Archive for International News

Kia’s attack of new and upcoming models on the European market continues with Project Snowflake, which will be a sports car similiar to the likes of the Audi TT. Now, the codename Snowflake sounds very similiar to Raindrop, the original codename for the first generation Audi TT when it was still in development. A snowflake is quite similiar to a raindrop, both are small amounts of H2O falling from the sky, except a snowflake is much much more cooler than a raindrop, literally. I suppose this is what Kia intended it to be interpreted, heh! Shown above is Kia’s previous Kia KCV III Concept.

Kia’s Snowflake is rumoured to come in both front wheel drive and all wheel drive variants, and will be equipped with a powerful 2.0 liter 4-cylinder turbocharged engine, a formula that has worked so well with the likes of the Golf GTI and Lancer Evolution. This new engine will give Kia it’s much needed performance engine to give it a hot hatch in the European market. The engines in the Tiburon are weak, to be generous.

BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer has confirmed that it’s upcoming sporty crossover SUV model that has already been spotted going around on tests everywhere will indeed be called the BMW X6. Spyshots have shown a heavily disguised unit going around, but even under heavy padding the sexy sloping roofline towards the rear is very apparent. I wonder how it will affect rear headroom though.

Source

Bentley is considering expanding it’s engine line-up to something more than the current petrol guzzlers, either hybrids or turbodiesels. I personally think the Volkswagen Group’s V12 TDI turbodiesel found in the Audi Q7 is perfect for usage in a Bentley, or perhaps the V10 TDI from the top of the line oil burner Touareg, but then that’s just me. Shouldn’t be an issue for Volkswagen to supply it to Bentley, considering they own Bentley.

Just a recap, the V12 twin turbodiesel in the Q7 makes over 500 horsepower (510 to be exact) and pushes out a massive 1,000Nm of torque from as low as 1,750rpm. Yes, you read right. A thousand newton meters. From an engine speed just over idle. Yet fuel consumption is rated at 20mpg, or 11.9 liters per 100 kilometers, hardly anything at Prius-levels, but considering the amount of power it makes, I would like one please!

Lotus Engineering displayed their Integrated Exhaust Manifold technology at the 2007 Geneva International Motor Show. Basically, it is an exhaust manifold integrated into the cylinder head. A demonstration of this was shown as a cylinder head design for a small 3-cylinder engine, which I would say would benefit much from this technology. Integrating the exhaust manifold into the cylinder head brings numerous benefits which I will outline below.

An integrated exhaust manifold reduces parts count, which reduces costs throughout the development cycle. Other areas where this will reduce costs include the inventory, assembly and aftermarket parts supply areas. Less parts, less to stock.

Through the use of a cooling jacket design, heat is retained in the engine (which is cooled via the radiator system) rather than letting it radiate into the engine bay. This improves the performance of the air conditioning system, thus reducing it’s power consumption. A cooler engine bay also means cooler air into the air intake, which boosts performance. The engine also warms up more quickly. Coolant can also cool the engine more evenly, reducing engine block stress.

Engine durability improves, as thermal stresses usually occur at points where different materials meet. In an engine with a conventional exhaust system design, an aluminium cylinder head meeting a cast iron exhaust causes thermal stress.

The integrated exhaust manifold also allows the catalytic converter to be positioned very near the exhaust output, thus reducing the amount of exhaust heat lost in travelling from the cylinder to the catalyst. This improves catalyst performance, thus reducing emissions to an ultra-low level without incurring higher costs.

Not much details of Subaru’s new turbodiesel boxer engine were revealed at the Geneva 2007 Motor Show, causing an outcry from Subaru fans who expected to get the juicy details on the specifications, any new technologies as well as how much power the new oil burning boxer would produce. We got nothing, other than the engine itself put on display mated to an all-wheel-drive drivetrain.

Anyway, Subaru has shifted it’s international focus to the USA, putting it as it’s highest priority market. Subaru intends to add dealerships (target 625 by 2010, currently 601), increase collaboration between Subaru’s US manufacturing and sales arms as well as pay greater attention to U.S. automotive trends to ensure new models are relevant to the US market.

Subaru was previously in a fix, under the leadership of Kyoji Takenaka, it wanted to move upmarket and carry a premium tag, however premium usually means luxury, and that isn’t exactly what Subaru is, thus sales volumes dwindled. I’m not sure what Subaru had in mind then, how do you be premium without actually being premium? Under the new management of Ikuo Mori, Subaru intends to return to it’s roots.

As for new stuff, Geneva 2008 will bring us a new diesel-powered Subaru car and it will go on sale in Europe as well as the US. For the moment, we’ll just have to settle for a video of the new engine after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Subaru’s 4-year plan: turbodiesel boxers!

Volkswagen, one of the few car companies that manages to maximize the amount of vehicles it can produce from a single platform will now further enhance it’s ability with Audi’s modular MLP platform. The first car based on Audi’s MLP platform is the Audi A5 together with it’s high-powered S5 cousin.

As it already is, Volkswagen manages to squeeze plenty of cars out from a single platform - the base Volkswagen Golf platform has spawned the Volkswagen Jetta, Volkswagen Eos, Skoda Octavia, Seat Leon, Audi A3, and the upcoming Volkswagen Tiguan. The combination of the new ability to share modules vertically in a product range - subcompact up to luxury limo, as well as horizontally across different marques - Skoda up to Audi, will allow Volkswagen to produce a high number of cars from one platform, thus taking less manpower and engineering time. Genius, really.

The first Volkswagen to use MLP will be the 7th generation Volkswagen Golf which will arrive around 2012, two generations away. The current Volkswagen Golf is the Mark5, with the Mark6 due in 2008.

I wonder how Audi/Volkswagen’s MLP compares to Lotus Engineering’s Versatile Vehicle Architecture (VVA). Which is more flexible, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each? It would be very interesting to know.

This is Volvo’s new XC70, the latest edition of it’s popular off-roading capable 4WD version of it’s V70 wagon. This time following Volvo’s new design language, the XC70 takes on a much more sculpted and aggressive appearance. It also has a tailgate that reminds me of a certain generation of the Subaru Forester, though elements of the Volvo C30 are also very much there. The enlarged front grille and the upwards sloping headlamps look fine, but I find the bumper is looking abit too concept-car-ish, the design is too busy.

For the moment, the new Volvo XC70 will come with two engine options, a 238hp 3.2 liter inline-6 as well as a 5-cylinder turbodiesel that’s good for 185 horsepower and a whole load of torque, 400 Newton Meters! Power is transmitted via a 6-speed Geartronic transmission to all four wheels. Other features include Hill Descent Control (ah, a testimoniy of real off-road prowess), Dynamic Stability and Traction Control, and an adjustable suspension that Volvo calls Four-C which can be set to comfort, or sport mode to tailor the XC70’s ride to driving style and conditions.

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of New 2008 Volvo XC70 revealed

And Aston Martin goes to… Prodrive! The bid for Aston Martin was won by a consortium of private investors headed by David Richards who heads Prodrive, a British automotive company that tunes cars and manages Aston Martin’s racing team. Perhaps for readers of this blog, you might know Prodrive best by their exciting creation, the Prodrive P2.

Cash-strapped Ford would welcome the US$870 million or so that this sale would bring it. Financially, the consortium is backed up by Kuwaiti firms Investment Dar and Adeem Investment Co. The deal also involves details on sourcing, including the somewhat shared DNA of Aston Martins and Jaguar’s sports car, as well as the supply of Aston Martin’s engines from a Ford plant in Germany. Ford will retain a 15 percent stake in the British luxury automaker.

Suzuki has unveiled the Suzuki SX4 Sedan at the 2007 Geneva Motor Show, with it’s American debut set to be at the New York Auto Show in April. Based on the Suxuki SX4 hatch which is in turn based on the Swift, perhaps you can say this is one of them cheap and cheerful cars that apparently don’t exist.

The Suzuki SX4 sedan shares the same wheelbase as the SX4 hatch and softroader, except it is longer. The high roofline helps to create a larger interior space. There’s ABS, dual frontal airbags, and optional stability control. For the safety conscious, side and curtain airbags are an option. The car is front wheel driven by a 1.6 liter VVT petrol engine, mated to a 5-speed manual or 4-speed auto.

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Suzuki SX4 unveiled

GM said they were interested. Renault-Nissan said they had too much on their hands. Hyundai declined any interest. SAIC of China said no interest in anymore foreign buyovers. Here comes Magna International, to Chrysler’s rescue.

Magna International has always been on the lookout for Chrysler. On the eve of the Jeep Wrangler’s launch in August 2006, Chrysler found itself suddenly without a paint-shop supplier. Magna’s chairman Frank Stronach sent in a team from Magna Steyr, adding new equipment to the Toledi Supplier Park and helping Chrysler with talks with the UAW so that the Wranglers could roll off the assembly line on time.

This is of course understandable - 26% of Magna sales come from Chrysler. Total sales for 2006 was US$24.18 billion - 26% is about US$6.28 billion. That’s alot of money. Frank Stronach is also the highest paid auto parts manufacturer executive at US$33.3 million a year in 2005.

Hence as a move to protect it’s contracts with Chrysler, as well as help out a major customer, Magna starts to make it’s moves to buy over Chrysler, with Stronach confirming interest to US media today. But how will Magna buy Chrysler, a company with 2.5 times the revenue of Magna? What makes it worse is despite raking in that much revenue, it still posted a loss of US$1.5 billion in 2006.