All About Japan Autos

Future Products Models

Despite a global downturn in the automotive market, one of the most important new vehicles appearing at this week’s British Motor Show is an exotic sports car with an asking price higher than that of some Ferrari and Lamborghini products..

The British-built Lightning GT is a jaw-dropping beauty, but that’s not what makes the car significant, either. The reason the GT matters is its appetite. It doesn’t use a single drop of gasoline.

Motor Trend explains, "The car is pegged to produce 700 horsepower from four independent electric motors mounted inside each wheel. … With charging times of just 10 minutes and a life cycle of 12 years, the batteries have already proved themselves in the electric Phoenix Motors pickup truck. Top speed is claimed to be 130 mph and the 0 to 60 sprint is dispatched in just four seconds. Range is expected to be in the neighborhood of 250 miles as long as the driver doesn’t test the acceleration times or top speed too much."

The U.K.’s AutoCar adds, "The Lightning GT also has regenerative braking at each wheel, traction control, electronic door entry and even a ‘programmable external engine sound generator’ that allows you to have the noise of a V8 in your zero-emissions car."

Jalopnik is skeptical, commenting, "As demonstrated over about seven decades now, the British cottage car industry isn’t exactly a model of reliability, so we’ll be surprised if an all-electric British sports car produces anything more than smoke and irate customers — we can barely keep our gasoline-powered Triumphs running."

But the lightning is not alone. It’s one of several electric high-performance cars in development. The Tesla Roadster is already in production, and California-based Fisker Automotive plans to produce its Karma high-performance electric for the 2010 model year — the same year Lightning says you will be able to buy a GT.

Research the most fuel-efficient small cars and hybrids with U.S. News’ car rankings and reviews