Loremo AG was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

automaker The automotive industry comprises a wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, selling, repairing, and modification of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industries ...

corporation, based in

Marl, North Rhine-Westphalia Marl () is a town and a municipality in the Recklinghausen (district), district of Recklinghausen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated near the Wesel-Datteln Canal, approx. 10 km north-west of Recklinghausen. It has about 90, ...

. It was founded in 2000 and went out of business in 2010. Loremo was focused on designing prototypes of cars with very low weight and air resistance, the term "Loremo" is an abbreviation for "Low Resistance Mobile". Initially the car was conceived for

emerging markets An emerging market (or an emerging country or an emerging economy) is a market that has some characteristics of a developed market, but does not fully meet its standards. This includes markets that may become developed markets in the future or we ...

such as China and India. The project is currently inactive. No plans to restart development are currently known.

Gasoline and diesel vehicles

At the 2006

Geneva Auto Show The Geneva International Motor Show was an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. The show was hosted at the Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. The Salon was organised b ...

, the company demonstrated its concept car which the company said would become a 157 mpg_US (1.5 L/100 km)

turbodiesel The term turbo-diesel, also written as turbodiesel and turbo diesel, refers to any diesel engine equipped with a turbocharger. As with other engine types, turbocharging a diesel engine can significantly increase its efficiency and power output, ...

car. Two different Loremo models were waiting in the pipeline to be produced: the Loremo LS base model, and the sportier Loremo GT. The Loremo GT would have been based on a three-cylinder turbo diesel engine and with this configuration the vehicle still would have managed to achieve 87 miles per gallon. Both models would have been equipped with a

manual transmission A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canadian English, Canada, British English, the United Kingdom and American English, the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed ...

and be

mid-engined In automotive engineering, a mid-engine layout describes the placement of an automobile engine in front of the rear-wheel axles, but behind the front axle. History The mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive format can be considered the original layout of ...

in a 2+2 configuration. According to the company, the Loremo LS base model would have produced only 50 grams of

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

per

kilometer The kilometre ( SI symbol: km; or ), spelt kilometer in American and Philippine English, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand metres (kilo- being the SI prefix for ). It is the preferred mea ...

, which would have been better than any other car on the market in terms of

environmental sustainability Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

. By comparison, the next most energy efficient model was the

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by German automaker

Daimler AG Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacturers. Daimler-B ...

which produced 88 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer. The presentation of the Loremo during the

Geneva Motor Show The Geneva International Motor Show was an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. The show was hosted at the Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. The Salon was organised b ...

in 2006 focused on the car's body, as it still lacked an engine. In September 2007, the company successfully accomplished the car's

proof of concept A proof of concept (POC or PoC), also known as proof of principle, is an inchoate realization of a certain idea or method in order to demonstrate its feasibility or viability. A proof of concept is usually small and may or may not be complete ...

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, as part of the annual International Motor Show. In preparation of presenting the first driving prototype, the Loremo L1 was equipped with a turbodiesel motor. However, in light of diminishing

fossil fuels A fossil fuel is a flammable carbon compound- or hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the buried remains of prehistoric organisms (animals, plants or microplanktons), a process that occurs within geologica ...

, an

electric motor An electric motor is a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a electromagnetic coil, wire winding to gene ...

was expected to be available in the lineup in addition to the originally planned models. On 21 January 2009 the company announced that the more powerful version Loremo GT would not be equipped with a 3-cylinder diesel engine but with a more powerful (850 cc, 45 KW) petrol engine. There were no conventional doors on the Loremo automobile. Getting in and out of the car was done by lifting the front portion of the car, including the windscreen, up and forward. The section was hinged at the front of the car where a radiator would normally sit. This method of entry is unconventional, but Loremo AG says that it is convenient. The project was in prototype stage; specific plans for mass production had not been made public. An area reserved for setting up a factory in Indupark Dorsten-Marl was on offer to other organisations since the start of 2009. A boardroom shuffle and a lack of partners and capital financing left the project with an uncertain future. A new entry in the company blog was made in August 2010, claiming "promising discussions with a reputable investor from Asia". According to ''

Car and Driver ''Car and Driver'' (''CD'' or ''C/D'') is an American automotive enthusiast magazine first published in 1955. In 2006 its total circulation was 1.23 million. It is owned by Hearst Magazines, who purchased it from its prior owner Hachette Fi ...

'' magazine in August 2010, the Loremo "can't be saved" and "it's over".

All-electric vehicles

The next step in development would have been an electric-powered car. According to the company, on 11 April 2009 the electrical version Loremo EV drove for the first time on public roads and reached speeds of up to 100 km/h. A film about this drive was published on YouTube.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official Loremo Website
*
YouTube video
picturing the prototype of the Loremo as presented during the International Motor Show in Frankfurt am Main, September 2007 *Anothe
YouTube video
featuring the electric-powered version of the Loremo, filmed in Dorsten/Marl, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, May 2009 *Public Address Science
The Astonishing New Car from Bavaria that Won't Cost the Earth
(Audio file, broadcast May 12, 2007) Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Germany Electric concept cars Battery electric vehicle manufacturers Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive vehicles Electric vehicle manufacturers of Germany companies based in North Rhine-Westphalia Recklinghausen (district)