Paul Tan on the Automotive Industry
These are artist impressions of the upcoming 2007 Renault Laguna. Nissan’s large car platform is currently the FF-L platform. The new Renault Laguna will likely share this platform with the Nissan Altima/Nissan Primera. Rumours are that there will be both lift-back sedan and coupe versions, and even possible an estate version. Two more impressions after the jump!
These are new scans from Japanese magazines depicting how the new next generation Toyota Corolla sedan (JDM) will look like. It looks pretty much similiar to the previous scans by New Model Magazine X which I posted in mid-July, but these images have much more detail than the plain ones I posted before. It’s not as futuristic as the current Honda Civic, but it does look sportier than the current Toyota Corolla Altis. More details and photos after the jump.
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A little bird told me that Proton’s Race Rally Research division will be launching new R3 special edition variants of the Proton Waja and the Proton GEN2 very soon. While these will not be R3 Limited Edition Vehicles like the Proton Satria R3, anything with R3′s touch is likely going to be special.
Full specifications and perhaps photos to come later! Target launch date is sometime in August 2006. For now, I’ll post a photo of the GEN2 R3 Concept previously displayed at the Dreamcars Asia Motorshow 2005 for you to put your imagination at work.
Alfa Romeo is preparing it’s new 149 hatchback to be launched by the year 2007 or 2008. Above is an artist impression by Italian magazine Quattroruote, apparently based on spy photos leaked from Alfa. The car’s design cues are said to be based on the Alfa Romeo Kamal concept which made it’s debut at the 2003 Geneva Motor Show, and the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione.
It’s platform will be shared with it’s parent company Fiat’s upcoming Fiat Stilo/Bravo. The platform will likely be a shortened wheelbase version of the company’s Premium platform which was used in the Alfa 159. Shown here is a 5-door hatch, but 3-door versions will also be offered.
Hopefully the new 149′s GTA model will have a better way to deliver it’s massive power to the wheels, as the previous 147 GTA’s 250 horsepower was a bit too much to be driven to the front wheels only. Perhaps it will be offered with Alfa Romeo’s Q4 all wheel drive system.
German car magazine AutoBild reports that BMW is developing a four-door sedan model to go against the Mercedes Benz CLS Coupe and the upcoming Audi A7. The artist’s impression doesn’t seem to indicate a B pillar, so it might have suicide doors. While some sites have predicted that this new car will be the BMW 8-series, others have said it is actually the BMW X6, a crossover coupe with 4WD capabilities. I think the latter is more likely. The car will be based on the BMW X5 platform.
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This is AutoBild’s artist’s impression of the upcoming Audi A5 due to be launched in 2008. The Audi A5 will be based on the Audi A4, and like it’s namesake will be positioned between the Audi A4 and the Audi A6. There seems to be some debates on whether it will be a competitor for the BMW 3-series Coupe or the BMW 6-series.
Audi already has a larger coupe planned in it’s line-up, the Audi A7 which will be a four door coupe that goes against the Mercedes Benz CLS. While most artist’s impressions have shown a two door version of the Audi A5, there are some rumours that there will be a four door version as well.
Proton has put up a teaser site for the Satria Replacement Model over at Desire. Teaser ads with the URL were shown at KL International Motor Show the last 3 days. The site looks incomplete though, not all the games are working. They also have an image of the SRM dashboard there. Looks nice, they’ve stuck to the standard dual-pod sporty Lotus-inspired design for the two meters, and the colour is blue.
Utusan Malaysia carried a report yesterday quoting an unnamed source that Proton would be unveiling a new Proton Waja model which would be equipped with a Kleemann supercharger system by the end of the year 2006. Utusan Malaysia’s reporters were given the opportunity to see the model for themselves at an unnamed place in Malaysia, and they took a photo of it.
Apparently the supercharged engine which we could all assume is the 1.6 Campro or the 1.8 Renault makes in excess of 150 hosepower, and the Waja’s suspension and brake system has also been upgraded. The Waja seems to have a new hood (Utusan reports this will be carbon fibre?!) and grille which looks like Volkswagen and Audi’s nose design. Abandoning the Alfa nose? Makes the car looks like a miniature A4. Other aesthetic changes include a new bumper, and wing mirrors which have signal lights on them. There is also a new logo which looks like a circle with a letter Z in the middle of it. Could it be called a Proton Waja Campro 1.6Z?
Proton head of Corporate Communications Yusri Yusuf declined to comment on the matter. Prices are apparently in the RM75,000 to RM80,000 range. Psst, by the way… since the logo has been changed to a Z, this might not even be a Proton, but a tune-up by a third party, emulating the business model of companies like Brabus or Kleemann doing up and rebadging Mercedes Benz cars.
Source: Utusan Malaysia
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AutoBild has news on BMW’s upcoming BMW Z8 successor, as well as artist impressions of what the car could look like, as well as some other impressions on future BMW cars. More after the jump.
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There are rumours that Audi may consider developing an Audi A1 to go against the likes of the BMW MINI Cooper. It may be based on the Volkswagen Fox platform. Autobild has artist’s impressions of how the Audi A1 might look like and frankly I think it looks horrible. More details after the jump.
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