Archive for International News

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.

Source

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.

Source

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?

Source

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

Along side it’s Lion-badged brother the Peugeot 4007, the new Citroen C-Crosser SUV has been announced by Citroen, and is set to go on sale from Summer 2007 onwards, similiar to the 4007’s sales date. The Citroen C-Crosser adopts the name of Citroen’s C-Crosser Concept 4X4 shown at the 2001 Frankfurt Motor Show.

Power is provided by the same 2.2 liter common rail turbodiesel with particulate filters mated to a 6-speed manual gearbox. The 4X4 transmission has the normal three options of 2WD, 4WD and a locked mode for low speed low grip conditions.

A feature I didn’t mention in the 4007 post – the tailgate opens in two sections. This makes it easier to load bulky objects into the boot. The lower part is able to support up to 200kg, allowing it to double up as an al fresco seat, perfect for owners with a love of outdoor activities.

BTW, have been trying to blog more often, but it’s very hard to post when most posts require photos, this means I have to grab them from the press sources which are huge because they’re also for print media, resize, upload, all of this can be done conveniently with a broadband connection. But what do you know, when the Raya holidays started, Streamyx decided to take a break as well, leaving me with no choice but to use an unlimited GPRS package which is only sufficient for e-mailing and text downloads. Streamyx has been down for 4 days now.

Is anyone from TM reading my site?

Related Posts:
Peugeot 4007 announced by Peugeot

Click here to read the rest of Citroën C-Crosser SUV announced

Yes, the convertible that brings you women has just been updated to the latest E9x series, to be introduced worldwide in Spring 2007. The E93 2007 BMW 3-Series Convertible will debut first in 325i and 335i guises, but will closely be followed by smaller petrol models, as well as turbodiesel models – I know Europeans would love a 335d Convertible. More details on the 2007 BMW 3-Series Convertible after the jump.

Related Posts:
BMW 335i Convertible Test Drive Report

Click here to read the rest of 2007 BMW 3-Series Convertible unveiled (E93)

Ahead of it’s public unveiling at the 2006 Bologna Motor Show this December, Toyota has revealed it’s production model Toyota Auris, soon after the Auris Space Concept was shown at the Paris Motor Show last month. The new Toyota Auris will come in 5 variants, two gasolines – a 1.4 VVT-i, a 1.6 Dual VVT-i, as well as 3 turbodiesels – a 1.4 D4-D, a 2.0 D4-D and the top performer, a 2.2 D4-D turbodiesel.

More on the new Toyota Auris after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Toyota Auris announced, 2 gas and 3 diesels

Fiat has just unveiled details on it’s new European B-segment sedan contender, the Fiat Linea. The Fiat Linea is built on the Fiat Grande Punto’s platform and even shares similiar design cues at the front end, but the platform has been stretched to provide for a longer wheelbase.

This allows greater rear legroom, and makes a longer rear overhang look less weirder than it will look on a short wheelbase car – this allows for a massive 500 liter boot! Nice sleek side profile. I kind of like the new design language that Fiat is adopting, it makes the cars look like mini Maseratis.

The Fiat Linea will debut at the Istanbul Motor Show, and it will be manufactured in Turkey at a beginning production of 60,000 units a year. The Fiat Linea is expected to go on sale in the second half of 2007 in European countries, though strangely UK sales isn’t in plans for the moment.