Archive for Spyshots

The same car that we saw on test in India and was presumed to be the new Honda City has now been spotted in China. These photos from sohu show the same car finished in a nice white paint. Unlike the previous shots, we can now see the tail lamps in full glory.

What is this mysterious car? If it is truly the new Honda City it will definitely sell like hot cakes, it looks really good! It will have a winning formula of good looks, above average fuel economy, a price of under RM100k (under 70K is a dream but maybe possible with 1.3 manual?), and a Honda badge!

If you look closely at the ceiling of the interior through the windows, there is something that looks roughly like a sunroof, but oddly shaped as its not very clear. I could be mistaken. Can you see what I am seeing? The City may be an economical model to us but in countries like India where it is high-end, it is available with a sunroof.

The current generation Honda City one of the Honda cars available in China and have also been used as Chinese police cars in the past.

Look after the jump for more shots of the car.

Related Posts:
New Honda City spotted on test in India
Artist’s impression of the new Honda City
Photoshopped Honda City found on Thai forums

Click here to read the rest of New 2009 Honda City spotted in China?

Click image to view E-Class spyshot gallery from Autobild

This week’s Autobild magazine carries the W212 Mercedes-Benz E-Class on its over. The W211 that it replaces was rather curvy when it first came out but with the facelift you could already have a preview of the route Mercedes-Benz was taking its E-Class - it started having sharper edges and was more in your face rather than subtle and classy.

The new W212 E-Class has a very large and prominent angular 4-louvre grille up front. The twin headlamp design remains but instead of the classic round eyed design they are now square, much like the Lexus GS300.

Look at the spyshot gallery by Autobild linked above for an idea of how the rest of the car looks like. There are spyshots of the side and rear angles of the car to be seen. As for scans of the contents of the W212 issue, check this page.

Reader Simon wrote in with a pointer to a thread on pantip.com that is discussing what is supposed to be a product shot of the new Honda City that is expected to be unveiled internationally sometime in the late third quarter or early fourth quarter of the year.

The rendering looks similiar yet different from what Autocar India came up with. The Autocar India rendering (based on internal sources and spyshots) looked like a sedan version of the European Honda Civic and was much sleeker.

This image shows a rather high roofline, making it much more similiar to the current generation City. It is more proportionate though. The front end is inspired by the design of some more recent Hondas such as the Honda FCX Clarity.

What do you think of the new Honda City?

Reader Sodi snapped a trailer transporting a few units of the new Honda Jazz on the KESAS Highway at about 12:50PM in the afternoon from Klang heading towards Shah Alam. The trailer is carrying white and blue painted units, so we know at least two of the colours being offered now.

Other details seen are the wing mirrors with signal indicators, and the alloy wheel design. It’s a shame the rear wheel did not manage to be included in the photo so we cannot see if the rear brakes are discs or drums.

The white Jazz looks quite good and is in line with the current trend of white being a popular colour for a car.

Look after the jump for two more shots of the trailer.

Click here to read the rest of New Honda Jazz on trailer spotted on KESAS!

German magazine Autozeitung features a rendering of a Mercedes-Benz GLA-Class compact SUV on its front page this month.

If such a project indeed exists, GLA will be a compact SUV to go against the Audi Q3 and the upcoming BMW X1 and might end up being based on the platform of the next generation A-Class and B-Class, which means a transverse engine layout.

The spyshot above showing a dashboard with a Daewoo logo on the steering wheel has been widely accepted as being snapped from a Chevrolet Cruze. The upcoming C-segment sedan will replace the Cobalt and the Optra and will eventually find its way into our market replacing the Optra Magnum as GM has designated it a World Car.

The Malaysian (or rather ASEAN) will most likely lose some of the nifty stuff like the large LCD screen and perhaps have the center dash area simplified with manual air conditioning knobs and losing alot of other buttons in the process, but I think on the overall it’s quite good looking and reminds me alot of a Honda.

Look after the jump for two artist impressions from this month’s Autocar India based on the image of the Chevrolet Cruze exposed in GM’s presentation.

Source

Click here to read the rest of Chevrolet Cruze Interior Spyshot

The next generation Mark 6 Volkswagen Golf is set to make its first public appearance at the London Press Club Ball, with its press kit unveiling set to be somewhere in the next few days, but a small set of photos have already found its way onto the internet.

As expected, the new Golf looks like a more family-oriented Scirocco, with the rear end borrowed from the Touareg. The thinner and wider grille at the front gives the same effect to the rest of the car. Have a look at the Mk6 Golf after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Volkswagen Golf Mk6 leaked photos on the net

A facelifted version of the Toyota Innova is due soon in face of “attacks” by other upcoming MPVs such as the Proton MPV. In these times of high fuel prices, UMW Toyota should put a turbodiesel into the Malaysian Toyota Innova. Its Toyota Unser predecessor had a diesel option in Malaysia. In overseas markets a diesel Innova is available with the 102 PS 2KD-FTV D4-D turbodiesel. Despite diesel fuel being so expensive now since the last fuel hike, it still gives more km per liter compared to petrol engines.

These photos show the facelifted Innova on test in Indonesia. It has minor styling changes as usual on the front and rear. I have put a photo of the current Innova side by side for comparison purposes. You can see a front bumper with a slightly larger grille opening and a new front grille.

Look after the jump for a shot of the rear.

Click here to read the rest of Toyota Innova Facelift on test in Indonesia

I have some preliminary details on the Proton MPV due to be launched in the first half of 2009. According to a source in Proton, the Proton MPV is on schedule and one of the first chassis prototypes was shown at the Proton Technology Week.

14th October 2008 UPDATE: Proton MPV Spyshots - photos of the actual Proton MPV being tested on public roads!

The chassis reveals quite a bit about the car. There is also a model of the interior hidden in a box with holes cut into it, much like the peekaboo promo that Proton did for its previous two models. The following are what I gathered on the MPV:

Exterior

• Overall shape is like the Toyota Wish but the rear section of the roof does not slope down slightly like the Wish to improve headroom for the third row.
• Tail lamps use LEDs and have a vertical design extending from the top to down, unlike the Wish’s which do not extend into the D pillar. The tail lamps are slimmer at the top but curve out a little at the bottom, similiar to the Volvo XC90’s design. The signal lamps in the light cluster are positioned towards the top for better visibility. You can actually see this in the previously revealed sketch and the teaser video above.
• There is a swage line on the side profile of the MPV.
• Regular swing doors instead of sliding doors.
• The spare tyre is installed outside under the chassis instead of kept in the car so that you can get access to it easily when the luggage space is occupied.

Interior

• The peekaboo box revealed a two-tone beige interior, but sources in Proton say the colour of the interior has not been finalised. It may be either beige or grey.
• Luggage space is not that great with the third row of seats in place, but can fit one large golf bag. This means balik kampung with 7 people loaded and luggage for 7 will be a challenge.
• Second row splits 60:40 while the third row is a 50:50 split. The seats fold flat.
• Interior roof height is designed to be quite decent to accomodate people who want to ride with songkoks and turbans.
• The shifter uses a gated shift and is dashboard-mounted rather than mounted between the front two seats, a common modern trend with MPV-like vehicles.
• The in-car entertainment is a 2-DIN unit. There are options for a DVD player with an LCD display for the movie mounted at the second row roof area. There is also an option in the future for GPS navigation.
• The 2-DIN head unit is at the top of the center dash area below the aircond vents, and below it comes the air conditioning controls which are three knobs arranged in a triangle shape. Below that is the shifter.
• There are aircond blowers for the second and third row situation at the top left and right of the cabin roof (near the grip handles). Proton source says after testing this produced the best airflow.
• There is no armrest between the front two seats but the armrest is instead a fold-down type integrated into the seat itself.

Chassis

• The wheelbase of the chassis is estimated to be more than 2,700mm but less than 2,800mm. In comparison, the Honda Stream has a wheelbase of 2740mm, the Wish is 2,750mm, the Innova 2,750mm, the Livina 2600mm, and the Mazda5 2750mm.
• The front suspension design uses MacPherson struts and the rear design uses a torsion beam to minimize suspension system intrusion into cabin.
• The front end is designed, supplied and assembled as a single module for weight reduction and ease of installation to minimize QC problems.
• The MPV is said to have very good crash safety design from Proton internal crash tests. A few MPVs will be sent for official crash testing and rating soon.

So there you have it. If you want to look at the interior and chassis for yourself you can head to the Proton Technology Week event tomorrow. The event is happening at the Proton plant in Shah Alam. On the KESAS highway heading towards Klang, turn left after the Center of Excellence and then turn left into the Proton plant.

An initial concept sketch of the Proton MPV interior, but the production version will be tamed down.

Proton MPV teaser video gets attention…

Day 1 visitors having a peek at the new MPV’s interior.

Click here to read the rest of Proton MPV exclusive initial details revealed!

The world got a preview of the upcoming Chevrolet Cruze compact sedan during GM’s press conference earlier this week as both front and rear three quarter views of the new Cruze done up in a flashy red paint were flashed on the presentation screen.

The new Chevrolet Cruze is a C-segment sedan and it will be a world car, replacing both current C-segment cars that are in GM’s line-up - the low-cost “emerging market” Daewoo-based Chevrolet Optra and the more expensively-built Chevrolet Cobalt for the American market. This means we can expect this to eventually replace the Optra Magnum facelift that was unveiled here earlier this year.

GM will fit a series of turbocharged 1.4 liter engines into the Cobalt, which GM says will allow it to hit a fuel economy target of 45mpg, or 5.2 liters per 100km, which truth be told is rather ambitious, small engine or not. The 1.4 liter Ecotec turbo will come in various stages of tune from 120 PS (equivalent to a 1.6 liter normally aspirated engine) to 150 PS (equivalent to a 2.0 liter normally aspirated engine), with plenty of torque.