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2010 Kia Morning unveiled for Korean market

June 16, 2009 at 2:29 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Kia, Koreans

Kia Morning

The Kia Morning receives another update after it was first updated in 2007 since its launch. The Morning is the car’s Korean market name, in Malaysia we used to know it as the Kia Picanto, and then later the Naza Suria. In fact the Suria name was penned based on the car’s original Morning name.

The 2007 facelift still retains the new headlamps that were introduced back then, but this time there are minor changes with the front grille, and a complely new front bumper with a blacked out lower section. But wait, this is just one of the two new looks that this 2010 facelift brings!

Kia Morning

The other look is reserved for the “Special” trim level, which includes a Schreyer grille, and a different design for the front bumper. On the interior, both models get their dash and various other lighting changed from orange to red.

In its homeland of South Korea, the Morning is powered by 1.0 litre engines, either running on gasoline (72hp up from 64hp on the 2007 model), or a LPI natural gas version producing 67 horsepower. Both models have an ECO light on the dashboard to help you drive more economically by letting you know when you are driving in a fuel sipping manner.

Look after the jump for a full photo gallery of both exterior, interior and launch pix of the new 2010 Kia Morning.
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VIDEO: Kia Forte Koup TV Commercial

June 16, 2009 at 12:40 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Kia, Koreans, Videos

Kia Forte Koup

Kia has released a new TVC for its new Kia Forte Koup. The Koup still looks as good as ever, who would have ever imagined a Korean car could ever look so desirable? The Koup looked pretty darn good in silver when I test drove it in South Korea, but here in this ad it looks even better in red. Though catchy, I didn’t really understand what the ad was trying to say until the end, then it made sense to me. Two is enough, haha.

Watch the video after the jump.
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Undisguised AM Rapide spotted in Belgium

June 15, 2009 at 5:13 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Aston Martin, Cars, Spyshots

Aston Martin Rapide

This Aston Martin Rapide suspected to be very close to production was spotted in Belgium and snapped by kim of Autogespot. The car looks pretty much undisguised, and while it’s still as good-looking as all Aston Martin can be, I feel the concept car somehow looked longer and sleeker, and this production version has its proportions slightly out of whack because of those headlamps that look a little too large for the car and seem to have some kind of extra layer over it. Look after the jump for a trip back through time, revisiting the original concept Rapide through a photo gallery.
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Mitsubishi i-MiEV Production EV goes on sale!

June 15, 2009 at 4:53 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, International News, Mitsubishi, Videos

Mitsubishi i-MiEV EV

A 160km range on the Japanese 10-15 urban mode driving pattern, a 7 hour 200V charge time, 30 minutes on a 200V 3-phase quick charger, and LED headlamps and tail lamps to add a finishing touch. You’ve just read the spec sheet of the new production Mitsubishi i-MiEV EV, a production electric car that has just gone on lease by Mitsubishi for nearly 4.6 million Yen inclusive of consumption tax.

That’s nearly RM165k, and with the taxes you have here in Malaysia it could end up pretty darn pricey. But it does have a lithium ion battery, which is more advanced than the nickel-base ones that go into most hybrid and EVs these days.

Mitsubishi i-MiEV EV

The battery which consists of 88 li-ion cells connected in series is installed under the floor, and the 64 PS 180Nm electric motor which is mated to a single-gear transmission is installed under the luggage compartment. Yes, like the regular combustion engine Mitsubishi i, it uses a rear midship layout.

Mitsubishi will be preparing 1,400 cars for leasing this year, mainly to corporations and local authorities. Individual leases are expected to begin in April 2010, but order-taking will begin in July 2010. Look after the jump for a video of the i-MiEV’s test run through the Tateyama Kurobe alpine route surrounded by 3,000-meter-high mountains.
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GM to sell Saab to supercar maker Koenigsegg

June 15, 2009 at 4:19 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Koenigsegg, Saab

Saab LogoIt appears that GM’s Saab division will go to Swedish luxury supercar manufacturer Koenigsegg, if final negotiations on the subject go well. A Swedish TV station reported late last week that a Letter of Intent was signed to take purchase negotiations one step further.

This new ownership could change the kind of cars that Saab offers. Currently as part of GM it kinda tries to be some kind of volume seller because that’s just the way GM does stuff, but probably because of branding and maybe product that strategy never did work out well. GM’s parts bin never did gel well with the kind of products the Saab brand used to stand for and the modern Saab’s attempt to be more friendly to the masses did not receive a hot response.

Under the new supercar maker owner, it could evolve into a more specialized manufacturer, producing niche cars for a smaller customer base. The only question is, will young Koenigsegg have the experience to manage a company like Saab? Fortunately for both Koenigsegg and Saab, the supercar management is not just made up of its young CEO, but also includes investors. Koenigsegg will also be bringing some other investors into the Saab deal later, because frankly I don’t think a niche supercar maker like Koenigsegg is able to afford to buy up Saab on its own.

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2010 F1 grid includes Campos, Manor and US GPE

June 15, 2009 at 3:58 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Formula 1, Motorsports

Sepang International Circuit

The FIA has unveiled its 2010 team line-up, which ended up consisting of all existing teams and 3 new teams. The following is the team list:

  1. AT&T Williams – Toyota
  2. BMW Sauber F1 Team – BMW
  3. Brawn GP Formula One Team – TBA
  4. Campos Grand Prix – Cosworth
  5. Force India F1 Team – Mercedes
  6. Manor Grand Prix – Cosworth
  7. Panasonic Toyota Racing – Toyota
  8. Red Bull Racing – Renault
  9. Renault F1 Team – Renault
  10. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro – Ferrari
  11. Scuderia Toro Rosso – TBA
  12. Team US F1 – Cosworth
  13. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes – Mercedes

I’m not really sure of how they pick which new teams to slot in, but there were more teams competing for the 3 free slots than those who made it. The teams which did not made it are Lola, Aston Martin (Prodrive), Team Superfund, Brabham, Litespeed and N. Technology. I wonder why Prodrive did not make it, would have been nice to see Aston Martin in F1. Litespeed also did not make it, despite calling itself “Team Lotus” to try to ride on the past heritage of Lotus involvement in F1.

The current teams that have been listed as confirmed are stil against the £40 million budget cap. Especially Ferrari, who issued this statement: “Ferrari submitted on 29 May 2009 an entry to the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship which is subject to certain conditions. As of today, these conditions have not been met.

“Notwithstanding this and despite Ferrari’s previous written notice to the FIA not to do so, the FIA has included Ferrari as a unconditional participant in next year’s Formula One World Championship. For the avoidance of any doubt, Ferrari reaffirms that it shall not take part in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship under the regulations adopted by the FIA in violation of Ferrari’s rights under a written agreement with the FIA,” the Italians whose name have been pretty much synonymous with F1 added.

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VIDEO: Peugeot 5008 Promo Footage

June 15, 2009 at 2:12 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Peugeot, Videos

Peugeot 5008

Peugeot has released a promo video for the Peugeot 5008 7-seater MPV, based on the 308 chassis. It basically shows a family having “family time” centered around the 5008. The background music is pretty good I must say, my kind of music!

Check the video out after the jump.
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10,000 orders for the Carbon Motors E7

June 15, 2009 at 1:48 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News

Carbon E7

The Carbon Motors E7 is said to be the world’s first purpose-built law enforcement car and they’ve claims to have already received 10,000 reservations. And this is even before they’re announced how much it will be priced nad where they will build it! The first E7 is expected to roll off the production line in 2012.

Many car manufacturers prepare special police editions of their cars, such as the recently published Jaguar XF Diesel S pursuit vehicle, but the fact is all the police equipment have to be retrofitted. The E7 has all of it built-in. It has an impressive spec list – night vision, backseat monitoring, voice control, automatic license plate recognition, and a 15 inch touch screen monitor for various controls.

The powertrain is a 3.0 litre turbodiesel putting out 300 horsepower, driven through a 6-speed automatic transmission. 0 to 100km/h can be hit in 6.5 seconds.
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MLFF automatic electronic toll collection proposal to be finalised by year end

June 14, 2009 at 12:12 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Local News

SmartTagThe government’s proposal to implement a MLFF (Multi-Lane Free Flow) electronic toll collection system here in Malaysia will be ready by the end of this year. We first heard of this sometime in mid-2008 where it was announced that a trial of a MLFF system sponsored by Mitsubishi would start at the LDP’s Sungai Penchala Toll plaza from November 2008 onwards.

Later it seems that this was changed to the Batu 3 toll plaza on the Federal Highway from December 2008 onwards, so it’s been running for about half a year now. I’m sure you’ve noticed one particular lane with eerie purplish lighting – that’s the test lane, which is shared with a SmartTAG lane.

Malaysians currently use the SmartTAG system (photo shown above) which is based on infrared. Of course as you know infrared is essentially light, and might be affected by car tints. The SmartTAG system also needs you to slow your car down significantly before it can pick up your SmartTAG. It is a two-piece system which uses a SmartTAG combined with a Touch n Go card.

The MLFF system currently on trial is a single piece unit (no separate Touch n Go card) that uses microwave transmission technology instead of infrared. There are approximately 1,000 users currently on the trial. It does not carry any value, and if it is stolen all you need to do is report it and the unit will be delinked from your account. There will be no toll lanes or automatic barriers – it will work via a gantry system. This allows you to just drive past the gantry and the appropriate toll collection will happen electronically and automatically.

In case you don’t know, a gantry is essentially a structure that goes overhead above the road. If you’ve been to Singapore you will be able to see various gantries for ERP (Electronic Road Pricing) toll collection around town. The Singaporean ERP system also uses Mitsubishi products.

Of course there will be various issues to settle with an MLFF system, such as cars that drive around without a MLFF tag. Gantries need to have a way to detect cars that do not have an MLFF tag, or have insufficient credits in their account that caused the electronic toll collection to fail. These cars will have to be recognised via some form of automatic number plate recognition to be billed or fined.

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Mercedes-Benz ESF 2009 Safety Innovations

June 13, 2009 at 8:24 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Mercedes Benz, Technology

Braking Bag

Full details and photos of the new Mercedes-Benz ESF 2009 research vehicle have been unveiled. Based on the S 400 HYBRID, the Mercedes-Benz ESF 2009 essentially features 5 key new safety elements which are the following:

  • PRE-SAFE Structure – The inflatable metal structures save weight or increase the stability of structural components. When at rest, the metal section is in a folded state to save space. If its protective effect is required, a gas generator builds up an internal pressure of 10 to 20 bar within fractions of a second, causing the section to unfold for significantly more stability.
  • Braking Bag – If the car’s sensor system concludes that an impact is unavoidable, the Braking Bag located under the car is deployed shortly before the crash and stabilises the car on the road surface by means of a friction coating. The vehicle’s vertical acceleration increases the friction, and helps to decelerate the vehicle before the impact occurs.
  • Interactive Vehicle Communication – The ESF 2009 is able to communicate directly with other vehicles, or via relay stations. Using “ad hoc” networks and Wi-Fi radio technology, it is e.g. able to receive and transmit warnings of bad weather or obstacles in the road.
  • PRE-SAFE Pulse – It reduces the forces acting on the torsos of the occupants during a lateral collision by around one third. It does this by moving them towards the center of the vehicle by up to 50mm as a precautionary measure. As an active restraint system, it uses the air chambers in the side bolsters of the seat backrests.
  • Spotlight lighting function – This partial LED main beam specifically illuminates potential hazards. If the infrared camera of Night View Assist PLUS e.g. detects animals like deer at the roadside or pedestrians on the road, these can be briefly illuminated beyond the normal area covered by the main beams, as if by a spotlight.

Look after the jump for full descriptions of the various technology.
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