Archive for Spyshots

The car above is the Volkswagen Lavida, a Chinese domestic market model that has been developed and set to be sold only in the China market as it was developed for domestic tastes. I’m not sure how the name was chosen, but it could be taken from the Spanish phrase La Vida which means “the life”, as Ricky Martin has propagated.

It is built on the Volkswagen PQ34 platform with an increased wheelbase of 2,610mm, the base platform for the Mk4 Volkswagen Golf and Mk1 Skoda Octavia. This puts it in the region of a C-segment sedan in terms of wheelbase, with the Lavida having a wheelbase 10mm longer than the current Toyota Corolla Altis. Under the hood is a choice of engines from 1.6 liters to 2.0 liters.

You will find that various press around the internet has called the car an A-segment sedan, but Chinese model size segmentation is different from the rest of the world, with even the big Volkswagen Passat classified as a B+ sedan.

Other dimensions include a length of 4608mm, a width of 1743mm and a height of 1465mm. The car weighs 1245kg for the 1.6 liter and 1323kg for the 2.0 liter.

The sales manual for the upcoming all-new Nissan Teana has been leaked onto the internet and shows us that the new Teana will be a toned down production version of the Nissan Intima concept displayed at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show.

The new Teana still maintains the Intima’s CLS-like banana car look. The aggressive split headlamps have been replaced with more traditional looking ones, and the front bumper has been changed to one that offers much more airflow to the engine bay as compared to the concept’s. The suicide doors are gone, as expected.

Look after the jump for 2 more scans featuring the new Teana’s side profile and two different interior colour schemes.

Related Posts:
TOKYO 2007: Nissan Intima Concept

Click here to read the rest of Next generation Nissan Teana sales manual leaked!

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A reader who wishes only to be identified as “The Stik” has sent in these photos of what is obviously the new Perodua SUV to be launched sometime in May 2008, replacing the Perodua Kembara. This trailer carrying a few covered up cars was spotted on Sunday on the Federal Highway. The new Perodua will have a 1.5 liter engine and 4WD.

The new SUV will likely get a new name even though it replaces the Kembara in its product range, and will also be the vehicle that launches Perodua’s new branding, as mentioned by Perodua MD Syed Hafiz in an interview with The Edge earlier.

From these photos, we can confirm that the new Kembara replacement Perodua SUV will be based on the Toyota Rush/Daihatsu Terios. No other detail is revealed other than the alloy wheel design which looks like a 5-spoke design as opposed to the Toyota Rush’s 6-spoke design.

Unlike all of Perodua’s current vehicles which are locally assembled, the new Perodua SUV will be fully imported from Japan and will positioned higher than its Indonesian-import Toyota Rush sibling in terms of pricing.

View a few more snaps after the jump.

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New Perodua MPV coming in September 2009

Click here to read the rest of New Kembara Replacement Perodua SUV spotted!

A silver ChangAn CV6 Ben Ben has been sighted at the JPJ Putrajaya building last week, most likely brought in by Changan Berjaya Auto Sdn Bhd. This would be the second ChangAn model spotted in Malaysia so far. The first was the Changan CM8 MPV, spotted with light disguise around the Klang Valley sometime last year.

The CV6 Ben Ben is a 5-door hatchback that seats 5. It also looks like it has some decent crash test safety, according to these photos. ChangAn has even displayed a sporty version with a bodykit in the past. It is powered by a 1.3 liter engine, but I have no horsepower and torque information at the moment. It is priced at under 50,000 RMB in China, which converts to about RM22,200.

If you remember, ChangAn was also the first Chinese company to develop its own hybrid car using a 1.5 liter gasoline engine combined with an electric motor. It also recently announced China’s first independently-developed hydrogen engine.

UPDATE: Looks like the ChangAn CV6 Ben Ben’s crash test results don’t look so good, click here. Thanks to reader Niceguy for the pointer in the comments.

Changan Berjaya Auto Sdn Bhd’s website says it plans to launch its first model before the end of 2007, so I guess there has been some delay. It has two models on display on its web page, the CM8 and the CV6 Ben Ben.

For more pictures of the silver CV6 Ben Ben, read the post after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of ChangAn CV6 Ben Ben spotted in Putrajaya!

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The JPJ building at Putrajaya is a great place to see what new CBU cars are coming soon to our shores, and this latest visit by reader JDMD reveals to us that we will soon be able to buy the new Volkswagen CrossTouran. The best part is the badging on the car seems to indicate that it is powered by the new 1.4 liter TSI engine, and perhaps the new 7-speed dry clutch DSG.

Look after the jump and you will also find a TSI-badged Volkswagen Jetta, which could be a third model added to the existing 1.6 and 2.0 FSI models, or depending on which state of tune the TSI engine is in, could replace either the 1.6 or the 2.0 FSI model.

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Click here to read the rest of New Volkswagen models sighted at JPJ Putrajaya

The Maruti Suzuki Swift DZiRE is set to hit India’s shores on the 29th of this month, and a teaser site is already up online. The car is essentially a Suzuki Switch hatchback with a boot tacked on. The site has a few preview images depicting a Swift DZiRE shrouded by shadows, or just parts of the car, but look after the jump and you will find some low resolution spyshots captured from a video.

According to Maruti Suzuki, the Swift DZiRE will feature class-leading equipment that have never been offered in an entry-level sedan in India, like an integrated head unit with steering wheel audio, automatic climate control, dual SRS airbags and ABS brakes.

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Suzuki Swift Sedan snapped in India

Click here to read the rest of Maruti Suzuki Swift DZiRE due end-March

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These photos of three of the latest 8th generation 2008 model Honda Accords in Malaysia was snapped by Tony Yew as he was driving along the North South Highway.

The new 2008 Honda Accord will be in showrooms sometime this year to give the Camry a good fight. It will also be joined by the new locally assembled Peugeot 407 in the 2.0 liter range, so the battle for D-segment executive sedan sales should be an interesting one this year. Expect the Accord to be offered with 2.0 liter and 2.4 liter engines, with the latter having its power upped to 177 horses from the current 170.

The new 3.5 liter V6 model may be offered but probably as a halo model only, as exceeding the RM200k price bracket for the top of the line model puts it head to head with luxury C-segment cars and the Volvos.

I’ve driven the 2.4 liter and 3.5 liter V6 versions of the Accord in Japan last year, so visit the related links listed below to find out what my initial impression of the new Accord was. Look after the jump for three more photos.

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Click here to read the rest of New 2008 Honda Accord spotted in Malaysia!

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

A forumer posted photos of a Proton MPV test mule with a Toyota Wish body. Proton is currently performing on-road tests of the new MPV and is either:

a) employing a well known disguise technique of using the body of a similiar vehicle to hide the chassis of a car being tested, or…
b) is currently performing powertrain tests with a body of a similiar weight and size.

The photos show that the interior features a Toyota Wish dashboard with a Proton steering wheel. The interior seems to have a bad fit and finish - weird gaps here and there very atypical of a Toyota.

Look at the area around the left-most air conditioning vent as well as the area where the dash meets the center tunnel which runs between the two front seats. The dash could be looking that way because it has been adapted to fit the Proton MPV’s interior. If you look closely, there’s nothing where the dash-mounted shift lever is supposed to be. There is very likely a Proton powertrain and gearbox under this test mule’s engine bay.

On-road tests with a different body can be done if the air intakes provided by the donor body’s grilles and bumper vents as well as undercarriage design are modified to match amount of air cooling that the final product’s design will give the engine bay. Adding ballasts or stripping unnecessary equipment is done to ensure the final body is the same or similiar weight to the actual product.

Hopefully more photos of the new MPV will surface soon, perhaps later in the year we’ll see some with the actual body.

The latest car spotted at JPJ Putrajaya is the Volkswagen Eos, essentially a two-door convertible version of the Volkswagen Golf Mk5.

No indicative launch date so far, but it’s interesting to note that the Volkswagen Eos was so popular in Canada that Volkswagen Canada decided to cancel its introductory campaign because it did not make any financial sense to go ahead with it anymore.

Even before any form of advertising was put up, the Volkswagen Eos had begun to disappear from dealer lots around the country. All of the 2007s stock had nearly sold out from pure word of mouth alone.

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Click here to read the rest of Volkswagen Eos spotted in Putrajaya

Reader Maru sent in a batch of amazing photos of the Proton Waja CPS and the Proton GEN2 CPS, which were spotted at a resort in Port Dickson last week. Continue reading this post after the jump for the clearest shots of the car so far, including photos of the Waja CPS’s interior, which has some minor changes.

[ UPDATE: Latest news, showroom photos of the new Proton Waja CPS 1.6. ]

[ 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. ]

Click here to read the rest of SPYSHOT: Proton Waja CPS and Proton GEN2 CPS exterior and interior