Some of you may be wondering what exactly a Landaulet is. Its basically a term for a simulated convertible, carried over from the days of carriage coachbuilding.

Basically, a simulated convertible landaulet has fixed roof rails, with a convertible top for the back seats only. The Maybach Landaulet concept based on the Maybach 62 S features a landaulet-style black soft top roof which exposes the rear passengers to the open air while the chauffeur compartment remains completely enclosed.

When the black soft top is closed, it rests on the frame formed by the roof bows and is wind and weather proof. When open, it is deposited on the parcel shelf in the rear together with its rear window made of single layer safety glass. Opening and closing takes 16 seconds.

The car’s automatic climate control systems have also had their parameters tuned to ensure open air travel remains a comfort in adverse climatic conditions.

Under the hood is an AMG-tuned version of the engine in the Maybach 57 S and 62 S. The 6.0 liter V12 is twin turbocharged to make 612 horsepower between 4,800rpm and 5,100rpm, and 1000Nm of torque between 2,000rpm and 4,000rpm, rather turbodiesel-like performance stats.

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The Kia Borrego shown above will make its world debut at the 2008 Detroit Motor Show, and it will be Kia’ first mid-sized SUV, larger than the Kia Sorento currently on sale in our market as the Naza Sorento. Named after a breed of bighorn sheep native to California, It is based on the Kia Mesa concept shown back in 2005.

Like the Sorento, the Kia Borrego will use a body on frame construction. It will seat 7 with three rows of seats. There are still a few modern SUVs which use body on frame, like the Toyota Landcruiser and its Lexus LX counterpart. The Kia Borrego is aimed at US market needs and will feature V6 engines as well as Kia’s first V8 engine.

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The Toyota Hi-CT is a small hybrid car concept with 3,330m x 1,695mm x 1,780mm dimensions. It uses plug-in hybrid technology, allowing it to be charged with an external power source. Power from the on-board battery can also be used to power devices through an on board 100V AC socket.

Looks like it dropped on us from the future, but rather boring at the same time… most of the concepts at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show were of this genre. Apparently everything started going this way in the past few years, boring “green” concepts that looked pretty much the same - small and light with tiny engines or motors.

More photos after the jump.

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While the earlier HFP Accord Coupe we saw was done up by American Honda, this Honda Accord Coupe HF-S Concept was done by Honda Access America Inc, Honda’s U.S. accessory development team. It conceptually includes both design and powertrain upgrades - which basically means while the prototype shown is a purely cosmetic do-up, Honda Access promises powertrain upgrade in the future.

The Honda Accord HF-S Concept has a new front bumper design that incorporates LED driving lights. It is also shaped in order to create a vortex effect, enhancing high-speed aerodynamics and engine cooling. On the sides, specially shaped panels made of carbon fiber decrease negative speed force around the wheel arches.

More photos after the jump.

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The Honda Factory Performance Accord Coupe was showcased at the 2007 SEMA motor show, and showcases the HFP set of dealer-installed factory accessories developed by American Honda Motor Co.

Ride height of the Accord Coupe is reduced by 25mm with a sports suspension package, and the car rides on larger 19 inch 10 spoke alloy wheels wrapped with high performance 245/40R19 tyres.

The HFP Accord Coupe bodykit includes new front and rear bumper designs as well as side skirts. This kit including wheels and suspension carry the same 3 year/36,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty as the Honda Accord Coupe.

Three more photos after the jump.

Related Posts:
2008 Honda Accord Coupe details and photos

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This is a short update - The Star SMS Alert reports that the government is looking at restructuring the fuel subsidy into a system where the rich pays more and the poor pays less. Not sure how that will work, and there’s only so much details you can fit into an SMS so look for an update on this matter sometime in the newspapers soon.

This is some rather exciting news - business daily The Malaysian Reserve has a report quoting unnamed sources that Proton and Volkswagen will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding regarding a tie up involving stake holding within the next two weeks. The MoU is regarding the establishment of a new company which will own certain core Proton businesses.

Volkswagen will hold 20% of the stakeholding in this new company, but it is unknown who will hold the remaining 80%. The unnamed source also said Volkswagen would have management control of the new company, and the first project is likely to be a Perdana replacement model similiar to the Volkswagen Passat.

Proton managing director Datuk Syed Zainal denied knowing of any new developments regarding the Proton-VW deal when queried by The Malaysian Reserve.

You can pick up The Malaysian Reserve at most news stands and it goes for RM1.50. I was in Mid Valley making photocopies of some documents when I spotted the Proton headline on the front page of the paper in the news stand.

I rushed to d’lish to blog this, so this post is powered by d’lish’s tasty scones, hot tea and free internet.

Proton will be supplying 5,000 units of the Proton Waja to be used as taxis in Iran through Iran’s Zagross Khodro group. It is marketed as the Proton Impian there, the same name used in other export markets such as the UK market.

There are also plans to assemble CKD kits of the Proton GEN2 at Zagross Khodro’s plant in Borujerd. The same plant also assembles Proton Wiras. There are currently 9,634 Protons on the roads in Iran today, after Proton’s entry into the Iran market in 2002.

The Iran government is working on an effort to renew the country’s taxi force. Iran currently has 70,000 units and many of them are aging and technologically outdated, so there are plans in place to replace most of them and increase the total number of taxis on the road to 100,000 units.

Source

Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd has just announced the Daihatsu Gran Max, a new light commercial vehicle manufactured at P.T. Astra Daihatsu Motor in Indonesia, aiming to meet the increasing demand in Indonesia for light commercial vehicles.

The Daihatsu Gran Max comes in two body styles, a pick up truck and a minibus. The pick up truck rear can be configured as you wish - in the photos after the jump you will be able to see a classic pick up truck bed as well as a storage box.

The minibus body is the only one in its class with sliding rear doors on both sides. It also has class-leading load capacity.

Powering the Gran Max is either a 1.3 liter DOHC VVT-i or 1.5 liter DOHC VVT-i engine, which should be the 85hp K3-VE and the 107hp 3SZ-VE.

Perhaps this will be offered in Malaysia sometime soon too as a Daihatsu or a Perodua? Perhaps as a Rusa replacement.

More photos of different body styles and the interior after the jump.

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Toyota’s 1/X Concept is pronounced one-Xth, not one over X. The X also does not mean 10, instead 1/X means the vehicle is only “1/Xth” the weight of other vehicle in its class, whatever class it may be. It represents a new idea of what it means to be environmentally considerate.

This particular 1/X Concept car shown at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show takes the current Toyota Prius as a basis of comparison. It maintains the same interior space with that of a Toyota Prius, but only weighs 420kg, which is one third the weight of the Toyota Prius. The result is a target of double the fuel efficiency of the Toyota Prius.

This reduced weight is thanks to a light but highly rigid carbon fiber reinforced plastic body frame. This also allows narrower pillars for better visibility from inside the cockpit.

The 500cc hybrid powertrain is a combination of a FFV (Flexible Fuel Vehicle, capable of running on a mix of gasoline and ethanol) combustion engine and an electric motor hooked up to batteries with plug-in charging capability. This hybrid system is located at the rear of the car under the rear seat bench, effectively giving the car a midship rear wheel drive configuration.

More photos after the jump.

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