Archive for International News

Fiat and Chery have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will result in Fiat using Chery’s ACTECO family of engines in it’s China-produced cars, with a possibility of the ACTECO engines finding it’s way in Italian models like the Bravo.

The deal involves Chery’s 1.6 liter and 1.8 liter ACTECO engines, though the ACTECO family has a wide range of displacements and configurations, from a tiny 0.8 liter to a huge 4.0 liter V8.

The ACTECO family of engines was developed by AVL, an Austrian-based automotive consulting firm. Despite the negative stigma surrounding China products, the ACTECO family of engines is actually quite modern, incorporating aluminium alloy cylinder blocks/heads and direct fuel injection, complying with Euro IV emission standards.

Pictured on the left is the ACTECO 1.8 liter DOHC turbocharged engine. With a bore of 81mm and a stroke of 87.2mm, the long stroke turbocharged engine makes 180 horsepower at 5,750rpm and a very healthy 250Nm of torque at 4,300rpm.

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Chery and Fiat in talks

Volvo and Ford are developing their own version of a dual clutch gearbox, following the footsteps of Porsche and Mitsubishi who are executing similiar plans. Mitsubishi’s upcoming successor to the Evolution line of rally turned tarmac monsters - the Evolution X, will feature a twin clutch automated gearbox, and Porsche has recently filed patents for their 7-speed dual clutch gearbox design.

If all goes through, we’ll see versions of the Ford Focus ST and high performance Volvo C30 hatches with 2.5 liter inline-5 turbocharged engines and dual clutch gearboxes. Click here for a video on DSG gearboxes, where a Volkswagen Golf GTI 6-speed manual goes against it’s DSG brother. DSG has worked so well for Volkswagen that they are going to phase out conventional torque converter automatics for a pure DSG automatic line-up across the range.

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Volkswagen DSG - Direct Shift Gearbox
Porsche patents dual clutch gearbox design
Volkswagen phases out automatics; makes way for DSG

Along with the recently launched TT Coupe comes it’s open top brother - the 2007 Audi TT Roadster! Using the same advanced Audi Space Frame (ASF) comprising of 58 percent aluminium and 42 percent steel to minimize weight, the new TT Roadster is 100 percent more rigid than it’s predecessor, and there are a choice of two engines to propel it’s 1,295kg of weight forward.

Despite most manufacturers steering towards hard top convertibles, the Audi TT Roadster retains a cloth top built around a steel and aluminium support framework, which opens and closes in 12 seconds using a Z-fold system and can be operated at speeds up to 50km/h. The soft top hood also incorporates a heated glass rear window.

Engine options are the same as it’s hard top brother - a 2.0 liter Turbo FSI engine making 200PS put down through the front wheels, or a 3.2 liter V6 normally aspirated engine putting out 250PS with Quattro all wheel drive. Both variants come stock with a 6-speed manual transmission, but can be upgraded to a 6-speed S-Tronic gearbox, which is what Audi calls it’s DSG transmission.

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of 2007 Audi TT Roadster unveiled

One of the major contributions to the cost of a fuel cell vehicle is the cooling system. This is because the fuel cells in the fuel cell vehicle prototypes released by manufacturers so far are mostly LTFC, or low temperature fuel cells. In fuel cells, the membrane temperature can operate at a maximum temperature of approximately 80 degrees Celcius. If the temperature exceeds this value by a considerable margin, fuel cell performance breaks down and irreparable damage is done to the cell.

Volkswagen Research has developed a new type of high temperature fuel cell, or HTFC, which uses newly designed electrodes which can be driven at temperatures of up to 160 degrees Celcius at the same amount of power, though a medium operating temperature target of 120 degrees is intended.

This means a simpler cooling system is sufficient, thus reducing the cost, weight, and space needed for vehicle fuel cell systems. Volkswagen expects fuel cell drive vehicles that use HTFC drives could appear by the year 2020. They see no chance for mass production of LTFC vehicles due to fundamental disadvantages in their design.

New Car Net did an interesting experiment - they conducted a survey on their website, allowing the public to vote for what they wanted in a car. Different elements were available - overall car silhouette, wheel design, front end, back end, engine, seats, doors - and guess what the UK buyer’s dream car is?

A four-door coupe with the front end of a Porsche Boxster, the roofline of the Jaguar XK, stretched to allow it to be a 5-seater, and has a medium sized engine, no big supercar engine, but no Tamiya motor either. Not suprisingly, diesel power had the edge of petrol as the fuel of choice.

Know what. Looks pretty much like a Porsche Panamera to me, or at least what I imagine the car would look like. This means the Panamera would like be another runaway success similiar to the Cayenne.

Petronas has reached an agreement with two Chinese automotive companies to jointly manufacture the Petronas E01 engine for commercial use, after a Letter of Intent was signed between the three parties back in September 2005.

The inline-4 16-valve DOHC engine with variable valve timing which can be configured in three displacements - 1.8, 2.0 and 2.2 liters - was developed with Petronas’ experience in Formula 1, and is expected to begin production in December 2006 with an annual production capacity of 100,000 units a year.

The two Chinese companies are Nanjing Automobile Corporation and Brilliant Culture Group. The former is an automotive manufacturer while the latter is a consulting group.

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Related Posts:
Nanjing Automobile to use Petronas E01 engines?
The Petronas E01

Chery Automobile’s latest ally to be in the automotive industry might just be Fiat. Fiat has an existing alliance with a Chinese auto manufacturer - Nanjing Automobile Group, but that partnership has been far from profitable so far. One option being discussed would be Chery making cars using Fiat technologies and selling them.

That sounds wonderful, give Chery access to your technology Fiat, and perhaps the next Chery QQ will look like a Fiat Punto.

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Chery Automobile Co., Ltd, J&K Technologies Inc and Tsinghua University has developed a hydrogen fuel cell car which can reach a top speed of 80 km/h and like a traditional hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, emits no exhaust fumes other than water vapor.

The joint venture has announced that the car was developed entirely on their own, and China now has fully independent intellectual property rights to a fuel cell vehicle. But then again, considering Chery’s definition of intellectual property… hmm.

Think we’ll be seeing a fuel cell Chery QQ soon?

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This shiny Lexus IS250 was created for the Australian International Motor Show in Sydney, sprayed with special MirraChrome paint by KMC Corporation. It also features a new sporty bodykit that’s not available on the market yet, but will be soon, introduced as a genuine Lexus Accessory later this year.

For those who don’t know what a Lexus IS250 is, it’s the successor to the previous IS200/IS300/Toyota Altezza line of BMW 3-series/Benz C-class competitors, powered by a 2.5-litre Quad Cam VVT-i engine. In Australia, Lexus sold 200 more IS250s than C-class cars, beating the three pointed star marque by 200 cars, but the top position of the small luxury sedan is still occupied by the BMW 3-series.

One more rear-shot after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Lexus Reflection Perfection: Chromed IS250

The latest generation of the Fiat Bravo hot hatch will be presented to media in Rome on the 29th of January 2007, and will go on sale in the following weeks in Europe first, and in the UK in summer.

The new Fiat Bravo was styled by the Fiat Style Centre. You can see it still carries on key Bravo signature design cues, like the circle pattern in the tail lamps. There are also similiar cues to the Mercedes Benz B-Class to be seen in the side profile. The new Bravo is a five-door compact hatch 434 centimetres long, 179 cm wide and 149 cm high, with a wheelbase of 2.6 metres, and a loading capacity of 400 litres.

Engine options consist of two variants of 1.9 liter MultiJets putting out 120hp and 150hp, an economical 1.4 liter making 90hp as well as two 1.4 liter T-JET turbocharged petrol engines making 120hp and 150hp.

With the new Bravo also comes a new Fiat corporate logo, derived from the famous shield that adorned the front of Fiat cars from 1931 to 1968, with the vertically elongated letters of the word FIAT standing out against a ruby red background, encased in a chromed frame. Have a look at an larger image of the new Bravo’s grille showcasing the new Fiat corporate logo after the jump, as well as more photos of the new Fiat Bravo.

Click here to read the rest of 2007 Fiat Bravo announced