Archive for International News

The cracked-glaze-vase look special one-off Ferrari 599 China was auctioned off for a final price of 1.2 million Euros, which translates to just over 6 million ringgit. The car was auctioned off at a gala dinner organised by Ferrari at the Red Gate Gallery in Beijing.

The cracked glaze paintwork by Chinese artist Lu Hao was inspired by Song Dynasty Ge Kiln pottery patterns. There are more Chinese-inspired features inside including a jade-encrusted start button and rev counter numbers written in Xiao Zhuan script. There is nothing technically special about the car except the fact that it comes standard with the HGTE package.

The buyer is a Chinese but was unnamed in Ferrari’s press release. The money will go to the Tsinghua University’s Department of Automotive Engineering. Top students from the department will be sent to study at Italy’s Politechnico di Milano University and then do an internship at Ferrari’s factory.

Click here to read the rest of Cracked vase Ferrari auctioned for RM 6 million

Kia has already started dabbling in motorsports in Europe but the car above is part of its US motorsports program which it unveiled at the 2009 SEMA tuner car show. Two Kia Forte Koups built together with the Kinetic Group will be racing in the 2010 GRAND-AM KONI Sports Car Challenge Series in the Street Tuner (ST) class.

The ST class uses race cars based on production vehicles and uses weight and intake restrictions to maintain a level playing field for all entrants. The two Kia cars will be piloted by Nic Jonsson, Andy Lally, Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood.

Mercedes-Benz decided to showcase its new E-Class Estate’s interior capacity by building a 400 meter long slot car track inside it. A publicity stunt no doubt but still makes an interesting watch. Look for the video after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of VIDEO: 400 meter slot car track in a W212 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate

Two new Volkswagen cars have been added to the Volkswagen Malaysia range – the Passat CC and the Scirocco. The Passat CC is available at the showroom today, while the Scirocco is said to be at all showrooms next week onwards.

The following are the launch prices:

• Volkswagen Scirocco 2.0 TSI – RM243,888
• Volkswagen Passat CC – RM239,888

The Passat CC’s price is a bump up from the Passat’s RM228,888.00 pricetag. The Passat CC has a 200 PS 2.0 liter TSI engine with turbocharging and direct injection but it does not use a DSG gearbox. Instead like the Tiguan it is mated to a 6-speed Tiptronic slushbox automatic. It is based on the Passat platform but with a sportier roofline (think of MB E-Class versus CLS-Class), and is 50mm lower to the ground and 30mm longer. If you need a little more in terms of looks, you can get an Abt kit.

Features are generous – 6 airbags, ABS, traction control, stability control, ISOFIX seat points, and adaptive chassis control which adjusts the suspension damping and power steering assistance characteristics to suit the driving pattern.

Look after the jump for e-brochures for both cars.

Click here to read the rest of Prices for Volkswagen Passat CC and Scirocco officially unveiled; both cars in showrooms

Click for enlarged image

Mitsubishi has released a sketch of a new “Compact Crossover” based on the Mitsubishi Concept-cX concept car that it displayed two years ago. Mitsubishi claims it will be a game changer for it in the European market. They say they’ve been associated mostly with SUVs in the past, mostly thanks to the Pajero and now the Outlander. The new vehicle continues to have the same family look that they’re slapping on every car they have out there including the Colt, and will be the firm’s first ‘crossover’. The new car will go on sale in Japan from February 2010 onwards, and will make its European debut at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show.

Group Lotus’s new motorsports ambitions will be spearheaded by its newly appointed Director of Motorsport Claudio Berro, who will report directly to CEO Dany Bahar. Both Berro and his boss Bahar are ex-Ferrari men. Berro was previously the Operations Racing Director for the Speedcar Middle-East International Race Series.

Before that, he held positions at Ferrari, Maserati and Fiat as Formula One Team Manager, Director responsible for all sport activities for Ferrari and Maserati (excluding F1), General Manager Maserati Corse and Director of Fiat Group’s Motorsport Activities, and Racing Operations Director for Abarth. So he’s definitely a man with experience.

“Lotus has a peerless motorsport heritage, not just in Formula One, but we have also won in sportscar racing, saloon car racing, world rally championships, Le Mans and the Indy 500. There is no other car company in the world which can lay claim to so many accolades and championships in such a wide variety of motorsport fields, and I am looking forward to re-introducing Lotus to high level motorsport to not only compete and win but also to demonstrate the shared technology between Lotus sportscars and future racing cars,” said Berro.

Of course, Lotus is also in Formula One, except it actually isn’t. The new Lotus F1 Team is actually run by Litespeed in terms of technical expertise.

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Lotsu eyeing Indy car series, GT and Le Mans

The Suzuki SX4 Sport Crossover (that’s the hatchback version, not the sedan) has been updated with new specifications in Malaysia. On the outside, the model adds auto-retractable side mirrors with intergrated signal indicators, new design 16 inch alloys, and a new front grille.

Inside, there is a new meter cluster with an integrated MID, a new design for the automatic climate control panel, armrests for the front seats, illuminated audio controls, and an additional dash center speaker and aux-in socket for the audio system.

The most significant change has been to the engine – output is now 110 horsepower at 5,600rpm and 150Nm of torque at 3,800rpm instead of the previous power figures of 101hp at 5,600rpm and 140Nm at 4,000rpm. This means the engine will now perform much better – it now makes more torque, but at a lower RPM at the same time. The 4-speed automatic remains. Other technical changes include a revised front suspension for better comfort, and the addition of ventilated discs for the rear brakes.

The car goes for RM89,998 in Peninsular Malaysia, OTR with insurance. From what I heard, the CBU Japan odd-looking “tall” sedan version can be had at some Suzuki dealerships for much cheaper under RM80k after a RM12k discount.

Renault has given its new Renault Fluence the tagline “Travel Upgraded”. When you talk about cars designed for emerging economies, thanks to the Dacia Logan all that one can think of is an excessively plain B-segment hatch, or a B-segment sedan that looks more like a hatch with a boot glued on.

C-segment vehicles are usually “world cars” that are the same across the whole market so you might see a big price jump between a low cost car and the next size up. It’s not often that you see a manufacturer come out with a C-segment car (and a big one at that) and say this baby is designed to be easy on your pocket yet offer an upgraded level of comfort at the same time.

The cost-down modifications are apparent – A is the Megane’s original funky meter cluster while B is the Fluence’s more ‘regular’ design

The new Renault Fluence is essentially a Megane sedan, but Renault has designed it to be suitable for markets like Turkey, Russia, Romania and the Mediterranean Basin. It will also be sold in Australia, the Middle-East and Europe.

The Renault Fluence most likely shares most if not all its underpinings with the Nissan Sylphy we have here in Malaysia. It measures 4,620mm long, 1,479mm tall and 1,809mm wide. It has a wheelbase of 2,700mm. That’s actually larger than the Civic’s 4,540mm by 1,435mm by 1,755mm dimensions.

Renault Fluence Sport

A “sports” model with a bodykit and large wheels will come later but there won’t be any powerful engine inside – a maximum 140 horses is all you’re going to get with this car for now. The engine choices top out at a 140 horsepower 2.0 liter engine mated to either a 6-speed manual or a CVT (you’ll probably find this is the same combo in the Sylphy) but the majority of customers will probably opt for the smaller 110hp 1.6 liter petrol or one of the five Renault eco2 diesel engines ranging from a dCi 85 up to a dCi 110 with diesel particulate filter.

Most people shy away from Continental makes because of spareparts worries but would you buy the Fluence in Malaysia with better peace of mind because of potential (I’m not 100% sure) parts commonality with the Sylphy?

Look after the jump for a big photo gallery of the Fluence.

Click here to read the rest of Renault Fluence: more hi-res photos released

Future automobile products are planned a few years in advance and with the volatile world markets these days the job of a product engineering team as well as a product planner is getting harder and harder.

Autonews.com has a very interesting story they managed to squeeze out of Honda’s management at the 2009 Tokyo show centering around one of Honda’s most vital platforms – the Civic platform.

The Civic platform forms the basis of other vehicles like the Stream, the CR-V, and even other Hondas not found in our market such as the Honda Element. The interview revealed that Honda’s original intentions was for the next generation Honda Civic to be even larger and more plush than the current Civic, which has already grown to last decade Accord-ish proportions in terms of length and wheelbase.

The Civic hatchback platform differs from the sedan’s and is smaller.

But that plan has been scrapped. Honda engineers have instead been told to make the Civic smaller and lighter. It’s not 100% clear what this means – the Civic may not necessarily become smaller than the current generation. It could probably mean smaller and lighter than originally intended to be, which would hopefully put it around the same size as the current generation. Honda wants to try creating an increased perception of interior space but keep the exterior dimensions within control.

Another rumour that surfaced a few months ago was that Honda could be splitting the Civic into two lines like Toyota’s Corolla and Corolla Altis, a smaller one for Japanese tax regulations and a larger one for markets that like more metal for their money.

Stream is based on the Civic platform

But such a mid-way change has caused the project to be somewhat delayed. The current Civic has just been facelifted and a new one is supposed to arrive in 2011, a 5 year cycle after its introduction in 2006. But Honda is putting in more manpower to try to meet the target. If that doesn’t happen, the Civic could be delayed for a year or so. Honda president Takanobu Ito admitted the team was struggling.

This is not unprecedented, the previous generation Corolla Altis was also delayed and we still ended up with an all-new Altis that was pretty much a reskinned previous gen.

Other new upcoming Honda products include the implementation of the hybrid IMA system across more models. Right now it is only available in small to medium cars – the Insight, the Civic Hybrid, and pretty soon the CR-Z. A hybrid minivan is coming – this could mean a few things such as an USDM Odyssey Hybrid or even a Stream Hybrid. Not much else was revealed about which minivan model. There used to be an Accord Hybrid but that was scrapped due to discouraging sales. But larger hybrid vehicles like the Accord Hyrbid is going to make a comeback soon.

Honda revealed that a dual-motor IMA system is currently under development. The dual motor system will be configured in a way that it is able to function as an e-CVT in full electric mode, much like the series-parallel system in the Toyota Prius.

This means Honda will have a two-prong hybrid strategy – a motor assist parallel mode hybrid system for smaller cars and a full hybrid series-parallel system that can be used in larger cars. A series-parallel hybrid is of course more costly and complicated to implement thus more suitable for larger vehicles that are able to carry higher price tags.

Lotus Engineering is currently pushing its Versatile Vehicle Architecture to any manufacturer that wants to license it as a base platform for future cars.

The Lotus Evora is the first production car to debut based on the VVA chassis and previously we’ve also seen the Lotus APX Concept which was also built on the VVA. It’s interesting how these two models could have come off the same base platform as the APX is a front engine crossover SUV kind of thing while the Evora is a mid-engine sports car.

The VVA allows for the development of a range of vehicles up to a gross vehicle weight of 1,900 kg. It is designed for low to mid volume applications and is an evolution of technology from the tub that forms the basis of the Elise, Exige and Europa. The tub now allows for ease of ingress and egress from the vehicle (it’s not exactly easy to get in and out of an Elise), build modularity and improved, lower-cost repairability.

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One of the key selling points is that usually when car manufacturers make a niche or halo vehicle, it rarely fits the kind of engineering that the rest of its product range does. Not every car company is like Toyota, able to quickly source a rear wheel drive platform and boxer engine from now-partly-owned Subaru. A halo sportscar that may require a bespoke platform will rarely fit in with the rest of the mundane front wheel drive sedans and hatches in terms of platform engineering.

So instead of spending lots of time and money on a bespoke niche platform, Lotus hopes car companies will come to them for the VVA instead. It has been designed so that it can be stretched in width, length and height. The strength and stiffness of the low volume VVA chassis can be modified cost-effectively by varying the wall thickness of the extrusions, without altering the exterior dimensions.