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Daimler to use Renault-Nissan electric vehicle tech

September 15, 2010 at 10:27 am By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, Nissan, Renault, smart

Here are some updates on the collaboration between Daimler and the Renault-Nissan Alliance. Back in April when the partnership was announced, the stated scope was focussed on small car development and engine sharing (read our previous post here). In a recent interview with Reuters, Thomas Weber, Head of Group Research & Mercedes-Benz Cars Development, has confirmed that the German carmaker will broaden the partnership with Renault-Nissan into electric vehicle (EV) development.

The goal is to cut costs by building scale. “We won’t be able to meet the target of 95 grams CO2 in 2020 without electric vehicles with batteries and fuel cells,” Weber was quoted as saying, adding “it won’t be easy to then also earn money with these cars.”

Besides that, the partnership will birth a shared RWD architecture for the next smart fortwo, a new smart four-seater and the next-gen Renault Twingo. The first of these cars will roll out from 2013 with the smart plant in France building the two-seater versions and the Renault plant in Slovenia building the four-seater variant. It was announced that there will be EV versions.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance is one of the main movers of EVs in the motoring world. They have invested an estimated €4 billion into the field and have plans to launch up to eight EVs in at least five key segments – starting with the Nissan Leaf, which will be delivered to European customers early next year. US allotment for the car has been fully spoken for. Next in line are the Renault Fluence ZE saloon and Kangoo Express ZE in mid 2011.

Alliance boss Carlos Ghosn is very bullish about EVs, saying that they will comprise 10% of all car sales within a decade, and they’re expecting to build 500,000 plug ins by 2012.

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Heidfeld replaces Pedro de la Rosa at Sauber from next race

September 15, 2010 at 9:17 am By Danny Tan Filed Under Formula 1, Motorsports

Sauber has announced that Nick Heidfeld will race for the team again, starting from the next race in Singapore. He takes Pedro de la Rosa’s race seat and will race alongside Kamui Kobayashi, who got a contract extension last week. This confirms rumours from the Monza paddock on Sunday evening, which team boss Peter Sauber refused to comment on.

“It was a hard decision for me to make as a team principal and I want to thank Pedro for his professionalism,” Sauber said. “By signing Nick we have a driver we know extremely well who will help us to further judge the comparative potential of our car.” The German driver’s most recent role was as test driver for Pirelli, next year’s tyre supplier, which makes him quite valuable in development terms.

“I’m looking forward like crazy to having the opportunity to go racing again in a good car in Formula One from the Singapore Grand Prix onwards. After the last months I’m even more motivated than ever. For me it is like coming home, as I raced for seven years in total for the team from Hinwil.

“Without doubt I will be feeling at home straight away and this should help me to familiarise myself as soon as possible with the car. I want to thank Peter Sauber for the faith he has put in me,” said Heidfeld, who is likely to remain with the team although contract terms weren’t revealed.

The man he replaces sounded shocked. “I am surprised by the team’s decision, but I respect it and would like to wish everyone good luck for the remainder of the season. I still intend to be in Formula One for 2011,” de la Rosa said.

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Audi A1 e-tron with rotary engine range extender!

September 14, 2010 at 9:45 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Audi, Cars, Concept Cars, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel

Audi will be unleashing a total of 20 specially prepared Audi A1 e-tron range extender electric cars onto the streets of Munich as part of the “eflott” joint venture pilot project between Audi, E.ON, the Munich municipal utility company Stadtwerke München (SWM) and the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

The Audi A1 e-tron is powered by a electric motor that delivers an output equivalent of 102 PS, drawing power from a lithium-ion battery mounted within the floor assembly in front of the rear axle of the A1 e-tron. This electric motor can take the A1 e-tron up to a top speed of 81 mph and it can go about 31 miles in city traffic.

But what happens beyond 31 miles? A small combustion engine will be started up to generate power to recharge the batteries, and what’s most interesting is that this small combustion engine is a small single-rotor Wankel rotary engine, with 15 kW of charging output. It would be interesting to find out why exactly Audi chose to use a Wankel rotary engine design for its range extender combustion engine.

Supporting these A1 e-tron cars are a total of 200 newly installed charging stations. These stations will enable experts to address a number of issues, from the data transfer between the driver, vehicle and electric filling station to the power grid and the use of smartphones as the central interface for the driver.

According to a draft standard for the calculation of fuel consumption for range extender vehicles, the A1 e-tron will be able to achieve a fuel economy figure of 148.7mpg and a CO2 output of only 45 g/km.

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New drivetrains for facelifted Chevrolet Captiva

September 14, 2010 at 3:50 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, Chevrolet, General Motors, International News

It was something waiting to happen. The Chevrolet Captiva SUV has been given a facelift that incorporates Chevy’s new family look, as seen on recent products like the Cruze, Beat and Orlando MPV. It will be shown in the metal at Chevrolet’s stand at the Paris show, alongside three other undisclosed world debuts.

It’s not just grafting on huge nostrils, but the Captiva features reshaped “prism style” headlamps and front bumpers as well. The bonnet is new too, and the wing mirror indicators are now LED items. The air vents on the profile assume a smaller and sharper form and the wheel design is new. What do you think of this new look?

GM’s Honda CR-V rival gets three new engines in Europe – one 2.4L petrol and two 2.2L turbodiesels. The common rail oil burner can be had in 163 or 184 hp outputs, while the 2.4-litre DOHC gasoline unit with VVT has 171 hp. These can be had with new 6-speed manual or auto transmissions. As a recap, our Malaysian spec Captiva comes with a 150 hp 2.0 VCDi engine or a 136 hp 2.4-litre petrol – both with a 5-speed auto.

The Captiva’s cabin design is rather dated, but this facelift promises current Chevy cues such as ice-blue back lighting and a dual-cockpit look. There are also new finishes and textures including new seat fabrics and interior appointments. European customers can order a touch-screen navigation system with rear view camera.

More pics after the jump.
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Toyota FT-86 platform to spawn 4-door RWD sedan?

September 14, 2010 at 3:03 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Rumours, Toyota

Apparently Toyota’s new rear wheel drive platform underpinning the Toyota FT-86 will spawn a small sports sedan that will be somewhere in between the BMW 1-Series and the 3-Series in size.

And from what Autocar UK is inferring according to Japanese market sources, it seems this sedan has more likelihood of making it to production compared to the FT-86 Coupe. Seems that the FT-86 has been pushed back to 2013 due to economic reasons.

We may end up never seeing the FT-86 in production despite it looking so very production ready. But we may end up seeing a platform stablemate with four doors instead. Look after the jump if you want to enjoy a photo gallery of the good-looking FT-86 again.
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Kimi Raikkonen coming back to Formula 1 via Renault?

September 14, 2010 at 2:46 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Formula 1, Motorsports, Renault

Many observers had expected Kimi Raikkonen to remain in the World Rally Championship next year, but it looks like the Iceman misses Formula 1 and is eyeing a return. Autosport reports that the 2007 F1 champion has approached the Renault team for a 2011 race seat. However, there’s no mention whether the approach was by the man himself or through his agents.

Apparently, this contact happened after Renault did well to score a podium at the recent Belgian GP at Spa, Kimi’s favourite track. The Finn has gone on record before that he would only return to F1 if he was in a competitive car.

Renault team principal Eric Boullier confirmed this news. “It is true that the summer has passed and we have had more and more requests – and the guy you mentioned (Kimi) is on the radar now. He is on the radar because he contacted us,” he told the magazine.


Will Kimi Raikkonen be holding this next season?

Robert Kubica is a certainty, but rookie Vitaly Petrov isn’t a confirmed goner yet. Boullier said that the team will keep Petrov next year if the Russian can improve his consistency. When asked what Petrov had to do to convince Renault, Boullier said: “He is not very far away to be honest. It is still very complicated for him to have a complete weekend and be faultless, and that is where he needs to work and focus on, and develop clearly his commitment and dedication.

“We need to think about it. But the priority is Vitaly, and to see how he will develop. If we are convinced then we will keep him definitely. This is the first option,” he added. A decision on Renault’s 2011 line-up will be made before the end of this season.

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VIDEO: Volkswagen ‘Think Blue’ Clip for Paris 2010

September 14, 2010 at 2:12 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Volkswagen

This three minute animation is part of Volkswagen’s Think Blue campaign and was produced by Sehsucht and BM8 for Volkswagen to be shown at the 2010 Paris Motorshow in early October. Blue is basically the new green. It basically shows a blue world (litreally) with people living green lifestyles, not just with environmentally friendly vehicles (that so happen to all be Volkswagens) but even in the office we see a lady opening the window for ventilation instead of using air conditioning.

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Hyundai i10 given a minor facelift for Paris 2010

September 14, 2010 at 1:14 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Hyundai, International News, Koreans

The Hyundai i10 has been given a little facelift – it now features the new hexa-trapezoidal grille that it has been putting on all its new cars in certain markets, as an alternate to the ‘angry crab grille’.

We only have the front three quarter view at the moment. The new grille also comes with new foglamps and new headlamps. The new front end has a lot more detail compared to the pre-facelift but one wonders if it will make the front end too fussy compared to the rest of the car. We’ll post the interior and rear photos as soon as they are released.

UPDATE: We now have interior and rear photos after the jump. They’ve not professionally shot though, looking more like camera phone photos snapped of a car in storage. The rear end looks like it has new tail lamps and a reworked rear bumper.
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Hyundai release images and initial details of ix20 mini MPV

September 14, 2010 at 1:08 pm By Jacob Alexander Filed Under Cars, Hyundai, International News, Koreans

Pictures of the new Hyundai ix20 compact MPV have been released by Hyundai ahead of its Paris debut. It is pretty much a Matrix replacement. Previously, the only images we had of this car were sketches released by the Korean brand.

Intial details state that the car will use a 1.4 litre petrol engine that produces 89 hp and a larger 125 hp 1.6-litre variant. A diesel option will also be available for specific markets.

The mini MPV has a bag of goodies such as start/stop system, side and curtain airbags as well as ESP as standard. Outside, the design of Hyundai’s latest was based on the Kia Venga, developed in its European R&D centre in Germany. No doubt a great selling point.

Some speculate that the car will feature Hyundai’s intelligent asymmetric eco grille, which improves overall fuel economy and emissions. This has yet to be confirmed but all will be revealed in Paris at the end of the month. Look after the jump for high res pictures.
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Abarth reveals Esseesse versions of 500C and Punto Evo

September 14, 2010 at 11:52 am By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, Fiat, International News

Abarth’s conversion kits have been a huge success, with the scorpion brand reporting that one Abarth 500 in three is upgraded with the official kit. With that in mind, it’s only logical for the Fiat tuner to expand the market for its Esseesse kit designed to “improve performance, handling and safety without having to sacrifice the car’s low emissions and fuel consumption”. The latest recipients are the Abarth 500C and Abarth Punto Evo.

The Punto Evo Esseesse has 180 hp and 270 Nm, top speed of 216 km/h and acceleration from 0-100 km/h in just 7.5 seconds. This is an increase from the standard Abarth, which has 165 hp/250 Nm and a fixed geometry Garrett turbocharger on the supermini’s 1.4-litre Multiair engine. A six-speed manual is the only gearbox option.

The Esseesse pack for the 500C gives the cute little convertible enough poke to potentially scare bigger opposition. It now pushes out 160 hp and 230 Nm from 1.4-litres, compared to the standard Abarth’s 140 hp/206 Nm. Top speed is 209 km/h and 0-100 km/h takes just 7.6 seconds. That’s pretty fast for a “girly car” in standard Fiat form.

Both Esseesse cars come in Campovolo Grey, named after the airfield located opposite the company’s historic headquarters in Corso Marche, Turin. The Punto Evo gets 18′-inch alloys in a special titanium-coloured design, Abarth Corse by Sabelt seats in black leather and a Blue&Me MAP satellite navigation system complete with telemetrics developed with Magneti Marelli. The 500C has the latter too, plus a Record Monza exhaust silencer (dual mode with variable counter pressure) that enhances engine sound above 4,000 rpm.

Fascinating stuff. More pics after the jump.
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