with its 911 Targa and a “world first” folding roof system.The entire rear panel and domed glass lift up and back to give the roof panels room to fold behind the cabin. Porsche chief Matthias Mueller said the Targa version of the 911 dated back to 1965 and the latest edition harked back to styling elements of the original.Most luxury brands, including Porsche, boasted record sales in 2013 and expect a repeat this year. BMW remains the luxury leader with 1.65 million buyers last year and it made a double pitch for the enthusiast dollar with two models from its M performance division. The M3 sedan and M4 adopt a turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine instead of the previous V8 but have more power, at 317kW, and are 25 per cent more fuel efficient.   

The US car industry has come full circle and returns to old-fashioned horsepower at this year's Detroit motor show, with large pick-ups and "America's Ferrari" set to steal the limelight from imported exotica.Centre of attention at the show, which opened overnight Australian time, is Ford's new F Series truck, which has for decades held the title as the planet's favourite vehicle and makes a watershed move to aluminium construction.The bold decision, aimed at cutting fuel consumption, takes aluminium mainstream and makes Forda pioneer in volume production using the metal.Demand for pick-ups has rebounded since the global financial crisis and Ford sold more than 760,000 of the outgoing F Series last year, up 18 per cent.It has kept details of the redesign secret and will hope it can upstage its rival from General Motors, the Chevrolet Silverado, tipped to win Truck of the Year.US buyers strongly favour full-size pick-ups but last year GM broke ranks and offered a version of the smaller Colorado, described as "mid-size" in the US. At a preview event for the show, GM unveiled the GMC Canyon, a more upmarket version of the Colorado with a bull nose and acres of chrome.It marked the first appearance for Mary Barra since she was named chief executive - the only woman to lead one of the car giants. "I'm honoured to stand here tonight and humbly lead this team," Ms Barra said. "It's a team of men and women doing unbelievably great work."It comes just weeks after GM shed its "government motors" tag, with Washington selling the last of the shares acquired during the GFC. As well as a truck award, GM is also in the running for Car of the Year with two out of the three finalists -- a Cadillac and its reborn Chevrolet Corvette. The new Corvette has earned a reputation for delivering Italian sportscar performance at a fraction of the price. A track-focused version, called the Z06, will be GM's show star.The Z06 will compete for crowd attention with the Ford Mustang, which makes its first public appearance after private unveilings last month.GM's recovery milestone has a parallel at Chrysler, after Fiat recently acquired complete control.The smallest of the US "Big Three" is now wholly foreign-owned but rebounding thanks to a focus on Americana, with its controversially redesigned Jeep Cherokee SUV winning over sceptics. It too is in the running for Truck of the Year.Unlike the F Series and Corvette, it will be shipped to Australia starting mid-year. Hometown drawcards will force foreign brands backstage despite an impressive line-up.German and Japanese carmakers are also stressing traditional petrol-driven horsepower with an exceptional crop of performance cars. BMW debuts two halo junior executives in the M3 sedan and M4 coupe, which drop V8s in favour of six cylinders but have more power and better efficiency thanks to turbocharging.Lexus has the M4 in its sights with the RC F, a V8 coupe based on its mid-size luxury sedan. Meanwhile, Mercedes rolls out its next generation C-Class and a tuned version of its small off-roader, the GLA 45 AMG; Porsche shows a retro-flavoured 911 Targa sportscar; and Mini a concept that previews the upcoming John Cooper Works go-fast edition.Audi will attract attention for a crossover concept. It is expected to preview its smallest SUV yet, likely to be called Q1. The Detroit show has yet to return to its glory days of over-the-top presentations and for-the-fun-of-it concept cars, but the industry has been bolstered by 15.6 million sales last year and newfound confidence after the economic storm of four years ago.   

People imagine being a motoring writer involves nothing more than stepping out of one Ferrari and into another.