Archive for Spyshots

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

Click here to read the rest of Europestar develops own styling for GEN2

Click for enlarged high resolution image

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Click here to read the rest of Proton readying Exora B-Line Manual for launch?

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.

Click here to read the rest of Undisguised AM Rapide spotted in Belgium

Now this is the 5-Series that alot of you will be alot more excited about – the sedan version of the next generation BMW 5-Series codenamed the F10.

Sure the 5-Series GT may be a new-ish segment entry for both BMW and the automotive world but Malaysia is a sedan market.

The next generation 5-Series will include 3 bodytypes – sedan, estate and the already unveiled GT. This prototype videotaped by German news agency TVnews Hessen after it was stopped by German police on the autobahn because it looked suspicious – I cannot blame them, just look at the heavy disguise!

Not much detail on the headlamps either but I think we can most probably expect the front end of the 5-Series sedan to look quite similiar to the 5-Series GT.

The cameraman also managed to take a peek into the interior of the vehicle. Like the outside the interior is also heavily disguised so not much can be seen except that the new steering wheel design that debuted on the F01 as well as the black panel instrumentation will be in the F10 – notice the chrome ring around the meter panel does not extend into a full circle at the bottom – that’s where BMW’s new multi-info display is.

Our resident photo-manipulator Theophilus Chin has already presented to us his take on how the F10 Sedan might look like, with cues taken from both the F01 and the 5-Series Gran Turismo.

Look after the jump for the original video.

Click here to read the rest of F10 BMW 5-Series Saloon Interior Videotaped!

Honda will not leave BMW and Toyota to play alone in the new segment that they seem to have carved out for themselves with the Toyota Venza and the BMW 5-Series Gran Turismo. VWVortex forum member GoVdubSPEEDGo/M. Balisky spotted two of these lightly taped up Accord CrossTour crossovers up in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in southeastern US.

The side profile can be quite positively identified as similiar to the US/Asian market Honda Accord, with a sloping hatchback rear end and previous gen Accord Coupe-like rear lights. Acura will have its own similiar segment vehicle called the Acura ZDX.

Look after the jump for more photos.

Click here to read the rest of Honda Accord CrossTour aimed at the Venza

A Toyota Passo Sette 3-row MPV or rather the upcoming new Perodua MPV was spotted by reader Goniothalamus on his KL-Bentong journey.

The compact people mover had barely any disguise on, with only a few simple black tapes covering key identification marks such as the badges. In fact looking at the position of the badges that are covered up and the typical Japanese rear window black tinting, it could potentially just be an actual Passo Sette from Japan (compare to this photo), which means this car doesn’t necessarily belong to Perodua.

Toyota Passo Sette Interior

Perodua MD Datuk Syed Hafiz has previously indicated that the Perodua MPV (codenamed Perodua D46T for now) will be sold with a price tag of between RM57k to RM66k and a launch date has been set for somewhere in Q3 this year, which would be anywhere between July to September.

It has already been previously spotted in Malaysia from as early as April this year (check out Perodua MPV photo and video spyshot) and Perodua has also exhibited the Perodua MPV’s interior in Johor.

Look after the jump for all the spyshots.

Click here to read the rest of Perodua MPV or Toyota Passo Sette spotted again!