Archive for Spyshots

Toyota’s mid-life facelift for the Vios gives it a chrome grille that bears a family resemblance to the recently facelifted Toyota Camry.

The new multi-bar grille distances the new facelifted Vios from the previous cutesy animal-like image that the pre-FL Vios had. The bumper has also been updated with new inserts for the foglamp area.

At the rear, the tail lamps seem to have been ‘flipped’ vertically – the previous design was red at the top and clear at the bottom. The facelifted vios has clear at the top and red at the bottom.

We should most likely see it launched in Thailand first and then the rest of ASEAN later.

Source

This is a rather unusual way for an impending launch to be leaked out. A German model car company has let slip images of its next product – the new Volkswagen Touareg that’s supposed to be previewed at the Geneva show!

How do we know it’s new? This diecast sports VW’s new corporate face, already seen on products like the Golf, Polo and Amarok pick-up truck. The shape of the SUV also looks more rounded compared to the current car, brining it closer in looks to sister car Porsche Cayenne. The box or catalogue reads fourth quarter 2010, so could this be the launch date of the real car as well?

One more image after the jump!

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These images are of the 2011 Kia Sportage SUV, revealed via Kia’s patent filing with the EU Patent Office. It shows either the production version or as some suggest, the near production concept that could be paraded at the upcoming Geneva or Seoul motor shows. The Sportage is scheduled to hit domestic showrooms towards the end of 2010 or by the first quarter of 2011.

Penned by former Audi designer Peter Schreyer, the mid-sized SUV features Kia’s new signature grille and sports a cleaner, less severe look than the Hyundai Tucson/ix35, which it shares underpinnings with. The Hyundai was introduced in Singapore last November with a 166 bhp/197 Nm 2.0-litre Theta II engine paired with a newly developed six-speed automatic, so we presume that the Sportage could carry the same drivetrain when it reaches our region.

More pictures of the Sportage from various angles after the jump!

Click here to read the rest of New Kia Sportage revealed via EU patent application

We’ve so far posted up pictures of the Proton Persona facelift on test, but here’s a video of the soon to be launched model in motion.

Reader Ned Aznir was cruising on the Federal Highway when he spotted two lightly taped up Personas – one in grey, another in a dark colour. He then whipped out his mobile phone, let the two mules pass and caught up with them again.

No suprises in store, but here we can see the Persona’s rear LEDs light up for the first time towards the end. View the video after the jump!

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The lightly taped up facelifted white Proton Persona with the B2641A trade plate has been snapped again, this time by reader Rai. He has 5 photos to share with us, including a close up of the taped up wing mirror with an integrated turn signal. Alot are expecting the new updated Persona to be launched this year. Apparently we’ll be able to look forward to better driveability from the engine as the ECU has been updated to a newer model. For the rest of the photos, look after the jump.

Related Posts:
Proton Persona facelift snapped at Petronas Sepang
2010 Proton Persona facelift sighted on test!

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Here are some screenshots of a video featuring the production Honda CR-Z, which is due for a February 2010 launch in its home market. This green reincarnation of the CR-X comes with a hybrid powertrain that combines a 1.5-litre four-cylinder i-VTEC engine with an IMA electric motor.

According to Honda’s official brochure that has also found its way online, the engine makes 113 bhp at 6,000 rpm and 145 Nm of torque at 4,800 rpm. The electric motor meanwhile produces 13 bhp at 1,500 rpm and 78Nm at 1,000 rpm. Unusually for a hybrid, the CR-Z comes with a six-speed manual transmission in place of the common CVT, which better suits its sporty positioning. The sprint from 0 to 100 km/h will take 9.7 seconds. The steering is an EPS system.

We also now know the CR-Z’s dimensions. Length, width and height is 4080 mm, 1740 mm and 1395 mm respectively, while the wheelbase is 2435 mm long. To give you an idea of the CR-Z’s footprint, it’s a significant 315 mm shorter than a Honda City, but is marginally wider by 25mm.

Look after the jump for the screenshots and scans of the official brochure!

Source

Click here to read the rest of Leaked Honda CR-Z screencaps and brochure!

Our little hardworking secret project for 2010 team was having a short break and discussion at the Petronas near the Sepang International Circuit a few weeks ago and it so happened that a lightly disguised facelifted Proton Persona was being refueled there

We wasted no time and snapped away to bring you a closer look to what we’ll soon be able to buy next year. Look after the jump for all four photos in high resolution goodness.

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Drex Chan sent in these great photos of what appears to be the Proton Persona facelift that’s due next year. The Persona was first launched in 2007, so mid next year would be about the right time for a facelift if you follow a 5 year model lifecycle, though most of us probably feel like a replacement is due since the Persona is actually a GEN2 sedan, and the GEN2 has been around a long time.

Click for high resolution image

The front bumper is derived from the GEN2 CPS. The rear end shows tail lamps that have been taped up to hide an updated design. It looks like Proton has incorporated the use of LED lighting in the updated Persona’s tail lamps.

Two more details – firstly the wing mirrors also appear to be taped up. The tape hides the use of turn signal indicators integrated in the wing mirrors. Secondly, in the engine bay we can see that the engine uses coil on plug ignition, which means it is a Campro IAFM engine. This means that Proton is continuing with the separation of the Campro into two different versions – the IAFM engine as an economy-skewed engine while the CPS engine is more for power. They should really just have one powerful and fuel efficient engine for the 1.6 liter size – I’m sure it will be better for economies of scale.

There are a few more photos that you can view at drexchan’s fotopic page. UPDATE: Drex has sent in the pix on his fotopic page to be hosted here instead, as his fotopic page has ran out of bandwidth. According to Drex, the test engineers informed him that the IAFM engine would get an improved ECU. Look after the jump for the rest of the pix.

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What’s happened here is actually quite common in the auto industry – a decent looking sketch ends up translated into a not very appealing production model.

These leaked set of next generation Nissan Micra/March photos were leaked from Dongfeng Nissan production lines as the Chinese JV prepares to assemble it in China. It’s expected to run a HR16DE and a 4-speed auto/5-speed manual combo in China, but there’s probably also the HR15DE and a CVT transmission to choose from for other market needs.

The sohu source seems quite certain that this is a Proton/Europestar car. One possibility that I can think of is this could be a Chinese market only car that Proton, Lotus and Europestar are working on together.

UPDATE: Thanks to all readers that pointed this out – this is a restyled Proton GEN2 for Europestar. More updates later – Source

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The latest installment in the 5-Series sedan range must be very very near to launch as the test units that have been going around European roads are slowly losing their camo, perhaps in a way to tease the public about its impending launch.

The new 5-Series Gran Turismo that had already been launched can probably give us a preview of the design language that the new 5 will carry, but we can see here that there are some obvious differences between the GT model and the regular sedan.

Click for enlarged high resolution image

The bumper looks completely different with the air intake area that’s designed to look more level in terms of height as it spans from the left to right of the bumper. The kidney grilles also have a slightly different shape, and so do the headlamps which are wider and do not point upwards at the edges like the 5-Series GT’s headlamps, helping the car look wider.

Click for enlarged high resolution image

There is more camoflage on the rear though, but we can sort of judge that the rear looks like an evolution of the outgoing E60 model, with new tail lamp designs with the cool organic lightbars that the F01/F02 7-Series have.

Look after the jump for a gallery of 5 spyshots snapped on European roads.

Click here to read the rest of F10 BMW 5-Series spyshot snapped conveniently next to a 5-Series GT for comparison

This is supposed to be the new 2011 Hyundai Sonata and it’s probably going to be revealed soon since it looks like these shots were sneaked out during a photoshoot for its product images. The front instantly reminded me of the latest Mazda 6, except with a whole lot of more chrome going on there. It’s not easy to see how the side profile of the car looks like in these shots but I really think I’ve actually seen the new Sonata on test (or perhaps it was its Kia Optima sibling) at some proving grounds when I was in Korea for the Kia Koup preview drive earlier this year, and it’s got a very Passat CC-like coupe roofline to it – very sleek and nice. The interior seems to look good as well. The Koreans just keep getting better and better each time they try. They have to, it’s the only way forward.

Click for enlarged image

Reader Muaz spotted this Mitsubishi Lancer in the Golden Triangle area. You might not take a second glance at this Lancer, until you see that it there are something wrong with its bumpers – the front is black and the rear is grey.

Once that has captured your attention, you’ll see that it has trade plates. The photo here isn’t really high resolution enough to see what number it is but it looks like some variation of B2XXXA. This could be Proton’s new Waja replacement based on the Mitsubishi Lancer on test.

The base specs seems to be the Lancer GLS, as seen from the lack of a spoiler and the use of the GLS 5-spoke wheels, which are smaller.

Related Posts:
Proton’s Bursa Malaysia announcement on the Mitsubishi Licensed Product
Next-generation Proton Waja to be based on the Mitsubishi Lancer platform

Proton will be attempting to stave off Perodua’s attack with a smaller but cheaper Perodua D46T MPV combined with a more desirable Toyota-associated brand because of the original model (it will be derived from the Toyota Passo Sette) this coming November.

The D46T is no secret, we’ve already seen the exterior and interior of what the Perodua version will look like, and the Toyota Passo Sette has already been around for quite sometime for all to see. In fact, one of the Passo Sette we’ve seen on Malaysian roads on road tests may in fact be likely to be owned by Proton.

The weapon of choice will be a cheaper version of the Exora. Right now the Exora is only available in M-Line and H-Line variants, with the only differences between them being creature comforts and minor styling differences.

A cheaper Exora will be further downgraded in terms of equipment, and will likely feature a manual gearbox, which actually could be more of a blessing for the Exora, as the auto while capable of taking the vehicle up to cruising speed and keeping it there, is rather sluggy to move around at city speeds.

Reader Kenneth spotted this Exora on the Penang bridge. It has light disguises on but we all know it’s an Exora. The LED tail lamps are still there but if this is a version of the production B-Line or manual model, we can see some evidence of downspeccing in the form of steel wheels with a cover instead of proper alloy wheels.

Look after the jump for the rest of the spy photos and a video.

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This Aston Martin Rapide suspected to be very close to production was spotted in Belgium and snapped by kim of Autogespot. The car looks pretty much undisguised, and while it’s still as good-looking as all Aston Martin can be, I feel the concept car somehow looked longer and sleeker, and this production version has its proportions slightly out of whack because of those headlamps that look a little too large for the car and seem to have some kind of extra layer over it. Look after the jump for a trip back through time, revisiting the original concept Rapide through a photo gallery.

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