Here’s something new for you to tell our friendly policemen when you get pulled over.
A Dutchman caught speeding in Amsterdam said he was speeding only because he wanted to dry his car after he had washed it. He was driving at 108kph, almost 50kph over the speed limit in his township.
Source: Reuters
DaimlerChrysler AG’s Chrysler unit says it will name it’s sub-compact car partner by the end of the 2006. Chrysler is in talks with a few partners right now, but nothing is concrete yet. Chrysler CEO Eric Ridenour says to think of them as “semi-finalists”, but refused to reveal who it is talking to.
Chrysler wants to make a new sub-compact car to market globally, including in the United States. It needs a partner because it has not much expertise in making small cars, and there is a huge investment involved in designing, manufacturing and marketing a new car. Chrysler’s new sub-compact car could take on the styling cues of the 2006 Dodge Hornet Concept (picture above), shown at the 2006 Geneva Auto Show.
Previously, there were rumours that this partner would be Chery Automobile, a Chinese automotive manufacturer. Subcompacts account for 1% of the overall US market currently, but it is expected to double in amount in the year 2007, as gas prices continue to rise. Sub-compacts are known to have frugal fuel consumption.
DRB-HICOM Bhd unit Suzuki Malaysia Automobile Sdn Bhd will be introducing the Suzuki Swift Sport 1.6 liter soon. A definite time was not given but it is likely to be sometime later this year. More details after the jump. Click here to read the rest of Suzuki Swift Sport 1.6 coming soon
Proton has put up a teaser site for the Satria Replacement Model over at Desire. Teaser ads with the URL were shown at KL International Motor Show the last 3 days. The site looks incomplete though, not all the games are working. They also have an image of the SRM dashboard there. Looks nice, they’ve stuck to the standard dual-pod sporty Lotus-inspired design for the two meters, and the colour is blue.
Top Gear tries out the Prodrive P2, Prodrive’s first entirely self-developed car using a Subaru Impreza turbocharged flat-four engine. The Prodrive P2 went from concept to a full working model in only 9 months. It’s a 2 seater, and features all wheel drive. The boxer engine gives it good power figures of 349PS and 575Nm of torque for a 1100kg car. And something I didn’t know, the Prodrive P2 was actually based on the Subaru R1 chassis. Check the video out after the jump! Click here to read the rest of Top Gear Prodrive P2
Do you remember the Toyota Aygo football match? Top Gear actually took a few Toyota Aygos and used them in a field to play football with a huge blown up football. This is something else altogether - we see Top Gear pitch the Japanese against the Germans in this car football match between the Toyota Aygo and the Volkswagen Fox. In the spirit of the world cup, video is after the jump! Click here to read the rest of Toyota Aygo and Volkswagen Fox Football
Utusan Malaysia carried a report yesterday quoting an unnamed source that Proton would be unveiling a new Proton Waja model which would be equipped with a Kleemann supercharger system by the end of the year 2006. Utusan Malaysia’s reporters were given the opportunity to see the model for themselves at an unnamed place in Malaysia, and they took a photo of it.
Apparently the supercharged engine which we could all assume is the 1.6 Campro or the 1.8 Renault makes in excess of 150 hosepower, and the Waja’s suspension and brake system has also been upgraded. The Waja seems to have a new hood (Utusan reports this will be carbon fibre?!) and grille which looks like Volkswagen and Audi’s nose design. Abandoning the Alfa nose? Makes the car looks like a miniature A4. Other aesthetic changes include a new bumper, and wing mirrors which have signal lights on them. There is also a new logo which looks like a circle with a letter Z in the middle of it. Could it be called a Proton Waja Campro 1.6Z?
Proton head of Corporate Communications Yusri Yusuf declined to comment on the matter. Prices are apparently in the RM75,000 to RM80,000 range. Psst, by the way… since the logo has been changed to a Z, this might not even be a Proton, but a tune-up by a third party, emulating the business model of companies like Brabus or Kleemann doing up and rebadging Mercedes Benz cars.
Source: Utusan Malaysia
Related Posts:
Satria Replacement Model to get Kleemann Supercharger
Proton Waja R3 rear wheel drive
DRB-HICOM’s unit Hicomobil Sdn Bhd which distributes Chevrolet cars here in Malaysia has launched a new variant of the Chevrolet Optra. The new variant is the Chevrolet Optra Estate, a station wagon version of the Chevrolet Optra sedan and the Optra 5 hatchback. The Chevrolet Optra Estate will be offered with a 1.6 liter Daewoo E-TEC II DOHC engine (107bhp@5800rpm, 150Nm@4000rpm) mated to a 4-speed automatic transmission. No manual or 1.8 liter models yet.
The Chevrolet Optra Estate will cost RM92,888 on the road without insurance, making it the only station wagon in Malaysia under the RM100,000 range. We used to have the Nissan AD Resort in the past. For more details on the Chevrolet Optra Estate, click here.
If you look at photos of car interior overseas, you could most likely notice that the area where we normally have our 2-DIN sized CD players is taken up by a little computer, with navigational information as well as entertainment functions. Most of the cars in Malaysia do not have such features, as it’s pretty pointless with the lack of map data on Malaysian roads. Plus it would drive up the costs of our already expensive cars.
These navigational systems normally run on either Microsoft Windows Automotive, or a proprietary OS based on a set of specifications called uITRON. uITRON is not an OS, but a set of specifications for a small-scale industrial RTOS (Real Time Operating System).
Toyota feels that a single control system OS would be more beneficial, as it would reduce the development load between car manufacturers. It is developing a new OS in a joint effort with Nagoya Unviersity’s Center for Embedded Computing Systems. A car’s automotive computers are normally divided into two parts - the information systems OS and the control systems OS. Toyota’s efforts with Nagoya are on the information systems OS, and will be based on a Unix base.
It will use a multi-core processor for the heat reduction benefits that comes with a reduced CPU frequency, and it will have a firewall for the communication between the two operating systems. Toyota intends to allow other car manufacturers to use this operating system once it is complete, but is currently heading development to control the direction it takes.
AutoBild has news on BMW’s upcoming BMW Z8 successor, as well as artist impressions of what the car could look like, as well as some other impressions on future BMW cars. More after the jump. Click here to read the rest of 2010 BMW Z8 Artist Impression
