Diesel-powered Loremo promises to hit 150 miles per gallon

It's not the first time we've seen diesel touted as a solution for more efficient vehicles, but Loremo AG's new eponymously-titled vehicle may just have all of 'em beat -- if it can live up to its claims, that is. According to the vehicle's designers, in addition to diesel, they relied on engine efficiency, low weight, and minimal drag to boost the fuel-efficiency, which they say could top out at lofty 150 miles per gallon. With numbers like those, it should come as no surprise that Loremo's also entered the car in the Automotive X-Prize competition but, unlike most of the other entrants, this one will apparently actually be available to the general public relatively soon. That'll supposedly come sometime next year, with Europeans the first in line to get their hands on the vehicle for the relative bargain price of €15,000 (or $22,000) -- a redesigned North American version is then set to follow a year later. As if that wasn't enough Loremo's also promising a spiffier 3-cylinder GT version that'll run you $30,000, and both hybrid and fully electric versions, although those are only described as "in the works."

[mark @ Feb 21st 2008 5:54PM]

ugly!

[phanbouy @ Feb 21st 2008 6:00PM]

bah, i think it looks awesome

[Cahlito @ Feb 21st 2008 6:01PM]

only the front fender and maybe the rims are ugly, but aside from that its a pretty nice car. On the other hand I LOlL at the claims of 150mpg. I'll file this along with that EU company that said they had perpetual energy or something like that.

[Michael LaFramboise @ Feb 21st 2008 8:39PM]

Aww... not enough bling for you?

[Abuzar @ Feb 22nd 2008 12:21AM]

All it needs is some flame stickers! That will make it go faster at 200MPG.

[collide007 @ Feb 22nd 2008 3:33AM]

In my opinion it isn't that bad actually, best looking 'Green' car i've seen, i'm mean we've all seen how bad the 'others' are.

[Jack @ Feb 22nd 2008 6:54AM]

excluding the tesla roadster obv :p

[mushrooshi @ Feb 21st 2008 6:01PM]

other than the lack of the bumper, it looks great.

[PGP-Protector @ Feb 21st 2008 6:03PM]

That would be worth it for the daily commute.

[ugg.tryptophan @ Feb 22nd 2008 1:23AM]

yeah, only fill it up once every few months

[jm @ Feb 21st 2008 6:03PM]

what in the world is it with these car manufacturers.
environmentally safe != license to design fugly cars

geez hire the bmw/mercedes... hell even apple guys to design your car.

Honestly this must be conspiracy.

car advisory> environmentally safe cars reduce our profit margin
car company> okay but if we make them ugly enough no one will want them anyway.

[tony @ Feb 21st 2008 7:15PM]

Ugly? It's called aerodynamics. you can't get this kind of mileage while ignoring the effects of wind drag. Anything that gets over 100 mpg is friggin playmate-of-the-month-beautiful to me. Check out the Aptera (aptera.com), shaped like a raindrop, 300 MPG. Now that gives me a chub (that I could then stick up the a$$ of Exxon!).

[Nick @ Feb 21st 2008 7:14PM]

Please
Let's never bring together the realms of Apple and the automotive world.
I know, I know, they teamed up with Land Rover and possibly others...

But man... I love cars too much to let Apple go and make them all... Apple-y.

[sitruc @ Feb 21st 2008 6:04PM]

KITT still does better.

[ilh @ Feb 21st 2008 6:27PM]

The start of those stupid looking "futuristic" cars that were designed along with the home of the future back in the 60s or whenever it was?
Won't be far off when we'll get a remake of I, Robot but with real cars as this aint too far off the 1 that Will Smith was driving. Just need to mix the Audi TT shape in a bit and there it is.

[Mark @ Feb 21st 2008 6:39PM]

Every fucking electric vehicle is "in the works"..WE HAD ELECTRIC CARS 100 YEARS AGO. NO EXCUSE for them to be "in the works"...Bring out the damned car! Are you being pressured by Exxon to keep saying "Electric cars are in the works" until their fool-cells come out?

[Nick @ Feb 21st 2008 7:17PM]

And NO MATTER WHAT
NO MATTER BLOODY WHAT
You're going to end up powering your electric car
with your household outlet
FED BY COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS
So get over your conspiracy theories
and invest in solar or wind technology
before you even think about talking shit about hydrogen.

[cromas @ Feb 21st 2008 8:36PM]

Nick, that argument is entirely bunk, because burning coal at a central location to provide electricity to thousands of homes is FAR more efficient than burning gas in each individual's car.

[sean @ Feb 21st 2008 6:39PM]

150mpg.... hmmmm that's maybe 6 or 7 days per gallon of driving for me. let's say at the very least a 12 gallon tank... that's me filling up every 2 and a half months???? SOLD! i don't give a sh*t how ugly it is.

[BigD145 @ Feb 21st 2008 6:40PM]

"Ugly vs. the death of the entire human species. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ................ I guess I'll have to get back to you on that. What's that? I was supposed to make a decision last week? Damn, my nuts sure are in a vice on this one."

Get a life, people. If you really want to get around in vehicles and live long enough to enjoy it, get over yourselves and your 'beauty' ego.

[Abuzar @ Feb 21st 2008 6:51PM]

The sad thing is, that at the rate we burn fossil fuels we will pollute our environment to an extreme point before we run out of fossil fuels.

[swmarc @ Feb 21st 2008 7:21PM]

look up the chevy volt they are bringing it back in 2010 with 154mpg and looks sexy.

[jm1 @ Feb 21st 2008 7:29PM]

firstly @nick
what you are daft,
i mentioned bmw and mercedes first and apple as the last resort you just so happen to pick out apple.*roll eyes*

@tony
give me a break about this aerodynamic nonsense as an excuse for bad aesthetic car design.
For one, ferrari's and lambourgini's are very aerodynamic and last i remembered didnt look like some 8 year old drew them up, So dont give me the aerodymamic nonsense..mmkay

This looks like a sucky 1996 saturn sedan...just with more suckage.

[stitifier @ Feb 21st 2008 8:04PM]

It looks fine to me. My general criteria for sports-car sexy is a composite of a) does it look like it can go fast? and b) can I actually afford to drive the stupid thing?, so this one actually comes out looking pretty sexy. Maybe not Scarlett Johannsen sexy. But Jennifer Aniston sexy.

[patsy @ Feb 21st 2008 10:26PM]

Well, if you consider Ferrari and Lamborghini the pinnacle of good car looks, you're shopping in the wrong country. Germany gave us Porsche and the TT, which this car very much falls in line with. For I-wish-my-penis-were-as-big-as-my-car angular looks, you've got to head down south a couple of countries. We're talking form-follows-function versus lots of angles, creases and wings, Bauhaus versus Giugiaro. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I'd take a 911 over a Lambo any day looks-wise.

[Wilson @ Feb 21st 2008 7:29PM]

i wonder what is the top speed..

[Zach @ Feb 22nd 2008 12:38AM]

i don't know (and i doubt anyone does)
but it's VERY safe to say that you will not be topping 100, aside from STEEP hills.
3 cylinder diesel

[Zach @ Feb 22nd 2008 12:39AM]

damnit, didn't finish my comment because i made an arrow :(
anyway it was basically

70-90 depending on weight, but at those speeds don't be expecting 150mpg
i think the standard speeds they test at are like 35-55mph? city - highway respectively?

[jm1 @ Feb 21st 2008 7:31PM]

Just to add a good example of electric meets good design aesthetics is the Telsa electric car.
...whats the excuse for that looking hot and this looking ugly????

[Kasona @ Feb 21st 2008 9:22PM]

well the $70,000 price difference between the two sounds like a pretty good excuse to me

[Eric Boyd @ Feb 21st 2008 7:55PM]

For more information on the Loremo and other Automotive X Prize cars, check out:

http://xprizecars.com/2007/12/loremo-ls.php
http://xprizecars.com/

[Kyle @ Feb 21st 2008 8:02PM]

There's a huge problem.

It looks like crap.

[Uno @ Feb 21st 2008 8:06PM]

Also, I couldn't give two shits about the environment, or the survival of the human species :) I'll stick to driving my fossil fueling burning powerhouses.

Maybe when these vegan pussies can design a truck (never will I drive a car) that's "green" and is at least 3x more powerful than the 7.3L International Diesel in Fords, the maaaaaybbbe I would consider it. 'Till then, I'll piss off the eco-nuts.

[phanbouy @ Feb 21st 2008 8:32PM]

I think that's called "sociopathy".

[jason51873 @ Feb 21st 2008 9:09PM]

You are one of the biggest idots I have seen post on this site. How brainless can you be?

[phanbouy @ Feb 21st 2008 9:15PM]

From Wiki:

Psychopathy is a psychological construct describing chronic immoral and antisocial behavior.[1] The term is often used interchangeably with sociopathy[2]. Psychopathic personality disorders have been the most studied of any personality disorder. Today the term can legitimately be used in two ways. One is in the legal sense, "psychopathic personality disorder" under the Mental Health Act 1983 of the UK. The other use is as a severe form of the antisocial or dissocial personality disorder as exclusively defined by the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)

Sociopathy is referred to be a person with psychopathy personality disorder, unlike psychopaths. Sociopath's life histories are often characterized by a chaotic family life, lack of parental attention and guidance, parental substance abuse and antisocial behavior, poor relationships, divorce, and adverse neighborhoods

[patsy @ Feb 21st 2008 10:49PM]

> 7.3L International Diesel

Diesel?! Man, you're one big pussy there. Just think of all the wasted opportunity to burn more fuel, when you could instead be driving a gasoline burning Hummer or Suburban. Damn pinko commie tree hugger!

[phanbouy @ Feb 21st 2008 11:40PM]

lol@patsy. yeah, a real man will just go to every gas station in town, put the pump in the nearest storm drain, and pump them dry until they've maxed out all their credit cards.

[Abuzar @ Feb 21st 2008 8:31PM]

I honestly don't mind the looks. Of course I also think that Porches are bad looking cars, so maybe my opinion doesn't count. Oh and the E46 M3 looked better than the new one.

[max andrews @ Feb 21st 2008 11:17PM]

I agree, the E46 is a beautiful car. Also the E39 M5. Hot. You know you can pick up an E39 now for under $30k? Too bad it gets shitty mileage or I'd be all over it.

[yooper1019 @ Feb 21st 2008 9:50PM]

All you haters out there would be creaming you pants if this car had an Apple sticker on it.

[Hallx @ Feb 22nd 2008 10:07AM]

icar? :P

[jamesFF @ Feb 22nd 2008 12:00AM]

It would be nice if the car came with doors.
You have to enter in from the hood!

[Carbonize @ Feb 22nd 2008 3:31AM]

But I've heard bad things happen to people going through the 'hood'? Have to risk getting shot or mugged just to get in your car? Now that's going to put some people off.

[dc @ Feb 22nd 2008 12:23AM]

Volkswagen's already built a car that gets 235 miles per gallon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_1-litre_car . I don't know why no one mentioned this to the good X-Prize folks, but this is one hot little number. Their execs roadtripped in it between cities for a shareholder meeting.

Coming in 2010... to Europe. :( Contact http://www.vw.com to encourage them to bring it to the US so we don't end up like the little red car in this cartoon: http://stuff.sparkleworks.com/share.php !

I did; they emailed me back to say that customer comments do affect their decisions.

[Ineptitude @ Feb 22nd 2008 12:46AM]

I'd like to know if 130mpg is on gas alone or in combination with a charged battery.
The Aptera advertises 300mpg. In the fine print you find out that's over a 120 mile range with a charged battery. If you burn gasoline alone it will get 130mpg. That said, 130mpg on gas alone is astounding. I have put money down on my Aptera, and will take delivery of #656 off the production line.
As far as looks go: Form should follow function. I don't like the style of the Aptera. But, with a drag coefficient of .11 it's F'n sexy. The Loremo has tried to take a middle of the road approach. It's part aerodynamic and part Saturn wannabe. It may appeal to some and that's all it takes. If you think ugly will keep people from buying something they THINK is practical just look at all the Chevy Aztecs on the road.

[Garrett H @ Feb 22nd 2008 1:21AM]

I like that you state that this car is new. It debuted at the 2006 Geneva Auto show, making it two years old already.
And it's not eponymously titled, it's acronymously titled, short for Low Resistance Mobile.

[happy_penguin @ Feb 22nd 2008 2:33AM]

The bottom line is this: Gas is cheap. Even at the price we're paying in the US gasoline is still cheaper than it was 25 or so years ago when adjusted for inflation. As long as gas is cheap, people will continue to use it and there really is no incentive for manufacturers to take the more exotic technologies too seriously. Don't expect to be able to buy a car like this for a very, very long time.

[Jason @ Feb 22nd 2008 11:50AM]

You say gas is cheap so nobody will buy these cars. Answer this question for me; who pays more for gas, 'johnny' who drives a hybrid that gets 40-45 mpg or 'bill' who drives a 8 cylinder truck that gets 10-15 mpg? Now translate this into a 'next gen' hybrid, electric, etc. (whatever they may be) which averages 150 miles (like this car says it can do). How much cheaper is gas now? A toyota prius is about 22,000 or so and averages about 45 mpg vs a non-green car of similar price. The average 'second' car would only get about 25-35 mpg, and less if it was a truck or suv.

Gas is cheaper now than it was a few decades ago, but it would be even cheaper if our cars had a 1000% mpg increase.

[happy_penguin @ Feb 22nd 2008 7:43PM]

I said gas is cheap. If you don't believe it look here:
http://www.fintrend.com/inflation/images/charts/Oil/Gasoline_inflation_chart.htm

Go back and read what I said. I never said that nobody would buy these cars. What I am saying is that supply and demand dictate the market. Speaking from a standpoint of the American market, there will be no great demand for cars such as this when a) cheaper, standard cars get enough MPG for most people and b) American people still want high performance, fun to drive or big cars. There's always a tradeoff no matter what you buy and there is only so much room in the market for each model. To answer your question, or not: It's irrelevant. American people for the most part still drive what they like to drive rather than what is most fuel efficient. If gas goes to $6 US per gallon, that may change but for now, forget it.