As good as Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight franchise was, Batman fans still had a lot of things to complain about. Next year's Batman v Superman movie might prove to be an significant upgrade. So what was wrong with The Dark Knight? Where do we even begin...
First of all, Batman looked a little bit too much like Robocop with that silly muscle padded suit. You generally won't find that look in the Comics and you certainly won't find it in any of the animated adaptations.
Then there was the fighting choreography. The scenes were badly filmed, you couldn't make out any discernible martial arts moves and for some reason they didn't want to hire a bad-ass trained martial artist as a stunt double.
Since we don't want this piece running into tomorrow, we'll jump straight to what was wrong with theBatmobile, or the Tumbler as they called it. The Batmobile is supposed to be a car first of all. A very cool, very aggressive and futuristic looking car, not a military off-roader..or whatever that was.
This newer adaptation from the upcoming Batman v Superman film is a lot more car-like, wouldn't you say? Sure, it still looks a bit too Army-like and seems like it would be really hard to drive because it's so wide, but at least it's a car. It has four wheels, not 40.
That being said, we're beyond excited to see it on the big screen, along with Zach Snyder's take on how the Dark Knight should be. Even though Nolan has a great cinematic mind, Snyder should prove more capable at this on-screen superhero thing. The way in which he directed Watchmen was nothing short of a masterpiece.
Who would have thought that out of all the car manufacturers in the world, Chevrolet would be the first to design a real life time machine, go into the future, and bring back something like this. All jokes aside, their FNR Concept looks unbelievable. We had no idea that they would let their design team go crazy - and in a good way.
What GM have said is that this car was meant to showcase a unique and intelligent vehicle for the future, but in our eyes, they went far beyond that. This is what almost every car of the future looks like in almost every sci-fi movie with a decent-sized budget.
The FNR is menacing and futuristic at the same time, both inside and out. And to be honest, we do think that cars of the future will sort of look like this. A sleek design, very efficient, very space ship-like (for 2015 folk), and with fully autonomous features and interactive interiors.
Of course, this type of future is probably decades away, at least - from a design perspective. A lot of years will pass until car makers decide that it's time for certain shapes to go extinct like the traditional sedan. Take the 2016 BMW 7 Series for example. It comes out this year, and its life-span will carry it well into the 2020s. When they do replace it, it most certainly will be with something similar.
So design-wise (for production cars at least), times aren't exactly changing as fast as we'd expect if we were to look at how quickly new technologies tend to spring up.
Speaking of which, the Chevy FNR Concept is equipped with roof-mounted radar which can enable it to drive autonomously, iris recognition start and front seats that can swivel 180 degrees.
It reminds us of the cars we saw in Minority Report - where the action was supposed to be taking place in the year 2054, which sounds about right, at least design-wise.
Lincoln has a new Continental, but it calls it a concept car for now. Previewed ahead of its official debut at the New York Auto Show, the Lincoln Continental Concept is an anticipation of the all-new full-size sedan coming next year. The sedan features an all-new one-piece centered grille, classic proportions and sophisticated details including LED matrix headlamps with laser-assist high beams, full-width tail lamps with light-through-chrome technology and E-Latch door handles, tucked discretely in the vehicle beltline. Lincoln says these handles make opening and closing doors easier and quieter.
The raised Lincoln badge is surrounded by a span of repeating polished aluminum Lincoln Star emblems, while the Rhapsody Blue metallic paint reminds of the classic Lincoln Continental’s signature color. The car rides on polished-aluminum, painted-pocket 21-inch wheels.
The interior features the brand’s “most sensual materials ever,” including Venetian leather seat and door panels, Alcantara seat inserts and armrests, satin headliner and shearling wool carpet. Details include Rose Gold trim around the instrument cluster, bright chrome trim on the instrument panel and ambient lighting.
The 30-way adjustable seats use a new-to-market design that is said to conform to passengers’ sizes and shapes. The passenger-side rear seat can fully recline by moving the front passenger seat forward with the touch of a button.
Rear passengers also can control climate settings and the Revel Ultima audio system from a panel mounted on the through-center console. There’s also an SPD SmartGlass tinting sunroof, which allows passengers to control heat from direct sunlight. At the touch of a button, the glass can cool the vehicle interior by as much as 18 degrees Fahrenheit (7.7 degrees Celsius) , while blocking 99 percent of UV rays.
Under the skin, the Lincoln Continental Concept features a Lincoln-exclusive 3.0-liter V6 EcoBoost engine, but the company didn’t offer details about its specifications yet. The car also features Lincoln Drive Control ride-enhancing technologies and Adaptive Steering.
Driver assist technologies include Pre-Collision Assist with Pedestrian Detection, Enhanced Park Assist and a 360-degree camera that displays on the MyLincoln Touch screen.
“The Continental Concept showcases the promise of quiet luxury from Lincoln going forward. It also is a strong indication of what’s to come next year as we introduce our new Lincoln Continental full-size luxury sedan,” said Mark Fields, Ford Motor Company president and CEO.
We’ll learn more about the study on Wednesday, when it debuts officially at the New York Auto Show.
There’s no coupe in Skoda’s current lineup and there hasn’t been a single one in the company’s post-VW history. But the Czech brand used to sell coupes, both before and during the communist period. Obviously, Skoda’s current positioning as a more affordable alternative to the VW brand means we won’t see a coupe made in Mlada Boleslav too soon (if ever). But for those who are curious what a Skoda coupe would look like, automotive manipulator X-Tomi provides the answer.
Using the all-new Skoda Superb as a starting point, he transformed into a coupe and the result is not half bad.
Like the Superb cabriolet we posted a week ago, this rendering has been made just for fun, but it shows the design language of the the Superb would work on a coupe body style as well. In real life, however, the only body style the Superb will get besides the sedan is the estate.
Nissan is brewing up a replacement for its lauded GT-R with the brand's execs essentially confirming the use of a hybrid powertrain. Nissan Great Britain's sports car chief, James Oliver, spoke to Top Gear magazine and said the next GT-R, codenamed R36, will "embrace electric power" and be even faster than the already outrageously fast R35.
"I think it [a GT-R hybrid] is the obvious direction," Oliver told the publication. "There's been obsessive development of the GT-R over the years, and at some point we will move onto the next generation car. The overall market is looking at different methods of powering cars, and at Nissan we've got great expertise and investment of electric.
"We already have the capability in terms of battery production and electric vehicle technology, so I don't think it's a great stretch to think a future performance product would have some of that tech incorporated into it," he added.
"When the R35 launched in 2009 it was a massive leap forward, and we need to make sure when the next generation comes, it's a similar leap forward. Not just the car itself, but the overall effect for Nissan," Oliver explained.
While the Nissan chief declined to disclose details about the R36's powerhouse, we think that it will be closely related to the new unit found in the Infiniti Q80 Concept from the 2014 Paris Auto Show.
Infiniti's four-door coupe study premiered a new high-performance hybrid powertrain consisting of a twinturbocharged 3.0-liter V6 and an electric motor for a combined 550hp. The next GT-R could feature the same or a similar setup – perhaps with one or more additional electric motors.
When asked about the sports car's looks, Oliver pointed to Nissan's Vision 2020 Concept for the Gran Turismo 6 racing game describing it as a "design study" for the GT-R R36. We interpret this as that the R36 will be heavily influenced from the concept pictured below.
He also answered a question in regards to Nissan's pricing policy stating that, "the overall approach will be performance on a par with much more expensive cars at a relatively affordable price". That doesn't really mean much, though, as in the U.S., for example, the GT-R's entry price shot up by more than 45 percent over the years, from $69,850 in 2008, to $101,770 in 2014.
Oliver didn't say when Nissan will release the R36, but Nissan's chief creative officer Shiro Nakamura toldAutocar that it's "three to four years away", which places its introduction in 2017 or 2018, at least a year later than what we previously thought.
Both Nakamura and Oliver confirmed a facelift for the current R35. "We’ve been improving it all the time," said Nakamura, "and there’s still room to improve."
Oliver said something along the same lines: "I think we need to keep developing it and squeezing every last ounce of performance out of it. I think that our customers really value and respect the fact that it's being constantly honed and refined."
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