Archive for Rumours

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Apparently Proton is revisiting an old “friend”. Proton was in talks with Rover to supply it with the Proton GEN2 to be rebadged as a Rover to replace the Rover 45, which was at that time a car based on a derivative of the Honda Civic EG (Honda Domani).

We first heard of this in the year 2000, but things only picked up in 2004. In return, Rover would supply Proton with the Rover 75’s platform, which would have been used to produce a Perdana Replacement Model. Towards the end of 2004, it looks like things turned sour and the collaboration was canceled without any fruitful outcome. All they said was the partnership was “not viable”, and that was the end of it.

Now it appears that Proton is once again in talks with Rover, only this time the people doing the talking are their new owners SAIC. According to a source in Proton, things are still at the discussion stage. The deal once again is for the Rover 75 platform (now the Roewe 750) to be used by Proton as a new Perdana replacement car, and in return Proton will allow SAIC to use one of their platforms to badge produce a Roewe.

This could be the GEN2 (which is also sold in China as the Europestar RCR) or even the Proton MPV, as despite there being so many shots of what everyone assumed to be a Roewe MPV out there on the internet (with rear sliding doors), but apparently this has turned out to actually be the Luxgen MPV.

The 2.5 liter KV6 engine from the Rover will also likely be bundled together with the platform. While this is considered by many to be an old engine, SAIC has made some changes to the new rechristened 188 horsepower Roewe KV6 with the help of Ricardo and updated it to Euro 4 standards. A variant of the KV6 is found in the Naza Ria.

So, a Rover Perdana and a Mitsubishi Waja it is? Can’t wait for something concrete.

Thanks to Lotus, we now know Toyota’s 3.5 liter V6 can be forced inducted to a nice 350hp and 400Nm of torque without any modifications, as a source in Lotus discovered during the development of an upcoming “Evora SC” and revealed to Autocar UK. The Lotus Evora SC will make at least that amount of power, and will drop 0 to 100km/h acceleration time to below 5 seconds. The Lotus Evora is expected to do in in approximately 5.5 seconds. The Evora SC’s supercharger will be fitted between the V6 engine’s two cylinder banks, so it won’t intrude into rear visibility like the supercharged Elise does. If the Evora goes for £45,000, the supercharged Evora is expected to retail for between 55,000 and £60,000.

Toyota is apparently working on an electric vehicle that uses solar panels installed on the vehicle to recharge itself, according to Japanese business daily The Nikkei. It is of course just one way other than brake energy regeneration to recharge the car’s batteries. The car will also support plug-in charging, which could also be solar-sourced via solar panels installed on a home’s roof.

This piece of news seems to coincide with the fact that it’s battery partner Panasonic will be acquiring Sanyo, which is supposed to be a leader in solar energy technology. However, The Nikkei did not cite any sources when producing the report.

First talk of a Toyota powered by solar panels surfaced in July last year, also from The Nikkei. That report was followed by another one by Reuters which claimed the solar panels would be sourced from Kyocera, and would only produce enough power to run a car’s air conditioning, which kinda makes sense – a car’s air conditioning unit is probably run at full blast during a hot day, with plenty of sunlight!

The Reuters report also carried a quote which said it would be very difficult for solar energy to power anything more than that in real time, so it is more of a symbolic gesture, one that will be eating into the cost of the car, so it will truly be only for the rich and green-conscious for the time being,

There are actually solar cars around, heard of the World Solar Challenge? Participants race across the Australian continent in solar cars that weigh only about less than 200kg, have good aerodynamics, are quite large because of the many solar panels that need to be installed on the car, and can typically go up to a top speed of between 130km/h to 140km/h. Also, a company called Solar Electric Vehicles based in the US provides a service that retrofits the Toyota Prius and other Toyota hybrids with solar panels that can provide up to 1200 watt hours a day of energy.

Rear-wheel drive versions of BMW’s SUVs like the BMW X1 will most likely carry the sDrive name instead of the current xDrive suffix. BMW has registered the trademark sDrive along with displacement indicators such as sDrive35, sDrive30, sDrive20 and sDrive18. Even the upcoming new generation BMW Z4 could carry this suffix since BMW seems to be using it for all its non-3 digit name models. Click the terms in this story to have a look at the trademark registrations at the US trademark office. The trademarks have been registered in the UK as well but at time of publishing the trademark search server seems to be down.

Look after the jump for shots of the BMW Concept X1.

Click here to read the rest of Rear-wheel drive BMW SUVs to carry sDrive suffix

The Edge Daily has a sources story regarding the future of Proton’s top management team. According to the report, it is possible that Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir may leave when his contract as the managing director and CEO of Proton expires by the end of this year.

Two potential new candidates for the Proton board were named – Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Omar and Datuk Abdul Razak Dawood, although the report did not say whether any of these two would become the new managing director if Syed Zainal left.

Tan Sri Abdul Rahman has many years of experience in the national automotive industry, having held the position of DRB-HICOM executive director from February 2006 until December 2007 and chairman of EON from February 2006 to July 2008. He was also the managing director of Perodua from May 1997 to April 2004, and a director of Proton and EON from 1991 to 1996 and 1989 to 1996 respectively.

As for Datuk Abdul Razak Dawood, he is said to be possibly the new head of Proton’s international operations, but wasn’t this recently filled in by ex-Audi man Claudius Meynert? Or is this a different kind of international operations?

Why is Syed Zainal leaving and will Proton be able to continue its slow but steady recovery plan without him? Did he get a better offer from somewhere where he is allowed to perform more effectively without having to struggle with vendors? I can bet you that he must have had a hard time at Proton, at one point even resorting to a quality control campaign that urged the public to contact him directly to report any issues. I am quite sad to hear this possibility that he may not be around to launch the new Proton MPV.

When Syed Zainal was appointed as managing director, Datuk Kamarulzaman Darus was appointed as director of manufacturing. Kamarulzaman has already left Proton to become Naza’s director of manufacturing.

Both Tan Sri Abdul Rahman and Syed Zainal has one thing in common – they both used to hold top positions in Perodua, with Syed Zainal previously holding the executive director post at Perodua. Will Tan Sri Abdul Rahman be the new man at the helm of Proton?

Japan’s Mag-X carried a story earlier this year claiming Toyota is working on a production version of the Toyota 1/X Concept (shown above) based on the next generation Toyota Yaris chassis (which will be a development of the Toyota iQ’s chassis), set to hit the production lines towards the end of 2011. It will probably be displayed to the public at the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show, which is the next motorshow after the 2009 show, as the show is only held every two years.

Toyota is apparently targeting a fuel economy of 44km per liter according to the Japanese 10-15 mode measurements. It will be one of Toyota’s smallest hybrids to keep true to its lightweight roots in the 1/X concept, and will measure slightly less than 4 meters long. It will also be one of Toyota’s cheapest hybrids, so to keep costs down NiMH batteries are likely to be used rather than lithium ion batteries.

The smart fortwo spawned the smart roadster, which was designed to give people the experience of old compact and light British roadsters such as the Triumph Spitfire and the MG MGB. The Japanese are at it again, taking an existing concept and innovating it for their own product.

Compact city car – check. Name that signifies intelligence (smart… iQ?) – check. You can probably already expect that the next step is for the Toyota iQ (shown above) to be followed by a compact roadster that’s designed to be both economical and fun at the same time, as long as you can fit in it of course! And after that came the smart forfour equivalent, this will come in the form of the next generation Toyota Yaris based on the iQ’s platform components.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport claims that the iQ-based roadster is in fact in the works and a concept version will be unveiled at next year’s 2009 Tokyo Motor Show in October 2009. An indicated name is the Toyota Spider Concept.

But its not like Toyota doesn’t already have such a product, its just not sold under the Toyota brand. It’s called the Daihatsu Copen.

Source

Autocar UK reports that performance versions of the Mk6 Volkswagen Golf will go beyond the GT, GTi and the R32-replacing higher-powered version of the Golf GTi.

According to the report, the Mk6 range will also gain a turbodiesel-powered GTD as well as possibly a top of the line high performance Golf that in conventional R nomenclature would be called the “R40″. This would be powered by a turbocharged inline-5 engine that will also be slotted into cars like the Audi TT-RS, producing 350 horsepower with decent fuel economy and emissions to boot. This seems a little hard to swallow at the moment, does Volkswagen want to take the Golf that far?

The much more realistic Golf GTD will be powered by a new twin-turbo version of the company’s 2.0 liter inline-4 TDI turbodiesel, a concept that BMW (204hp 2.0L twin turbodiesel) and Mercedes-Benz (204hp 2.2L twin turbodiesel) have also done.

The GTi will produce about 210 horsepower while the R32-replacing GTi “plus” will have a Haldex all-wheel drive and produce nearly 270 horsepower, equalling the new Audi S3 in performance and even the number of cogs, as the 7-speed S-Tronic DSG is expected to roll out in this range of Volkswagens.

Related Posts:
Volkswagen Golf GTi Mk6 – Initial Photos

Click for details and photo gallery of Mark 6 Golf

Now that we’ve seen what the base Mark 6 Golf will look like, I’m sure alot of people are waiting in anticipation for signs of the next generation iconic Golf GTI. According to Autocar, sources inside Volkswagen have revealed that the Mark 6 Golf GTI will get the new 211 PS Valvelift EA888 engine found in the Audi A4 and A5.

The EA888 engine with a timing chain is already found in some of the new Mark 5 GTIs, but lacks the Valvelift variable valve lift system. 211 PS may not seem a big deal of an increase as compared to the Mk5’s 200 PS, but torque has increased substantially from 280Nm to 350Nm of torque in the new Valvelift engine.

Styling wise, the new GTI will appear sportier and more low-slung thanks to the existing qualities of the model it is based on. Bumpers on the front and rear will be unique to the GTI, and its headlamps will receive some form of daytime LED running lights. Standard alloys will be 18 inch with the option for 19 inchers, an inch up from the Mark 5 GTI.

The source also reveals that the Mark 6 will lose the R32 but gain a more powerful tuned up version of the GTI with 4MOTION to replace it. The EA888 in the “R” GTI will be tuned to produce 272 PS and above, similiar to the European spec Audi TTS. This is supposedly because the VR6 engine in the R32 will no longer be feasible with upcoming EU emissions legislations.

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German car magazine AutoBild reported this month that Porsche was planning to make a new compact hot hatch based on the next generation Volkswagen Golf Mk6 platform. The magazine claims that this new Porsche Golf will make it to the production lines in 2012, with concept versions likely to be shown in a year or two before that. Shown above is Theophilus Chin’s artist impression of the new Golf-based Porsche.

I can see why Porsche is doing this though – the same reason why you’ll see more and more premium manufacturers introducing smaller yet premium models into their line-up. The answer is the USA’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, which requires car manufacturers to have certain fuel economy standards according to the footprint of the vehicle, which is measured by track multiplied by wheelbase.

Porsches which have large engines but very small wheelbases are hit badly by CAFE standards, but because CAFE is calculated by considering the average fuel economy of all cars the manufacturer is producing, adding a small compact car to its line-up with great fuel economy due to the smaller engine needed is a smart way to comply.

The new Golf-based Porsche will go against the likes of the BMW 135i, the Volkswagen Golf R32, and the Audi S3. It could be powered by the same engine as the R32, or the 3.6 liter direct injection V6 from the baseline Cayenne.

You will find one more rear-view rendering after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Porsche planning Golf-based hot hatch by 2012