Honda wants to sell diesel-powered cars in Japan by 2009, in an attempt to reignite Japan’s dead diesel passenger car market, which is also the world’s third-biggest auto market. There is only one car manufacturer in the whole of Japan selling a diesel car - Mercedes Benz with it’s Mercedes Benz E320 CDI mid-sized luxury sedan.

Honda recently unveiled it’s second generation i-CTDi diesel engine with a NOx catalyst for reduced emmissions. There are a few Japanese manufacturers with newly developed diesel engines - Subaru with it’s new turbodiesel boxer comes to mind. Toyota also has a nice 2.2 liter D4-D with a high torque output of 400Nm for the European market. Cars equipped with these modern diesel engines could be sold in Japan if the market can slowly accept diesel cars.

The latest whispers being passed around dinner tables in the automotive industry are that Jaguar and Land Rover are currently on the table, and potential buyers are Fiat. It seems that talks started in February this year but ended last month, with no resolution. Sources say the talks were dropped because Fiat was concerned on how the Jaguar would affect Fiat’s credit rating. Fiat would have benefited from Jaguar’s rear wheel drive platforms if the sale had gone through.

With rumours of BMW being interested in Volvo, and most of Aston Martin shares recently being sold, it seems Ford Motor Co is looking to offload all of it’s Premier Automotive Group (PAG) brands.

PAG lost US$327 million before taxes last year, it’s third loss in a row for three years. Jaguar has lost the most money apparently, a total of between US$500 million to US$1 billion since 2001. Land Rover has gained traction recently though, pardon the pun

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If you think the Renault/Dacia Logan (shown above) was a budget car, wait til you see what Renault has in mind next. The guys at Renault are planning an even cheaper car that will cost around US$3,000. This ultra-budget car will be designed and developed in India, at a new “technocenter” soon to be established that will hire 1,000 engineers.

Apparently, development costs in India are very low. India has been in the Carlon Ghosn spotlight for awhile now. Earlier this year he said there is a fundamental difference in attitude to cost savings between western companies and Indian companies, and by this he means the Indian one is better.

This new budget car will be aimed at developing markets, and not intended for the European market. Let’s just hope it ends up looking better than the Logan.

Honda has a new trim level for the 2.2 liter i-CTDi engined Honda Accord in the UK, and Honda thinks it’s good enough to be a GT! Well, that’s what I interpreted from the name anyway, as Honda is calling it the Honda Accord Sport GT 2.2 i-CTDi. The 2.2 liter i-CTDi turbodiesel makes 138 horsepower at 4,000rpm, and 340Nm of torque at 2,000rpm.

Equipment level includes dark chrome door handles and front grille, 16 or 17 inch alloy wheels in Dark Graphite finish for stationwagon and sedan respectively, an exclusive option for Premium White Pearl paint, a sports-tuned suspension, a bodykit that includes smoked headlights and a rear boot spoiler, carbon-effect interior trim, red illuminated dials instead of the usual white.

BTW, have you seen the ad campaign Honda did for the i-CTDi when it was first introduced? Check it out in the related post links below, it’s really quite cute

Related Posts:
Honda announces 2nd gen i-CTDi with NOx catalyst
Honda i-CTDi diesel engine advertisement

Click here to read the rest of Honda Accord Sport GT 2.2 i-CTDi

These guys have taken a 5.0 liter 1GZ-FE V12 engine from a Toyota Century and put it into a Toyota Supra. Not being satisfied with that, they’ve added a custom bolt-on turbokit to it.

The result is a 542 horsepower V12-powered Toyota Supra, though I don’t really know why the need for the V12 engine as the stock Supra engine could easily go beyond 550 horsepower if you tune it properly with the necessary strengthening, engine management, and larger turbos.

Anyway, video after jump. I think there’s a typo in the video though - the 1GZ-FE is a 4,996cc engine which makes it 5.0 liters, instead of the stated 5,996cc.

Click here to read the rest of Toyota Supra with V12 Engine

Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said if the second round of the most recent attempt at negotiating the Proton-Volkswagen partnership deal is successful, we will be able to hear some positive news by the end of this month.

“Insya Allah, we hope the discussions with Volkwagen now entering its second stage will be successful and we will in a short time be able to say something on the progress of the talks,” he said.

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A new special edition Honda City VTEC is now available in Honda showrooms - the Honda City Modulo Special Edition. Only 120 units of this special edition will be made available. It’s basically a Honda City VTEC with Honda’s Modulo kit which consists of front, side and rear skirts, a ducktail rear spoiler, and an edgier, sportier front grille. The kit is more than just aesthetics though - the Modulo kit has been wind-tunnel developed and is proven to make the car more aerodynamic, though I am not sure by how much.

The Honda City Modulo Special Edition is available only with the VTEC engine option, and comes in either Alabaster Silver or Nighthawk Black. While the normal City VTEC is priced at RM84,800, the Honda City Modulo Special Edition comes with a higher price tag of RM88,800. That’s pretty value if you want to buy a City and slap on a Modulo kit anyway, as the Modulo kit costs RM7,000 on it’s own.

More shots of the car after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Honda City Modulo Special Edition

Fiat Powertrain Technologies has unveiled the latest revision of it’s 1.9 liter JTD MultiJet 16 valve inline-4 turbodiesel engine, which uses twin stage turbocharging to produce high power and massive torque in a wide RPM range at the same time.

Low end torque has improved by 50% over current JTD MultiJet models, with 300Nm available from just 1,250rpm going up to peak torque of 400Nm at 2,000rpm. The new engine is available in two stages of tune - 177 horsepower and 188 horsepower at 4,000rpm. The higher 188 horses version is exclusively for Fiat and Fiat Group companies like Alfa Romeo and Lancia, while the 177 horsepower version will be made available for purchase to customers. Nanjing as one of the first customers comes to mind - they were reported to be sourcing a powerful turbodiesel for it’s MG 7 sedan from an European manufacturer.

The new engine uses a 16.5 compression ratio, low-voltage metallic glow plugs, an improved EGR cooler, and a new inlet port design. It complies with projected Euro 5 emission standards. It has a cast iron block and an aluminium alloy head.

The 177hp version will be available in July 2007 onwards, while the 188hp version is set to be launched in June 2008. The engines will be produced at Pratola Serra in Italy.

Toyota has something new up it’s sleeves - Valvematic, an evolution of the VVT-i mechanism which now incorporates continuous valve lift control together with VVT-i’s existing valve timing control. Valvematic also eliminates the need for a throttle valve, instead controlling the volume of intake air using valve lift instead.

According to Toyota, an improvement of 5% to 10% can be seen with fuel efficiency, as well as an improvement of 10% with the power output on a similiar engine displacement comparison. Toyota also mentions reduced CO2 emission as well as improved acceleration responsiveness.

The first Valvematic-equipped engine will be a 2.0 liter model, most likely a replacement for the 145 horsepower 1AZ-FE engine which has been pretty much slotted with different tune levels into all Toyota cars in the C-segment and above. The trademark “Valvematic” was registered by Toyota a few months ago, so alot of people have been expecting this. One of the first few cars to get the new Valvematic 2.0 liter engine are the 2.0 liter versions of the recently launched twin sedans Toyota Allion and Toyota Premio. The 2.0 liter variants are set to debut in Winter 2007.

The new Toyota Valvematic 2.0 liter engine will most likely be christened the 3ZR-FAE, and will put out 158hp at 6,200rpm and 196Nm at 4,400rpm. Being part of the new ZR engine family, variable valve timing features will be the same as the 2ZR-FE’s Dual VVT-i system - valve timing on both intake and exhaust valves.

Honda also recently announced an engine with continuous valve lift control combined with variable valve timing, a technology it calls AVTEC.

Check out a patent application filed by Toyota in March 2007 by clicking here - I think it is the patent for Valvematic. Be warned though, it’s pretty long.

Hyundai is taking a slightly different approach to electro-combustion hybrid powertrains. It will be releasing a hybrid version of the Hyundai Elantra in 2009, and it will be powered by an LPG-electric hybrid engine!

Estimated fuel consumption for the new hybrid LPG Elantra is 30% of the standard Elantra. Hyundai decided to make an LPG hybrid for the Korean market because Liquid Petroleum Gas is cheap (half price in Korea) as well as sufficiently available at most pumping stations. There are currently only two hybrid cars sold in Korea - the Lexus RX400h and the Honda Civic Hybrid.

This move by Hyundai takes advantage of a recently announced new ruling that gives hybrid cars in Korea tax breaks and subsidies. An Elantra hybrid using gasoline for it’s combustion engine instead of LPG will be released in 2010, and this might find it’s way to the US market.

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