Archive for International News

Abt Sportsline has announced a tune-up kit for the Volkswagen Scirocco comprising of both aerodynamics and performance upgrades.

The performance upgrades takes the 1.4 liter TSI engine from the standard 160 horsepower up to 200 horsepower, an amazing horsepower to displacement ratio that lets the small 1.4 liter motor equal the power put out by the EA888 in the Mk5 Golf GTi.

The 2.0 TDI engine gets a power boost from 140hp to 170hp. Abt says a 2.0 TFSI equipped Scirocco will be available with an upgrade kit that takes it up to 240hp from a standard 200hp. To cope with the extra power, upgraded brakes with 345mm discs are also available.

The full bodykit consists of a new front and rear bumper, with quad rear mufflers arranged in pairs with vertical alignment, flanking the diffuser. The suspension kit also lowers the car by 30mm. The standard wheels for the package are 19 inch AR diamond-machined black alloys with wheel spacers, but drivers can also opt for either 18 inch or 20 inch wheels.

Look after the jump for a rear shot of the Abt Scirocco.

Click here to read the rest of Volkswagen Scirocco tuned by Abt Sportsline

BMW has pulled the wraps off the new BMW Concept X1 and has even released an interview video with BMW chief designer Adrian van Hooydonk explaining the car’s target market and its design cues.

The front end of the car immediately reminds you of the F01 BMW 7-Series recently revealed, thanks to its 7-Series-like headlamps and kidney grilles. The side profile has hints of the current facelifted BMW X3 while the engine hood is inspired by the design on the facelifted 3-Series.

Despite the X1 name which indicates a crossover version of the X1, the vehicle is actually built on the platform of the E90 3-Series. Its actually quite large - larger than most people expected it to be. At 4456mm long with a 2760mm wheelbase, these figures are close to the current X3 facelift’s statistics with a 4565mm length and a 2795mm wheelbase. This means the next generation X3 will grow larger (as expected) and will probably have a mid-2800mm-ish wheelbase, as the 2nd gen X5 has a wheelbase of 2933mm.

Since it shares the same platform as the E90, you can expect a similiar engine range with a twin turbo 3.0 liter petrol X1 xDrive35i and a twin turbo 3.0 liter turbodiesel X1 xDrive35d as the top of the range models.

Look after the jump to view more hi-res images and watch a video.

Click here to read the rest of BMW Concept X1 unveiled with video!

Click for hi-res image

Ford is adding the 200 PS 2.5 liter turbocharged inline-5 engine from the Volvo T5 cars and the Ford Focus ST to its Ford Kuga SUV. The inline-5 engine producs 200 PS at 6,000rpm and 320Nm of torque between 1,600 to 4,000rpm, which can take the car to a top speed of 208km/h.

The new engine will be displayed at Paris 2008 in a special Ford Kuga Individual which demonstrates Ford’s new Individual styling program. It adds 20 inch wheels wrapped with 255/35ZR20 tyres, a new larger rear spoiler, new bumpers and skirts which extend lower by approximately 50mm for a lower look, body-coloured wheel arches, and the rear twin exhaust pipes integrate nicely into the rear bumper styling.

The Kuga also retains its Haldex generation 4 intelligent all-wheel drive and is mated to a 6-speed manual as standard, though a 5-speed Durashift 5-Tronic automatic sourced from Aisin is available as an option.

A hi-res gallery is available after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Ford Kuga gets 200 PS 2.5L inline-5 engine

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Mercedes-Benz is having a last kopek with its SLR before its partnership with McLaren ends. A limited edition 150 unit run of the SLR McLaren Roadster called the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster 722 S, essentially a 722 edition of the Roadster body, as the Coupe had previously been released.

This allows you to enjoy the 722’s 650hp supercharged 5.5 liter V8 with the top down. 0 to 100km/h takes only 3.7 seconds and the engine has a peak twisting power of 820Nm. This is up from the non-722 SLR’s 626hp and 780Nm power figures.

Other changes with the 722 Edition include a lowered ride height by 10mm, stiffer springs and shocks, and 19 inch forged aluminium wheels which allow full view of the red calipers, high-resistance carbon fiber ceramic brake discs.

All 150 units are hand-built at McLaren’s Formula 1 workshops in England. Look after the jump for hi-res photos.

Click here to read the rest of Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster 722 S

Suzuki has unveiled a facelifted version of the Suzuki Grand Vitara flagship, now available with a new larger 2.4 liter engine.

The new 2.4 liter engine produces 166 PS in the three door body and 169 PS in the five door body. The engine features a balance shaft, a three-stage variable air intake and a tumble control valve for the intake to for the best possible fuel-air mixture.

Other changes include new ventilated discs for the rear brakes, extra shock-absorbing elements at the front to reduce pedestrian injury risk, and ESP is now fitted as standard. Apparently the interior and exterior styling has received minor updates as well but they are probably so minor that other than the new wheels, I can’t seem to detect any.

Look after the jump for a photo of the 3-door body and the new interior.

Click here to read the rest of Facelifted Suzuki Grand Vitara now with 2.4L engine

The Japanese domestic market rebadging game continues as manufacturers try their best to cut development costs and maximize profit in these tough time. Nissan announced today in Japan the new Nissan KIX, a badge engineered Mitsubishi Pajero Mini. The name KIX is derived from the “kicks”, as in the term “just for kicks”.

You will probably find pretty much the same stuff under the Nissan KIX’s hood as the Pajero Mini such as the small turbocharged 660cc engine producing 64 PS at 6,000rpm and 88Nm of torque at 4,000rpm or the normally aspirated version putting out 52 PS and 62Nm, but full details will only be revealed sometime in October.

Look after the jump for a few more shots of the KIX.

Click here to read the rest of Nissan KIX announced for Japanese market

Autocar UK reports that performance versions of the Mk6 Volkswagen Golf will go beyond the GT, GTi and the R32-replacing higher-powered version of the Golf GTi.

According to the report, the Mk6 range will also gain a turbodiesel-powered GTD as well as possibly a top of the line high performance Golf that in conventional R nomenclature would be called the “R40″. This would be powered by a turbocharged inline-5 engine that will also be slotted into cars like the Audi TT-RS, producing 350 horsepower with decent fuel economy and emissions to boot. This seems a little hard to swallow at the moment, does Volkswagen want to take the Golf that far?

The much more realistic Golf GTD will be powered by a new twin-turbo version of the company’s 2.0 liter inline-4 TDI turbodiesel, a concept that BMW (204hp 2.0L twin turbodiesel) and Mercedes-Benz (204hp 2.2L twin turbodiesel) have also done.

The GTi will produce about 210 horsepower while the R32-replacing GTi “plus” will have a Haldex all-wheel drive and produce nearly 270 horsepower, equalling the new Audi S3 in performance and even the number of cogs, as the 7-speed S-Tronic DSG is expected to roll out in this range of Volkswagens.

Related Posts:
Volkswagen Golf GTi Mk6 - Initial Photos

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BMW has released another teaser image of the BMW Concept X1 in some pretty bad light but with the help of some brightness and contrast adjustments we are able to see a little more detail of the upcoming small SUV.

The result is something that looks like a downsized BMW X5, but are we really surprised when an increasing amount of car manufacturers just seem to create one design and resize it for different models?

A BMW X1 xDrive23d powered by the 2.0 liter inline-4 twin turbodiesel would be a nice lifestyle vehicle with both fuel economy (relative) and power packed into one vehicle.

Click to enlarge

Those who have been eyeing the Aston Martin DBS but didn’t really want to bother with the fuss of the sole 6-speed manual transmission option it has can now rejoice as Aston Martin has just added a ZF 6-speed automatic transmission to the DBS, mating it to the hand-built 517 PS 6.0 liter V12 engine.

Aston Martin calls its slushbox the “Touchtronic 2″, and the version in the DBS is based on the transaxle unit in the DB9 but re-engineered to accommodate the power and other characteristics of the DBS. You can either leave it in auto mode or shift via the leather-trimmed magnesium alloy paddles mounted on the steering column.

The Touchtronic 2 is a £3,000 option over the 6-speed manual.

Prices of crude oil dropped about 10% yesterday on the NYMEX after the US House of Representatives rejected the Bush administration’s bid for a US$700 billion bailout of the American financial sector called the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.

November delivery light sweet crude dropped as much as US$11.85 at one point, finally settling down at US$96.37 a barrel, down US$10.52. In London, Brent North Sea crude for November dropped US$9.56 to settle at US$93.98 per barrel.

It previously spiked 16% (up to US$120.92) partly in anticipation of a positive outcome to the very same bailout bid, and a few other reasons such as the expiry of front-month futures contracts and weakening of the US dollar. At the time of that spike November contract delivery prices were US$109.37. December and January contract prices are now roughly the same as November’s price at US$96.09 and US$96.37 respectively.

“Oil prices should remain under downward pressure. Oil traded for the last five years on fear of supply interruptions. It is now trading on fear of economic collapse,” said WTRG Economics analyst James Williams.

With this new news, are the government going to reduce petrol and diesel prices again? Or will they say it not make a difference to their coffers because of other reasons such as the ringgit weakening against the US dollar?

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