Archive for International News

Here’s yet another concept car in the up! range of cars. We’ve previously seen the up! and the larger space up!. Here comes the 3+1 seater E-Up!, which as you can probably tell is powered by an electric motor. The electric motor is rated at 40kW continuous with a burst power of 60kW, and torque is rated at 210Nm. Although this is a concept car for now, Volkswagen confirmed a production EV version will be launched in 2013. Quite interestingly the 3+1 seating is similiar to the Toyota iQ.

This is how VW’s Martin Winterkorn sees mobility in the near future. Cars with pure petrol and diesel engines – which in the foreseeable future will continue be unbeatable for mid- to long-range distances – will be supplemented by cars like the E-Up! in upcoming years, especially in the city. This can be a reality in 5 years time. But production numbers of an electric car can only match that of a Polo in current times only in 2020, and that’s earliest!

The E-Up! weighs just 1,085kg, and out of that the lithium ion batteries housed in the underbody (protected by a crash-protected tray) alone takes up 240kg. The electric motor is lighter at 140kg. The E-Up! is meant to be charged at home in the owner’s garage, or on the road when a charging infrastructure has been set up.

Volkswagen predicts that quick charging infrastructure could possibly allow the E-Up! to be charged up to 80% of its battery life within an hour’s time. At home, a regular 230V outlet can do the same in 5 hours tops.

So in terms of cost according to European electricity rates, the E-Up! can go 100km for 2 Euros (actual range has not been revealed by Volkswagen). The charging port is hidden behind the Volkswagen logo at the front. The solar panel on the roof can generate a small amount of electricity, enough for some auxiliary electrical systems and to cool the interior by powering the car’s ventilation system.

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Official details and photos of the new Audi R8 Spyder 5.2 FSI quattro have been released. The R8 Spyder will only come with the top of the line 525 horsepower 530Nm V10 engine and uses a cloth top instead of one of those new hard tops. The roof folds into a Z-shape and is stored in a compartment over the V10 engine.

The soft top opens and closes in 19 seconds and weighs just 30kg, but don’t think that’s the only weight penalty the Spyder body will pay as there has to be extra chassis reinforcements to make up for not having a roof. But even then, the extra reinforcements to the body have been remarkably light. According to Audi, the reinforcements n the area of the sills, the center tunnel, the rear wall, the floor pan and the A- and B-pillars result in the body (not the whole car) weighing a total of 216kg – that’s just 6kg heavier than the version with the roof.

Lighting for the R8 is all about LED technology. Both the daytime running lights and the headlamps are LED-powered. The lights have a 6000K temperature which means it’s going to be more of a whitish hue instead of the whitish-yellow colour that most factory Xenon headlamps have.

Look after the jump for a very hi-res gallery of the R8 Spyder.

Click here to read the rest of Audi R8 Spyder unveiled with hi-res gallery!

A German paper managed to get a scoop on a rather interesting concept car that Volkswagen plans to show at the Frankfurt show that’ll open in just a few days time. This concept car is supposedly called the Volkswagen L1 Concept and guess what its rated fuel consumption is – 1.49 liters per 100km! Most people are calling it a 1 liter car, which it actually is not, but nevertheless a “1.49 liter car” is still impressive.

It’s a small 3,800mm long two seater car and you sit in it in tandem – which means the driver at the front and the passenger behind him or her. The L1 Concept is powered by a twin-cylinder diesel engine mated to a 7-speed twin clutch transmission. It’s only got 29 horsepower but at a kerb weight of 380kg, that’s more than enough. CO2 output is rated at just 39g/km.

UPDATE: We now know more information about the new L1. The official fuel consumption has been rated at 1.38 liters per 100km. The 800cc two-cylinder diesel engine is essentially half of Volkswagen’s BlueMotion 1.6 TDI engine and it makes 27 PS (39 PS in “sports mode”) and 100Nm of torque at 1,900rpm, but is assisted by a 14 hosepower electric motor powered by a lithium ion battery situated at the front of the car. The hybrid unit sends power to the wheels via a 7-speed DSG transmission.

The electric motor sits between the TDI engine and the DSG gearbox. This sounds like a motor assist system but the motor is capable of running on its own as a zero emissions EV with the TDI shut off via decoupling from the TDI with an auxiliary clutch. When its time for the TDI unit to be restarted, this electric motor acts as a start-up generator.

To retain the L1’s aerodynamic shape, door mirrors have been eliminated. While they’re at it, they also took out the rear view mirror though since it is inside the car it doesn’t improve aerodynamics. Instead, functions of both the door and rear view mirrors have been replaced by cameras which send images to OLED displays on the left and right of the instrument panel. There are no doors – the passengers get in from the top.

The L1 is built around a safety cell made out of carbon fiber reinforced plastic, which itself weighs only 124kg. If you add everything else in, the L1 tops out at 380kg kerb weight, which is pretty damn light. The weight is well acounting for – 122kg goes to teh drivetrain, 79kg for the chassis, 35kg for the interior furnishings, and 20kg for the electricals. The L1 measures 1,200mm wide, 3,813mm long and 1,143mm tall, which Volkswagen says is similiar to the length of a Volkswagen Fox and the height of a Lamborghini Murcielago.

Look after the jump for more shots of the L1.

Click here to read the rest of 2-seater Volkswagen L1 Concept consumes just 1.38 liters of diesel per 100km travelled!

The Australian name for the Proton Saga has been announced – Proton’s smallest sedan will be offered down under as the Proton S16. I assume this is supposed to stand for Saga 1.6, not sure what’s wrong with the Saga name. The S16 will go on sale from the 1st of November for under AU$13,000 with a manual transmission, but Australian dealers will get test drive units in October for anyone who is interested in the car.

Under the hood will be the Campro IAFM engine that powers the Persona here in Malaysia, producing 110 horsepower at 6,500rpm and 148Nm of torque. The car’s fuel consumption is rated at 6.3 liters per 100km on the ADR (Australian Design Rules) combined cycle.

This is unconfirmed but according to some Aussie news sites the Australian spec car is expected to have dual SRS airbags for the front driver and passenger, which means it’ll be one of the highest spec versions of the Saga available so far, as the top of the line Sage in Malaysia thus far has only been available with a driver airbag.

What’s even more interesting for Australian buyers is that the price tag could possibly go even lower with the introduction of a 1.3 liter Campro engine option, which will only be available from February 2010 onwards. It’s not sure if the 1.3 liter car will continue to be called the S16, or receive a more apt name like the S13.

This Toyota Auris HSD Full Hybrid previews what will be Toyota’s first step in offering a hybrid model for each car they sell in Europe by the early 2020s, and starting out with the Auris HSD makes sense as the 5-door hatchback bodytype is the most popular bodytype in terms of sales in Europe.

But 2020 is a long way to go – will we even be in the position to use ‘hybrid’ cars by then or would we have gone all fuel cell or EV, at least in terms of new vehicles? I believe as long as there are countries where cars have a much longer lifecycle and remain in use for a long time (such as our country), there will be the need to have fuel stations that serve petrol, and as long as there’s still petrol widely available, people will still continue to pick it as the fuel of choice, assuming the price of EVs and fuel cells don’t come down of course.

Back to the Auris HSD. It’s of course not the first time Toyota has put a hybrid system in a variant that’s not exclusively hybrid. However these hybrid cars have been pretty much reserved for JDM markets – we’re talking about models such as the Estima Hybrid. Everywhere else, Toyota’s only hybrid offering has been the successful hybrid-only Prius, and the Lexus hybrids don’t really count as they don’t have a Toyota badge.

Blue may be the colour signifying hybrid or green technology for the time being but the interior is completely overdone. The best way to describe it would be just acres and acres of blue, with a white centre console area.

For this concept, the 1.8 liter Hybrid Synergy Drive system from the latest Prius has been taken directly and slotted into the concept. A hybrid must of course be aerodynamic (unless you’re talking about a hybrid SUV, then it becomes relative) so Toyota has lowered the stock Auris ride height by 20mm, and they’ve also fitted underbody panels, a rear spoiler, aerodynamic 18 inch alloy wheels, and a rear diffuser.

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Peugeot has just announced the launch pricing for the new Peugeot RCZ 2+2 coupe. If you want a French take on a TT-like car, you’ll be expected to shell out about £19,900 for a ‘base’ model with the 156hp 1.6 turbo engine and a manual transmission.

Now this is actually quite interesting as the 308 GT THP 175 goes for £20995. So I think it’s quite possible to have a low spec RCZ here in Malaysia for well under RM200k.

But with the RCZ being a premium model it’s very likely for Nasim to position their RCZ offering higher up the model range instead. Upgrading to a “Level 2″ trim level car with the 200 horsepower manual brings the price up to £24,500, or a 156hp auto will go for £23,300. That would mean a potential price difference of perhaps RM20k when converted to Malaysian ringgit, BEFORE taxes!

The “Level 1″ base trim level includes 18” alloy wheels, sports front seats, dual zone air-conditioning, folding rear seats, rear parking sensors, four airbags, ESP, EBFD, EBA, ABS, an active rear spoiler, and twin rear sports exhaust.

Upgrading to “Level 2″ will add leather, heated front seats, carpet mats, front and rear parking sensors, tilting door mirrors (to aid reversing), auto headlamps, follow-me-home lighting, rain sensor wipers, and 19 inch wheels.

Further customisation is allowed, with an alternate design for the 19 inch wheels, a carbon roof panel, integral leather, xenon headlamps, directional lights, gloss black brake calipers, black roof arches, matt roof arches, Peugeot connect media navigation 3D, and a JBL Hi Fi system. Nasim could possibly add a few of these to upgrade the spec level of their Peugeot RCZ offering. If this baby handles well, it could be a great alternative to the TT, which has a really expensive Malaysian price tag.

Click here to read the rest of Peugeot RCZ UK prices announced!

I think for Malaysians at least, Lotus and endurance races seem to go together, thanks to the Lotus cars run by Proton and Empire Motorsports in the MME endurance race. Maybe Proton will be running this new baby next year – the new Lotus Evora Type 124 Endurance Racecar. In fact, Lotus has already said that the car is scheduled to race in a few races and the MME is listed as one of them.

Based on the standard Evora road car, the Evora Type 124 (pronounced One Twenty-four) will make its 24 hour racing debut at the ADAC Nurburgring 24 hours race. According to Lotus, the Evora was designed for racing from the start and this made it very easy for the team to convert the Evora into a racecar, thanks to the mid-engine layout, stiff bonded aluminium chassis and lightweight forced aluminium wishbones for the suspension.

The Evora gets a race-tuned version of the Toyota V6 mated to a 6-speed sequential paddle shift racing gearbox, and it now produces over 400 PS which is well over the 100 PS per liter ratio. I wish they’d listed out more specifications as to the specs of the engine – I dig this kind of stuff. In stock form, the Evora makes 280 horsepower from its 3.5 liter V6 engine, but even for the road car its said that a supercharged version could come later putting out over 400 horses.

Loads of goodies are added to the car – AP Racing 6 pot brakes on both front and back, a race-tuned Bosch ABS system, 4-way adjustable dampers, adjustable anti-roll bars, 18 inch wheels (nice and wide 9.5 from and 11 at the rear) with Pirelli slicks, a full FIA rollcage, an FIA 120 liter ATL fuel system, FIA fire extinguisher, yet weight is cut down from the production car to under 1200kg depending on race regulations. This is thanks to the use of carbon fiber extensively in the rear wing, diffuser, font splitter, and body panels.

Click here to read the rest of New Lotus Evora Type 124 Endurance Racecar will race at the MME in Sepang next year

Honda is rolling out the new Honda CR-V facelift across the globe. We’ve already had a glimpse of the US and Japan cars, but here comes the most detailed press unveil so far, the USDM Honda CR-V. The CR-V facelift gets a new grille, front and rear bumper, a reshaped engine hood, and a new 10-spoke alloy wheel design that replaces the 7-spoke version on the EX and EX-L models.

The 2.4 liter version which is sadly not available here in Malaysia gets a 14hp performance boost to 180 horsepower, but that’s about all the changes in the engine bay as there is only one engine available in the US market. The increase in power is mostly thanks to an increase in compression ratio from the relatively low 9.7:1 to a more ‘modern’ number of 10.5:1. The injectors have been improved with a finer spray pattern, intake valves are larger, the spark plugs have extended electrodes, there are better friction-reducing piston rings, a higher-precision timing sensor and a freeer-flowing exhaust.

But despite all of that, the extra 14hp is only achieved higher up the rev range at 6,800rpm while the 166hp engine made its peak power at 5,800rpm, so the improvement is more of an extension of the powerband to be wider rather than the engine making more power at the lower RPMs. Torque remains the same at 218Nm.

Interior changes include some changes to the various controls to make it friendlier to the user. The radio and control layout has changed, and there are also new seat fabric textures and trim panel sections. The radio control displays as well as the MID display in the middle of the control panel gets blue backlighting now.

Front seat armrests (the kind which which fold down from the seat) have been made one inch wider. This is a welcome improvement as I found the pre-facelift CR-V’s armrests a little too narrow to be comfortable.

Look after the jump for a nice hi-res photo gallery of the new CR-V.

Click here to read the rest of Honda CR-V facelift unveiled for the US market

When Koenigsegg announced that it was interested in taking over Saab from GM, other than the usual questions on whether the Swedish supercar company would have the ability and experience to turn the brand around, there was also the question of how Koenigsegg was going to finance the deal.

Of course they’re going to get help – and the first ‘partner’ has been announced – Beijing Auto. Beijing Auto will be taking up a stake in Koenigsegg which will help them finance the Saab takeover bid. “This is an important step on the road toward a new Saab. We have a well prepared business plan, an important partnership and we are ready to proceed without government financing,” said Koenigsegg CEO Christian von Koenigsegg.

Beijing Auto was not successful in their bid to get a piece of the GM Europe pie with Opel and Vauxhall, but plan B seems to have worked – they now have another way in through Saab. There were also rumours earlier this year that Beijing Auto is seeking to buy Delphi’s non-core assets and Volvo, though now Geely is the only sole bidder for Volvo. Beijing’s JV partners in China include Daimler AG and Hyundai.

The C30 hatchback has been updated to feature Volvo’s new front-end look, as per the convertible C70 recently. Most of the changes are aesthetic and also include new colour choices for the exterior and interior – total configurations thanks to the various options results in 2,561,328 possible combinations.

Other than the looks, the other most significant change to me is the new ’sports chassis’ option which basically means stiffer bushes, a 10% lower steering ratio, and suspension parts (these include new monotube stiffer dampers, stiffer springs and stiffer roll stabilizers) that are stiffer by 30%.

The star engines of the range are the T5 and D5 models. The petrol T5 puts out 230 horses and 320Nm of torque from its 2.5 liter inline-5 while the D5’s 2.4 liter turbodiesel makes 180hp and 400Nm of torque, yet consumes only 6.2 liters per 100km.

Look after the jump for photos and videos of the C30.

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