Archive for International News

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.

Click here to read the rest of Tokyo gets its own Suzuki Alto Concept

In Europe you see alot of little hatchbacks like the Peugeot 206 running around as “vans”, so this little car you see above probably makes sense. Mitsubishi took the i-MiEV and converted it into a little zero emissions goods transporter that seats two and has a luggage compartment measuring about 1,350mm wide by 1,180mm deep and 1,100mm tall.

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The flagship Lexus LS will soon come with a special highly scratch-resistant clear coat which Toyota says possess self-restoring qualities. The clear coat is highly resistant to typical surface scratches usually caused by car wash brushes and fingernails. You can usually spot loads of fingernail scratches near your door handle area, and sometimes you’re bound to hit the paint while reaching to grab your door handle.

An ingredient in the new clearcoat apparently encorages molecular bonding, resulting in a denser structure than conventionally possible.  This gives the coat flexibility and elasticity, making it less prone to damage and more resistant to light and acid, and giving it the ability to self-restore after deformation.

This sketch of an upcoming global compact hatchback was released by NIssan yesterday. Being a global model, it’s expected to be a low cost and economical run-about suitable for sale in emerging markets but also with the potential of being kitted up for sale in more established markets.

There are definitely certain things about the car’s styling that makes you automatically assume this is the next generation Nissan March/Micra. The current March is available both as a hatchback and a convertible, competing head to head with the Colt which has the same bodytypes.

Nissan Motor (Thailand) Co., Ltd. announced that the model will qualify as Thailand’s first “Eco-car.” The Eco-car program basically gives tax-breaks to companies that develop and make energy-efficient vehicles in Thailand. The car will go into production May next year.

To be eligible for the program, the car has to achieve at least 20km per liter, and put out less than 120g/km of CO2. The engine has to be smaller than 1.3 liters if petrol-powered and 1.4 liters if diesel powered. What you get is a 50% cut in excise duty, no income tax for 8 years, and no import duty for your factory machinery imports.

The Eco-car project is basically Thailand’s bid to switch its auto-hub status to something more than just a pick-up hub – it wants to build and export fuel efficient compact cars too and the carmakers seem to be signing on in droves – Honda, Suzuki, Nissan, etc. However only Nissan has announced its eco-car so far, while the rest are still a WIP.

Honda will be showing various automobiles at the Tokyo Motorshow next month. Being their home turf and an Asian country, I must say the concept, near-production and production cars to be shown are definitely more interesting to us as an ASEAN country as they would be the most relevant to production cars that we’ll receive in the future.

The most exciting is probably the new Honda CR-Z Concept 2009, which is the most close-to-production concept version of the upcoming CR-Z sports car so far. No technical details have been revealed on the car so far, but I do have some nice high-resolution photos for you showing a very production-ready exterior and interior.

Word is that the CR-Z will get a 1.5 liter version of Honda’s IMA Hybrid system (the Civic and Insight use 1.3 IMA hybrid systems) and high on the wishlist of speculators so far is a 6-speed manual transmission, which is rare in a typical hybrid car where you usually see CVT and e-CVT transmissions.

Look after the jump for a nice hi-res gallery of the new CR-Z!

Click here to read the rest of Tokyo Motorshow’s Honda CR-Z Concept 2009 very close to production version

Does this look cool to you?

What’s cooler than an Aston Martin? An iPhone. Probably no thanks to James Bond movies’ portrayal of the Aston Martin being the ultimate playboy spy’s car, the brand has sat at the top of the annual UK CoolBrands survey for three years consequetively, until this year where it has been displaced by the iPhone.

The survey polled 2,500 voters for a shortlist of cool brands and the final twenty were voted on by a panel of judges including DJ Edith Bowman and Adam & Eve founding partner James Murphy. No other carmaker made the seemingly very male-oriented top 10 list, but Ferrari managed to come in at 15th place.

Look after the jump for the top 20 list.

Source

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