Archive for Rumours

7Tune has got a hold of the latest Best Car magazine and the Japanese magazine has some juicy details on the upcoming spiritual successor to the iconic Toyota AE86, set to be positioned as a very fun car on a budget and one of the few new “soulful” cars that come from the Japanese marque.

Best Car reports that test mules have been spotted being tested and sources have informed that these mules are built on a shortened Subaru Legacy chassis. This is only temporary apparently - subsequent test mules and the final product will use a shortened version of the latest Subaru Impreza chassis. This chassis is built for all-wheel drive so it should be easily adapted to rear wheel drive.

The test mule uses the normally aspirated 2.0 liter boxer engine from the Impreza and has had it’s all-wheel drive drivetrain’s front driveshafts removed to convert it to rear wheel drive. The final product is expected to use Subaru’s 1.5 liter boxer engine, a DOHC motor which puts out 110 horsepower at 6,400rpm and 143Nm of torque at 3,200rpm. This is supposed to push along a car that weighs 1,100kg. Won’t exactly be scorching but enough to feel zippy.

Source: 7Tune

Related Posts:
Possible revival of the Toyota AE86 in 2010

[ LATEST UPDATE: Click here to find out more details on the Toyota Vios that will be available here in Malaysia, straight from the Malaysian press preview launch! ]

I was surfing Maxis’ new PacMee service and I spotted this small posting (cropped screenshot above) by jLinkModels advertising for 4 models for a Toyota launch on the night of 4th October 2007, 5 to 7pm. A night event could mean the car will be officially launched the next day, so the official launch could either be on the 4th or 5th of October 2007, about two weeks away. The product will most likely be the new Toyota Vios. Read more in the links below. The teaser I blogged about recently has information on specification levels for the E, G and S models as well as estimated pricing.

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Mazda has been showing us it’s future design language with a barrage of concepts in the past year or two. Design elements of concept cars such as the Nagare, Ryuga, Senku and Hakaze have already found it’s way onto the new production Mazda 6 sedan, liftback and estate.

A new Mazda Rotary Concept will be shown at the upcoming 2007 Tokyo Motor Show, and it will feature the next generation rotary engine, the successor to the Mazda RENESIS 13B-MSP in the Mazda RX8. The new RENESIS engine will be called the Mazda RENESIS II, and for the first time in decades it will grow larger than the original 1.3 liter capacity for production Mazda rotary engines.

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Motor Trend reports that the Lexus GS-F will only make it’s debut with the next generation Lexus GS, which would be the fourth generation since the first GS was unveiled in 1993, based on the 1991 Toyota Aristo. The current third generation Lexus GS was released late 2005 and is due to be replaced by the fourth generation in 2011, with the GS-F coming the following year in 2012.

If the project gets a green light, the 2012 Lexus GS-F is expected to make it’s debut with the Lexus LF-H supercar’s V10 engine mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission. Above is an artist’s impression by Theophilus Chin of what the GS-F could look like if based on the current third gen Lexus GS. It takes styling cues from its younger sibling, the V8-powered Lexus IS-F.

Source

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This concept called the Subaru WRC Concept will be making it’s public debut at the 2007 Frankfurt International Motor Show next month. It gives us a preview of what the Subaru Impreza STi will look like when it is released in 2008.

The Subaru WRC Concept has twin exhaust pipes on the rear - one on each side, however the production version is said to get quad tail pipes, with the twin pipe setup for rally-going versions of the car only. It will have a wider track than the standard Impreza and Impreza S-GT.

One more rear shot after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Subaru WRC Concept previews production STi

Rumours have been rife in the auto industry about the return of one particular car made legendary by a certain Japanese anime series. We’re talking about the Toyota Corolla AE86. In a scoop by Japanese magazine Best Car, they’ve reported that Toyota is indeed working on a spiritual successor to the AE86 - lightweight, great handling, and most importantly rear wheel drive. Toyota’s NZ engine family was cited as as possible powertrain, however as far as I know it is currently a FF powertrain. The FR 3SZ-FE from the Avanza sounds more probable.

A few days ago newspaper Asahi Shimbun further added fuel to the excitement, stating that Toyota and Subaru will be jointly working on this new project and Toyota could source a rear wheel drive boxer engine from Subaru for the car. A target release date is sometime in 2010. Toyota needs a replacement for the Scion tC and the Celica anyway.

Two more scans after the jump.

Source

Click here to read the rest of Possible revival of the Toyota AE86 in 2010

UPDATE: Proton Persona SE now on sale for RM59,800!

When a new national car is about to be launched, many will start to speculate on the name, and this is also the case with the new Proton sedan.

Word passing through the grapevines is that the new Proton sedan will be called the Proton Persona, and there was even a little photo being circulated of the sedan with the word Persona on it’s number plate.

Today we get a little confirmation - though not 100% sure as it is not from Proton’s mouth. The Edge carries an article on the new Proton Sedan and it calls the new car the Proton Persona. This name is not new, as it has been used by Proton in the past as the export market Proton Wira’s name in the UK.

The article also mentions Proton targets to sell about 4,000 units of the Proton persona a month, though industry analysts from RHB Research Institute thinks a figure of 2,000 to 2,500 Proton Personas a month is more achievable and sustainable.

What Car reports that Volkswagen might be looking into creating more variants of the upcoming 2008 Volkswagen Polo instead of the current 5-door, 3-door and CrossPolo variants. Additional body styles such as cabriolets, coupes and even mini-MPV derivatives are possible.

An MPV Polo could be called a Polo Plus, following the Golf and Golf Plus naming scheme. The thought of a Polo Cabriolet reminds me of the old Fiat Punto Cabriolet, one of the cheapest open top cars you can buy on the 2nd hand market today at under RM20,000.

The Hyundai Sonata and the Kia Optima used to be mechanical brothers, and both variants were available here in Malaysia, with the latter offered by Naza Kia Sdn Bhd. The Hyundai Sonata has since been updated with an all-new model here in Malaysia first as a CBU and subsequently as a locally assembled CKD unit.

As for the Kia offering, the old Optima is still on sale, but looking at Naza Kia’s continuous efforts with the Kia brand here in Malaysia (the most recent being the introduction of a locally assembled Kia Sportage), we are poised to see the new Kia Optima here very soon as a locally assembled model.

The new Kia Optima differs slightly from it’s Hyundai Sonata brother in the area of front suspension setup, where the Sonata uses a multilink setup while Kia uses a MacPherson strut setup at the front.

Engine options consist of a 145 PS inline-4, a 161 PS 2.4 liter inline-4 and a 185 PS 2.7 liter V6 mated to a 4-speed or 5-speed automatic transmission, with a 5-speed manual also available for those who prefer clutch action.

Kia has been emphasizing on the crash test results of the new Optima, which earned a 5-star rating in the NHTSA crash tests and a 4-star rating in the EuroNCAP crash test.

According to a dealer tip, unlike the Sonata which offers 2.0 and 2.4 liter variants, the Kia Optima will most likely be offered as a 2.0 liter inline-4 only, but will have two different trim levels - a standard one called EX with dual airbags, ABS, fabric seats, CD/MP3/USB audio and a higher spec model called EX “Special Package” with more goodies like a 6.1 Infinity sound system (4 speakers, 2 tweeters, 1 subwoofer) with a 420 watt external amplifier and a 6-CD in-dash changer, ESP stability control, 215/50R17 Michelin Pilot Premacy-wrapped 17″ wheels, powered driver’s seat, and suede/leather upholstery.

Both models will be available with a 4-speed auto gearbox, as the 5-speed units are only available for the 2.7 liter engine. Expect a classy black interior with real aluminium trim, similiar to the locally assembled Kia Sportage.

Have a look at more pics and videos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of 2007 Kia Optima 2.0 soon?

German business weekly WirtschaftsWoche reported that DaimlerChrysler AG’s Mercedez Benz unit may drop the A-Class and use a B-Class replacement to represent both A-Class and B-Class models in the next generation of that product range to arrive somewhere in the year 2011. In place of the A-Class will be a new compact model more like a small coupe rather town car like the A-class, to go against rivals Audi and BMW, especially since the latter has just announced the 1-Series coupe.

Reuters says when contacted, a DaimlerChrysler spokersperson said he could not comment on the report.

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