Volkswagen’s Head of Exterior Design Mark Lichte shares with us the design process in coming up with the new Volkswagen Scirocco coupe (more like a lower and wider 3-door hatch), which was first introduced to us as the Volkswagen iroc Concept.

Lichte described the task as “to design the sportiest Volkswagen ever made”, and that could be true as while cars like the Golf GTI and Golf R32 are scorchers in their own right, they look like normal hatchbacks with an aggressive kit slapped on.

Watch the two-part interview videos after the jump, as well as a few more videos on the Volkswagen Scirocco.

Click here to read the rest of VIDEO: Volkswagen Scirocco Design Interview

The Volkswagen Lavida is a Chinese market sedan developed entirely by Shanghai Volkswagen outside of Germany. The interior and exterior does not look very much Volkswagen at all, but the good news is you will find modern Volkswagen engines and 6-speed automatic gearboxes under its hood.

The Lavida measures 4,608mm long, 1,743mm wide, and 1,465mm tall with a wheelbase of 2,610mm. It’s sedan boot stores 472 liters. This makes it longer, sider and taller than the Volkswagen Jetta, but smaller than the Volkswagen Passat. It’s wheelbase is also longer than the Jetta’s 2,578mm.

Continue reading after the jump for more photos including one of the Volkswagne Lavida’s interior.

Related Older Posts:
Volkswagen Lavida for the Chinese domestic market

Click here to read the rest of Volkswagen Lavida – more details and photos

The Kelantan government plans to build a special circuit for the state’s Mat Rempit to race and show off their stunts, which they currently do illegally all over the country’s roads and highways, endangering the life of all motorists.

Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat says the circuit will help keep the Mat Rempit menace in check, and thus will not be a waste of public funds. The idea was suggested by Kelantan’s senior police officers.

“Mat Rempit always make their mothers worry. When untoward incidents happen involving them, it’s pitiful to see their mothers, wives and children crying. We build a special circuit for them to let go their feelings and show off their prowess and heroics. The nurturing and moulding of Mat Rempit into good human capital would be done gradually. If young people want to show their prowess, there must be a suitable place for them to do so, and at the same time we inject advice and prayer into their motor riding activities,” says Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz.

The usual formula for anyone who breaks the law to enforce, arrest, and punish. It seems that while other criminals face strict enforcement and punishment, Mat Rempits who are criminals by definition of law because of their dangerous behaviour on roads somehow get the benefit of “nurturing”.

What about the other Rempits in other states? Will each respective state government spend taxpayer money this way too? How much would the Rempits be charged to use the circuit? Would they be charged at all? Who will pay for maintenance?

Videos of typical Mat Rempit stunts can be found in the post linked below.

Related Posts:
VIDEO: Mat Rempit Stunt
Stricter laws for Mat Rempit, but will there be any enforcement?

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German car magazine Auto Motor und Sport reports that Audi will be replacing it’s 344 horsepower 4.2 liter V8 found in the Audi S4 and other cars with a forced inducted V6 instead, in line with the global trend of engine displacement downsizing and making up for it with highly efficient forced induction. The RS4 will retain a large V8 engine.

The blower of choice for the replacement engine is a supercharger, which will bring the rumoured 3.0 liter FSI V6 to about 350 horsepower. A 290 horsepower, 420Nm of torque version of the engine is also in the works for less high-powered cars like the Audi A6, giving a fuel economy of 9.6 liters per 100km on average.

Shown above is the B7 Audi S4, which the B8 Audi S4 will replace.

Source

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You will find another image after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Reader Zarul’s Proton MPV Wallpaper

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The Proton Satria Neo already fills the “2-door fun car” segment in Proton’s model line-up, but what if Proton created a lightweight coupe from the Proton Saga chassis powered by a 1.6 liter Campro CPS engine?

Apparently something like this or other was what went through Theophilus Chin’s thoughts when he decided to come up with this artist’s impression of a Proton Putra replacement car, which he has decided to call the “Pooterror”.

The front of the artist’s impression Putra replacement concept takes cues from the recently launched Volkswagen Scirocco, the side and wheelbase from a Saga, and its rear end is from the Suzuki Kizashi 3.

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A teaser site for the Perodua Nautica 4WD is now up, and it gives us a sneak preview of some features of the upcoming Perodua Nautica 4WD, although key exterior design features like how the front grille, front bumper and rear bumper will look like remains hidden. What we can confirm from the silhouette of the car is that it will be a short wheelbase version of the Daihatsu Terios/Toyota Rush.

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The interior shows a clean white on black meter panel design, manual air conditioning (I had hoped for automatic climate control because of its premium price positioning and Japan CBU import status), and an integrated CD player as opposed to the Toyota Rush’s 1-DIN or 2-DIN CD player, depending on trim level.

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The headlamps from the original car have been retained, and the Perodua Nautica 4WD gets the projector lense variant. Only the top spec Toyota Rush has projector headlamps, while the low and mid-range models use reflector headlamps.

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An interior with a dark-colour scheme is used, and here we see fabric seats. The short wheelbase version of this car is a 5-seater.

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Here we see a 5-spoke alloy wheel design.

There is a counter on the teaser site which counts down 9 days and 10 hours to the Nautica’s launch as of today, so the expected launch date should be on the second Friday of next month, which is the 9th of May 2008.

Related Posts:
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New Perodua MPV coming in September 2009

Audi has unveiled a facelifted version of the Audi A3 for the 2009 model year. It receives an updated front end, with the headlamps getting the new LED running lights for the S line trim. The back end has also been updated with a new bumper and new tail lights. The tail lamps use fibre optic rods arranged in a flat, continuous strip for lighting.

The new more prominent front end with the large single frame grille and LED running lights make the new A3 seem even more front-heavy than before, looking like it could possibly do a stoppie during heavy beaking. These bumper modifications result in the 3-door A3 being 25mm longer than before, but keeps the same wheelbase. The 5-door A3 keeps the same length as before.

The new Audi A3 facelift will be unveiled in the UK market with 7 different engines – a 102 horsepower 1.6 liter, a 125 horsepower 1.4 TSI, a 160 horsepower 1.8 TFSI, a 200 horsepower 2.0 liter TFSI, a 105 horsepower 1.9 liter TDI, turbodiesel, and a 140 horsepower 2.0 liter TDI turbodiesel. A third TDI turbodiesel variant putting out 170 horsepower from 2.0 liters of displacement will come later.

All engines are mated to a 7-speed dry clutch S-tronic DSG except for the 2.0 TFSI and 2.0 TDI versions, which use the 6-speed wet clutch S-Tronic. The models are mainly front wheel drive, but Audi’s legendary quattro all-wheel drive is available for the 2.0 liter TFSI and the upcoming 170 horsepower 2.0 liter TDI models.

The top of the range models are the 3-door Audi S3 and a new 5-door Audi S3 Sportback, equipped with a 265 horsepower version of the 2.0 liter TFSI engine, with 350Nm of torque between 2,500 and 5,000rpm. 0 to 100km/h takes 5.7 seconds in the 3-door, with an additional 0.1 seconds for the 5-door. Shifting is via a 6-speed manual.

More photos of the facelifted A3/S3 after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Audi unveils facelifted Audi A3

BMW has unveiled its latest concept car, the BMW M1 Hommage Concept at the 2008 Concorso d’Eleganza at Villa d’Este, in honour of the BMW M1’s 30th anniversary.

The M1 Hommage Concept carries many of the styling cues of the old BMW M1 in the form of a modern interpretation, such as the rear windscreen louvers, the double BMW badges on the rear of the car, and even a wheel design that is a variation of the one used on the original BMW M1. The very slim headlamps still manage to feature some form of the BMW angel eyes.

This design study could hint at a possible revival of BMW’s only mid-engined car, perhaps powered by a variation of their venerable V10 engine, light pressure turbocharged to boost power output over the 600 horsepower regions.

Continue reading for more photos and a video of the BMW M1 Hommage concept.

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VIDEO: BMW M1: BMW’s only mid-engined car to date

Click here to read the rest of BMW M1 Hommage Concept

Mitsubishi has launched a new special edition of the Colt Ralliart in Japan called the Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart Version-R Special, which has a special chassis that is 10% stiffer than the standard version. This is thanks to the usage of continuous welding in certain areas of the chassis as opposed to spot welding. This should enhance chassis response to steering movements.

For the 2008 model year, the 1.5 liter MIVEC turbocharged engine also has its power upped to 163 horses, compared to the previous 154 horsepower. Torque remains 210Nm at 3,500rpm. This new upgraded power levels are also available with normal non-special edition Colt Ralliart Version-R for the 2008 model year.

The Colt Ralliart, or even the standard Colt is one of the best handling Japanese B-segment hatches around, and the turbocharged version kicks up the fun level another notch higher. If I am not mistaken, they are going for about a bit under RM100k in the second hand market for a model that’s perhaps 2 to 3 years old.