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Funning around with ZF's Smart, Advanced Urban Vehicles

ZF has a lot of experience building various electric vehicle parts, including transmissions, but it doesn't put them all together into one cute little package that often. The ZF Advanced Urban Vehicle changes that, and shows what the company can do when it takes bits and pieces of its admittedly cool tech and throws them all into the shell of an old Suzuki Swift. We got to control the all-electric beast at an event in Germany this summer, using nothing but a connected iPad. There were three headline technologies on the AUV (also called the Smart Urban Vehicle): the remote control Smart Parking Assist function, the all-electric rear-axle drive electric Twist Beam (eTB), and the PreVision Cloud Assist. PreVision Cloud Assist ZF had a short track set up for us to try out the PreVision Cloud Assist. The first time around the track, nothing was different. It's not supposed to be. The trick with Cloud Assist is that the car saves real-world driver interactions into its memory and, with the addition of GPS coordinates, starts to learn how to drive the route. Go to work the same way every day? If you're being assisted by a cloud, then all you have to do is steer. The car learns how fast it can take a turn and when it needs to slow down, with the idea here is to let the car move when it can, increasing the efficiency and range of an EV. You're still in charge in case of traffic ahead, but in open road circumstances, you won't need to touch the brakes or the gas. Just the steering wheel. On my second time around the demo track (which had data from other drivers who had tested the car earlier in the day), I kept my feet off the pedals, and the darn thing worked. It slowed me down when necessary to make a curve, but kept me at a brisk pace that felt a bit too fast but was in fact totally appropriate. Electric Twist Beam There's another bit of cool tech hidden near the front wheels. The car uses a MacPherson strut that was modified to offer a wider steering angle, up to 75 degrees, to be exact. ZF calls this the electric Twist Beam (eTB), and it gives the car an incredibly tight turning radius, about 6.5 meters. An axle like this could go into an EV or an ICE vehicle, but it makes a lot of sense in an electric car since it does have a major problem: it can't be powered. No worries, thought ZF engineers, who made the little SUV rear-wheel-drive by adding two electric motors.

Suzuki Jimny is the classic Defender homage Land Rover should be building

Lake District, U.K. – The Land Rover Defender is to Brits what the F-150 is to Americans. Or rather it was, before it got too expensive and the farmers all switched to Japanese pick-ups. The Defender was effectively put out to pasture, relegated to being a lifestyle trinket. And Land Rover's endless prevarication over replacing the Defender can be partly attributed to this dilemma: Should it be in the original's mold, a fix-it-with-hammers rugged utility vehicle? Or should it concede that market and instead become a premium premium-priced Mercedes G-Class rival? Meanwhile, while Land Rover had dithered, others have capitalized – not least Suzuki's Jimny, which nails the seemingly conflicting demands of the new Defender's brief in one cute, pint-sized package So too is the Jimny priced at a level buyers in markets where it is offered can chalk up as a discretionary purchase. Dating back to the early 1970s, the Jimny has a heritage of its own to draw upon. But this lo-fi remix of traditional 4x4 tech and functionally slick styling has scored a bullseye for both utility users and the hipster brigade, both of whom place great value in authenticity. True, U.S. buyers won't have the option of the Jimny as they will the Defender, no matter how many emails Suzuki receives. But it's interesting to explore how it pulls the rug from underneath Land Rover, right here on the British stalwart's home soil. To demonstrate this we've travelled to the Lake District, a picturesque region on England's northwest coast with classic countryside vistas. Outside of the U.K., mountains topping out a little over 3,000 feet sound little to write home about – but, like the Jimny, modest size and ruggedness aren't mutually exclusive and there are trails here to test any street-spec off-roader. Competing pressures for access and a popular backlash against mechanized vehicles in the countryside mean tight controls for recreational drivers though, with many once-popular trails now closed to traffic. Those that remain accessible carry severe restrictions, our chosen route over Gatescarth Pass rarely opened to traffic and, when it is, limited to 4x4s with wheelbases of 100 inches or less. A Wrangler would just scrape through but these remain a rare sight in the U.K., and the limit is arguably skewed to favor the home team: the 90-inch, short-wheelbase Defenders that remain a staple for the quaintly English pursuit of 'green-laning'.

Japanese tuner adds 1980s rally flair to the Suzuki Jimny

Since its launch in 2018, the fourth-generation Suzuki Jimny has been modified by a long list of tuners from all over the world. We've seen it turned into a mini Ford Bronco, a Mercedes-Benz G-Class lookalike, a clone of the original Land Rover Defender, and a small pickup truck. The latest Jimny-based builds explore a completely different avenue by giving the off-roader a look inspired by rally cars from the 1980s. Designed by Japanese tuner DAMD for the 2024 Tokyo Auto Salon, the builds are called Little 5 and Little Delta, respectively. The name says it all: the Little 5 is a tribute to Renault's 5 Turbo and 5 Turbo 2 and the Little Delta draws inspiration from the Lancia Delta Integrale. While both models were hatchbacks, the retro look works surprisingly well thanks in part to the Jimny's small footprint and boxy proportions. Both builds receive the same basic body kit, which includes a deeper front bumper that looks much closer to the 5's than to the Delta's and flared wheel arches, and they ride on OZ Racing wheels. DAMD fitted the Little 5 with a redesigned front end that brings rectangular lights and Renault's diamond-shaped logo, "NON-TURBO" decals on the doors for a touch of humor, and a roof-mounted spoiler. Blue paint adds a finishing touch to the look. Painted red, the Little Delta gets a specific grille with four round lights and bright trim as well as a specific spoiler. DAMD hasn't released interior photos. It looks like the Little 5 uses standard Jimny seats while the Little Delta receives front sport seats. Technical specifications haven't been released, either, but we have a decent idea of what's under the hood. Suzuki offers the Jimny with two engines: a turbocharged, 658-cubic-centimeter three-cylinder fitted to base models in Japan and a naturally-aspirated, 1.5-liter four-cylinder offered in the rest of the world. The decals on the Little 5's doors suggest power comes from the latter, which develops 102 horsepower. We don't know what's next for either concept, but we wouldn't be surprised to see both body kits join DAMD's catalog in the coming months.  Related Video Featured Gallery DAMD Suzuki Jimny Little 5 and Little Delta Aftermarket Design/Style Suzuki SUV Off-Road Vehicles