Archive for Spyshots

What’s this now? Reader Chris sent in these photos of a new Proton sedan spotted on the North South Expressway. We assume it is a Proton because the Proton GEN2 CPS 1.6 hatchback in the post right before this was travelling along with it, and the trade plates are just one number apart.

It is a sedan, and at first glance I thought it was a Proton GEN2 Sedan on test together with it’s faster, CPS-equipped hatchback siblings. Then I noticed the disguise was a little different on this one, it was much more covered up than the usual GEN2 Sedans we’ve already seen driving around. It was also missing the beesting antenna that was on the earlier Proton GEN2 Sedan spyshots.

It looks smaller - the GEN2 Sedan’s boot is much longer. This looks more like a new B-Segment car, which matches the profile of Proton’s upcoming BLM model replacement for the Proton Saga or Proton Iswara, depending on which generation you want to refer to it as. Some call it a Savvy sedan.

There is another photo of the front after the jump, however nothing much is revealed as the disguise is pretty thick. You do get to see some of the headlamp detail though, but it’s very minimal. Nevertheless, I expect the headlamp design to be stunning as with all the new generation Proton cars.

Thank you very much Chris, for sending these photos in!

Click here to read the rest of Is this the new Proton BLM?

[ UPDATE: The facelifted Proton GEN2 with a new range of Campro IAFM and Campro CPS engines has been launched in Malaysia! Click for more details. ]

[ UPDATE: The facelifted Proton GEN2 with the Campro CPS engine has been unveiled at the 2007 Thailand Motor Expo. Click here for more details and specifications! ]

These black Proton GEN2s with trade plates were spotted on the North South Expressway on what is presumably a test run. Reader Chris managed to snap photos of the cars, and it appears that the badging on the rear of the car does not say the usual stylized Campro wording, but something else that looks like a three letter acronym.

One would immediately assume CPS as what many other people have reported, but if you look carefully it seems to say something like CNP or CMP or something, though it may just be an effect of a low resolution photo and a stylized CPS wording.

UPDATE: I managed to get a higher resolution photo from Chris. A zoomed in view shows that the logo indeed says CPS, but the letter S seems to have some funky styling to it. I’ve traced it rather noob-ly with a white paintbrush… hmm, doesn’t look very good. Nevermind, let’s hope CPS performs better than it’s logo looks.

Check out the related posts below for more images of the new Proton GEN2 facelift, as well as the sedan version of the Proton GEN2.

Related Posts:
Proton GEN2 Facelift Spotted
Proton GEN2 Facelift Rear
Proton GEN2 Sedan computer graphics
Proton GEN2 Sedan spotted!

A long time ago back in December 2005, there was an agreement signed between a Malaysian company and ChangAn Auto Group, based in Chongqing, China to assemble the ChangAn CM8 in Malaysia. It’s been one and a half years since, and I bet that most of us have forgotten about this.

But today, reader Edward sent in these shots of a ChangAn CM8 with a tradeplate spotted in Subang Jaya on Jalan Kewajipan turning out from the Kesas Highway, This could either be a CBU ChangAn CM8, or a locally assembled one. Whichever it is, we could see a competitor to the Toyota Avanza, Suzuki E-RV, and the upcoming Nissan Livina soon, as the ChangAn CM8 would likely fall into that segment and price range.

Just some backgrounder on ChangAn: ChangAn is an automotive group in China whose ventures include ChangAn Ford, ChangAn Ford Mazda Engine, ChangAn Suzuki, and even Jiangling, which most of you would have known by now because of the controversial Jiangling Landwind crash test results.

Two more photos after the jump, and check out the related posts for clearer product shots of the ChangAn CM8.

Related Posts:
ChangAn CM8 to be assembled in Malaysia

Click here to read the rest of ChangAn CM8 spotted in Malaysia!

Click to enlarge

Inspired by the spyshots of the performance-oriented Proton Satria Neo prototype posted earlier today, talented Theophilus Chin has worked some photoshop magic and produced this artist’s impression of a Proton Satria Neo GTi.

Bumper design as well as hood vents are inspired from the design we saw in the spyshots, and an intercooler has been added, peeking out from the center bumper intake. Theophilus has also added wheel arch extensions, though he has omitted the “screw holes” that we saw on the prototype car.

The bling wheels have been swapped with larger 6-spoke wheels though not of the same design as the prototype car, and behind these are red Brembo calipers.

Click the image above to have a look at a larger version of the image for more detail. What do you think?

A reader sent in these photos of what appears to be a more aggressively kitted Proton Satria Neo complete with something that looks like a big cardboard made to look like an intercooler smack in the middle of front bumper, hiding details on how it looks like from our eyes. Or it could be a real one, I’m not too sure. The foglamp inserts seem to be shaped differently though.

We also see a more prominent roof spoiler at the rear, as well as more pronounced wheel arches complete with the Satria GTI’s “screw” design, which leads me to believe this might be a prototype grey Proton Satria Neo GTI getting some tender loving care in the form of a car wash.

The alloy wheels of a new non-bling design, but they look like they remain to be 16 inch-sized. Peeking out from behind those 6-spoke alloys are what seems to be red-coloured brake calipers. If you look carefully at the hood, you will notice what appears to be two hood vents on the left and right of the hood.

A look at the EXIF data of the photos reveal that the shots were taken with a Fuji Finepix Z1 on 17 May 2007, exactly a month ago, thought it might be just taken yesterday, just that the camera’s date and time settings were wrongly set.

This could either be something from Proton, or a custom kit done by a Neo owner himself. More shots after the jump, but they are pretty much of the same angle.

Click here to read the rest of Possible Proton Satria Neo GTI Spotted?

The Honda StepWGN’s design could give us a preview of how we should expect the next Honda Jazz (called the Honda Fit in the JDM market) to look like.

Previous artist’s impressions by both a Japanese magazine and Auto Express indicate a similiar trapezoidal grille to the one found on the new Stream and Odyssey, as well as notoriously on the new CR-V, and similiar Peugeot-like headlamps to the one on the StepWGN. The StepWGN has a peculiar name indeed, spelled like it was thought up by a generation of vowel-ommitting Flickr users. It is an MPV powered by Honda’s K20A 2.0 liter DOHC i-VTEC engine.

Anyway, read the two related posts to find out both a Japanese and British take on how the new Jazz will look like. Also, look after the jump for more photos of the Honda StepWGN, as well as two more artist impressions of the new Honda Jazz.

The new 2008 Honda Jazz will make it’s debut at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show in October, and go on sale the next year.

Related Posts:
2007 Honda Fit/Honda Jazz
New 2008 Honda Jazz

Click here to read the rest of Honda StepWGN - pointer to new Jazz front design?

These are shots of the new BMW 1-Series 2-door coupe just exiting from a car wash - notice the marks left by the wet tyres as it exits what appears to be some kind of garage. It is mostly undisguised, although random pieces of tape here and there still doesn’t reveal the full deal. Compared to the recently launched 1-Series hatch facelift, the 1-Series coupe sports a slightly different bumper design - it now has two strips separating the foglamps from the center intake grille. See a comparison photo after the jump, as well as rear shots.

Related Posts:
BMW 1-Series Coupe positioned at purists
BMW 1-series 2-door Coupe to arrive in 2008
BMW might consider M1 to boost 1-Series image
BMW 1-Series Cabriolet Artists Impression
BMW 1-Series Coupe Spyshot
2007 BMW 1-series Cabriolet Spy Video
New BMW 1-series 3-door revealed
BMW 1-Series Kermit the Frog Advertisement
Hartge H1 5.0 tuned BMW 1-series

Click here to read the rest of BMW 1-Series Coupe, mostly uncovered

AutoBild carries this spyshot of the next generation BMW 7-Series interior. Notice the shifter has been moved from a little shift by wire knob on the steering column to BMW’s new shift by wire shifter that was first introduced on the E70 BMW X5. The second model that carries this shifter is the facelifted E60 5-Series. The iDrive LCD monitor also looks abit strange, looking like it has a curved contour at the bottom side. This, and the strange thick and chunky look of the dashboard design leads me to believe what we are seeing is additional camouflage to cover up the real dashboard design.

The above spyshot of a yet to be released facelifted BMW 6-Series confirms a rumour that has been going around for quite sometime - BMW is going to put diesels into it’s grand tourer, the BMW 6-Series.

With 286 horsepower and 580Nm of torque from as low as 1,750rpm, the BMW 635d would be the 6-Series with the most torque, even beating the flagship BMW M6’s 5.0 liter V10 normally aspirated petrol engine. What gave away the oil burner under the hood was a shot of the 6-Series instrument panel which has the word Diesel on it.

Together with the facelift comes some changes with the other models - the 630i will be replaced with a 635i, or perhaps retain it’s name, but what’s important is the 3.0 liter normally aspirated engine will be replaced with the award-winning 3.0 liter twin turbo gasoline engine that made it’s debut in the E92 3 Coupe. The V8 6-Series will likely remain mostly the same.

Related Posts:
BMW 635d in the works

Previously referred to as the BMW V3, it looks like BMW’s long anticipated crossover mini MPV vehicle will be called the BMW F3 instead, and the small 3-series based 5-seater gets the green light for production. The BMW F3 will be a 3-series-based product with a little more utility designed into it, think of it as BMW’s answer to the Mercedes Benz B-Class.

AutoWeek reported a BMW insider giving the following statement: “Weve looked carefully at prevailing market trends, and there appears to be a clear shift away from old-style multi-purpose vehicles. By combining the high seating position of a sport/utility vehicle with the space afforded by a traditional station wagon, crossovers appear to be providing an clear alternative to buyers.”

Most of it’s components will be shared with the 3-Series and the upcoming full model change BMW X3 which should arrive in 2009. The BMW F3 is expected to go into production somewhere in mid-2010.

Following this naming scheme, BMW’s RFK, or Raumfunktionales Konzept which means “space-functional concept” which is expeced to be a larger Mercedes Benz R-Class rival will likely be called the BMW F5.

I don’t know about you, but V3 and V5 definitely seems to have a better ring to it than F3 and F5. Besides, BMW is already going to use the F letter for it’s new chassis codes, since the E chassis codes are sort of running out of numbers.

Related Posts:
2008 BMW V3?
BMW Space Functional Concept - Possible BMW V5 MPV?