Jalopnik: Venturi

Venturi Fetish Gets Upgraded Power, Retains Weird Name

Ben Wojdyla — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:40:00 EDT

A constricted passage though which fluid flows and accelerates while the internal pressure drops and an object or action upon which unreasonably excessive attention or reverence is placed, Venturi Fetish. It's French, who knows. But, it's still a pretty slick car and it's ready to join the quickly expanding field of electric sports cars. Just as the Venturi is going into production, we're hearing news...

...of a more powerful and lighter electric motor will be added to the mix. This motor is tiny at only 77 lbs, but it delivers 300 HP with 280 lb.ft. of torque. Mighty impressive, but then again, it better be for 100,000€. And by today's exchange rate that gives the Fetish a pricetag in 'merican bucks of about $14.2 million dollars. Or something around that.

[WorldCarFans]

Super Electric Potential! Venturi Launches New Fetish, Two EV Up-and-Comers

lock — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 12:24:06 EDT

Those zany French electric-supercar builders, Venturi unveiled the newest incarnation of its EV for gearheads, the F tish roadster. The current (heh heh) model sports 31 li-ion batteries, which give it a range of between 100 and 155 miles, depending on the weight of one's foot. The cells can be charged in three to four hours, making it convenient for commuting to places with long extension cords handy. Alongside the F tish, Venturi unveiled two new models, the One, an EV roadster that can draw power from the sun and wind (seriously), and the Eclectic, a weird open box van with a range of 44 miles. Plans are in the works to build the vehicles for series production, with the One priced at around $30,000. [Gallery]

Avant le Fetish: Venturi to Show Electric-Supercar Precursors in Paris

Mike Spinelli — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 09:41:24 EDT

The Tesla's giving it new competition for the mantle of Best Electric Supercar of Ever, but is the Venturi F tish worried? Non! The company announced today that visitors to the Paris Motorshow this September will get to see the range of precursors leading up to the current (heh heh) electric F tish, as they shuffle by munching on les frites de la libert . We'll be there — you'll know us from the H sker D shirts amid the Fa onnable-wearing Euro press.

Venturi Heritage GT3 Car Completes Test Drive

Mike Spinelli — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 15:39:25 EST

Recently reborn Venturi tested its new H ritage GT3 car on the Paul Ricard circuit last week, as part of the FIA GT3 championship's test days. Despite gearbox problems, the Audi V8-powered H ritage — the French specialty automaker's first racer since it was adopted by new sugar daddy — appears to have tested well. JMB Racing, will run a team of three of the cars during the 2006 season. We'll see later this year whether the company's got a winner, or whether it'll remain best known for having Intel inside.

Related:
Venturi Prepares New GT3 Car [internal]

Venturi Prepares New GT3 Car

Mike Spinelli — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 07:35:01 EST

Best known these days at the builder of the F tish electric supercar, Venturi — a recently rescued French specialty car brand and former LeMans competitor — has worked up a car it hopes will rock the 2006 FIA GT3 European championship in spectacular fashion. The "Venturi H ritage GT3," which will debut at the FIA GT3 European championship test days in March 2006, sports a supercharged, 4.2 liter Audi-sourced V8 (450 hp) linked to a six-speed sequential-synchromesh-manual gearbox, and a body and chassis of carbon fiber. The Venturi will join such cars as the Aston Martin DBS9, Lamborghini Gallardo, TVR Sagaris and Lotus Exige GT3 on the approval trail.

Venturi Fetish Has Intel Inside

Mike Spinelli — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 09:00:10 EST

Considering France's Venturi Fetish — the first electric supercar —- is basically a six-figure consumer electronics product, it's not hard to imagine all the chips required to manage functions like battery charging and energy storage, systems applications and communication with the home office for upgrades and related software tweaks. It's that last one that's driving a partnership of sorts between Intel and Venturi. The two companies recently announced they were pooling resources, particularly on the WiMAX wireless broadband technology incorporated into the Fetish for data communication. Intel is an industry supporter of the WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) standards, a kind of metropolitan-area version of WiFi. The companies hope to expand the use of WiMax in the Fetish to include communication with other vehicles — to buy and sell energy — or act as an energy node for utility companies. And, of course, for Dodgeball.

Intel Inside the Venturi Fetish makes energy sharing possible [Gizmag]