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Audi Q3 to begin Spanish production in 2011

April 23, 2009 at 12:39 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Audi, Cars, International News

Audi Q3 Theophilus
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The Audi Q3, a third addition to the Audi Q range of SUVs will begin manufacturing in Spain in 2011. Currently none of the Q range share a plant – the Q7 is built in Slovakia while the Q5 is built in Audi’s homeland of Ingolstadt.

The new compact Audi Q3 has yet to be revealed in production or close to production form yet, but Audi has given us some teasers in the form of the Audi Cross Coupe and Cross Cabriolet concepts last year, with the Cross Coupe being a 4-door SUV with a fastback roofline, and the latter being a 2-door cabriolet with SUV styling and ride height. In fact Audi has said the new Q3 will have a coupe-like roofline, which points to the aforementioned concepts.

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All-new Jaguar XJ set for 9th July debut

April 22, 2009 at 11:37 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Jaguar

Jaguar XJ Teaser

Jaguar has released a teaser image of the upcoming all-new Jaguar XJ, set to be unveiled on the 9th of July 2009, after of which the company will start taking orders when the production car hits showrooms end-2009, with the first deliveries to happen in early 2010. Both a short wheelbase and a long wheelbase version will be sold. If the interior of the new XJ ends up anything like the XF, you can expect it to have the nicest chauffeur (optional) interior ever. It’s also built on an aluminium body structure like the outgoing XJ, which should bode well for its power to weight ratio. They also have a video version of the teaser image above, which you can check out after the jump.
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What do you want to know about the Exora?

April 22, 2009 at 9:09 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Malaysian Makes, Proton, Proton Exora - Proton MPV 2009

Proton Exora

The Proton Exora has been launched and it won’t be long until the car is handed out to members of the media. An MPV is quite a different animal from a regular car.

People buy it for different reasons, and most rational people just want a big box to move people or stuff around. I don’t have a bunch of kids to lug around as of yet so perhaps it is better if you guys share with me, what would you like me to check out in a write-up of the Proton Exora? Please do share your questions in the comments section of this story and I will try my best to answer all of them in a future test drive story.

Please keep the comments here to questions only. To share your opinion or showroom experiences of the Proton Exora there is the launch story.

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Rolls-Royce Ghost: name of the new RR4!

April 21, 2009 at 3:29 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Rolls Royce

Rolls-Royce Ghost

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars have announced the official name for the model only known as the new Rolls-Royce RR4 so far, previewed as the 200EX Concept early this year. The new car will be called the Rolls-Royce Ghost, in a similiar naming theme with its bigger brother, the Phantom.

Also released with the announcement are some updated specs. The 200EX Concept had a V12 engine (no other details) and a 6-speed auto. The final Rolls-Royce Ghost production car will have a 6.6 litre turbocharged V12 – that’s up 0.6 litres from the 6.0 litre unit in the BMW 760i.

Like the 760i, it will be mated to a ZF 8-speed automatic, and while Rolls-Royce says the 6.6 litre will produced over 500 horsepower, it may very well be closer to 600 since the 760i already makes 544 horses.

Dimensions-wise. the Ghost will measure 5399mm long, 1948mm side, and 1550mm tall with a wheelbase of 3,295mm. That’s a good measure longer than the F02 LWB 7-Series 3,210mm wheelbase, but shorter than the Phanton’s 3,571mm and the Phantom Coupe’s 3,320mm.
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Honda City Coupe 1.8 i-VTEC Artist’s Impression

April 21, 2009 at 3:00 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Concept Cars, Honda

Honda City Coupe
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Correct me if I am wrong but I think the only coupes that Honda still sell are in the US, where both a Civic Coupe and the Accord Coupe are available.

Theophilus Chin whipped up this impression of a Honda City Coupe, which could be quite fun here in Malaysia as a sportier model available with the 1.8 litre SOHC i-VTEC paired to a manual gearbox.

Honda City Coupe
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The City is already offered in China with the 140 PS engine so it should be very easy to fit in. But during these troubled economic times perhaps such niche models are not possible even if they studied it internally in the first place, so this would most probably stay as what it is, some fun with Photoshop.

Actually if you do a double take, just like how the new Kia Forte looks a little similiar to the City, the City Coupe looks rather like a Kia Koup, doesn’t it?

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Perodua MPV (D46T) Interior Exhibited at MSAM

April 20, 2009 at 11:53 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Local News, Malaysian Makes, Perodua, Perodua Alza - New Perodua D46T MPV 2009

Perodua D46T
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Reader Nazril sent in these 3 shots of the new Perodua D46T MPV, which apparently is being displayed in near full glory at the Minggu Amanah Saham 2009 in Johor Bahru. Thanks Nazril! Now we can compare these shots with the already revealed shots of the Japanese model so we can see what the differences are.

Perodua D46T
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Quite interestingly these shots show a dashboard that has its dash-mounted shifter very intact – it’s not been moved to the floor! So that’s nice. The dash has a two tone design, dark att the top and beige at the bottom, with some form of integrated audio head unit with steering wheel audio control on the steering wheel.

The front seats are joined together (not the backrests though) as a single bench, and the arm rest in the middle looks like it can be flipped up to become a small backrest for the middle area, unlike the bench seat this part was found in the Passo Sette. No sign of a handbrake so it must be foot-operated!

Perodua D46T
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Of course there are some changes compared to the Japanese unit. The displayed Perodua D46T MPV interior used blue backlighting for its head unit and a blue instrument panel, while the Japanese car uses orange. The head unit design is also very different, but I see a little mic there so there should be a Bluetooth handsfree.

Air conditioning controls have been changed from automatic climate control with an LCD panel to a manual 3-knob version that looks like it shares parts with the Toyota Vios, but this 3-knob control is also found in the low spec versions of the Passo Sette.

For more info on the new Perodua MPV (currently called by its Perodua D46T codename) based on the Toyota Passo Sette set for a launch later this year, refer to the linked posts below.

Related Posts:
Toyota Passo Sette: 7-seater MPV full details
Perodua MPV D46T spotted at Restoran Jejantas Sg Buloh
Perodua MPV D46T to sell for RM56k to RM66k!

479 Comments      

2010 Porsche Panamera 4-door GT officially revealed at Auto Shanghai 2009!

April 20, 2009 at 2:57 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Porsche, Videos

Porsche Panamera

The new Porsche Panamera has finally made its world public debut at the 2009 Auto Shanghai show in China. The fact that its debut location was picked in China shows us how China and other Asian markets are fast coming up the radar of European marques such as Porsche. In fact, Porsche sales in Asia grew 140% during the last fiscal year.

At launch time only the V8 and turbocharged V8 models will be made available but Porsche has revealed that a more economical 3.6 litre V6 and a hybrid model will be coming later. The Panamera measures 4970mm in length and 1420mm in height and offers 4 seats with a center console stretching all the way from the dash to the rear separating the left and right occupants.

The Panamera will also offer a start-stop system with the automatic transmission (this is usually paired only with a manual in the past), an air suspension with additional air volume available on demand in each spring, and an adjustable extendable rear spoiler in the Panamera Turbo.

Look after the jump for a a full photo gallery as well as a video of the Panamera exterior, interior and some driving footage.
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Crazy highway car chase in OC, California!

April 20, 2009 at 1:37 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Videos

US Cop Chase

As we are all told, the new Helang Lebuhraya Mitsubishi Lancer Evos purchased by the police are to be used for high-speed chases. While it would be exciting to see one I really can’t think of any way to see one in real life without you being in danger yourself. Have you seen a high speed chase in real life before? I know all I’ve seen are chases in movies, but here’s one that happened in real life just over a week ago!

47 year old Peggy Ann Boesing first allegedly tried to run over officers with her car and then led Californian highway cops on a high speed chase in her Scion that went all the way from Long Beach to Rancho Santa Margarita. It lasted about an hour, from 6am to 7am. In efforts to lose the cops, she even went the opposite direction on a highway!

Really dangerous! View the chase from a helicam after the jump.
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Latest Transformers 2 HD Preview Footage!

April 20, 2009 at 12:56 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Videos

Transformers 2

We should all thank Michael Bay for giving us this new Transformers movie and soon Transformers 2, for these movies are a chance for us to ogle at nice cars in action without having to wait for the next installment of Fast & Furious.

Here is the latest preview cut for the Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen movie. This time we get to check out more of Bumblebee and the Decepticon Audi R8 appears again! As with my previous TF movie trailer feature, there are 2 versions, a regular version and a HD version which you should really play fullscreen. You’ll probably have to let it load abit first before playing. Enjoy!
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Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe “Beauty” TVC

April 19, 2009 at 11:29 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Mercedes Benz, Videos

E-Class Coupe Ad

The first TV commercial for the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe has been released and actually brings the concept of a car commercial all the way back to old times where horsepower actually meant horsepower, and in this case referring to a car as a sexy lady with a curvy body is more litreal than a figure of speech. Check out both the TV commercial and a “making of” video after the jump.
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