BMW has conquered the 2008 International Engine Of The Year awards again, with the N54 Bi-Turbo in the BMW 335i and the BMW 135i taking home the overall award and the 2.5 liter to 3 liter, and other BMW engines winning the 1.4 liter to 1.8 liter award, the 3 liter to 4 liter award, the above 4 liter award, and the best new engine award. Find out more about the results after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of International Engine of The Year 2008 Results

Ferrari has set up a countdown site for its upcoming Ferrari F149 GT car with four sound clips and a promise for more details and photos to be revealed later.

From the sound clips we can guess that the new F149 will come with a V8 engine and will have a SuperFast2 computerised shifting transmission that can do shifts in about 60 milliseconds. You can hear the cogs swapping smoothly without much delay in the drive-by clips, and a V8 growl, likely a derivative of the F430’s 4.3 liter V8.

The GT car will have a front engine and power will go to the rear-wheels, and styling is expected to be inspired by its larger sibling the 612 Scaglietti. The teaser image above gives a shadowy preview of the rear brakelight cluster of the car.

The new Ferrari F149 GT car will be unveiled at the 2008 Paris Motor Show.

MV Agusta F4 Tamburini

Apparently MV Agusta could have a new owner or at least a large shareholder in the form of Tata Motors, according to Italian bike magazine euroMoto. MV Agusta used to be owned by Proton and was disposed of a few years ago for a sum fo 1 Euro. Since then, MV Agusta’s new owners have not been able to do much with the company, and its ails continue, lacking funds to channel towards new product development.

Source [ Translated ]

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Volvo made a bold announcement this week - to have an injury-proof car by the year 2020. Sweden’s head of traffic safety Claes Tingvall doubts the target can be achieved, but I think we all know what is important would be the increases in vehicle safety research and development and new production-worthy safety systems that Volvo will be churning out leading up to 2020.

“I think if you look into the future, we as a community will not accept that we have injuries,” says Jan Ivarsson, head of Volvo’s safety team. Ivarsson’s predecessor invented the three-point seatbelt way back in the 1950s, which is now a standard feature in all cars. Volvo also pioneered crumple zones, side airbags and rear-facing child seats, which all contribute to increased vehicle occupant safety.

In the long run, Ivarsson is of the opinion that we may even have uncrashable cars, which can automatically steer, accelerate and brake out of harm’s way in the case of an imminent car crash.

Source

Mazda has launched a new JDM-only MPV called the Mazda Biante. It’s an MPV designed to have a very tall interior roof, which is useful for those who have difficulties bending their backs when getting into the rear seats of MPVs with low interior roofs.

Mazda has not released any other information on the Biante other than a few photos, but expect the Biante to use similiar engines as the Mazda 8 and the Mazda CX-7 - this would mean the 2.3 liter turbocharged DISI engine or a similiar engine based on the new 2.5 liter engines which replace the old 2.3 liter engines.

Although the Mazda Biante is currently JDM-only, restyled versions could make it out of the Japanese market if Mazda deems it viable.

View more photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Mazda Biante: Japanese market MPV with a tall roof

According to Berita Minggu, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Dato’ Shahrir Samad says Malaysians may soon have to present their identity cards at petrol stations before being able to fill up their fuel tanks with subsidised petrol. Everyone else would have to pay an unsubsidised market price for petrol.

One way of implementing this could be enabling the credit card readers at kiosks to verify that a valid MyKad has been inserted into the reader as all of the readers have been updated to accept and read chip-based cards some time ago, but this could be prone to abuse. The other way would be having manual verification by petrol kiosk attendants, though this would be a slight annoyance to motorists wanting to refuel quickly and go, but it would be a small price to pay to get subsidised prices.

In another report, former PM Tun Dr Mahathir claimed that at the current rate Malaysia would not be able to afford any form of petrol subsidy by 2014.

Source

Sime Darby’s Land Rover (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd displayed its Land Rover Defender 6X4 Puma concept at the Defence Services Asia 2008 exhibition this month, and Land Rover Malaysia says the concept attracted a high level of interest from the Malaysian Armed Forces and numerous foreign visitors.

The Land Rover Defender 6X4 Puma Concept was developed in Malaysia by Land Rover Malaysia and Sasbilt Technologies Malaysia. It features a long wheelbase of 3302mm and the 6-wheeler can run on either 4 wheels (6X4) or all 6 wheels (6X6).

The long wheelbase enables the use of a custom body which can accommodate an electric generator in the rear compartment and a spacious cabin for radio and satellite equipment and at least four crew members. The cabin doors are wider to enable easy access and loading of radio equipment. A full-size antenna can be mounted on the roof for the 6X4 Puma Concept to be used as a VSAT satellite vehicle in the battlefield.

It is powered by Land Rover’s Ford Duratorq “Puma” 2.4 liter common rail turbodiesel engine. Depending on tuning, it can produce between 74hp to 135hp and between 185Nm to 285Nm of torque.

One more rear shot after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Land Rover Defender 6X4 Puma Concept

Click to enlarge

The Perodua Kembara was launched in 1998, and as one of the cheapest 4WD SUVs in the market, it took the lion’s share of the SUV market - 60% by 1999. The Kembara’s successor - the Perodua Nautica 4WD was launched today and Perodua seems to be approaching it differently, bringing it as a premium product imported from Japan (a first for a Perodua) with only one variant priced at RM89,900 OTR with insurance. While the Kembara took 60%, Perodua only intends to take 5% of the current SUV market, with sales of about 150 to 200 units monthly.

The Perodua Nautica is essentially a Perodua-badged version of the short wheelbase Daihatsu Terios/Toyota Rush. The front bumper and grille is different, and these along with the rear bumper are made locally in Malaysia, while the rest of the car comes completely assembled from Japan. For lighting, you get foglamps and twin projector halogen headlamps (a step up from the highline Toyota Rush which has a single projector) while the rear brake lamp cluster use conventional bulbs.

The chassis is based on a derivative of the Toyota Avanza platform but has additional reinforcements to make it 30% stiffer than its derivative models. The suspension design consists of MacPherson struts at the front and a live axle at the rear.

The longitudinally mounted 1.5 liter DVVT engine is the 3SZ-VE producing 109hp at 6,000rpm and 141Nm of torque at 4,400rpm. This engine is also found in the Rush and Avanza 1.5. It is mated to a single overdrive 4-speed automatic, and a full-time 4WD system which has a centre differential lock which can be activated from a button on the dashboard. It locks so that the front and rear axles rotate at the same speed.

The shifter for the 4-speed automatic is located in a more conventional position between the two front seats, unlike another more premium-looking design which is available which positions it at an angle more towards the dashboard, allowing it to be much more closer to the steering wheel so that hand movements between the steering wheel and shifter is minimal.

Time for some dimensions - the Perodua Nautica weighs 1,200kg, is 4115mm long, 1695mm wide and 1740mm high. Interior space is 1800mm long, 1385mm wide and 1240mm high. The width between the front passengers is 700mm, and seat height is 740mm. The wheels are 16 inch alloys with 215/65R16 tyres. The cargo area takes 380 liters, and the rear seats can be folded down for more luggage capacity.

Additional niceties include electrically adjustable and flipping wing mirrors and a multi-info display on the meter panel which displays a clock, average fuel consumption, external temperature and remaining travel range.

Click here for more photos and a video of the Perodua Nautica.

Click here to read the rest of Perodua Nautica 4WD: Specifications and Photos

The new SEAT Ibiza was first introduced as the SEAT Bocanegra Concept car, which was a nice evil-looking 3-door car. The production Ibiza that was launched later was a 5-door. It didn’t look too bad, but it was obvious the 3-door looked alot better.

The good news is SEAT has just announced it will be producing a 3-door variant of the Ibiza as well, and a twin-charged 1.4 TFSI Cupra hot hatch version will feature more design cues from the Bocanegra Concept like the bumper, grille and headlamps.

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Hyundai has unveiled the Hyundai i800, which is actually the UK market name for the Hyundai H1 Starex. It will go on sale on the 20th June 2008 onwards for £19,495.

The i800 moniker most likely refers to its ability to carry 8 people comfortably with 851 liters of boot space remaining even when all 8 people are on board. Each passenger has their own individually controllable overhead vent. Admittedly it is a minibus-style MPV, but Hyundai says they have tried to give the i800 a more car-like ambiance.

The Hyundai i800 is 5,125mm long, 1,920mm wide and 1,925mm tall, and has a turning circle of 5.61 meters. Under the hood is a 2.5 liter CRDi turbodiesel engine with a variable geometry turbocharger producing 170 PS and 392Nm of torque. Hyundai says with its 75 liter tank filled with diesel, the i800 can achieve more than 900km of mileage.

A lower powered, lower spec version for more industrial usage will come later at a cheaper price.

More images of the Hyundai i800 after the jump.

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Click here to read the rest of Hyundai i800 8-seater launched in the UK