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VIDEO: Citroen Survolt electric supercar concept

July 8, 2010 at 10:05 pm By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Cars, Citroën, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel

Citroen has revealed information and a teaser video of the electric concept Survolt ahead of the car’s debut at the Le Mans Classic on July 10th.

The car is motivated by two electric motors powered by twin 31kW lithium-ion batteries that produce a combined 300hp. This propels the electric sports car to the century mark in less than five seconds and goes on to reach a top speed of 260km/h. Driving range for this car will be 200 kilometres on a single charge while the batteries can either be replenished using a standard 220 volt outlet in 10 hours or with a rapid charger in 2 hours.

A car that combines economical driving and sporting performance, the car features a tubular chassis, flat underside with an extractor and full carbon bodywork. This gives the Survolt a kerb weight of just 1.15 tonnes and compact dimensions of 3.85m long, 1.87m wide and 1.2m high.

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All-new Porsche Cayenne – quick test drive review

July 8, 2010 at 8:27 pm By Harvinder Sidhu Filed Under Cars, Porsche, Test Drive Reviews

Porsche unveiled the second generation Cayenne SUV a couple of months ago in February and recently the Zuffenhausen company which currently resides under the Volkswagen umbrella held a Porsche World Roadshow event down south in Singapore. Among various sessions held through out the event, there was a quick test drive of the latest Cayenne which also includes a hybrid variant in it’s line-up as well.

Joining the hybrid is the diesel and the gasoline versions that we are used to as well. I was invited to the event and I managed to get behind the wheels of both the Cayenne Turbo and the Cayenne Diesel. I was also given a short ride in the Cayenne Hybrid.

Look after the jump for my full driving experience.
[Read more...]

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Mercedes-Benz overtakes Audi in sales for first half 2010

July 8, 2010 at 8:25 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Mercedes Benz

Mercedes-Benz has passed Audi to take up the second place in terms of global luxury cars sales, at least for the first half of 2010.

Thanks mainly due to a record-setting June 2010 sales result, Mercedes-Benz’s total sales count now exceeds Audi’s by about 1,750 units. Mercedes-Benz sold 556,700 units for the first half of 2010 compared to Audi at 554,950 units.

For the first five months of the year, Audi sold more cars than Mercedes-Benz but it was the sales for June 2010 of 113,300 units that pushed the three pointed star past the quad rings. The high sales count is thanks to E-Class and S-Class models. Mercedes-Benz also recently launched a long wheelbase variant of the new W212 for the Chinese market.

In case you were wondering, BMW is in the number one spot at 585,775 units.

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Audi redesigns diesel fuel filler to prevent wrong refueling

July 8, 2010 at 8:23 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Audi, Cars, International News

Audi has updated the fuel filler design for diesel models of the Audi A4, Audi A5 and Audi Q5. They’ve been updated to incorporate contact points that open an internal fuel flap to allow fuel to flow into the tank only when the larger diesel pump nozzle applies pressure on them. Smaller diameter petrol nozzles do not make contact, ensuring that the filler flap remains closed to prevent access to the fuel tank.

This is of course of no relation to us at all at this point because Euromobil have not brought in any diesel model Audi at this point of time. The only two marques who have passenger diesel vehicles in Malaysia is BMW with their range of diesel models and Ford with their Focus TDCi. Well, technically the Renault Kangoo is a passenger diesel of sorts too.

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Audi starts assembly of the Q5 at their Indian plant

July 8, 2010 at 6:52 pm By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Audi, Cars, International News

Audi have announced that they have started assembly of the Q5 subcompact SUV at their Aurangabad plant in the Indian state of Maharashtra. They eventually plan to pump out over 1,500 units from their assembly line each year.

The SUV will be the third model Audi are producing in India after the A4 and the A6, increasing vehicle production capacity this year to 2,400 units compared to the 732 vehicles they sold the year before. As it stands Audi have produced a total of 2,000 vehicles since they first started in September 2007 and are planning to reach a production level of 6,000 units by 2015.

“The production of the Q5 is part of our long-term growth strategy in India. The Indian market for automobiles will grow very rapidly, and the Q5 is the right automobile at the right time,” says Frank Dreves, Audi Board Member for Production. Apart from the standard locally built models, Audi also offers its Indian customers the Audi A8, Q7, TT along with the R8.

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BMW officially ends E60 M5 production to make way for the twin turbocharged F10 M5

July 8, 2010 at 6:02 pm By Jacob Alexander Filed Under BMW, Cars, International News

BMW has announced that they will be officially ending the production of the E60 BMW M5 to make way for the F10 M5 which will be unveiled sometime next year. BMW has produced a total of 20,548 of the high performance variant of the 5-series. Out of these, 19,523 were saloons while the other 1025 units were BMW M5 Touring which was released in 2007.

The high performance sedans featured a 5.0-litre V10 petrol engine that produced 509hp along with a tire burning 520Nm of torque which was either mated to a 6-speed manual or a 7-speed SMG gearbox. This resulted in a 0 to 100 figure in just 4.2 seconds going on to reach a top speed of 337km/h, but was electronically limited to 249km/h.

Unfortunately BMW still hasn’t specified any details of what the new F10 version of the M5 will contain. That’s not going to stop the automotive fraternity from speculating and predictions include a V8 twin turbo currently seen in the BMW X6 M and X5 M, which will be tuned up to produce more than 500hp and an equally earth shattering 680Nm of torque.

Not that it’s relevant at this moment in time, but there is a high possibility the prices of an almost new M5 will drop with the release of the new F10 M5. Thus for fans and prospective buyers of the E60 M5 should keep close to their BMW showroom. It has also been said that Malaysians won’t really take to the new F10 M5 due to its unimposing looks as compared to the E60, Would that be right? Have your say.

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Saab Automobiles – now officially 100% GM free!

July 8, 2010 at 3:32 pm By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Cars, General Motors, International News, Saab, Spyker

Good news for Saab, as Spyker Cars announced that they have paid General Motors off in full. The final payment of $24 million was actually due on the 15th of July 2010 but Spyker has opted to pay the amount two weeks early.

A statement from the company confirms that the source of the funds was internal and has not increased the company’s external debt or caused a share issue problem causing the dilution of existing shareholders. No word on the source of the funds, but all that they’re letting out is the fact that it became available after the acquisition of Saab Great Britain Limited by Spyker on the 31st of May.

This as mentioned before has officially released Saab from the shackles of GM and will help in the realisation of the company’s long term plans. The most recent of all was to sell Spyker supercars such as the C8 Aileron in Saab dealerships.

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Peugeot roadshow at 1 Utama until this Sunday

July 8, 2010 at 3:02 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Local News, Peugeot

If you haven’t had time to check out the new Peugeot 3008 at a Peugeot showroom yet, drop by 1 Utama this weekend to check out the Peugeot 3008 as well as the spec-updated Peugeot 308 VTi. The two cars along with other Peugeot models are already on show now and will be at 1 Utama’s new wing until this Sunday, the 11th of July.

In case you were wondering what has changed with the new 308 VTi:

  • 308 Turbo style front grille
  • Body coloured side protection mouldings
  • 308 Turbo interior trim (without the rear a/c vents and panoramic roof)
  • New design 16″ rims
  • Electric folding side mirrors
  • Dual zone auto air conditioning
  • Leather wrapped steering wheel
  • Black instrument dials
  • Redesigned Multi Function Display
  • 4 point rear parking sensor (previously 2)

Of course, the price has been revised up as well – RM99,888 OTR up from RM96,500.

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Volvo V60 unveiled – wagon version of the S60

July 7, 2010 at 4:29 pm By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Cars, International News, Volvo

A new model has been added to the Volvo range of cars which is the Volvo V60. Touted as being the five door wagon version of the S60, the car features sleek and a coupe-like design but is not trying to compete with the likes of the V70 and XC70.

Nevertheless it’s no shrinking violet when it comes to load carrying as the car can accommodate 430 litres with the rear seats in place. This along with the 1095 millimetre wide tailgate and fold flat passenger seats provides flexibility when loading and unloading.

Volvo will offer five petrol engines along with three diesel variants. The five petrol engines will be the T6 3.0-litre six cylinder 304hp engine, T5 2.0 four cylinder 240hp engine and the T4 and T3 1.6-litre engine that produces either 180hp or 150hp. Also in the list is a force-inducted 2.0 litre GTDi which is good for 203hp and 300Nm of torque.

Oil burners on offer are the turbo diesel D5 five cylinder 205hp engine producing 420Nm of torque and the D3 2.0 five cylinder 163hp engine that produces an equally impressive 400 Nm of torque. There will also be an economical 1.6 D DRIVe producing 115hp and 270Nm of torque. The engine will be matted to either a manual gearbox or Volvo’s six-speed automatic Geartronic transmission

The car is said to share handling dynamics with the S60 and offers a dynamic chassis as standard for the V60 in European markets while the rest of the world gets a softer, smoother touring chassis. This is backed up by driver assistance programmes such as Advanced Stability Control, Corner Traction Control, City Safety and Rollover Protection System (RPS).

Pricing for the V60 has yet to be released but expect it to come below the V70 pricetag. 50,000 V60’s will be built in their Torslanda plant in Sweden, while first deliveries are expected to be in the final quarter of 2010. Look for a picture gallery after the jump.

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EU approves sale of Volvo to Chinese carmakers, Geely

July 7, 2010 at 12:14 am By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Cars, Geely, International News, Volvo

It has been announced recently that the European Union competition regulators have approved the sale of Ford Motor Co’s Volvo, to Chinese car maker Geely Automobile Holdings and investment firm Daqing. This comes after an investigation concluded that the “deal will not significantly impede competition in Europe,” in a statement from the EU executive.

The takeover worth US$2.7 billion was originally agreed on in March and is expected to be concluded sometime during the third quarter of this year. This is said to include $900 million to bring Volvo back into the black.

There have been rumours that to do this, the Chinese carmaker will be moving production to China, where other German and Japanese manufacturers have enjoyed booming sales and profits. Naturally the company itself is resistant to the idea, but this will be futile as Volvo is one step closer to being fully owned by Geely.

Even if that doesn’t happen, the upside to this takeover would mean that Volvo tech could be seen in Geely cars, which are almost half the price of the Sweedish models, thereby providing a sales boost for Geely range of cars.

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