Archive for International News

The Dow Jones Sustainability Index has named BMW the most sustainable automobile company in the world for the 5th consecutive year. The index was first published in 1999, so it is in its 10th year now. Effectively, this means that right now, BMW is the world’s most ‘greenest’ automaker.

BMW has just established a Sustainability Board in summer 2009, which comprises of the entire Board of Management, determines the strategic alignment for sustainability issues. They meet twice a year to discuss and adopt the strategies and activities proposed at operational level.

Sustainability is not only defined by your product mix. On one hand BMW makes the zero emissions MINI E (though on trial), but on the other hand you also have the BMW X6 M, weighing well over 2,000kg with 555 PS sent to all four wheels yet can only move four from A to B.

No, it’s more than that. It also includes the production plants, production processes, green recycling practices, etc. It also extends beyond the gates of their office buildings and plants, sustainability is also the excuse that they gave for leaving F1. Whether that’s the real reason or not, I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure it’ll score some brownie points on whatever index the DJSI is using.

These are the examples of sustainability activities that you don’t see when you take delivery of your new 323i. BMW’s Munich R&D center uses naturally cold groundwater to cool some buildings. This saves about 10,000 MWh of electricity, and translates to 6,300 tons of CO2 a year. At their Spartanburg plant where the X6 M is built, over 60% of total energy requirements are from methane gas from a nearby landfill.

BMW also takes care not to waste any water unnecessarily. The water cycles at BMW plants are designed to reuse water as often as possible. In fact, BMW’s engine plant in Steyr produced 733,500 engines in 2008 without generating any wastewater at all. The aim is for a 30% reduction of water, energy, solvent emissions and waste per vehicle between 2006 and 2012, and we’re smack in the middle of that now.

But for us Malaysian motorists usually when you hear the word ‘green’ or even BMW’s EfficientDynamics brand, you usually think of the product itself – reduced fuel consumption and reduced tailpipe emissions, unfortunately less so the latter with most people. Now with better quality Euro 2M diesel here, you can expect some interesting announcements from BMW this week.

You can probably already guess what it is, but I’ll be back with the full details later this week. I think what’s coming is great and I can only wish that the manufacturers who sell the more affordable cars here in Malaysia are going to do the same.

Not many car companies here in Malaysia have a used car program. BMW has their Premium Selection and Toyota has their TopMark service. It’s not easy to setup but it’s good because it allows the companies some kind of control over their product’s resale value. Not complete control, but at least there is some sort of avenue to influence it if you have a business where you take in used versions of your products, refurbish them, and resell them at a good price with at least a one year warranty for that peace of mind.

New BMWs are potentially full of electronic niggles. Loads of sensors for this and that. Personally I feel the last BMW that’s fairly modern but yet isn’t too full of sensors and electronics is the early batches of the E39 5-Series – the one with the single VANOS M52 engine, I think the production year 96 to 98?

Beyond that, with the E46, double VANOS E39 and etc, things got a little over a ‘fine line’, conventional throttles were replaced by drive by wire, etc. So there’s alot of things that could potentially break when you buy a used BMW.

This is where used car warranties come in. Internationally, BMW and Allianz have just signed an agreement to intensify their cooperation on a global level. The agreement focuses on a range of vehicle and mobility related insurance products for end customers, such as automobile insurances and used-car warranties.

We’ve already seen Allianz insurance products offered under BMW branding here in Malaysia and its called BMW Motor Insurance. It guarantees that the buyer of a new BMW will be entitled to a brand new car if the car is stolen or totalled in an accident within the first 12 months from date of purchase. Even used BMWs purchased from authorised BMW dealers in a similiar predicament within the first 12 months will also receive a full insured value claim settlement with no market value adjustment.

This could potentially extend to things such as extended warranty programs, which will definitely be very valuable to a BMW buyer. The current plan is for BMW Service + Repair Inclusive to be offered for the first 3 years or 60,000km, whichever comes first. Another two years to cover more years of a typical 5 year to 7 year loan will bring peace of mind.

When the Lexus brand was finally introduced back in its homeland of Japan, it marked the end of the Toyota-badged Lexus products such as the Toyota Harrier, which was essentially a Lexus RX. The Land Cruiser and Lexus LX twins are still on though.

Or so we thought, because the new Lexus HS250h will be launched in Japan as a Toyota called the Toyota SAI, alongside the original HS250h which has already been launched in Japan, which isn’t really completely original at all, being a restyled Euro-market Toyota Avensis (platform also used for the Scion tC) with the Camry Hybrid’s gaso-electric powertrain. Boy, that was confusing!

Toyota will be positioning the Toyota SAI as a larger hybrid-only car compared to the Prius, though since they share the same 2,700mm wheelbase I don’t expect the interior space to be all that different, though rear headroom should be better.

In the HS250h, the chassis had to handle the naturally larger 2.4 liter Hybrid Synergy Drive hybrid system but some are saying that the Toyota SAI will use the 1.8 liter version thats in the Prius. There are of course also news that it will use the same 2.4 liter HSD engine as the HS250h. What it will have is a proper boot, while the Prius is a hatchback.

It’s more of a public secret by now but today Land Rover has officially come out to say that a small Land Rover based on the LRX concept will be built! After all, the UK government previously offered a grant of up to GBP 27 million to the automaker to produce an all- new vehicle based on the LRX Concept.

And apparently it’s going to be marketed under the Range Rover badge, since the press release constantly refers to it as a Range Rover instead of a Land Rover. This will mean the Range Rover series will have a third model – small, medium and large.

The original Range Rover is the large model and a new “medium” model was previously added, a model based on the Discovery called the Range Rover Sport. The flagship has a wheelbase of 2,880mm while the smaller Disco-based sport has a wheelbase of 2,745mm. That would make the LRX quite compact indeed as even the new “small” BMW X1 has a wheelbase of 2,760mm, longer than the Sport’s.

The production LRX will be built at Land Rover’s plant in Halewood, and will be the smallest, lightest and most efficient vehicle the company has ever produced. The original LRX concept was a 2-door compact SUV powered by a hybrid powertrain that combined a 2.0 liter turbodiesel and an Electric Rear Axle Drive (ERAD) which allows it to run on zero-emissions electric mode at speeds of up to 32km/h.

“The new vehicle will be a natural extension to the Range Rover line-up, complementing the existing models and helping to define a new segment. It will be true to the concept and have many recognisable Range Rover design cues including the signature clamshell bonnet, the floating roof and the solid ‘wheel-at-each-corner’ stance,” said Gerry McGovern, Land Rover design director.

However I wonder if the UK government’s 27 million pound offer still stands, because of a particular announcement that Tata made today. Their intention is to close either a Jaguar plant in Castle Bromwich, or a Land Rover plant in Solihull, both in central England.

Their intention is probably to centralise production of both marques at a single plant – either Solihull or Castle Bromwich. As it is, the Halewood plant I mentioned above was a Jaguar plant, and the first Land Rover that started production there was the Freelander 2. But Tata did say there would be no compulsory layoffs…

For fans of the new facelifted Toyota Camry, here are some new shots of the car from its Australian launch where it is called the Toyota Aurion. I don’t think any of the previous photos I’ve published so far had a shot of the car with its LED tail lamps lit up so for those who haven’t seen the new facelifted Camry in real life at night yet, here’s how it looks like.

The Australian Toyota Aurion also has a sporty version with a completely different aggressively-styled bumper and grille. This is different from the aerokit we can purchase with the Camry here in Malaysia. Younger Camry buyers will probably want to hunt for this or find out how to import the original bumper in.

Look after the jump for the full gallery.

Click here to read the rest of Camry down-under: Toyota Aurion facelifted too!

Lamborghini produced this short film for the unveiling of the limited edition Reventon Roadster at the Frankfurt show in 2009. How limited is limited you ask? Only twenty, and cars that can be purchased by owners will be less than that. According to the film, you’re more likely to be hit by a meteorite than get a chance to own one of these babies.

Each Lamborghini Reventon Roadster will be sold for 1.1 million euros (and this is without taxes, even in Europe). It’s available exclusively in a shade of matte grey called Reventon Grey. Deliveries will begin October 2009.

The weight penalty for not having a roof and requiring additional chassis reinforcements is minimal – only 25kg heavier. This is because the original chassis was already very stiff. 0 to 100km/h takes just 3.4 seconds thanks to its 6.5 liter high compression V12 making 670 PS and 660Nm of torque.

I’ve got two different versions of the video after the jump. They’re essentially the same but one is regular resolution while the other is in 720hp HD for those with better internet connections. Enjoy!

Click here to read the rest of VIDEO: Official Lamborghini Reventón Roadster film

Though we’ve already seen the new CR-V in full after the European and US offices released details and pix of the car earlier, our CR-V is very likely to have more in common with the Japanese version (for the real deal, gotta look at the ASEAN market versions) rather than the Euro or US cars.

The shots I found of the Japanese facelifted CR-V shows certain models with wood interiors – I must say it gives the SUV a completely different look and feel on the inside even though the basic design and shapes are just the same.

Look after the jump for galleries of the Japanese facelifted CR-V and the previously published album of the US version. Aren’t you glad we don’t get the outdated-looking USDM amber turn signals instead of our modern transparent signal indicators? Apparently the US DOT requires amber coloured reflectors at the front but somehow have no qualms about having red turn signals at the rear.

I’ve seen cars in the US where the manufacturer had to add an ugly orange sticker onto the body near the headlamps (look at this photo of the new 7-Series) because they didn’t want to produce a different amber lense design, probably for cost cutting purposes.

Click here to read the rest of Honda CR-V facelift unveiled in Japan

Lexus has facelifted the GS 450h. No, it’s not yet another update to the GS line as we’ve already seen that early last year but more of a cosmetic update to further differentiate the hybrid version from the “regular” GS. There’s a new front grille with thicker horizontal bars instead of the regular GS’s horizontal bars, and new rear tail lamps.

There have also been some changes to the Pre-Crash Safety system, so I guess it is safer to crash your 2010 GS450h compared to the 2009 model, in case you’re wondering. The new features are the pre-crash seatbelt and brake assist functions with pre-crash brake technology. Both front seats are fitted with new, inflator-operated active headrests, activated by a signal from the ECU in the event of a rear-end impact. The inflator slides a piston into the headrest, unlocks the mechanism and projects the headrest forwards and upwards to support the occupant’s head and reduce the risk of whiplash injury.

With the new Euro 2M diesel implemented here in Malaysia, I can tell you that there will be a barrage of eco-marketing (i.e. – good for nature and pocket) from the two main German luxury marques here in Malaysia. Lexus has its hybrid models positioned for the same purpose internationally.

There has yet to be any hybrid Lexus introduced in Malaysia yet, but with the introduction of the Prius out of the way, you would think there could be the possibility of a hybrid Lexus sometime in the future. But that remains to be seen as the hybrid Lexus cars all have their combustion engine sizes over 2.0 liters, which disqualify them from any kinds of incentives currently offered by the government.

Click here to read the rest of New updates to hybrid Lexus GS450h

The new Sonata YF has been unveiled in Korea and I must say the specs list looks very good indeed. The cost of development to Hyundai was 400 billion won (RM1.15 billion) over a timespan of 4 years, and I must say the results look pretty good so far.

Not sure how long it’ll take to recoup costs but the car will be priced in Korea at 21.3 million Won (RM61,350) to 25.95 million Won (RM74,800).

The Sonata has a particularly powerful 2.0 liter engine from the Theta II family, which is a development of the GEMA world engine. Variants of the GEMA world engine are also found in Chrysler cars and locally in the Mitsubishi Lancer and Kia Optima.

The difference is with this latest stage of tune, horsepower and torque figures have been increase and are now even more impressive. The engine can now make a peak power output of 165 PS at 6,200rpm and a peak torque of 198Nm at 4,600rpm, which is very close to the 100Nm per liter ratio.

It’s one of the highest torque outputs available in non-premium segment engines without direct injection. This engine is mated to a 6-speed automatic, which is also the best in class so far in its segment (both competitors have 4 or 5-speeders).

Although only one engine option has been unveiled now, Hyundai says a 2.4 liter version with direct injection will be unveiled in January next year when it presents the US market version. Small engines like a 2.0 will never sell over there.

The body has a four-door coupe-ish look to the roofline, and most people are instantly reminded of the Passat CC when a few shots were leaked in the past few weeks. Hyundai calls this new design language “fluidic sculpture”. It’s designed to project a more youthful image for the car, so Hyundai probably intends it to be more Mazda 6 than Toyota Camry.

Vehicle Dynamic Control is standard, and there are also other driver assist features such as Hill-Start Assist Control and Brake Assist. The car also has the Korean market Mozen telematics system. This is not really likely to make its way anywhere outside of South Korea for now but its pretty interesting. It’s basically like BMW ConnectedDrive – the car can access various information systems via the WCDMA mobile network. You get features such as SOS calls and Mozen Autocare anti-theft tracking.

Look after the jump for a video and more shots of the YF Sonata.

Click here to read the rest of Hyundai Sonata YF gets world unveiling in Korea!

What’s the biggest difference between a MINI Cabriolet and a MINI Roadster Concept? I’ll tell you. It’s simple – boot space. The MINI Cabriolet only has 125 liters of boot space with the roof down, and 170 liters with the roof up. The MINI Roadster Concept? 250 liters whether the roof is up or down.

The downside is that the roof folds into the space where the rear seats used to be, making the Roadster strictly a two seater. But in reality who uses the rear seats of the Cooper and Cabriolet, unless for some reason you’re punishing a friend?

In the engine department, both are powered by the JCW MINI’s engine. The 1.6 liter turbocharged engine makes 211 horsepower and 260Nm of torque, with a short overboost of up to 280Nm over a short time.

Both these cars are going into production at Plant Oxford in the UK, bringing the MINI bodytype range up to 5 now. It could soon be 6 with the addition of an SUV later.

Look after the jump for very high-res images of the Oxford twins posing together as well as “individual portraits”. I wonder which one did BMW intend to be the wilder twin as depicted in the teaser videos? The Coupe or the Roadster?

Click here to read the rest of Oxford Twins: MINI Coupe and Roadster Concepts