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Ford Motor Co. is prepping a next-generation Transit van for the North American market as part of ongoing upgrades to its commercial vehicle (CV) lineup. In the 2013 calendar year, the updated Transit will join the automaker's other Class 1 through Class 7 CV offerings.
The next-generation Transit will be at least 300 lb (136 kg) lighter than today's E-Series van and provide a minimum 25% fuel-economy improvement, Derrick Kuzak, Group Vice President of Ford's Global Product Development, said at a Dec. 7 commercial vehicles media event at the company's Dearborn, MI, Product Development Center.
According to Rob Stevens, Ford's Chief Program Engineer for Commercial Vehicles, the Transit van eventually will replace the E-Series full-size van in the North American marketplace following an undetermined period of overlap between the nameplates.
The Transit van's unibody is an underlying reason for the vehicle being lighter weight than an E-Series counterpart. The current Transit van is offered in three different wheelbases, four different body lengths, and three different roof heights.
Ford is investing $1.1 billion to retrofit one-half of its Kansas City Assembly Plant to accommodate the production of the Transit van for the North American market. (Production of F-150 light-duty pickup trucks will be unaffected by the facility upgrades.)
The automaker currently sells its Transit van outside the North American market in various cargo, passenger, and chassis cab configurations with a choice of three diesel engines—a 2.2-L four-cylinder, a 2.4-L four-cylinder, and a 3.2-L five-cylinder.
Transit Connect, Transit Connect Electric, and Transit Connect Taxi are C-Class commercial vans. All have sold globally for a decade. In the U.S. market, the Transit Connect launched in MY2010 while the Transit Connect Electric and Transit Connect Taxi launched in MY2011.
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Daihatsu Motor Co. began marketing its new compact car "Mira e:S," the most fuel efficient non-hybrid gasoline car on the market.
The car runs around 30 kilometers to the liter, and is Daihatsu's try to capture a share of the green car market with an extremely efficient gasoline car. Such cars have been called the "third" type of green car after hybrids and electric vehicles.
"We've returned to the things that create compact cars appealing. Low price, good fuel economy, and little use of resources and forced them to the limit," said Daihatsu President Koichi Ina at an announcement of the Mira e:S's sale in Tokyo. In add-on to superb fuel economy, the Mira e:S's price tag has been kept low, with prices starting at 795,000 yen.
The car carries a new engine with enhanced fuel-burning efficiency and a function that turns off the engine automatically when speed drops to seven kilometers per hour or lower. By finding ways to decrease the number of parts, engineers made the car around 60 kilograms lighter, or about 8 percent lighter, than earlier cars in the Mira line.
To maintain prices down, Daihatsu used parts from Chinese and South Korean makers for the first time. "We cannot permit our company to be adversely affected by foreign exchange rates," said Ina, who expressed his intent to increase imports of parts from abroad.
"Interest in compact cars has grown-up, and we are expect a boost in demand," said Ina. The company predicts high sales of the new car: 120,000 for the first year, and 50,000 for the rest of this year.
The company plans to initiate technology used in the Mira e:S into other car models, including ones made and sold in Indonesia and Malaysia.
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With the Frankfurt Motor Show not even over, Renault’s officials are preparing for the next year’s Paris event, declaring that the fourth generation of the popular Clio model will be officially presented in France.
Renault’s product manager, Beatrice Foucher, proclaimed at the Frankfurt Motor Show that the new Clio generation will also get “an athlete”, in the form of a Renault sport version, while it will still be saving the planet by using a downsized turbocharged engine.
“Look to the new Twingo for even more clues, such as the more technical headlights, large diamond logo and black gloss grille”, said Beatrice Foucher. “It will be a real wide car and much lower too.
There is always a bigger volume for the five-door car. It is expensive to invest in a three-door and you make less money on it, so it’s not as profitable”, added the Renault official.
The French automaker says that the new Clio generation is inspired by the DeZir Concept and Renault’s designers, in their turn, say that the DeZir Concept was inspired by Aston Martin V8 Vantage, so now we are truly peculiar what the new Clio will look like.
This is all we now for now about the new model which will enter Renault’s line-up starting from next year and unluckily, with the Frankfurt Motor Show keeping them busy, the French didn’t release any images or even sketches of the future Clio.
Hyundai's been on the ascendency these past few years, and they've decided to make a new electric vehicle brand only for the Chinese market, in partnership with Beijing Automotive (the Chinese government normally forces companies from outside the country to form joint ventures with local companies, mostly as a way to transfer technology).
Plans are to start marketing the first electric car from the new brand in the first half of 2012, which means they've been working on it awhile, or it’s based on another EV model that Hyundai plans to release elsewhere. And maybe the Chinese experience will help make EVs more affordable around the world...
China has been encouraging its automakers to jump into the growing market of hybrid and electric cars so they will be able to vie with global competitors. The Chinese government said earlier that it will invest more than 100 billion Yuan (US$15.5 billion) to help nurture the new car industry over 10 years, opening this year.
In May, the Chinese government begin a plan to subsidize private purchases of alternative fuel cars in five cities Shanghai, Hangzhou, Changchun, Hefei and Shenzhen offering carmakers up to 50,000 yuan for each plug-in hybrid car and a maximum of 60,000 yuan for each full electric vehicle.
Chen Qingquan, chairman of the World Electric Vehicle Association, projected that the volume of new energy vehicles will attain 500,000 by 2015 in China and double to 1 million by 2020.
Skoda will be unveiling a new concept car at this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show, called the Mission L.
This C-segment sedan is based on the car maker’s new design language, and appears to be a more production-ready version of the Vision D revealed before in the year. When you consider the car from the side you clearly find the cues inherited from the D, especially the taillights, and the rear hatch.
The unique shape of the body gives it the profile of a sedan but with added practicality, as the rear window opens with the trunk lid, like the old Citroen Xantia.
Distinctive design features include the signature grille, and the LED headlights, which will likely make it into production entire.
No words on the technical specs yet. For that we should wait for the Frankfurt show.
The third generation of the admired Panda model in its 31year history has just been officially revealed by Fiat and it has a more flexible exterior design with rounder lines but its power still remains under the 90 HP barrier.
According to the automaker, the new Panda model comes with four airbags, anti-lock, daytime running lamps, sunroof and electric power steering, some of them as standard, a few available as an alternative, Fiat didn’t say which is what yet.
The 2012 Panda is powered by Twin Air two-cylinder petrol engine delivering 64 BHP in the 0.9 Aspirated TwinAir form and 84 BHP in the 0.9 liter Turbo. A larger 1.2 liter and 68 BHP petrol unit is also existing, along with the 1.3 liter Multijet diesel which is developing 74 BHP.
The engines will be affiliated to Fiat’s Dualogic robotized manual transmission and the stop/start system will also be available.
The building quality of the new Panda generation will be enhanced by using 603 state-of-the-art robots and the new 2012 model will come in production in winter 2011 at the Giambattista Vico plant in Naples.
Toyota introduces today the all-new, seventh-generation Camry, America's best-selling car for nine years running & 13 of the past 14 years.
The 2012 Camry introductions a bold, sophisticated new design with a wider interior, improved driving dynamics and an even quieter ride than before. Since from Introduce, Toyota has sold more than 15 million Camry models world-wide.
"The all new 2012 Camry blends a development of the car's values such as comfort, efficiency, reliability and safety with a more attractive design and engaging driving experience," said Bob Carter, Toyota Division group vice president and general manager.
The Toyota Camry once again offers three power train choices, all of which have been enhanced for 2012 to give better fuel economy and more responsive performance.
All Camry models with the revised 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine that offer 178 horsepower, an increase of nine hp, and 170 lb.-ft. of peak torque.
EPA-estimated fuel economy figures are 25 mpg city/35 highway, and the 28 mpg combined is two more than the earlier generation Camry. The 2.5-liter engine employs Dual VVT-i (Dual Variable Valve Timing-intelligent), which controls valve timing on both the intake and exhaust camshafts for optimal performance and efficiency at all engine speeds.
The Acoustic Control Induction System (ACIS) help optimize torque over a broad engine speed range.
To tease out the Camry’s claim to improved performance, Toyota proclaimed that the 2012 model would be the official pace car at the Daytona 500 Nascar race next year.
Denny Hamlin, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Sprint Cup series, piloted a Camry appareled in pace-car livery onto the Paramount Studios lot during Tuesday’s presentation.
Maruti Suzuki doesn't anticipate cutting vehicle production in September as the forthcoming festival season and an upgraded version of the Swift hatchback will likely drive more customers to its showrooms.
"I don't think we'll involve to cut production beyond August," Mayank Pareek, managing executive officer for sales and marketing at Maruti, said at the introduction of the upgraded Swift hatchback.
Two month long festival season, which begins in the last week of September, is considered auspicious to make new purchases in India.
India's largest car maker Maruti by sales, fell 5% in the April-July period to 317,187 autos. That compares with a 4% arise in total sales of cars and sport-utility vehicles in India to 785,204 autos.
"The Swift has been a bestseller since it’s established. We wait for even better demand for the new Swift," said Shinzo Nakanishi, chief executive and managing director.
Maruti introduced Swift small car in May 2005, and since sold more than 600,000 units of the model. The Swift is one of the Maruti's bestselling models with a waiting period of up to six weeks.
Maruti has already got orders for 50,000 units of the upgraded Swift, Mr. Pareek said, adding that the company will lift production capacity for the car because of the strong demand. Also he added that Maruti will raise Swift's production to 17,000-18,000 a month by November from about 12,000 currently.
Connection the race to conduct a new generation of city cars, Audi urban concept will demonstrate a 1+1 seat electrically propelled urban vehicle at next month’s Frankfurt auto show (IAA).
The German premium car maker said in a press release that the urban concept car, which will be made of lightweight carbon fiber, will blend “elements of a racing car, a fun car and an urban car.”
Rival BMWrecently also unveiled a new city car, the i3, which will seat four.
Other car brands are also developing smaller, electrically driven vehicles that will provide to urban habitants. The moves are activated by prospect that more people will live in megacities and that concerns over air pollution will trigger a sharp rise in electric vehicles in those cities.
Audi said its concept car is not based on any earlier model. The two-seater will contain controls and materials that will all be ultra light. The driver can adjust the steering wheel and pedals and the roof slides open to the rear to let in passengers.
Sporting 21-inch wheels, the Audi concept car will be impelled by two e-tron electric motors that will be motorized by a lithium-ion battery.
Coolest thing about the Audi urban concept car is? Sporting 21-inch wheels.
General Motors India (GMI) has recently established the diesel version of its most popular hatchback Chevrolet Beat, which has acknowledged rave reviews and gushing response. Chevrolet Beat's petrol model and LPG version have already received warm welcome from Indian customers.
GMI has great hopes from the newly launched Beat Diesel model and anticipates that it will certainly add to its reputation. At the launch of the diesel variant, GMI President and MD, Karl Slym said, “Offering a diesel engine developed for Indian consumers in our most popular model is a momentous achievement for GM India.”
The Beat Diesel was designed with the goal to effectively cope up with the fuel worries as it provides the ARAI certified mileage of 24 kmpl. Beat Diesel accompanies 1.0 XSDE SMARTECH Engine, designed specifically for Indian market by the Bangalore based GM Technical Centre in partnership with GM Power-train Europe. It renders 58.5 PS at the rate of 4000 rpm with 150 Nm torque. Furthermore, Beat Diesel will prove to be economical as the engine oil will need to be changed only once in 1.5 years. The car allows better fuel economy and superior emission performance too.
The model's 65% high-strength steel body cage provides better resident safety. The sleek and stylish interior of the model is complemented by an advance in-dash integrated ice-blue lit music system. Additionally, the new Chevrolet Beat Diesel model costs between Rs. 4.40 lacs and Rs 5.5 lacs and comes with three years or 1 lac kilometre warranty.
GMI has great hopes from Beat Diesel and expects it to touch new borders of success; however, the way is not as smooth as it was speculated. The dynamics of auto business will surely change after the government indicated on Thursday that dual pricing of diesel may be introduced to remove the subsidy enjoyed by car owners.
Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, affirmed in the Lok Sabha that passenger cars were consuming about 15% of the diesel supplied in the country and that "we can try to work out mechanism, so that this section is not subsidised".
Oil Minister, Jaipal Reddy, also supported the Finance Minister's concern about the subsidised diesel. Besides, all these statements are coming at a time when most of the car manufacturers are working hard to maximize their share of the domestic diesel car market. Moreover, the number of sales of diesel cars has risen over the last few years only as diesel is cheaper than petrol.
All the car manufacturers have voiced their bear on as any change in policy or an additional tax on the fuel would harm an already sulky auto market. Besides, domestic car sales has already faced constant decline, which is 10% year-on-year in July. This is the worst statistics since the 7% decline in January 2009.
General Motors India President Karl Slym said "We are for market-driven price of diesel. Already the sales of car and passenger vehicles are sluggish in the domestic market and any change in policy will further impact it". However, GMI is not taking it as a fatal issue, as the Vice President of GM India, P. Balendran, adds, “We have diesel models, but diesel has other advantages than simply being a cheaper fuel. Diesel technology today is cleaner and fuel efficiency of diesel vehicles is higher. We would rather let the consumer choose according to his requirements”.
There are lot of hurdle race in the way, but GMI hopes that all these issues will not hurt Beat Diesel sales that much as it is ready to face all challenges boldly.
BMW has fully dedicated itself to the battery-electric driving revolution by setting up a whole new sub-brand - BMW i - devoted to emission-free motoring. Now, the i group has released details of two concept cars that appear set to become production models within a few years.
The i3 concept is a fully-electric city car with an everyday driving range of about 160 km (100 miles) per charge, and the i8 is a sporty 4-seater plug-in hybrid that combines electric and petrol drive to give a good compromise among emission-free commuting and petrol-powered range and performance.
Both cars make widespread use of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) to keep weight down, and both offer a raft of fascinating new driver assist and efficiency initiatives that look likely to make it throughout to the real world.
The BMW i3 - all-electric city boy
First up is the town car getabout - the i3. As a fully electric car, it's mainly aimed at urban commuting, but its battery range is conditioned to a level a little beyond that. On the FTP72 cycle, it's rated for 225 km (140 miles), but BMW says the car's everyday range, being driven by regular lead-foot clowns like you and I, is more like 160 km (100 miles).
Acceleration is in the range of 8 seconds to 100 kph (62 mph), but it should be fairly zippy off the line, as it develops 100 percent of its torque from a standstill. Top speed should be about 150 kph (93 mph) - but that's electronically limited, because autobahn speeds can be brutally draining on most electric vehicles.
The i3's large battery pack sits under the floor of the vehicle in a slab that's protected from crash damage by a number of buffer zones in the structure. As batteries are typically the most expensive part of an electric vehicle, you'd surely want to protect them.
The 170 hp electric motor, single-gear drive system and differential are located over the driven rear axle, and there's room there for an optional range extender - a high efficiency petrol engine that putts away and brings forth electricity to charge the batteries. With the range extender on board, you can roughly double the i3's range, and fill up at any petrol station.
The BMW i8 - a clean, hybrid all-rounder
While the i3 is best suited to round-town usage, the i8 has broader dreams. It uses the same electric motor as the i3, this time mounted over the front axle, in conjunction with a three-cylinder, 220 horsepower petrol engine over the rear axle. Blended, you're looking at a 354 horsepower all-wheel-drive with 550 Nm of torque.
All wheel drive isn't altogether accurate though - the i8 constantly proportions the power between the front and rear drive systems according to how the car is being driven. With a much smaller battery system than the i3, the i8 can only manage around 35 km (20 miles) in full electric drive mode - but then, that would cover an emission-free commute for the majority of people.
The true value of the hybrid system comes with longer range driving, where on the EU cycle, the i8 carries off a banging 104 miles per gallon (2.7 liters per 100 km). Driven hard, the fuel consumption will double, but don't forget that the Toyota Prius is advertised as a 50 mpg hybrid and is nowhere near as much fun.
Like the i3, the i8's top speed is electronically governed, but this time at a very sporty 250 kph (155 mph), so it'll hold its head high on any autobahn. The i8 will hit 100 kph (62 mph) in a brisk 5 seconds or less, decent sports car territory there, and the car's entire underbelly is totally enclosed to boost aerodynamic efficiency and cut down fuel consumption.
Common features
The i3 and i8 share a contrive philosophy and a number of characteristics worth talking about.
LifeDrive component separation and CFRP
Both cars are built on the LifeDrive philosophy, which separates the drive and passenger components and treats each differently. The Drive components, including engines, suspension, structural and crash protection functions, are chiefly housed in aluminum structures, while the Life elements - effectively the passenger cell - are designed using high strength, featherweight, carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP).
Accelerator/Decelerator pedal and regenerative braking
Even as they incorporate it in different ways, both cars feature a regenerative braking system to hold the battery topped up and cut down wear on the conventional brake system.
On the i3, this comes in the form of an accelerator/decelerator pedal, with which you're either on the gas, coasting, or braking depending on how far the pedal is pressed down. BMW approximations that around town, you can do as much as 75 percent of your braking this way - that is,without lifting your foot and hitting the brake pedal at all - and in our experience with other regenerative braking systems, that's not far off the mark. The regenerative braking system can contribute back up to 20 percent extra range to the battery charge, and it's very sensitive to use.
The press release is less clear about how the system works on the i8 - or how it works in with the petrol engine - but we assume it's somewhat similar, including a brake pedal which seems to use the regenerative system for the first part of the pedal travel, and the conventional disc brakes beyond that.
Intelligent Electronics: Proactive Front Protection, Parking Assistant, Traffic Jam Assistant
Driver aids abound on the i3 and i8, including frontal collision warning systems that flash, beep and eventually hit the brakes for you if they find out you're going to hit something.
Parking Assistant is a press-button parallel parking system that not only manages the steering to lead you into your parking spot, but also handles the accelerator, brake and gear changes for you, even if the park takes a few moves.
Traffic Jam Assistant is a wonderful stress-saver that holds a constant distance from the car in front, all the way from standstill to 40 kph(25 mph), and actually provides active steering input as well to keep you inside your lane. You just need to keep one hand on the steering wheel as you drift off to sleep.
Smartphone integration
Equally with all things in the future, the i3 and i8 will be highly integrated with your smartphone. You can use your phone to find your car,lock it, unlock it, make it beep its horn or flash its lights.
Your smartphone can also tell you where the nearest charging stations are, and through integration with the navigation system, it can tell you where to walk once you've parked your car to get to your destination.
ECO PRO mode
ECO PRO mode immediately changes the accelerator response characteristics so that you're constantly using less power for a given throttle application. It caps top speed at anywhere between 90 and 120 kph (56 and 75 mph), and it reduces the effectiveness of heating and cooling systems so they consume less too.
Whenever things get really scary, ECO PRO+ mode sets in and basically closes down everything except the absolute essentials, like demisters and whatnot. Top speed is reined in to 90 kph (56 mph) and you can be certain you're getting maximum mileage.
It'll be fascinating to see what alterations on these two concepts if and when they hit the market - but it looks fairly clear that through its i division, BMW is serious about emission-free motoring and ready to get into the game with some pretty competitive products.
The folks at Porsche Designs have entered yet an additional new market as they have introduced a line of high performance bicycles offering high performance features and a very high price.
It's nothing new for a car manufacturer to dig into the world of bicycles to get its branding on a different sort of vehicle, but as with most things, when Porsche does it, it just appears well.
Through Porsche Design, the company has just introduced a duo of two-wheeled people-powered machines, and yes, they're nice-looking cool.
The more affordable of the two bikes is the Porsche Bike S, which starts with an aluminum frame and forgoes a typical chain drive in favor of an 11-speed belt drive system that's pretty interesting. It has 29-inch wheels, weighs about 26 pounds and will cost 3300 Euros when it goes on sale in Europe in September.
There's no cite of US pricing, but a release does say the bikes will come to "worldwide markets." They both also include serial numbers linked to a Porsche database that indicates whether that used bike you're purchasing is stolen.
For further serious bikers, there's also the Porsche Bike RS. Instead of aluminum, its frame is formed from carbon fiber, dropping its overall weight below 20 pounds. It has a traditional chain drive with 20 speeds and Shimano XTR components, 29-inch wheels, and disc brakes. It also has a steep price of 5900 Euros.
If you're already spending $100,000 for that new Cayenne Turbo, though, don't you think a set of these on top would just look great?
In an unstoppable race to cut down the number of car accidents, united with the newest achievable technology, the Japanese auto maker Toyota is working on an unusual safety system which will take control of the car’s steering to avoid accidents so the vehicle can veer away when it isn't able to stop before impact.
New Pre-Collision System (PCS) from Toyota will use a super sensitive radar called “millimeter-wave” radar and two cameras with infrared night vision and, according to the manufacturer, it will take control of the steering wheel and “change the direction of the vehicle” to avoid hitting an object.
The vehicle computes how braking and steering must be applied to avoid a crash, said chief safety technology officer Moritaka Yoshida.
"We must learn from accidents and keep making improvements in safety features," he said.
Toyota said it was aiming for zero fatalities and injuries, although it did not say when that goal would be attained.
Another system on which the Japanese car manufacturer is working is an advance of the automatic high-beam headlights, where the technology can partially shade the high-beam lights to prevent blinding.
And if this wasn’t sufficient, Toyota is also working on a system which will notice the driver’s heath and in case of a sudden cardiovascular irregularity it can warn the driver or stop the car.
