Archive for International News

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I thought BMW was the only car company that has special Neiman Marcus Edition cars for sale in their Christmas Book. Last year’s Christmas Book featured the very first F02 BMW 7-Series to be sold in the US – only 31 units of a Neiman Marcus Limited-Edition 2009 BMW Individual 7 Series sedans based on the 750Li sold for $160,000. Previously we’ve also seen a special 50 unit run of a Neiman Marcus M6. All 50 units priced at US$139,000 each were snapped up within 1 minute and 32 seconds of launching.

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This year, rich wives in the US will be able to choose from 50 units of a special Neiman Marcus Editiong long wheelbase Jaguar XJL based on the Supercharged version for their rich husbands. Or vice-versa. One will set you back US$105,000 (a regular XJL Supercharged is priced at US$90,500) and will come in an exclusive Celestial Black metallic paint exterior and a custom butter-soft navy and ivory leather interior with Zebrano matte wood accents. You also get 20-inch double-10 spoke polished alloy wheels, illuminated tread plates and trunk finisher as well as the nameplate inside that reads: “Neiman Marcus 1 of 50.”

Some UK police departments will begin trialling Mitsubishi i-MiEV police cars, starting with the West Midlands police department in December 2009. A small zero emissions city car like this will be perfect as a patrol vehicle, zooming around quietly and cleanly through neighbourhoods watching out for any baddies. The i-MiEV has a 160km radius with decent driving behaviours, and a 120km/h top speed. Over here in Malaysia I think we used to use Kancils as these short distance patrol cars but I rarely see them in my area anymore – all the cops use Wajas here in Cheras.

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Things have looked like Volvo was going to fall into the hands of a Chinese auto group for a few months now but here’s some good news for those who for some reason have been opposing such a takeover, mainly due to intellectual property and ‘brand bastardisation’ issues.

There is a new interested party that will be bidding for a Volvo takeover – a new consortium called Crown led by ex-Ford man Michael Dingman. Dingman was a Ford board member for 21 years until he left in 2002. He has partnered up with engineering man Shamel Rushwin, who is both ex-Ford and ex-Chrysler.

So far the Crown offer is reported to be lower than Geely’s US$2.2 billion bid but Crown says they intend to invest another US$3 billion in Volvo if it succeeds in taking over the company. Talk is cheap of course – I hope this is written down in black and white somewhere. Crown is backed by some US investors currently and are looking for some Swedish investors and partners – Volvo being Swedish and all.

The current model R35 GT-R

This comes as quite a surprise to me but it looks like the GT-R will receive a typical Japanese lifecycle of 5 years, to mirror Porsche’s lifecycle for the 911. Nissan’s global product planning VP has unveiled that an “R36″ Nissan GT-R will be coming by 2013.

The next generation R36 Nissan GT-R will use an evolution of the current Premium Midship platform with the engine mounted up front and a transaxle twin clutch gearbox mounted at the rear. The engine is expected to remain a force inducted V6 engine.

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What exactly is a Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano HGTE China Limited Edition? For some xenophobes, anything that’s associated with the word China is likely to be scorned upon. But maybe this car will change their mind. It just shows us how important China is becoming in our world economy. More and more people are interested in Chinese culture now and need to learn the language to conduct trade.

The 599 China Limited Edition was developed together with Chinese artist Lu Hao. The car comes in a two-tone paint that I think looks pretty good actually, maybe some Ferrari owners could like to emulate it on their existing cars. The body is red as usual (this shade is called Rosso Fuoco, or fire red) but the pillars and roof is done in a shade of medium grey.

There is more to remind you that this is a special edition car on the inside. Just look at the rev counter! I took some Mandarin classes when I was very young and that’s all gone to waste now but I can still recognise the numbers one to four.

And of course like its very long name suggests, the car also gets the HGTE package. Less than 12 will be made and there is one one-off car that will be sold in an auction. For this one, the “cracked glaze” pattern of the paintjob was inspired by the Ge Liln porcelain of the Song Dynasty. Er, I’d rather stick with the red and grey paintjob. A vase, no matter how expensive or precious it is, doesn’t exactly tie in with the qualities that one would associate with a Ferrari.

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Chevrolet has developed a new Chevrolet Caprice PPV for the US market, and as indicated by its PPV suffix (Police Patrol Vehicle) it will be police-only. The new Caprice PPV is based on the GM Zeta platform which is shared between its large vehicles like the Camaro, and in long wheelbase form, the Holden Statesman. The Caprice has the same 3,010mm long wheelbase as the Statesman.

Under the hood is a massive 355 horsepower 6.0 liter V8 that can take the cop car from 0 to 100km/h in under 6 seconds. A smaller V6 engine will be offered later. The transmission used is a 6-speed automatic. The front seats are sculpted to “pocket” the officer’s equipment belt (worn on the waist), which greatly increases the comfort for a great range of police officer sizes. The foam density of the seatback and cushion insert surfaces are designed to conform to the shape of an equipment belt’s various items, too, allowing the officer’s back to rest properly on the seatback surface.

Feedback was obtained from the police force during the development process. “The new Chevrolet Caprice police car is the right tool at the right time for law enforcement. We asked for a lot of feedback from our police customers, which helped us develop a vehicle that is superior to the Crown Victoria in key areas,” said Jim Campbell, general manager for GM Fleet and Commercial Operations.

I’m not sure how hard exactly that can be considering how old the Crown Victoria is (over a decade)! Now I wonder what happened to the Carbon Motors E7…

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It looks like Beijing Auto has fast-tracked its plan to reap the benefits from its Koenigsegg/Saab investment. But of course knowing the mainland Chinese stuff like this were probably the plan all along.

BAIC is thinking about buying the tooling and design rights for the outgoing 9-5 sedan that has been just replaced and putting it back onto the market.

But of course the questions then would be what badge it would be sold under and which markets would it be available? The 9-5 is a premium car – parts and maintenance will not be cheap, so it has to stay as some sort of a ‘premium’ car.

The most luxurious Hyundai ever has just been launched in South Korea. The long-wheelbase version of the Hyundai Equus callled the Equus Stretch is the largest and most expensive vehicle in the Hyundai line-up.

The vehicle is longer than major competitors by as much as 310 mm. Backseat legroom is longer by up to 376 mm. The new model is fitted with the most powerful engine ever built for a Hyundai production car – a 5.0-litre V8 producing 400PS and 500Nm of torque.

Rear passengers will find they have the world’s first power-driven footrest (I know for a fact that MAS first class gets a powered footrest), seat leg support, relax posture control and a massage system. It’s quite clear that an airplane’s first class seating is the inspiration for the Equus rear passenger room.

There is also a bulletproof version of the car and 3 units have been delivered to the Korean President. Hyundai is the first Korean company to develop a bulletproof car with its own technology.

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A turbocharged Campro engine in an Exora Prestige we saw back in July…

Proton unveiled a turbocharged 1.6 liter engine to selected press in Norwich, UK earlier today while our King and Queen His Majesty Seri Paduka Baginda The Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Wathiqu Billah Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Mahmud Al-Muktafi Billah Shah and Her Majesty Seri Paduka Baginda The Raja Permaisuri Agong Tuanku Nur Zahirah were visiting the Lotus headquarters in UK.

The new turbocharged engine is said to have the power capacity of a 2.0 liter engine. No precise figures were given but we can make an educates guess – 2.0 normally aspirated would mean around 140 to 150 horsepower. Usually with a turbocharged engine, a 150 horses figure would probably be accompanied by 220Nm to 240Nm of torque. This should put performance at a similiar level with the turbocharged 1.6 liter in the Peugeot 308 Turbo, which is very nice since the peak torque kicks in at low RPMs.

VIDEO: Bulletin Utama segment on the Proton Turbo engine

Source

70 engineers worked on the engine project. According to Proton, the engine was developed in collaboration between Proton and Lotus Engineering, with active involvement of Malaysian engineers and vendors. I actually so happened to meet a few young Proton engineers at a UK visa application center in KL and they were applying for a UK work visa for a certain project, so this must have been it

Producing the engine took 18 months from approval of engineering proof of concept. The proof of concept could have been that turbocharged engine we saw in the Exora. The engine was designed for high torque applications, which will provide good driveability in larger Proton cars such as the Proton Exora. Proton Director of Engineering Tajul Zahari said the engine is RON95 compatible. Apparently the engine will be ready by 2011, so we should see it in Protons by then.

Suzuki has so very quickly updated the Alto for the Tokyo Motorshow 2009, though it’s still calling it a “concept” for now.. This update may seem like it’s coming a little too soon considering the Alto has just been launched in India and various other countries.

It could be either one of two things. One is it’s a facelifted model being previewed a little too prematurely. I have a feeling that it could also be not really a new car but a more premium and refined take on the existing car for the Japanese market, and potentially any other market that can accept paying a little more for a compact car.

See in Japan, people don’t exactly buy a really small car because they can’t afford anything better. Alot of the times its more of a choice. It’s a very Japanese thing really. These customers don’t mind paying a little more for extra design finesse and refinement.

Or even a little more uniqueness, which is why you have the Mira and you also have the Mira Custom. Or Move and Move Custom, etc. Even the Alto shares a nameplate in Japan with a different looking vehicle – the Suzuki Alto Lapin. So this is it, an updated Alto for the Tokyo show, and it does look sharper than the original Alto. Look after the jump for 5 shots of the Alto Concept.

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