Mazda has released full details and photos of the earlier previewed new Mazda Biante MPV. The Biante was developed exclusively for the Japanese market so I doubt it will go anywhere officially, but Naza World may bring it in as a grey import since it launched a slew of Mazda models recently.
More details after the jump. Click here to read the rest of Mazda Biante MPV launched in Japan
The Honda FCX Concept found its way onto the roads of southern California in the US as a limited production vehicle called the Honda FCX Clarity late last year, but like the concept I drove it was a left hand drive vehicle.
There is now a right hand drive Honda FCX Clarity that will be sold in Japan. A right hand drive conversion with this car should be so much more easier than a conventional car as you can be sure almost every driver control is “by wire”, receiving input electronically rather than via mechanical linkages.
Leasing for the FCX Clarity will begin in November 2008 and will be initially limited to government agencies and selected corporate customers. For more information on the FCX Clarity please refer to the previous posts on the car linked below.
Related Posts: Click here to read the rest of RHD Honda FCX Clarity introduced in Japan
Honda FCX Clarity: second generation fuel cell car
A short test drive experience with the Honda FCX Concept
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Never before has a concept car been so aptly named. The Toyota Aygo Crazy concept will be displayed at the 2008 British International Motor Show this month.
The Toyota Aygo Crazy has been converted from a front engined front wheel drive configuration to a rear engine rear wheel drive setup. The car’s body has been modified to accomodate its 17 inch wheels. Installed in the rear is a 1.8 liter VVT-i engine from the Toyota MR-S together with the rear suspension from the MR-S. Tein dampers have been fitted all-around.
The engine has been turbocharged with a Toyota Motorsport turbo kit resulting in 200 PS at 6,700rpm and 240Nm of torque at 3,400rpm in the 1,050kg car, giving it a 0 to 100km/h sprint time of 5.7 seconds. A huge aluminium radiator can be found installed up front.
It cost £100k to build, so unless you’re crazy you’ll be better off getting something else to match the Aygo Crazy’s performance. More images after the jump. Click here to read the rest of Toyota Aygo Crazy Concept
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How many of you remember Gordon Murray’s announcement a year ago back in July 2007 about his upcoming T25 or Type 25 city car? He promised that the car will be revolutionary up to the point that according to him verbatim, “you won’t get in it, sit in it or put luggage in it like a normal car!”
Gordon Murray design is celebrating the T25 project’s mid-point milestone, that is 12 months of work completed out of the 24 month workcycle, with a few teasers on what the T25 is really all about. As you can see from the images above, the new T25 is TINY! It’s even smaller than the Smart fortwo in terms of footprint. Here’s what we can gather from the images, if the representation is accurate:
Murray also says that the way the T25 will be built will also be a complete rethink on the way cars are manufactured and will revolutionise automobile production, perhaps in a way bigger than what the Toyota TPS system has done for car manufacturing.
I have reason to believe that he isn’t just talking marketing bull, he is the man behind the McLaren F1 after all! His team - Gordon Murray Designs - now has a force of 29 with 440 collective years of working in the auto industry and more than 1850 man years of co-working experience. GMD is funded by US-based Mohr Davidow Ventures and the UK based Caparo Group.
Gordon Murray Designs won’t be building and selling the T25 themselves. Like it’s namesake it will be a design and engineering company and will profit from the Intellectual Property rights of licensing the T25 to manufacturers who want to build it.
Look after the jump for some sketches of the new T25. Click here to read the rest of 5 Things We Know About Gordon Murray’s T25
We may get to see turbocharged M cars from BMW soon, if an unnamed source cited by Automotive News is right. The next generation 2011 BMW M5 based on the new F10 car set to debut in 2010 may get its cylinders cut by 2 and replaced by two turbochargers, much like the 4.4 liter twin-turbocharged V8 found in the BMW X6 xDrive50i.
The current production version of the N63B44 produces 408hp between 5,500 to 6,400rpm and an M5-beating 600Nm of torque between 1,800 and 4,500rpm, but the insider reported that a variation of the N63B44 twin-turbocharged V8 under testing in BMW’s engineering labs producing over 536hp and even more ridiculous amounts of torque. They will still need to squeeze more out of the engine if they want to beat Audi in the horsepower game. Audi currently leads in the premium D-segment performance car race with its recently unveiled Audi RS6, sporting 580 horsepower and 650Nm of torque.
BMW may end up leaving the high revving 8,400rpm madness of normally aspirated engines only in the BMW M3 in the next generation of M cars, with the upcoming lightweight M-ish 1-Series getting a turbocharged motor as well, but for weight reasons.
But if this really happens, the M DCT has to be strengthened first to take on the far higher level of torque that turbocharged engines typically put out.
Ford has revived the RS badge last seen in 2002 on the first generation Focus with the Ford Focus RS, a high performance version of the latest facelifted Ford Focus. It will be displayed at the 2008 British International Motor Show in London from the 22nd of July. The RS badge was first used on the Escort RS1600 featured yesterday. Click here to read the rest of New Ford Focus RS unveiled with 300 PS inline-5
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Nissan will be displaying this quirky-looking concept car at the 2008 British International Motor Show called the Nissan Denki Cube Concept. It’s based on the Nissan Cube and uses a pure electric motor drivetrain powered by laminated lithium ion batteries.
Those who knows a little bit of Japanese or are fans of Best Denki outlets (ogling at the LCD TVs) here in Malaysia would be able to figure out now that Denki is Japanese for “electric”. More details on this concept to come during at the motorshow.
The Suzuki SX4-FCV is a fuel cell vehicle with a 80kW fuel cell powering a 68kW (91 horsepower) electric motor with a high voltage capacitor that supports brake energy regeneration. Hydrogen is stored on board a 70MPa high pressure hydrogen tank. The SX4-FCV can go up to an estimated range of 250km, and has a top speed of 150km/h.
It has just gotten approval from the Japanese government to test it on public roads, so this makes it Suzuki’s fourth fuel cell test vehicle, with the other three being the Suzuki MR Wagon-FCV, the Suzuki Wagon R-FCV and another updated Suzuki MR Wagon-FCV.
Mercedes-Benz has announced that it has decided to end its partnership with British firm McLaren when its existing agreement expires in 2009. The next generation flagship premium roadster that replaces the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren will be built by AMG instead. It’s expected to make its debut in 2010, replacing the SLR which was introduced in 2003. A 7 year model cycle sounds reasonable for such an advanced premium model, but a roadster (drop top) model was just announced sometime last year.
We can expect the new AMG SLR replacement to top the current SLR, but for us to know what kind of levels the new car will be offering we have to revisit the specs of the current generation SLR won’t we?
Read more after the jump. Click here to read the rest of Mercedes-Benz ends partnership with McLaren
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Four official product photos of the new Kia Forte sedan has been released by Kia. It will hit Korean showrooms first in August 2008, with the rest of the world to get it later, including Malaysia as a new Cerato or Forte sedan. The current Cerato is sold here as a 5-door hatch, but a sedan from this current generation is not likely to be introduced with Naza Kia management most probably deciding to skip the current generation Cerato sedan and going straight for this new Forte.
The new Kia Forte is more angular and up to date with current design trends compared to its predecessor. While Europe gets the cee’d, this model is the cee’d’s equivalent for the rest of the world. So while exterior styling is radically different from the cee’d (which is a hatch in the first place), expect the interior to follow the cee’d’s interior design closely. It’s quite good looking indeed.
The rear looks like the current generation Hyundai Elantra we have here in our market, but the shoulder profile thankfully misses the odd Audi A5-like wave that the Elantra has. The front end sports Kia’s new corporate nose that is also found on the facelifted Optima.
1.6 liter and 2.0 liter CVVT engines will be offered, but the cee’d’s 1.6 liter VGT turbodiesel is a question mark at this point as the markets where this car will be introduced are not really mad about diesel.
Kia intends to introduce a two-door coupe version of this Forte later, which will more closely resemble the KIA KOUP Concept that this Forte was based on.
View three more photos after the jump. Click here to read the rest of First photos of new Kia Forte sedan
