This year’s Geneva Motor Show has seen a deluge of delectable concepts unveiled and one of the finest pieces of eye-candy presented must surely be the Pandion. Created to celebrate Alfa Romeo’s one hundred year anniversary and also marking 75 years of collaboration with Italy’s legendary styling house Bertone (think Lamborghini Countach among many others), the Pandion hides a 4.7 liter, 450 CV 8-cylinder Alfa Romeo engine beneath some very well honed curves and a narrow T-shaped grill at the front that would make this the perfect ride for a Cylon.

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Hungarian designers Antro are aiming to introduce a new fuel efficient vehicle to the consumer market by 2012 which (like the recently covered HumanCar) will rely on the muscle-power of driver and passengers as well as a hybrid fuel/electric engine. The designers are also looking to have the three-seater SOLO link up to another to make one vehicle capable of carrying six people.

As more opportunities arise to accumulate wealth in the East, more and more people are being given the chance to own cars which will only add to the world’s environmental problems. In order to nip such problems in the bud, Antro has suggested a fuel-efficient three seater where the driver is flanked on either side by a passenger and all three would join forces to propel the SOLO Light using pedals in front of them.

Antro’s prototype has been built using a light magnesium alloy/carbon fiber frame and body construction and features electric assist for when the occupants tire or the driver is alone. Photovoltaic cells incorporated in the roof provide the power for the electric hub motors at each wheel and although the current model doesn’t have one yet, the designers are aiming to install a fuel engine to give a longer range than the 12 miles or so that the electric motors currently provide. It is intended that the fuel engine will achieve fuel efficiency in the region of 150 miles to the gallon and reach speeds of around 87mph.

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Some words that come to mind when savoring the photos of the new Alfa Romeo 2uettottanta concept: smooth, sleek, solid, sultry… You can always count on Pininfarina for unparalleled automotive beauty.

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Citroen says it has completely reinterpreted the idea of a small car by producing the Survolt concept – an electric vehicle that fits the size parameters of a small car but not the two-box look of a hatchback. Speaking at the Geneva International Motor Show this week, the company says its supermini is unconventional, aggressive, exciting and vibrant and is what the small car sector has been looking for.

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The "Hoverwing" home-made hovercraft-type vehicle on a test flight with a rescue vehicle in close proximity in New Zealand’s south island (Photo: Marion van Dijk/Nelson).

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At the Chicago Auto Show last week, Fisker Automotive brought along the Karma Sunset with a new black exterior we hadn’t seen before. For the Geneva Motor Show that starts in a few weeks, the automaker is going in the other direction and will be showing off the "advanced aluminum space frame" that underpins the Karma and gives the plug-in hybrid car "new levels of rigidity and strength" for "world-class ride and handling characteristics." Here’s how Fisker describes the frames, which will be made by Valmet Automotive in Uusikaupunki, Finland, in a statement:

    Though it forms the foundation of a large sedan the Karma space frame’s rigidity is exceptional even when compared to today’s sports cars. By utilizing 5,000- and 6,000- series aluminum alloys and a unique extrusion-intensive architecture, the Fisker engineering team achieved the best balance between weight and size.

Maybe at the New York Auto Show in March we’ll get to see the Karma’s raw materials. Nah, only joking. There’s more information after the jump.

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Breeding the EB brand, designer Emil Badal has popped up with the “EB-48S” concept, which is a mid-engine V6 Supercharged 4.8L that gives wings to your thoughts of a luxury ride. Touting a lighting system based on hi-bright LEDs with neon backlights in the front, the concept car features prioritized taillights that switch between three colors, i.e. red, orange and white, which keep changing according to the riding conditions. As if you activate the turn indicator, one of the taillights blinks the orange light, but if you press the break to slow down the vehicle on a turn, the remaining parts (two) of the taillight flashes with the red LED to alert the vehicles coming behind, thereby ensuring complete safety on crowded city roads.

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Kia Motors made a grand announcement today at the 2010 Chicago Auto Show, revealing its futuristic-looking Ray Plug-in Hybrid concept. Kia says that it wants to provide innovative and efficient vehicles with style and fuel economy. The new Kia Ray concept features an aerodynamic design with a flowing-profile, recycled materials, hexagonal roof-top solar cells embedded in the glass roof panel that power extra lighting or climate control systems, and a U-shaped rear to smooth out airflow. The Kia Ray has a 1.4-liter direct-injection four-cylinder gasoline engine that puts out 153 horsepower and a 78kW electric motor which is able to propel the Ray by itself over 50 miles on a full charge of battery.

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For locksmiths, making a replacement car key without its identifying code can be a grueling procedure. Steve Randall should know—he spent a summer during college working for his father’s locksmithing company, watching experts struggle with the process. Lacking the identification codes, called bittings, that tell them which patterns to cut into blanks, locksmiths must rely on trial and error to make a perfect fit. Inspired, Randall and a friend, Ted Schwarzkopf, recently unveiled a solution: the Electronic Key Impressioner.

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One of the key stumbling blocks in the uptake of battery electric vehicles is charging times. After all, who wants to wait eight hours to “fill the tank” when a gasoline, hybrid or hydrogen powered vehicle can be replenished in a matter of minutes. One of the projects seeking to address the issue is a collaboration between electric vehicle manufacturer THINK and charging infrastructure developer AeroVironment (a company best known to Gizmag readers as a manufacturer of UAVs). The companies are collaborating on a fast charging project for the THINK City electric vehicle with the goal of taking the EV from zero charge to 80 percent full in just 15 minutes.

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