Archive for International News

The BMW ActiveHybrid X6 is truly mind-boggling. It’s an SUV, but the sloping roofline and two seats at the back kind of limit its utility and storage space. And it’s a hybrid which people usually associate with economy, yet its mated to a massive V8 twin turbocharged engine. There is not one but two electric motors, and the vehicle ends up having more torque than the BMW X6 M, a full 100Nm more to be exact.

The V8 motor puts out 407 horses, while the two electric motors make 91 horses and 86 horses respectively. All three propulsion devices running at the same time produces a peak 485 horses, with a massive peak torque of 780Nm.

This not only makes the X6 M the most powerful hybrid ever, but its also the most torquey BMW ever, beating the 760Li’s 750Nm by 30Nm. Only the upcoming BMW-built Rolls-Royce Ghost’s 6.6 liter V12 engine equals the ActiveHybrid X6’s 780Nm. 0 to 100km/h takes just 5.6 seconds, the car puts out 231g/km of CO2, while fuel consumption on the EU5 cycle is 9.9 liters per 100km.

Interestingly, BMW says this vehicle uses a 7-speed automatic transmission. Since when does BMW have a 7-speed automatic, other than the DCT and M DCT systems? This is not a conventional gearbox, as BMW says the transmission is “provided by the electric motors”.

It is an e-CVT, which is quite similiar to how the Prius’s e-CVT is also not a real transmission but instead is the result of the car’s two electric motors working together with various other components. Like the Prius too, one motor acts mostly as a generator while the other motor actually drives the vehicle. The two motors linked by three planetary gearsets are able to provide 7 different ratios.

The ActiveHybrid X6 can also run on an EV mode, which means on the motors only, at speeds of up to 60km/h for distances of up to 2.5km. Of course for EV mode the car must be driven gently – step on it abit more than the threshold and the V8 springs to life to provide you with the acceleration that the car thinks you need. Of course like any other hybrid it has a auto start-stop feature.

Unlike the ActiveHybrid 7-Series which uses lithium ion batteries, the ActiveHybrid X6 uses NiMH batteries and they are positioned beneath the floor of the luggage compartment. The batteries are liquid cooled with a heat exchanger that is cooled via outside air flow and also optionally through the air conditioning cooling circuits, depending on the cooling requirements needed.

Look after the jump for loads of hi-res photos of the new X6 hybrid.

Click here to read the rest of The new BMW ActiveHybrid X6 xDrive50i: world’s most powerful hybrid!

BMW now has a competitor for the S400 BlueHybrid – the new BMW ActiveHybrid 7. The ActiveHybrid 7 (available in both F01 and F02 longwheelbase bodies, with the long wheelbase called the BMW ActiveHybrid 7L) uses a mild hybrid system, also sometimes called a motor assist system.

Basically the V8 engine and 8-speed ZF automatic transmission is assisted by a three-phase synchronous electric motor weighing 23kg to give a peak output of 465 horses and 700Nm of torque. The electric motor (20 horses and 210Nm of torque) is positioned between the V8 and the 8-speeder’s torque converter, and receives power from a 35 cell 400wH lithium ion battery, which can also be recharged by the motor via brake energy regeneration.

This lithium ion battery measures 370mm by 220mm by 230mm and weighs 27kg, and is housed in the luggage compartment between the wheel arches, protected by a high-strength casing. Basically BMW had to remove the air-conditioning compressor for the rear aircond vents to make space for the battery.

0 to 100km/h takes 4.9 seconds, while EU test cycle fuel consumption is rated at 9.4 liters per 100km. CO2 emissions have been measured at 219g/km. Not exactly figures that will make greenheads drool but being an enthusiast I’m quite interested in experiencing the kind of pulling power that a high torque turbocharged engine and an inherently torquey electric motor can give.

The ActiveHybrid 7 also features automatic start-stop, which is said to be a first on a BMW equipped with an automatic transmission. Auto start-stop has been available for quite sometime now as part of their EfficientDynamics program but have previously been available only on manual transmission models.

The air conditioning and other systems remain fully operational whenever the engine is off, however being a mild hybrid system the car will not move with the V8 engine turned off – it will only turn off when you come to a stop. The air conditioning system can also be activated remotely via the remote control to cool down the car sufficiently before you get into the car.

Look after the jump for a full hi-res gallery and a video of the new BMW ActiveHybrid 7.

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Honda USA has put up a teaser on their website of the new Accord Crosstour (they’re officially spelling it that way without the capital T in tour) together with a countdown timer that indicates the new crossover D-segment car will be unveiled in less than 20 days. The Accord Crosstour will likely be some kind of competitor to the Toyota Venza – the utility of an SUV combined with whatever they think they’re combining it with – just removing the all-wheel drive system is only going to be a marginal improvement and Honda’s all-wheel drive systems already run in front wheel drive most of the time in the first place. These new crossovers are a plot to push hatchbacks to the traditionally hatchback-hating American customers. More details to be unveiled in under 20 days, but in the meantime visit our previous posts for some spyshots of the Crosstour.

Related Posts:
Spyshots of the Accord Crosstour at Smoky Mountains
It’s official: Honda Accord Crosstour coming soon in Fall 2009

This is GM’s “Bare Necessity” Car concept, which was the result of them asking themselves: what are people willing to trade off for efficiency’s sake? And this is what they think is the car with the lowest cost per mile of any four-seater on the road.

They’ve conceptually designed it with some interesting stuff like retractable wipers to improve aerodynamic efficiency, and on the slide detailing the interior you can see that the default is pretty bare but they’ve already pre-planned various add-ons such as a reconfigurable touch display, modular HVAC systems, etc.

I’m pretty sure it’s an EREV with a hybrid system like the Volt too, since the instrumentation panel features both fuel levels and a battery level. GM thinks the best way to go about car propulsion now is what they call an Extended Range Electric Vehicle, which means the vehicle runs primarily on a battery and an electric motor, but a combustion engine is available to run to produce power to charge the battery only, not drive the wheels.

Look after the jump to view all the slides they’ve published. There’s also a video where they interview some of the team behind the concept.

Click here to read the rest of GM’s Bare Necessity Car Concept – a perfect trade-off between creature comforts and efficiency?

Hyundai is currently developing a new 800cc turbocharged inline-3 engine for its smaller models. producing about 90+ horsepower, which is about the equivalent of a normally aspirated 1.2 to 1.4 liter engine, depending on how aggressive the tune is.

This new 800cc engine will likely be offered first as some form of alternative to the new 1.2 liter Kappa engine (80 horses) in the markets that can afford it, and later probably completely replace it if they are able to price it well. This engine will likely find its way into the Hyundai i10 and the Kia Picanto and later other cars like the Hyundai i20 (Getz).

There are not many turbocharged gasoline engines in the Hyundai-Kia line-up, with the most modern one coming to my mind being the 2.0 liter GDI Turbo unit based on the GEMA engine that was announced late last year. Hyundai’s turbocharged GEMA engine trumps its rivals with the addition of direct injection.

The Kia Forte Koup with its killer looks are just dying for a more powerful engine like a turbo inline-4, as the 2.4 liter version just doesn’t cut it, being quite far off from hitting the 200 horsepower mark. There was also a 1.6 liter GDI Turbo that was slotted into the Hyundai ix-onic Concept from March this year – that one made about 170 horses.

Toyota has added two new engines for its European Toyota Avensis. Their Europe cars seem to be getting the best that can be found in their engine range. I wish it’d trickle down to markets like ours sooner. They seem to be phasing out the Dual VVT-i engines with the new Valvematic engines that also incorporate Dual VVT-i technology, and the stats for the engines look pretty good.

The Avensis gets a new 1.6 liter Valvematic engine that does 43.5 mpg on the combined cycle, and can take the D-segment Avensis up to 100km/h in 10.4 seconds. This new engine is called the 1ZR-FAE and puts out 130 horsepower at 6,400rpm and 160Nm of torque at 4,400rpm, which is pretty good as its a 100Nm to 1.0 liter of displacement ratio. Anything beyond this would usually start requiring implementing some kind of aggressive high cam tuning or direct injection. A 1.8 liter Valvematic engine also exists – the 2ZR-FAE making 145 horsepower at 6,400rpm and 180Nm of torque at 4,000rpm.

And of course we are already familiar with the first ZR family Valvematic engine that was ever unveiled and first installed in the JDM market Toyota Noah. The Avensis does not get this 158 PS 3ZR-FAE engine though, with the larger power options deserved for turbodiesels, as befitting European market tastes. The Avensis has a new turbodiesel engine called the 2.2 D-CAT 150, which is cleaner than the 2.2 D-4D 150 engine. It produces 148hp at 3,600rpm and a massive 340Nm between 2,000 to 2,800rpm, and for the first time in a diesel-powered Toyota passenger car it can be mated with a 6-speed automatic transmission, while the 2.2 D-4D 150 is only available with a 6-speed manual.

Toyota’s Valvematic technology incorporates continuous valve lift control together with Dual VVT-i’s existing valve timing control. Valvematic eliminates the need for a throttle butterfly, instead controlling the volume of intake air using variable valve lift. This is similiar to BMW’s Valvetronic technology and quite interestingly the Toyota 1ZR-FAE beats the BMW-PSA Price normally aspirated 1.6 liter engine in terms of peak horsepower and equals it in terms of torque, however the Prince engine beats it by making the peak 160Nm at an engine speed that is 150rpm lower.

But still, all of these engines seem to be a little pale in terms of spec sheet numbers and excitement factor in comparison to the 1.4 liter and recently 1.2 liter TSI engines from the Volkswagen stable.

Porsche’s mid-life facelift for the 997 Porsche 911 Turbo Coupe and Cabriolet will be exhibited to the public for the first time at the Frankfurt show this September. The 911’s rear-mounted boxer-6 engine is now 3.8 liters instead of the pre-facelift’s 3.6 liters in size. The engine also now adds direct injection and continues to use the variable geometry turbochargers found on the 3.6 liter unit. The engine now makes 500 horses, up from 480 on the previous edition of the 997.

Porsche seems to also have come to their senses with the way they implement their manual paddle shift system. Before this, the shifters were buttons on the steering wheel and both the left and right side set of buttons could do both upshifting and downshifting. I found it quite unnatural, but apparently that was the way Porsche did things when I asked why they had that weird setup.

Well, with this new “997.5″, a proper set paddle shifters can be fitted – a simple setup of a right paddle for upshifts and a left paddle for downshifts. This is for the 7-speed PDK twin clutch transmission.

There is also something called Porsche Torque Vectoring (PTV) which works together with the rest of the drive systems to route traction to the wheel with the most grip without losing some power via selective braking.

The new 911 Turbo will go for upwards of £101,823 (RM587.5k) for the Coupé and £109,048 (RM629k) for the Cabriolet. Of course, in Malaysia they go for much higher – RM1,373,000 for the 911 Turbo and RM1,409,000 for the 911 Turbo Cabriolet. The GT2 tops the pricelist at RM1,720,000.

Look after the jump for a hi-res photo gallery and videos of the updated Porsches.

Click here to read the rest of 997 Porsche 911 Turbo gets mid-life facelift

Kia has added the Peter Schreyer grille to the Kia cee’d facelift, and here we are shown some initial glimpses of both the normal hatchback model and the wagon model. The grille looks a little out of place on the cee’d in my opinion, as it is very angular and works well on angular cars like the Forte and the new Sorento, but not very suitable for a more curvy car like the cee’d. The new bumpers make the new facelifted cee’d about 25mm longer but no changes to wheelbase. Kia says there are also some changes on the interior such as all-red instrumentation lighting as well as new suspension settings. The facelift range will also debut a new variant with automatic start-stop for the 1.6 diesel under the new ECO-dynamics label. The new U2 family 1.6 liter turbodiesel will get a new 6-speed manual. Look after the jump for more photos of the new facelifted cee’d.

Click here to read the rest of More photos of the Kia cee’d facelift released

Mercedes-Benz’s platform partner for its next smart car set for a 2013 debut will be Renault. “It’s a key component in plans to grow the Smart brand. We’re looking to diverge into other potentially lucrative market segments, and not only in Europe but on a worldwide basis, including North America,” said a Mercedes-Benz official to ANE.

Renault will be supplying smart a platform for a new four-seater smart (effectively a replacement for the smart forfour) and the word is that it will be a modified version of the Clio II platform that underpins the Renault Twingo, though I would have thought the Renault-Nissan B platform (Clio III, Latio, Logan, etc) would be more suitable in size for a smart forfour replacement.

The smart forfour was a hatchback based on the Mitsubishi Colt and was produced at Mitsubishi’s Dutch NedCar plant. Who knows, we could also see an electric version using technology from the Nissan Leaf.

I was just talking with some fellow motoring hacks about the fact that there are only four-door Civic Type Rs in Japan yesterday and today we have this piece of news – the 3-door Civic Type R sold in Europe will soon be sold in Japan next year. The 3-door Civic hatchback with the FN chassis (instead of Japan’s FD Civic 4-door sedan) is built at Honda’s Swindon plant in England and will be exported to Japan from there. It will be called the Honda Civic Type R EURO in Japan. The European FN Civic features a completely different body built on a different chassis that uses a torsion beam at the rear instead of an independent setup. It also uses a different interior design although the general double-decked space ship interior theme is similiar.

The full details of the new E-Class Estate are here. The new E-Class Estate measures 4895mm long, 1854mm wide and 1471mm tall and can carry up to a maximum of 1950 liters. It looks like a pretty sweet wagon really, with a proper wagon-like roofline. Give me this anytime rather than a fancy elongated hatchback with a sloping roofline!

A total of 10 engines will be available with the new W212 Estate, with an initial 5 engines offered – the E220 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY, E250 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY, E350 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY, E 350 CGI BlueEFFICIENCY and the V8-powered E500.

Like most estate vehicles that are anticipated to carry heavier loads than their sedan brethren, the W212 Estate features an automatic self-levellling suspension at the rear as standard equipment, which helps ensure the ride height remains at the same level no matter what the vehicle’s load is. The suspension setup has been modified over the sedan version for the wagon – this means its got stiffer shock absorbers and torsion bar stabilisers.

Look after the jump for a nice full hi-res photo gallery.

Click here to read the rest of New E-Class Estate: full details and photos unveiled!

These medium-res photos of the new E-Class Wagon found their way on the net earlier this week. How it looks like is really no surprise considering this new W212 E-Class was first shown to the world in wagon form. But there’s one thing that caught my eye…

The new E-Class Wagon has third row seats! They’re quite small though, and they face rearwards. But they have proper seatbelts and all. Probably a nice cushiony area for your dog to lie You can look after the jump for more of the leaked photos.

More details will be unveiled when Daimler releases the full press pack.

Click here to read the rest of W212 E-Class Wagon features 3rd row seats

The Sylphy has also been facelifted in China and over there it gets more changes compared to the Japanese and Singaporean market.

In China, the Sylphy receives similiar treatments to the exterior and interior but adds a new front bumper and new tail lamps for the rear. These set of photos from China also lets us have a closer view of the new meter panel. I’m not completely sure if the Chinese and Japanese model share the same meter panel even though both have black faces, as the Japanese photos are a little low-res.

Anyway, enjoy looking at more photos after the jump. Which Sylphy do you prefer – the pre-facelift Sylphy currently sold in Malaysia, the new Japanese facelift or the new Chinese facelift?

Click here to read the rest of Nissan Sylphy gets more updates in China!

Nissan gave the Bluebird Sylphy (called just the Nissan Sylphy here in Malaysia) a minor update in May this year. No changes under the hood, just some aesthetics changes. The front headlamps now feature amber-coloured signal indicators.

The interior now gets a new design digital climate control and the instrument panel meter faces have also been changed from the previous white version to a new black coloured version. Look after the jump for a full gallery of the updated car. No news so far as to when Tan Chong will be facelifting the Sylphy here in Malaysia.

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It’s finally here, the first of the production Nissan electric vehicles that they’ve been shouting about for the longest time now. The new Nissan Leaf is a mid-sized hatchback powered by a lithium-ion battery that can go about 160km on a full charge.

The name Leaf in relation to the car’s zero-emissions nature – according to Nissan: just as leaves purify the air in nature, the Leaf purifies mobility by taking emissions out of the driving experience.

The whole car has loads of blue themed in it. The introductory colour is called Aqua Globe. The interior (which at first sight looks Civic-like thanks to the format of the dual-level dash) features blue backlighting for the various displays. On the outside, the headlamps have a blue internal reflective design and are lit up by LED in order to be more energy efficient.

The Nissan Leaf’s lithium ion pack (installed under the passenger area under the seat and floor) produces 90kW and supplies power to the AC electric motor which produces 80kW (107 horsepower) and 280Nm of torque. It’s definitely not going to be a scorcher – it’s likely that due to gearing limitations, the top speed is limited to just over 140km/h and there is no 0 to 100km/h acceleration time given.

Different sockets for a regular wall plug and a quick charger

The 160km rated range is based on the US LA4 mode driving cycle. Nissan claims that this range satisfies the daily driving requirements of over 70% of the world’s drivers. At the end of the day, the Leaf can be charged overnight from a 200V power outlet in about 8 hours, or via a DC quick charger in under 30 minutes. The charging port is in front where the Nissan logo is.

Pricing for the new Nissan Leaf will only be announced later but according to Nissan, it will be priced about the same as a well-equipped C-segment car. The Leaf itself is well within the size of a typical C-segment hatch, with a wheelbase of 2,700mm. The Leaf is 4,445mm long, 1,770 mm wide and 1,550mm tall.

This means a Leaf could potentially be priced about the same as a Nissan Sylphy in Malaysia, which could put it well in reach for a sizeable amount of Malaysians, if only the government can revamp their various engine displacement based taxation systems.

Once that is settled there shouldn’t be a problem having one in Malaysia as Nissan has a right hand drive version pretty much ready. Look after the jump for a full photo gallery as well as 3 videos of the Nissan Leaf.

Click here to read the rest of Nissan LEAF: 160km range production electric car