Something new to the internal combustion engine world is HCCI — Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition, yet to be seen in any production vehicle by any manufacturer. A few car manufacturers have been experimenting with this, among them Honda who wants to introduce HCCI with it’s IMA Hybrid system.

What exactly is HCCI? Basically. Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition ignites an air fuel mixture without any flame, plus a large area can be ignited simultaneously, much different from a conventional spark flame burn where the mixture burns first from the area around the initial spark and proceeds to the rest of the combustion chamber. This is somewhat similiar to a diesel engine’s self-ignition. Diesel self-ignition is called SCCI, or Stratified Charge Compression Ignition.

Engineers have predicted a potential 20 to 30% boost in engine efficiency over conventional gasoline combustion engines, and an improved thermal efficiency of about 40% to 50%. Honda calls it’s HCCI technology Activated Radical Combustion, and have been experimenting with two-stroke motorcycle engines. A 4-cylinder HCCI engine for cars is also in development, though currently progress has enabled HCCI on the lower RPM ranges of about 0 to 4,000rpm only. However, during normal non-spirited driving the rev rarely goes above 4,000rpm anyway.

A key problem is how to measure ignition timing accurately. This is not a problem in diesel self-ignition, as hot air is compressed and ignition starts when fuel is injected into the combustion chamber filled with the hot air. In a HCCI gasoline engine, the air-fuel mix is already in the combustion chamber before the piston starts compressing it. According to Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, some ways to ovecome this would be to recirculate exhaust gases into the fuel/air mix to quickly raise its temperature, or to add dimethyl ether to the fuel/air mixture to improve combustion.

Another idea would be to compress the air-fuel mixture to the point where it is just about to ignite, then injecting a second dosage of low octane fuel that combusts easily. That fuel would detonate, increasing temperature and detonating the rest of the air fuel mixture. The ignition timing could start from whenever the engine injects that second dosage of fuel.

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HCCI engines could bring breakthrough fuel efficiency

Through a patent filing filed by Honda Motor Co Japan, we now have a preview on how Honda’s next generation AVTEC system will work. Basically, AVTEC enhances the features of VTEC and i-VTEC by providing a fully variable valve timing and lift control system. i-VTEC previously provides continuous valve timing, but not valve lift. The only fully variable valve timing and lift system on the market currently is BMW’s Valvetronic, which also removes the need for a throttle butterfly. Every other system as of today has fully variable valve timing, but valve lift is only switchable between two fixed profiles.

So how does AVTEC work? The full text of the patent including drawings is available after the jump, but I will attempt to summarise it from whatever understanding I have. Honda’s new AVTEC system basically uses a small drum that surrounds the intake camshaft. This drum is connected to a rocker shaft. When this drum turns, it alters the position of the rocket shaft, thus affecting valve timing and valve lift.

Read the full patent together with diagrams after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Honda files Advanced VTEC patent

Another tuner lays it’s hands on the new W204 Mercedes Benz C-Class - this time it’s Kicherer. The Kicherer K35 CS takes the C350 up 34 horses to 306 horsepower, while it’s oil burner tuned variant is the C320 CDI, which goes up to 270hp from 224hp.

On the exterior, there is the customary large wheels - RS-1 19 inch alloy wheels. Dampers are now height adjustable, stabilizer bars are thicker, and the rear gets a new diffuser from which quad shiny exhaust tailpipes protrude.

The interior gets alcantara leather, piano lacquer, a carbon fiber steering wheel, aluminum pedals, and stainless steel door sills.

Let’s do some comparison here between all the tuners that have tuned up the Mercedes Benz C350 recently. Only Brabus performed major mods on the engine, increasing it’s displacement up to 4.0 liters through the use of larger pistons.

Brabus C350: 332 horsepower (bored to 4.0 liters)
Carlsson C350: 295 horsepower
Kicherer C350: 305 horsepower

One more photo after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Kicherer K35 CS C-Class

Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd has updated the 2.0S version of it’s 8th generation 2006 Honda Civic, a move that I see as an effort to further differentiate the 1.8S and 2.0S models. I’ve heard that many people are dissatisfied that the two versions look similiar externally, even sharing the same sporty chrome dual exhaust tips.

The only difference is the 1.8S is missing the red 2.0 liter badge at the rear, and the 2.0S has a different alloy wheel design, however the size and tyres are the same - 16 inch sized wheels wrapped with Eagle NCT5 tyres.

With this update, the Honda Civic 2.0S now has 17 inch alloy wheels and come with performance tyres - Michelin Pilot Preceda. The new enhanced Civic goes for RM128,800. There is also a new exclusive 2.0S color option - Sparkle Gray Pearl.

Click here to read the rest of Honda Malaysia updates the Honda Civic 2.0S

The Mofaz Group says it’s marketing and distribution strengths will be able to help turn Proton around, and is banking on this fact to win the Khazanah Nasional stake in Proton. “Technically, you have to go with the technical people. In terms of marketing and distribution, we are already very experienced in this field,” said Mofaz’s senior vice president Nik Izani Nik Ibrahim.

I’m not sure why a company that expects it’s 2007 sales growth to mainly come from it’s beverage sales thinks it can turn around an automotive company that has most of it’s woes in the manufacturing part, not sales and marketing part. There are plenty of Proton dealers - too many in fact! It’s manufacturing where Proton fails, not being able to get good economies of scale as well as not keeping up to international QC standards.

Proton needs a manufacturing and technical partner, not a marketing partner.

Autobild says Mercedes Benz is currently working on a Mercedes Benz C400 to compete with the BMW 335i. Mercedes Benz’s current highest spec non-AMG C-class is the C350, which at 272hp and 350Nm is a step lower than the BMW 335’s colossal 306hp and 400Nm of torque over a nice, wide torque curve.

Taking the horsepower war one step above, it’s expected to make roughly 400 horsepower and might employ the use of forced induction, which is entering RS4 and M3 territory, and the AMG models will make even more power. But for the moment this is all just speculation from a German magazine, so we shall wait and see.

Wendelin Wiedeking has indicated that the Volkswagen Group could possibly ditch Bugatti and Lamborghini. Wiedeking is the current president and CEO of Porsche, and sits on the Volkswagen supervisory board. Since Porsche pretty much owns Volkswagen now, his words definitely carry alot of weight to them. His reasons for the possible disposal is “no toys anymore” - and it also does not make sense to have Porsche indirectly funding development for two of it’s rivals in the supercar realm.

This advertisement for the Ford Ranger back in 2006 was developed by JW Thompson’s Malaysian team for Ford Malaysia. It’s basically a matchbox with matchsticks in them (what else did you expect?) to promote the Ford Ranger Extreme’s extendable cargo bed. It’s really quite clever - it looks like the little Ranger is carrying the matches in the box if viewed from the proper angle.

These are spyshots of an unknown Volkswagen sedan being tested in a snowy environment. It looks pretty much like a Jetta with a slightly different shape, sharing much of the Jetta’s front and rear design cues. This is supposed to be one of two Volkswagen’s new low-cost cars for emerging markets like Brazil, India and South East Asia. Both cars are targetted at an entry price point of 7,000 Euros. To put things into perspective, the Proton Savvy in the UK is priced at £5,995, or 8,804 Euros - so when Volkswagen says low-cost, it really means low-cost!

This car might end up having some of it’s production here in Malaysia built in Proton’s plant if everything goes through well, however the latest story is that there has been no new deadline set for Proton-VW talks to be concluded.

Click here to read the rest of New Volkswagen low-cost car spied!

As you’ve known, Hyundai has changed it’s naming scheme. Rather than using pretentious un-Korean names like Velacruz and Santa Fe, it has decided to adopt an alphanumeric naming scheme, ala BMW and Mercedes. All Hyundai cars will have an i prefix, a numeric segment identifier, and an alphabetical suffix to denote it’s body type. Hyundai chose i because of it’s association with technology products, as well as the association with the word inspire. As for the numbers:

i10 = A segment
i20 = B segment
i30 = C segment
i40 = D segment
i50 = E segment

If the car is a station wagon, it will receive suffixes like CW, which Hyundai says stands for Cross-Wagon. A Cross-Wagon is of course nothing more than a fancy name for a stationwagon. An example would be the Hyundai i30 CW stationwagon. A Hyundai i40 or i50 is also coming up soon, to be based on the Hyundai Concept Genesis V8 rear wheel driven sedan.