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Detroit 2010: BYD shows cutaway F3DM plug-in

January 12, 2010 at 4:13 am By Paul Tan Filed Under 2010 Detroit Auto Show, BYD, Cars, China

Somehow it feels like there’s just no American motorshow that passes without BYD showcasing their F3DM plug-in electric hybrid car. The F3 itself we’ve seen many times, appearing first on this blog back in 2005. At that point the F3′s unique selling point was of course the ability for its owner to have either a copy of a Toyota Corolla or a Honda City, depending on what angle you’re looking at the car.

Now, the F3DM variant of the F3 has a plug-in hybrid powertrain! Range per charge for the batteries alone are expected to clock in at 100km. The gasoline engine component is a 1.0 litre unit and when combined with the electric motor, total output is rated at 168 horses and 400Nm of torque.

Anyway this time, BYD’s booth is located right at the corner of the two ‘lanes’ that make up the Electric Avenue. Two units of the F3 is accompanied by one cut-away model which allows us to check out some of the gizmos underneath that allow for the car’s dual-mode hybrid operation. Yes, the F3DM can run on electric power only, meaning it has zero emissions operation. BYD is the same Chinese company which Warren Buffet has invested in.

The full gallery is available after the jump.
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Detroit 2010: Toyota FT-CH dedicated hybrid concept – more frugal and cheaper than Prius

January 12, 2010 at 1:18 am By Danny Tan Filed Under 2010 Detroit Auto Show, Cars, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, Toyota

Toyota has unveiled the FT-CH dedicated hybrid concept at Detroit. The FT-CH is part of Toyota’s strategy to offer a wider variety of hybrid options, even as it begins to introduce plug-in hybrids and electrics vehicles in 2012 and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles by 2015. Dedicated means that the FT-CH is a stand alone hybrid model – like the Prius – and isn’t based on an existing car.

The CH in the name stands for “compact hybrid” and the FT-CH sits below the Prius in size. Styled at Toyota’s European Design centre in France, the inspiration behind the design is one of the more bizarre stories. Apparently, the team looked to the “vivid, high-energy appeal of the 8-bit generation”. Popularized in the early 80s, 8-bit microprocessor technology dominated the budding home video game industry (remember the Micro Genius?). Toyota says that today, 8-bit is considered a retro-style that’s fun and innovative, colorful and stylish, with strong appeal to young buyers.

Lighter and even more fuel efficient than Prius, the FT-CH targets a younger, less-affluent buyer demographic. Toyota is developing a Prius family “marketing strategy” for North America that will take full advantage of the Prius brand equity, says Jim Lentz, Toyota’s US boss. “The strategy is still taking shape and obviously it will require additional models to qualify as a family,” said Lentz. “Among others, the FT-CH is a concept that we are considering.”

More pictures after the jump.
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VIDEO: New Ford Focus reveal at Detroit 2010

January 12, 2010 at 12:33 am By Paul Tan Filed Under 2010 Detroit Auto Show, Cars, Ford

New Ford Focus

Ford unveiled the new 3rd generation 2012 Ford Focus to us a couple of days back at a preview and unveiled it to the world virtually at midnight Detroit time earlier today but nothing beats a physical reveal to the world media which happened this morning at the North America International Auto Show.

Watch the full reveal in the video after the jump which will take up about 20 minutes of your time but also includes some nice promo footage of the new Focus in motion, or watch a shorter version of the video featuring just the promo footage. Your pick!

VIDEO: Ford Focus Reveal – Promo Footage Only

Look after the jump for the full version.
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Detroit 2010: US-market Chevy Cruze loaded with kit

January 12, 2010 at 12:20 am By Danny Tan Filed Under 2010 Detroit Auto Show, Cars, Chevrolet

The Chevrolet Cruze is GM’s global C-segment car that will serve markets as diverse as North America and China. We previously gave a short test drive account of the Chinese spec Cruze, which can be had with a 115 bhp/150 Nm 1.6-litre or a 140 bhp/177 Nm 1.8-litre. The latter is the base engine for the US market, whch will get GM’s 1.4-litre Ecotec turbo engine with 138 bhp and 200 Nm of torque. Besides better performance, this variant has a range of over 800 km. Both manual and auto ‘boxes are six speeders.

The North American Cruze will be built in Lordstown, Ohio. It comes with an equipment list that’s alien to Cruze buyers in Asia. Heated leather seats, ten airbags (including knee airbags), electronic stability control with rollover sensing, Bluetooth, USB, navigation system, XM Satellite Radio and OnStar are all standard.

Chevy focuses a lot on quality and refinement in its press documents. It claims that the Cruze’s panel gap tolerances are among the best in the class. Hydraulic ride bushings and an isolated engine cradle reduce vibration, while 18 distinctive acoustical treatments reduce noise.

Click here for our brief drive experience of the Chevy Cruze in China.

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Detroit 2010: AWD turbocharged Buick Regal GS

January 11, 2010 at 11:39 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under 2010 Detroit Auto Show, Buick, Cars

One of the eye catching displays over at GM is the Buick Regal GS. The Regal is basically the European Opel/Vauxhall Insignia rebadged as a Buick for the US and Chinese market (Buick is a highly regarded marque in China). This GS showcar features a potent performance package – 255 bhp/400 Nm 2.0-litre Ecotec turbo engine with power going to all wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox and electronic LSD.

Acceleration from nought to 60 mph (96 km/h) is “less than six seconds”. The Vauxhall Insignia VXR, which has a 320 bhp 2.8-litre Ecotec V6 turbo does the same sprint in 5.8 seconds. The Regal GS features a lowered body and aggresive styling that mimics the VXR, except that it wears Buick’s signature “waterfall grille”. The show car wears 20-inch wheels.

That front HiPerStrut suspension helps reduce torque steer and maintain negative camber during cornering, improving grip and feel while isolating undesirable feedback. The GS features Brembo brakes with cross-drilled rotors, four-piston aluminum calipers and uprated pads. Interactive Drive Control System (IDCS) chassis technology allows the selection of three modes – normal, sport and GS – that change suspension settings, throttle response and steering sensitivity.

Inside, the Regal GS features a full black interior, sport shifter, a suede-covered, flat-bottom steering wheel and Recaro seats with four-way lumbar support and cushion extensions.

More pictures after the jump!
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Detroit 2010: Ford wins both North American Car and Truck of the Year awards

January 11, 2010 at 10:34 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under 2010 Detroit Auto Show, Cars, Ford

Ford has swept clean the North American Car and Truck of the Year awards, which was just announced at the Detroit show. Responsible for the wins are the Ford Fusion Hybrid (car) and the Ford Transit Connect (truck). It is only the third time in 17 years that one manufacturer has won both awards.

The Mexico-built Fusion Hybrid, which edged out the Buick LaCrosse and Volkswagen Golf to win, is America’s most fuel-efficient midsize sedan with an EPA-estimated 14.5 km/l rating in the city and 12.7 km/l on the highway, which beats the Toyota Camry Hybrid’s figures. This is the jewel in the crown award for the Fusion, which has won many awards in the US including Motor Trend’s Car of the Year gong.

The Transit Connect meanwhile, is an commercial van that edged out the Chevrolet Equinox and Subaru Outback to win the truck title. Last year, Ford won this title with the F-150.

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Detroit 2010: Volkswagen New Compact Coupe

January 11, 2010 at 10:12 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under 2010 Detroit Auto Show, Cars, Volkswagen

This is the Volkswagen New Compact Coupe (NCC), Wolfsburg’s Detroit show star. Looking a lot like a “poor man’s Audi A5″ the NCC is powered by a hybrid powertrain which combines a 1.4-litre TSI engine with 148 bhp and 220 Nm and a 27 bhp electric motor VW calls E-motor. Naturally, power goes to the front wheels via a 7-speed DSG gearbox.

VW quotes great consumption and emission figures – 23.8 km/l economy and 98 g/km of CO2 to be precise. As a comparison, the Eos Bluemotion is rated at 16.1 km/l and 144 g/km. Performance is not sacrificed to achieve this; 227 km/h top speed and 0-100 km/h in 8.6 seconds are resepectable.

A 1.1 kWh lithium-ion battery pack stored in the NCC’s rear powers the E-motor. Efficiency measures include regenerative braking, stop-start and a “coast down” measure, where engine is disengaged from transmission as soon as the driver releases the gas pedal. This is even possible at higher speeds, as in highway cruising. Drag losses are eliminated, so the NCC coasts for a long time to save fuel.

At 4.54m long and 1.78m wide, the NCC has a similar footprint to the Jetta, although it has a lower roofline and longer wheelbase (2.65m) than the sedan. Boot volume is 380 litres. The four-seat coupe is positioned between the Scirocco and Passat CC. You can probably image that the new Mk6-based Jetta will be a four door version of this one.

Everything looks highly ready for production, from the simple, cleanly designed body to the cabin that uses parts found in current VW models. Chief Designer Klaus Bischoff describes the NCC as having a “timeless dynamic and purist elegance that is typical of Volkswagen”. When will it be launched? “When the time is right,” is the statement in the press release.

Full gallery after the jump!
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Toyota to campaign Lexus LFA in Super GT?

January 11, 2010 at 4:26 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Lexus, Motorsports

Looks convincing doesn’t it? I was fooled too, but this is just a very, very good rendering of a Super GT Lexus LFA in Lexus Team Petronas TOM’s livery. Toyota has not made any announcement to replace the long serving SC430 race car with its new hero, but wouldn’t it be nice to see the LFA go head-to-head with the Nissan GT-R and Honda’s “new NSX” HSV-010 racer?

These brilliant images are the work of Iain Chandler of Australia, who also came up with renderings of the LFA in other liveries. Do check out the rest of his work after the jump.

By the way, the Petronas backed TOM’s team were the overall champion in Super GT’s GT500 class in 2009 (with a 10-point margin over the Autobacs NSX), while drivers Jyuichi Wakisaka and Andre Lotterer came out tops in the driver’s standings ahead of Autobacs Team Aguri’s Ralph Firman and Takuya Izawa. Nismo’s GT-R was third in the team standings.

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3rd generation Ford Focus global car for Europe, North America and the rest of the world!

January 11, 2010 at 1:01 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under 2010 Detroit Auto Show, Cars, Ford

The Ford Focus has always been one of the best-handling C-segment cars I’ve ever driven. The biggest drawback it has for the Malaysian market is that it’s a little small on the inside, being an European product where their C-segment cars are a little smaller. Their Civic is a smaller hatch compared to the large 2,700mm wheelbase version we get here.

And here it is, the latest edition of the Focus. Ford pegs it as all-new, and technically it should be considering that the 2nd generation Focus has already been facelifted. So this is basically the third generation and for the first time the Focus is a world car instead of being two different products for North America and the rest of the world. I had a go at the North American product earlier this week and I can understand why American journos have been calling for Ford to bring the Euro Focus across the ocean. Well, they don’t have to do that anymore – they are going to get this new global Focus as well.

The design is far edgier compared to the outgoing Focus. Ford attempted to add some Kinetic Design elements to the current Focus when it got facelifted but because there’s just so much you can change during a facelift, the end result was not as ‘kinetic’ as say, the new Fiesta or the new Ford Kuga. With this new body, Ford has pulled out all the stops with their Kinetic Design – check out details like the ‘zorro Z’ design at the front wheel arch. The ducktail on the sedan’s boot is also pretty prominent. Some might feel it’s perhaps a little too overdone, especially the details of the front bumper. They look like they belong on an aggressive model like an ST or an RS, but these are just your regular Focus models. But this could also be a good thing for some customers – no mods needed.

Wheelbase has unchanged, though the new Focus is a little longer mostly due to pedestrian safety requirements. This means the overhangs are longer. What this will mean is that the interior space is probably largely unchanged over the 2nd generation. Ford says based on their market research this is a good balance between size and fuel economy but to me, for a world car there definitely will be markets where a larger vehicle will be called for. After all, that is why Honda split the CIvic in two. In these markets, certain buyers will look to other vehicles no matter how good the Focus looks simply because of interior space. The new 3rd generation Focus also differentiates between the sedan and the hatchback variant more than the 2nd generation did. The vertical tail lamps are gone on the hatchback in favor of wider rear glass but the tail lamps remain mounted high-ish.

Changes to the platform between the 2nd generation and the 3rd generation mostly covers the way the suspension subframes are mounted. There has been some changes which are primarily driven by the desire to increase the level of NVH damping of the Focus. Thus you can expect the new Ford Focus to feel a little more refined than the outgoing one. Techniques such as the use of sashed doors, dual plane sealing, more aerodynamic wing mirrors and windshield wipers are used. Ford says the new Focus Global C platform shares only about one third with the new Mazda 3, while the rest are exclusively Ford.

Ford wanted the new Focus to be more refined and more quiet, as quiet is one of the factors that we take into account when our brains process the feel of ‘quality’. Quietness is also a big thing for what Ford defines as the new Ford flavor these days – they are investing alot into ways they can make their cars more silent, as I will show you in an upcoming post.

The Detroit showcar features a new 2.0 litre DI Ti-VCT engine. Those acronyms basically mean the engine has direct injection and dual variable valve timing, both on intake and exhaust. This new engine makes up to 20 horses more power than the current Mazda-based Duratec 20, while consuming 10% less fuel. The 4-speed auto has also been replaced by a new 6-speed Powershift dual clutch transmission. Apparently there is also an active grille shutter system, which shuts off some of the air intakes to improve aerodynamics whenever the extra cooling is not needed.

The new Focus will also debut an EPAS system for the first time. EPAS is basically an electric power steering. Alot of other manufacturers have started using EPAS systems in their cars but most people say an electric power steering is more ‘dead’ and unnatural compared to a regular hydraulic one. But Ford believes that a properly tuned EPAS can actually improve steering precision and feel over a hydraulic one.

According to Ford, there are over 250 parameters and settings in an EPAS that has to be finetuned in detail to achieve a good feel. As the 2nd gen Focus was a great drive, I hope Ford got all the variables right! There’s also a Dynamic Cornering Control system which counteracts slip on the inner wheel during a corner to improve cornering performance and turn-in.

Also new is the MyFord system, which is basically like iDrive. You use a phone-style 5-way button on your steering wheel to control the user interface. MyFord is built on Microsoft Windows Auto. Quite a few companies are basing their new in-car systems on Windows Auto, such as Fiat’s Blue&Me and the new system from Kia. There’s also voice commands, so you can say Call Muthu for the phone to call up Muthu in your phonebook. MyFord is the sibling to the touch operation-based MyFord Touch and MyLincoln Touch showcased at the CES end of last year.

This is one of 10 cars that will spawn from this new “Global C platform”, as Ford calls it. The first was the new C-MAX and Grand C-MAX MPVs which we saw at Frankfurt last year. Ford plans to put the this new third generation global Ford Focus into production for Europe and North America late this year, with a showroom debut in early 2011. It will be quite some time before it hits Malaysia (only early 2012 optimistically), but let me let you in on a secret – we’ll see an interesting new variant of the 2nd gen Focus here soon. This additional variant to the current generation Focus will feature diesel power!

Look after the jump for more shots of the new Focus.
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Detroit 2010: Granite is the smallest GMC ever!

January 11, 2010 at 12:50 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under 2010 Detroit Auto Show, Cars, GMC

Mention GMC and the mental image for most will be full-sized trucks and SUVs with a mega grille to fit those three alphabets, but as we all now know, even the Americans are now turning to smaller vehicles that are more friendly to the wallet and environment. Which brings us to this, the GMC Granite concept, the smallest car ever to wear the famous logotype.

The Granite is 0.6 m shorter than the Terrain crossover, GMC’s current “baby”, but its interior is spacious and flexible to fit the needs of “active people”. Generous cargo space and flipping/folding seats, for example, enable a mountain bike to be loaded completely inside with the tailgate closed. A decent 2,631 mm wheelbase means the claims are realistic.

“Granite was conceived as a new type of vehicle from GMC – one that could stretch people’s ideas of what a GMC can be,” said Lisa Hutchinson, product marketing director for GMC. “We call it an ‘urban utility vehicle’ and our goal was redefining what the GMC name could mean to a new generation of customers looking for both bold design and functionality.”

It seems to be a must-have these days, so the Granite gets rear-hinged “suicide” doors. GMC describes the Granite as an urban loft apartment on wheels with “urban-industrial design”. It reminds us a liitle of the Kia Soul, although this concept looks more butch, with a lower roof and wider stance. The glasshouse is very slim, but the flanks don’t look slab sided thanks to those deep creases that “cut through” the car. The wheels are pushed out to the extreme ends of the box and wheel arches are prominent. Looks quite cool to us!

Power comes from a 1.4-litre turbocharged engine matched with a six-speed dual-clutch transmission. This engine should be the ECOTEC turbo from the Chevy Cruze which makes 138bhp and 200Nm of torque.

Full gallery after the jump!
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