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Ex-Ford man to lead new Volvo takeover bid

October 7, 2009 at 12:54 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Volvo

Things have looked like Volvo was going to fall into the hands of a Chinese auto group for a few months now but here’s some good news for those who for some reason have been opposing such a takeover, mainly due to intellectual property and ‘brand bastardisation’ issues.

There is a new interested party that will be bidding for a Volvo takeover – a new consortium called Crown led by ex-Ford man Michael Dingman. Dingman was a Ford board member for 21 years until he left in 2002. He has partnered up with engineering man Shamel Rushwin, who is both ex-Ford and ex-Chrysler.

So far the Crown offer is reported to be lower than Geely’s US$2.2 billion bid but Crown says they intend to invest another US$3 billion in Volvo if it succeeds in taking over the company. Talk is cheap of course – I hope this is written down in black and white somewhere. Crown is backed by some US investors currently and are looking for some Swedish investors and partners – Volvo being Swedish and all.

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Toyota FT-EV II runs on auto-pilot mode

October 7, 2009 at 12:27 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Concept Cars, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, Toyota

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When the first Toyota FT-EV concept car was displayed at the Detroit show earlier this year, It looked much closer to a production electric Toyota iQ than this new concept car called the Toyota FT-EV II.

The interior has gone completely concept car, while the original FT-EV’s interior looked more like a futuristic iQ’s interior. There are no foot pedals or steering wheel, but only two control levers which you use to drive the car.

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But get this – you won’t be driving the car most of the time, as the car is designed to run on auto pilot mode on normal commutes. It can travel up to 90km on a full charge of its lithium ion batteries, and its top speed is limited to over 100km/h which should be more than enough in the city.

Look after the jump for an initial set of four photos that Toyota have released.
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Toyota FT-86: AE86 successor finally previewed!

October 6, 2009 at 7:14 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Concept Cars, Toyota

Toyota FT-HS Front

It’s finally here, some kind of glimpse of the new AE86 spiritual successor. It’s even got the numbers 86 in its name. The new Toyota FT-86 Concept will be displayed at the 2009 Tokyo Motorshow and its resemblance to the Toyota FT-HS Concept probably means it’s a more productionised evolution of the FT-HS, or that’s just how new Toyota sportscars are going to look like.

NEW: Watch a video of the Toyota FT-86 Concept in Gran Turismo!

Toyota FT-HS Rear

I’m glad to see that Toyota has stayed true to their promise of a rear wheel drive layout, though this has been made easier by the absorption of Subaru into their group. The platform has a 2,570mm wheelbase, which is shorter than the latest generation Impreza but longer than the previous generation’s. Not sure if the chassis is some shortened variant of the Impreza’s but a Toyota engineer claims the platform is unique to this model.

Toyota FT-HS Back

The wheelbase is rather compact actually, slightly shorter than that of a latest model Vios. Other dimensions of the FT-86 include a 4,160mm length, a 1,760mm width and a 1,260mm height, and the FT-86 seats four. It has a 2.0 litre boxer engine mated to a 6-speed manual transmission though it’s not mentioned if this is normally aspirated or force inducted. The concept is fitted with brakes from ADVICS, a JV company formed between AISIN SEIKI, DENSO, Sumitomo Electric and Toyota.

Look after the jump for hi-res photos of the new FT-86.
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Marchionne spins off Dodge Ram business as RAM

October 6, 2009 at 8:40 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Chrysler, Dodge

Dodge Ram

Chrysler has decided to grab the axe and split Dodge right in half, severing the ties between Dodge’s Ram truck business and the rest of the company that makes passenger vehicles. Apparently this will allow Dodge to “protect and develop the unique nature of the product offerings within the Dodge brand”, according to Chrysler boss Sergio Marchionne, who is also the CEO of Fiat.

The Dodge Ram truck business will be renamed simply RAM, and will be headed by Fred Diaz. “Dodge Car”‘s new head will be Ralph Gilles. Chrysler’s new CEO and marketing head will be Olivier Francois, another man from Fiat where he plays a double role as Fiat marketing chief and the head of the Lancia brand.

Chrysler now has two predominantly truck-based brands – RAM and Jeep. The Dodge Ram is currently in its fourth generation called the Dodge Ram 1500, and is available in various 2-door and 4-door cab bodies.

It’s powered by a choice of a 5.7 litre Hemi V8 producing 390 horsepower and 552Nm of torque, a 4.7 litre Magnum V8 making 310 horses and 447Nm of torque, or a 3.7 litre Magnum V6 making 215 horses and 319Nm of torque.

Dodge also has the smaller Dodge Dakota and the Dodge Durango based on the Dakota. I guess it would make sense for these to follow the Ram to the new RAM brand.

Related Posts:
Dodge Ad Video – Ram Rash!

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Next generation R36 GT-R to arrive by 2013

October 6, 2009 at 7:35 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Nissan

Nissan GT-R Spec V
The current model R35 GT-R

This comes as quite a surprise to me but it looks like the GT-R will receive a typical Japanese lifecycle of 5 years, to mirror Porsche’s lifecycle for the 911. Nissan’s global product planning VP has unveiled that an “R36″ Nissan GT-R will be coming by 2013.

The next generation R36 Nissan GT-R will use an evolution of the current Premium Midship platform with the engine mounted up front and a transaxle twin clutch gearbox mounted at the rear. The engine is expected to remain a force inducted V6 engine.
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Special Chinese-themed limited Ferrari 599

October 6, 2009 at 7:20 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Ferrari, International News

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What exactly is a Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano HGTE China Limited Edition? For some xenophobes, anything that’s associated with the word China is likely to be scorned upon. But maybe this car will change their mind. It just shows us how important China is becoming in our world economy. More and more people are interested in Chinese culture now and need to learn the language to conduct trade.

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The 599 China Limited Edition was developed together with Chinese artist Lu Hao. The car comes in a two-tone paint that I think looks pretty good actually, maybe some Ferrari owners could like to emulate it on their existing cars. The body is red as usual (this shade is called Rosso Fuoco, or fire red) but the pillars and roof is done in a shade of medium grey.

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There is more to remind you that this is a special edition car on the inside. Just look at the rev counter! I took some Mandarin classes when I was very young and that’s all gone to waste now but I can still recognise the numbers one to four.

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And of course like its very long name suggests, the car also gets the HGTE package. Less than 12 will be made and there is one one-off car that will be sold in an auction. For this one, the “cracked glaze” pattern of the paintjob was inspired by the Ge Liln porcelain of the Song Dynasty. Er, I’d rather stick with the red and grey paintjob. A vase, no matter how expensive or precious it is, doesn’t exactly tie in with the qualities that one would associate with a Ferrari.
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Chevrolet Caprice police car returns to the US!

October 6, 2009 at 7:01 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Chevrolet, International News

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Chevrolet has developed a new Chevrolet Caprice PPV for the US market, and as indicated by its PPV suffix (Police Patrol Vehicle) it will be police-only. The new Caprice PPV is based on the GM Zeta platform which is shared between its large vehicles like the Camaro, and in long wheelbase form, the Holden Statesman. The Caprice has the same 3,010mm long wheelbase as the Statesman.

Under the hood is a massive 355 horsepower 6.0 litre V8 that can take the cop car from 0 to 100km/h in under 6 seconds. A smaller V6 engine will be offered later. The transmission used is a 6-speed automatic. The front seats are sculpted to “pocket” the officer’s equipment belt (worn on the waist), which greatly increases the comfort for a great range of police officer sizes. The foam density of the seatback and cushion insert surfaces are designed to conform to the shape of an equipment belt’s various items, too, allowing the officer’s back to rest properly on the seatback surface.

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Feedback was obtained from the police force during the development process. “The new Chevrolet Caprice police car is the right tool at the right time for law enforcement. We asked for a lot of feedback from our police customers, which helped us develop a vehicle that is superior to the Crown Victoria in key areas,” said Jim Campbell, general manager for GM Fleet and Commercial Operations.

I’m not sure how hard exactly that can be considering how old the Crown Victoria is (over a decade)! Now I wonder what happened to the Carbon Motors E7…
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S-Tronic Audi A3 gets auto start-stop system

October 6, 2009 at 6:26 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Audi, Cars

Audi A3

Audi has added start-stop technology to its automatic transmission cars. Normally other than in a hybrid paired to some kind of CVT or e-CVT, auto start-stop systems have traditionally only been available with manuals, as they are so far with cars from manufacturers like BMW.

It’s abit of a grey area here as the A3′s auto start-stop system is technically not mated to an automatic transmission in the traditional sense. It’s not a proper slushbox but is instead an S-Tronic (DSG) twin clutch transmission, which is sort of like a manual but with two computer controlled clutches.

The auto start-stop system helps the 105 horsepower 1.6 litre TDI engine deliver a fuel consumption of just 4.2 litres per 100km. With the 1.4 TSI with 125 horsepower, consumption is rated at just 5.3 litres per 100km.

These figures also include a brake energy recovery system that is used to assist the alternator. Mind you, these are real figures on a combined driving cycle, not some highway-only kind of mileage! Impressive stuff!

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Beijing Auto to buy rights for old Saab 9-5?

October 4, 2009 at 7:14 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Saab

Old Saab 9-5

It looks like Beijing Auto has fast-tracked its plan to reap the benefits from its Koenigsegg/Saab investment. But of course knowing the mainland Chinese stuff like this were probably the plan all along.

BAIC is thinking about buying the tooling and design rights for the outgoing 9-5 sedan that has been just replaced and putting it back onto the market.

But of course the questions then would be what badge it would be sold under and which markets would it be available? The 9-5 is a premium car – parts and maintenance will not be cheap, so it has to stay as some sort of a ‘premium’ car.

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Japan GP: Vettel goes from pole to podium

October 4, 2009 at 4:21 pm By Harvinder Sidhu Filed Under Formula 1, Motorsports

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Sebastian Vettel was the first driver to cross the finish line at the 2009 Japanese GP after 53 laps and a last minute safety car situation.

Second place went to Toyota’s Jarno Trulli and the final podium position went to McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton. Vettel, after scoring 10 crucial points, is now 16 points behind championship leader Jenson Button who only managed to score one point with his 8th place finish.

Ferrari scored some valuable points today with Kimi Raikkonen’s fourth place. Behind him was William’s Nico Rosberg and BMW’s Nick Heidfeld. Rest of the top ten was made up by Rubens Barrichello, Jenson Button, Robert Kubica (BMW), and Fernando Alonso (Renault).

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Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi failed to finish. In addition, Buemi was the only driver with a slow start as his car momentarily stalled. Mark Webber who started from the pits entered the pits three times within five laps. Timo Glock of Toyota did not start the race thanks to an accident during qualifying.

Towards the end of the race with just 5 laps to go, the safety car came in. Almost, if not all drivers maintained their respective positions. Kimi in fourth was right behind Hamilton and nearly overtook him. Button was still trying to make it to seventh place, but failed. Towards the end, he nearly gave his position to Robert Kubica in ninth.

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Button currently leads with 85 points ahead of his team mate Barrichello with 71 points. Both Barrichello and Vettel have the chance of clinching the driver’s title, if Button continues to finish down the grid provided Barrichello and Vettel win race or two, and score as much points as possible.

In the Constructor’s Championship, Brawn leads by 35.5 points. Red Bull is in second place. The only chance for Red Bull to win is if it scores 1-2 victories in the two remaining races and at the same time both the Brawn’s don’t score a single point. Both circumstances are very unlikely, so it is safe to say that Brawn GP will win the championship. McLaren is closing in for third, just 2 points behind Ferrari. From the looks of it, Ferrari will lose its third place to McLaren.

With only two races remaining in the season, it looks like the championship battle will go down to the wire at the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi.

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