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The Naza Sorento (rebadged Kia Sorento) has been facelifted in Malaysia, and while we do not gain the new powerful VGT turbodiesel thats available in Europe, the 2.5 liter intercooled turbodiesel engine still remains one of the more powerful ones in the segment, producing 140 PS at 3,800rpm and 294Nm of torque at 2,000rpm. This is mated to a 5-speed (1 overdrive) automatic gearbox, with Active Torque Transfer between the front and rear wheels, high/low ratios, and a limited slip differential.

The facelifted Naza Sorento features a 3-bar chrome radiator grille and a new front bumper with circular fog lamps. The Sorento also gets new front headlamps with a blackened out design - these are of the projector type. It has 16 inch 5-spoke alloy wheels, and a new rear bumper.

Because of the new bumpers, the new Naza Sorento is 4,590mm long, 20mm longer than the pre-facelift Sorento. Ground clearance is 203mm, wheelbase is 2,710mm, track is 1,580mm for both front and rear, width is 1,865mm, and height is 1,730mm (1,810mm with roof rack). Exterior colours consist of a choice of 4 colours - Ebony Black, Sand Beige, Clear White and Clear Silver. All are two-tone matched with Pewter Gray.

The interior upholstery is grey with brown high gloss wood trim. Its too bad Naza Kia did not choose black for the interior as they did with the Kia Sportage - that would have given the interior a more upmarket feel, as it did with the Sportage. The interior instrument cluster is now brighter thanks to the use of LED lighting instead of the pre-facelift Sorento’s bulb lighting.

Interior legroom for the second row is now 890mm - 30mm more than the pre-facelift Sorento. Another new feature is dual zone climate control. There is a trip computer on the overhead console that shows a compass, distance to empty, average speed, elapsed drive time, and external temperature.

Kia Motors has retuned the Sorento’s suspension for better ride and handling. The front is an in-wheel type double wishbone suspension while the rear is a solid axle 5-link suspension with coil springs.

The front suspension now has larger bushes for improved ride, while the caster angle has been changed from 3.3″ to 3.89″ for improved straight line stability. The rear suspension has a longer lower arm length (now 655.1mm compared to pre-facelift 591.3mm) and adjusted angle to reduce the bouncy feeling associated with solid axle suspensions. Upper arm angle has also been adjusted for improved ride, and the upright shock absorber has been moved outside of the frame for improved ride.

Safety features include dual airbags and ABS. The new facelifted Sorento has a 5 star NHTSA NCAP rating, compared to the prefacelift Sorento’s 4 star rating. For the IIHS overall frontal test, the rating is now Good, compared to the prefacelift’s Acceptable grade. Euro NCAP test results revealed a 4 star score for both front and side impact.

The new facelifted Naza Sorento comes with a 5 year or 125,000km warranty, and a 2 year or 50,000km free service package, inclusive of lubricants and labour. Prices start at RM138,888 on the road.

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Naza Sorento facelift launched in Malaysia

Hyundai has just launched the new Hyundai H1 11-seater van at the 2007 Thailand Motor Expo. The Hyundai H1 - also known as the Hyundai Starex in certain markets - is a van that can be configured with either 8 or 11 seats aimed at customers who wish to have a people mover but do not want to spend so much on luxury MPVs. The Hyundai Starex goes head to head against vehicles such as the Ford Transit, the Volkswagen Transporter and the Mercedes Benz Vito. The Thai model is configured with 11 seats.

There are two engine options available - a 2.5 liter turbocharged intercooled oil burner with 100 PS and 226Nm of torque, a 2.5 liter CRDi turbocharged intercooled oil burner with a variable geometry turbocharger making 170 hp and 392Nm of torque, as well as a 2.4 liter Theta family gasoline engine delivering 170 horsepower and 223Nm of torque.

Click here to read the rest of Hyundai H1 Starex 11-seater van

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The Naza Suria is now available in 6 colours (Galaxy Black, Orange, Scarlet Red, Liquid Silver, Samba Green & Cobalt Blue), each with matching “Edisi Grafix” body stickers. Above is the Scarlet Red version.

UPDATE: These stickers are at no extra cost and is valid 31st December 2007. If you prefer a normal Suria without the stickers, it’s also available.

Have a look at the rest of the new colours and body stickers after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Naza Suria Edisi Grafix

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Hyundai Motor has unveiled a version of the Hyundai Genesis sedan for the Korean domestic market at its Namyang R&D Center in Hwaseong. It will begin full-scale production in South Korea this month and wil hit the Korean showrooms in early January. It will be launched in China and the US within the first half of 2008.

The Hyundai Genesis will feature two V6 engines (3.3 liter and 3.8 liter) and a 375hp V8 engine and will be priced from under US$30,000 to right under US$40,000. It is built on a new rear wheel drive chassis.

Comparitively, the BMW 5-Series costs between US$44,300 for the 6 cylinder 528i model up to US$58,500 for the V8-powered 550i sedan.

Related Posts:
Hyundai Genesis Sedan Concept
Hyundai Concept Genesis Coupe

Haldex has just received a prototype order for an all-wheel drive system from its first Asian customer - Hyundai-Kia. The prototype will be based on Haldex’s 4th generation limited slip coupling and the all-new electronic LSD called the Haldex XWD. The system also functions as a torque vectoring system.

Current Haldex all-wheel drive customers power Volkswagen’s 4MOTION system and is used on cars from its owned brands like Audi, Seat and Skoda. It’s technology also gives the Volvo S80 traction on all four wheels. It’s most recent customer is Saab, which will use Haldex’s systems for the Saab 9-3 XWD.

Chevrolet has released this kitted up Chevrolet Captiva in the European market, and it is called rather predictably: the Chevrolet Captiva Sport.

The Captiva Sport is basically your run of the mill Captiva mechanically, with a bodykit slapped on consisting of new 18 inch wheels, a trunk lid in body color, dark headlamps and smoked clear taillights, new dual exhaust tips, Chaos Black bumper and side moldings, Light Silver finishing and a new front fascia.

On the interior, the leather upholstery is done in red and black leather with red stocking, while trims are now feature black carbon accents.

Since the Chevrolet Captiva has been launched in Malaysia, those who have decided to book one will have ready inspiration in making their Captiva different.

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Chevrolet Captiva Sport unveiled in Europe

Kia Motors will supply the Korean Ministry an additional 3,390 hybrid vehicles over the next two years, which includes the Kia Rio Hybrid shown in this post. This is part of an on-going “real-world” test program for Kia to develop hybrid vehicles for the future. The program currently already consists of 780 cars on the roads.

A recap from a previous post - under the hood of the Kia Rio Hybrid is a 90 PS, 126Nm 1.4 liter CVVT gasoline engine from the Alpha II family mated to a 12kW 95Nm AC synchronised electric motor. The Rio Hybrid’s combined torque of 221Nm is equivalent to a conventional modern 2.4 liter engine. If you’re wondering where the battery for the motor is located, a photo of it together with a severely compromised boot space is available after the jump.

Drive to the front wheels is via a CVT gearbox, and the electric motor is positioned between this and the engine flywheel. The gearbox “assists” the gasoline engine during starting, accelerating and hill-climbing. The car uses regenerative braking during deceleration to recharge its 144V Ni-MH battery pack. The powertrain also uses an engine start-stop function to further save fuel.

0-100km/h takes 12.2 seconds, top speed is 180km/h and the Kia Rio Hybrid returns a fuel consumption of 5.29 liters per 100km, while emissions of CO2 is 126g/km. Special lightweight components such as an aluminium bonnet, boot lid, front seat frames, lightweight road wheels, low friction tyres and electric power steering help reduce fuel consumption by cutting down weight by 220kg compared to a conventional Rio sedan.

More photos after the jump.

Related Posts:
Kia Rio Hybrid introduced at Geneva 2007

Click here to read the rest of The Kia Rio Hybrid in action

No, Kia did not put the Kia Mojave pick-up truck concept into production. This new large SUV from Kia is called the Kia Mohave, and it is basically the Korean domestic market version of the Kia Borrego that will be sold internationally.

Like the Borrego, the Kia Mohave will be built using a ladder frame construction and will be powered by Kia’s first V8, or a smaller V6.

Click here to read the rest of Kia Mohave: Korean domestic market Borrego

Hicom-Chevrolet Sdn Bhd unveiled the Chevrolet Captiva’s Malaysian line-up yesterday, and although exact prices have not been determined yet, we now at least know a price range as well as spec levels of the different variants. It’s a sexy SUV with an appealing design that reminds me somewhat of a smaller Audi Q7.

The Chevrolet Captiva (essentially a Daewoo Winstorm) will come in four flavours on our local soil - a 2WD petrol, a 2WD diesel, a 4WD petrol and a 4WD diesel. The petrol option will be a 2.4 liter 4-cylinder iron block E-TEC II engine putting out a relatively low (for it’s displacement) 136 horsepower at 5,000rpm, and a decent 220Nm of torque at a surprisingly low 2,200rpm. This engine was definitely tuned to make all of its grunt at low RPMs, good for an SUV. The diesel option is a 2.0 liter turbocharged unit with Bosch direct injection making 150hp at 4,000rpm and 320Nm of torque at 2,000rpm.

Both engines are mated to a 5-speed automatic transmission with Tiptronic. For the 2WD models the power goes to the wheels via the front wheels, while in 4WD versions the system runs mostly with the front wheels, but sends torque to the rear wheels as needed up to a 50:50 split. The 7-seater Chevrolet Captiva uses a monocoque chassis (long wheelbase GM Theta platform) and rides on a MacPherson strut setup on the front and a multilink suspension at the rear, so comfort and handling should exceed competing SUVs that use a ladder frame chassis and rear coil spring setup.

It will be priced from RM138,000 for the cheapest 2WD petrol variant to RM155,000 for the most expensive 4WD diesel variant, which will include premium safety features such as ESP stability control, and Descent Control.

Two launches in one year by the new Hicom-Chevrolet joint venture - what’s next? Perhaps the Asian-market Chevrolet Colorado (a rebadged Isuzu D-MAX)?

More photos and a video after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Chevrolet Captiva unveiled in Malaysia

This is the sedan version of Hyundai’s two new RWD cars, the Hyundai Genesis Sedan. Hyundai has taken care to give the car a decent 53:47 weight distribution, and claim the body structure is more rigid than a 5-Series. We’ll see how this translates to actual road dynamics when the final production version is out, but on paper it looks decent.

Under the hood is a 4.6 liter V8 engine from the new Tau family, putting out more than 300 horsepower. This engine was originally also destined for the Genesis Coupe but somehow in the end for some reason their product planning decided not to put a V8 in the concept coupe.

More photos and a video after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Hyundai Genesis Sedan Concept