Green supercars lure crisis-hit consumers

The ''Ale'', an experimental high fuel efficiency car built by Fuelvapor Technologies Inc with builder George Parker of Vancouver, British Columbia, is displayed at the New York International Auto Show, March 20, 2008.Photo: Reuters

European consumers have been buying far fewer cars in recent years; Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne says the auto companies "have lost three million (sales) in five years."
That poses an epic challenge for Europe's struggling carmakers: How to rekindle automotive lust in crisis-sated, climate-conscious consumers and lure them back to showrooms.
One not-so-obvious solution was on display this week at the Paris Auto show - green supercars.
No one expects the average customer to shell out the 416,500-euro asking price for the new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Coupe Electric Drive, the "most exclusive and dynamic way to drive an electric car," according to the German luxury brand.
With a combined maximum output of 552 kW and a top speed of 250 km/h, the flagship performance model will likely be the fastest and most powerful production electric car on the road when it goes into extremely limited production in 2013.
Mercedes admits the battery-powered SLS is reserved for those lucky and affluent few who are "enthusiastic about ambitious high-tech solutions for the future of motoring."
But corporate parent Daimler clearly believes the mere presence next year in Mercedes showrooms of the high-performance two-seater, with its signature gull wings and four powerful electric motors - one for each wheel - should attract curious shoppers who just might walk away instead with a new garden-variety A-, B- or C-Class.
NEW GENERATION
Rival BMW is thinking along the same lines. Its i8 plug-in hybrid, first shown as a styling concept at the 2009 Frankfurt show and reprised in Paris, has been described by the company as its "new-generation sports car". It is expected to cost well over 100,000 euros when it arrives at dealers in 2014.
So far BMW has shown several versions of the i8, including a four-passenger coupe and a two-passenger spider. The futuristic i8 features advanced electronic systems and extensive use of lightweight carbon fiber. Like Mercedes' SLS Electric, all four wheels on the BMW are driven, but with a 96kW electric motor powering the front axle and a 164kW turbocharged three-cylinder gasoline engine at the rear. That's a fraction of the muscle supplied in the Mercedes, but given the i8's ultra-light weight, it's enough to propel the car from 0-100km/h in less than five seconds, while returning a frugal 2.7 litres per 100 kilometres.