A new option takes Volkswagen's Touareg upmarket, but it may not make it to Australia
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Volkswagen's PR team in Germany has revealed that a new premium grade variant is joining the Touareg range. Named the Touareg Exclusive, the new model is basically an option pack in fact, and can be ordered with any of the different drivetrain options on offer.
"That's produced by R GmbH, the new division that used to be known as Volkswagen Individual," said Karl Gehling, Volkswagen Australia's General Manager for Press and PR.
Gehling advised that VW hasn't looked at the Exclusive pack for Australia as yet.
"At this stage we haven't got any plans, but we haven't actually launched the [new] Touareg yet... we'll do that in the first half of next year... that's not to say we won't [offer Exclusive]..."
As reported previously by the Carsales Network, R GmbH is to Volkswagen what HSV is to Holden (leaving aside ownership issues), and like HSV, R GMbH supplies high-performance versions of the bog-standard cars built by the parent company. HSV no longer produces enhancement packs for Holdens, but plainly the Exclusive pack for the Touareg is analogous to that earlier concept. It's arguably an idea that could kick along profit for VW dealers offering dress-up gear and added comfort for the new cars being sold.
So what does the existence of the Exclusive pack mean for Volkswagen (and in Australia specifically)? Will VW Oz offer a bundle of different comfort and style packs named 'Exclusive', across the product range and not just for Touareg, we asked Gehling.
"We haven't decided what we'll do with those models," he answered. "Obviously we get the 'R' [high performance] models from R GmbH and we'll continue to offer those when they become available, but we haven't decided what we'll do with the 'Exclusive' denomination."
The 'danger' is that a Touareg with the Exclusive pack might pose a threat to sales of Audi's Q7, if the Touareg can offer the same level of comfort and convenience at a lower price. Whether Volkswagen in Australia would be concerned about that is open to debate.
It's clear from the specs that the Exclusive pack is more about comfort and cosmetic details than a performance upgrade. The basic components of the pack are: two-tone coordinated 'Nappa' leather trim, Olive Silk Gloss woodgrain trim, heated 12-way electrically adjustable front seats, a black headlining and stainless steel scuff plates.
Buyers can specify the 'cool' leather -- reducing the ill effects of direct sunlight -- in two different colour combinations: Pepper Beige/Titan Black or Dark Burgundy/Titan Black. The electrically-adjustable seats also feature pneumatic side bolsters for the backrests and four-way adjustment for the headrests.
Externally, the Touareg Exclusive can be identified by the 19-inch alloy wheels and the 'Chrome & Style' appearance pack, incorporating anodised silver roof rails. The 19-inch alloy wheels can be ordered in one of two designs, the default 'Salamanca' style, painted in Sterling Silver, or the Girona design at no extra cost. Volkswagen also offers an extra-cost upgrade to 20-inch Tarragona wheels.
In Europe, the Touareg Exclusive starts at €58,150, in the V6 TDI BlueMotion variant.
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Thứ Năm, 29 tháng 3, 2012
2012 Audi A6 spied
Scheduled for launch mid-2011, the next generation Audi A6 will boast new looks and new technologies
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We've seen more and more testing of the Audi A6 large car take place over the past year, and these latest spy photos, snapped by Carparazzi, provide another insight into what the German car maker is planning.
Like the recently updated Audi A8, the new A6 will be a conservative evolution of the previous model's design, with strong family ties expected in the new styling. Though the headlights and front fascia have been taped over to hide the new design, it's clear that Audi will be changing the car's appearance, and the Germany car maker also appears to have fashioned new brake light units.
BMW's F10 generation 5 Series has been roundly praised, and Audi's A6 -- as a direct competitor -- will need to use every weapon in its arsenal to keep the highly-lauded BMW honest.
As such, expect some of the technology, such as the handwriting touch-pad and night vision, to trickle down from the A8 to the A6, which, based on the increased testing regime, is likely to be unveiled in the first half of 2011.
Another big change for the 2012 Audi A6 will be its platform, which will ditch the Volkswagen Group's C-chassis, instead being based on Audi's MLB modular aluminium chassis.
Engine choices will be wide-ranging for Audi's A6, including a number of petrol engines, among them the supercharged 3.0-litre V6 of the Audi S4 and a brand new 4.0-litre V8, according to Carparazzi. Four- and six-cylinder diesel engines will also be offered and new transmissions are also on the cards, including seven-speed dual clutch and eight-speed torque convertor gearboxes.
The new Audi A6 will be built at the prestige car maker's Neckarsulm plant in Germany.
-- with Carparazzi
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site.
prestige new cars » Get the best price on a new Audi
We've seen more and more testing of the Audi A6 large car take place over the past year, and these latest spy photos, snapped by Carparazzi, provide another insight into what the German car maker is planning.
Like the recently updated Audi A8, the new A6 will be a conservative evolution of the previous model's design, with strong family ties expected in the new styling. Though the headlights and front fascia have been taped over to hide the new design, it's clear that Audi will be changing the car's appearance, and the Germany car maker also appears to have fashioned new brake light units.
BMW's F10 generation 5 Series has been roundly praised, and Audi's A6 -- as a direct competitor -- will need to use every weapon in its arsenal to keep the highly-lauded BMW honest.
As such, expect some of the technology, such as the handwriting touch-pad and night vision, to trickle down from the A8 to the A6, which, based on the increased testing regime, is likely to be unveiled in the first half of 2011.
Another big change for the 2012 Audi A6 will be its platform, which will ditch the Volkswagen Group's C-chassis, instead being based on Audi's MLB modular aluminium chassis.
Engine choices will be wide-ranging for Audi's A6, including a number of petrol engines, among them the supercharged 3.0-litre V6 of the Audi S4 and a brand new 4.0-litre V8, according to Carparazzi. Four- and six-cylinder diesel engines will also be offered and new transmissions are also on the cards, including seven-speed dual clutch and eight-speed torque convertor gearboxes.
The new Audi A6 will be built at the prestige car maker's Neckarsulm plant in Germany.
-- with Carparazzi
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site.
Volvo wins DRIVe drivers free pass into London
Swedish auto maker's win against the city of London is an important lesson for Aussie cities contemplating a congestion tax
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Volvo has delivered prospective buyers an important new carrot in the carbon conscious, stick-wielding UK. The prestige car maker has shown the City of London the error of its ways through the courts, winning an important reprieve for owners of diesel-engined cars that emit fewer than 100 grams of CO2 per kilometre. Previously, London had imposed its congestion tax on lean-burning diesels while waiving the impost for hybrids, even those as large and potentially profligate as the Lexus LS 600 hL.
No city in Australia has imposed a congestion tax yet, but Sydney and Melbourne are understood to be considering such an initiative. Importers selling clean diesels in Australia may need to be on the front foot to dissuade the Australian cities from configuring a congestion charge that favours hybrids over diesels.
In the UK, Volvo mounted a campaign to redress what the company claimed was an inherent injustice in the urban Congestion Charge scheme. Current Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, consequently changed the rules to waive the £8 a day impost for all Euro 5-compliant cars and those emitting less than 100g/km CO2.
The waiver had been reserved for alt-fuel and hybrid vehicles, effectively penalising the many advanced petrol and diesel burners that better them in CO2 emissions. Among the disadvantaged were Volvo's C30, S40 and V50 DRIVe models, all good for 99g/km.
The emissions equality campaign took just over a year, the company sending its first missive to the Mayor in June 2009, and subsequently inviting adversely affected drivers to join an online petition.
Under the revised rules, they and a number of other conventionally powered models will qualify for the Greener Vehicle Discount from January, saving drivers up to £2500 a year.
Not that this is locked in forever. With legislation driving emissions steadily downward, supervising agency Transport for London has vowed to keep an eye on progress, particularly under the influence of a raft of new EVs and PHEVs due out in 2011 and 2012. With the discount criteria to remain under constant review, the agency will be monitoring total emissions patterns to see if the 100 per cent discount threshold just announced might not shift from sub-100g to sub-80g cars.
Should that happen, Volvo will be ready. The company has already taken the wraps off a V70 PHEV wagon it claims limbos in under 50g/km CO2 -- and it says the vehicle's plug-in technology will be ready for rollout in 2012. There's also a zero-emissions C30 EV in the offing.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
discount new cars » Get the best price on a new Volvo
Volvo has delivered prospective buyers an important new carrot in the carbon conscious, stick-wielding UK. The prestige car maker has shown the City of London the error of its ways through the courts, winning an important reprieve for owners of diesel-engined cars that emit fewer than 100 grams of CO2 per kilometre. Previously, London had imposed its congestion tax on lean-burning diesels while waiving the impost for hybrids, even those as large and potentially profligate as the Lexus LS 600 hL.
No city in Australia has imposed a congestion tax yet, but Sydney and Melbourne are understood to be considering such an initiative. Importers selling clean diesels in Australia may need to be on the front foot to dissuade the Australian cities from configuring a congestion charge that favours hybrids over diesels.
In the UK, Volvo mounted a campaign to redress what the company claimed was an inherent injustice in the urban Congestion Charge scheme. Current Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, consequently changed the rules to waive the £8 a day impost for all Euro 5-compliant cars and those emitting less than 100g/km CO2.
The waiver had been reserved for alt-fuel and hybrid vehicles, effectively penalising the many advanced petrol and diesel burners that better them in CO2 emissions. Among the disadvantaged were Volvo's C30, S40 and V50 DRIVe models, all good for 99g/km.
The emissions equality campaign took just over a year, the company sending its first missive to the Mayor in June 2009, and subsequently inviting adversely affected drivers to join an online petition.
Under the revised rules, they and a number of other conventionally powered models will qualify for the Greener Vehicle Discount from January, saving drivers up to £2500 a year.
Not that this is locked in forever. With legislation driving emissions steadily downward, supervising agency Transport for London has vowed to keep an eye on progress, particularly under the influence of a raft of new EVs and PHEVs due out in 2011 and 2012. With the discount criteria to remain under constant review, the agency will be monitoring total emissions patterns to see if the 100 per cent discount threshold just announced might not shift from sub-100g to sub-80g cars.
Should that happen, Volvo will be ready. The company has already taken the wraps off a V70 PHEV wagon it claims limbos in under 50g/km CO2 -- and it says the vehicle's plug-in technology will be ready for rollout in 2012. There's also a zero-emissions C30 EV in the offing.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
Thứ Hai, 26 tháng 3, 2012
MOTORSPORT: Sydney finale so important for V8 Supercars
The Sydney Telstra 500 will not only decide who is the year's V8 Super car games champion but be a key test of the strength of Australia's major motor racing category
Friday motorsport report
December 3, 2010
Three cheers for Courtney, Whincup and Winterbottom
It's a special, crucial, decisive weekend for V8 Supercar racing. By Sunday evening the sport could, probably will, have a new champion – 30-year-old James Courtney. Or it could have a triple champion, still only 27 – Jamie Whincup. And if things go horribly wrong on the streets of Homebush in Sydney for both Courtney and Whincup, another driver, not yet 30, could be the new champion – Mark Winterbottom. Highly unlikely that, though.
Courtney has 2932 points after 24 races in the V8 Supercar Championship, Whincup 2879 and Winterbottom 2729 – so 53 points between first and second, 150 between second and third, 203 between first and third. There's a maximum 300 points for any of them to earn in the weekend's two 250km races. Courtney's therefore in the box seat for the title.
Both Courtney and Winterbottom are western Sydney boys, even though neither resides there now. They're driving Ford Falcons, while Whincup is in a Holden Commodore after winning the championship the past two years in Ford.
There's a lot going for this second Sydney Telstra 500 at the 2000 Olympics precinct. Apart from the country's premier race series, the Fujitsu development series, the utes, the Touring Car Masters and the soon-to-be-no-more MINI Challenge are on the program (although not the exciting little Aussie Racing Cars, despite them being built just down the road). And there are big music concerts Saturday and Sunday nights.
While the V8 Supercar Championship has come down to the wire, as it ideally should, this weekend is going to be an important test of the strength of the category. A test in terms of the attendance the event draws to the circuit and the TV audience it attracts in Sydney and around the country, up against the Australian Open golf tournament, also in Sydney, and an Ashes cricket test in Adelaide.
It also will compete for attention with the never-ending stream of football news, especially the wash-up from Australia missing out overnight on hosting the 2022 soccer World Cup and the latest episode of players from whichever code behaving badly.
On top of all this, there's the strong prospect of a weekend of dodgy weather. Scattered showers are forecast for Sydney both days of the weekend.
A lot of NSW taxpayer dollars have gone into the Sydney Telstra 500 – most of it in the set-up for the first one last year.
Year one was moderately successful by many measures, although it didn't have the enthralling championship battle that this year does. Twelve months ago Whincup only needed to start one of the Homebush races to seal the title. Now this season's grand finale needs to find its place in the V8 Supercar – and broader Australian motor racing, and general sporting – charts.
As the conclusion to the championship, and the decider, in the biggest city and market in the country it needs to establish itself as at least the equal of Adelaide's 500 and the Gold Coast's now 600.
When V8 Supercar chief Tony Cochrane was fighting to establish the Sydney Telstra 500, and finally got his way with the NSW government, there were some saying it would be "The Bathurst of the Big Smoke". That's not something it's going to become in a couple of years.
First it needs to set itself above 10 or so other rounds and, as noted above, at least the equal of Adelaide and the Gold Coast.
Those other two have their own advantages – Adelaide being the first Australian round of the championship and a city with a particular passion for motor racing, and the Gold Coast its setting and sunshine (as well its location in the stronghold of V8 Supercar racing). Sydney has what ought to be one huge plus – not that the racing is run on the hallowed streets of the Olympic site, nor that the competition is supplemented by big concerts (so are Adelaide and the Gold Coast), not even that it is slap, bang in the middle of the country's biggest market, but that it is here that Australia's major motor racing championship climaxes.
Any of the three potential champions should be good news.
Courtney is already well known beyond the motorsport community for his television dancing stint. He'll be a breath of fresh air as champion -- no disrespect to Whincup intended.
The champion of the past two seasons has accumulated an amazing record in a short term. All the more amazing, still, because he was not rated highly by a couple of team owners who otherwise have shown a sharp eye for talent – Garry Rogers and Larry Perkins.
Winterbottom has been a bridesmaid in V8 Supercar racing for quite some time but if he were to come from so far behind to steal the title it would be a sensation.
For Ford, having seen Team Vodafone/Triple Eight Race Engineering take Whincup and Craig Lowndes across to Holden this season and seemingly set to see Courtney switch to Toll Holden Racing Team next year, the title in the hands of Ford Performance Racing's lead driver Winterbottom would be the best outcome.
But it's hard to envisage that it won't be Courtney hoisting the trophy on Sunday.
An incredible success it will be for him, in light of the turmoil that has embroiled Dick Johnson/Jim Beam Racing for so much of the season – and so publicly since around Bathurst time.
Courtney was a karting world champion and gave open-wheeler racing a big shot overseas – getting to the brink of Formula One. To have come home and settled into V8 Supercar racing, a national title five years later is deserved. He will be the face of the triumph.
Yet, we can't help thinking there is an irony to it all. Two and three years ago Dick Johnson, a multiple champion and Bathurst winner, was on skid row in V8 Supercars. DJR almost collapsed. Johnson's standing in many eyes was greatly diminished – particularly the eyes of creditors.
A forklift entrepreneur, Charlie Schwerkolt, then came to the rescue, buying half the team.
Schwerkolt is given much of the credit for turning around the team's fortunes. Yet Johnson and Schwerkolt have fallen out. Bitterly and, it seems, irretrievably.
For weeks it looked as though Schwerkolt would untangle himself from the DJR ownership imbroglio and take Courtney to run under the FPR umbrella next year. Now it appears Courtney is destined for HRT and Schwerkolt, surely the biggest shaker and mover in V8 Supercar circles of late, is in something of a no man's land in the sport.
And, if Courtney becomes champion this weekend, he will go into the history books having done it for Dick Johnson. It's a curious irony.
We make no judgment on either Johnson or Schwerkolt. Just glad that Australia's oldest touring car team survives, and hope a neat solution is found to the mess behind the success already achieved this year.
And may the best driver win the championship on the weekend.
Friday motorsport report
December 3, 2010
Three cheers for Courtney, Whincup and Winterbottom
It's a special, crucial, decisive weekend for V8 Supercar racing. By Sunday evening the sport could, probably will, have a new champion – 30-year-old James Courtney. Or it could have a triple champion, still only 27 – Jamie Whincup. And if things go horribly wrong on the streets of Homebush in Sydney for both Courtney and Whincup, another driver, not yet 30, could be the new champion – Mark Winterbottom. Highly unlikely that, though.
Courtney has 2932 points after 24 races in the V8 Supercar Championship, Whincup 2879 and Winterbottom 2729 – so 53 points between first and second, 150 between second and third, 203 between first and third. There's a maximum 300 points for any of them to earn in the weekend's two 250km races. Courtney's therefore in the box seat for the title.
Both Courtney and Winterbottom are western Sydney boys, even though neither resides there now. They're driving Ford Falcons, while Whincup is in a Holden Commodore after winning the championship the past two years in Ford.
There's a lot going for this second Sydney Telstra 500 at the 2000 Olympics precinct. Apart from the country's premier race series, the Fujitsu development series, the utes, the Touring Car Masters and the soon-to-be-no-more MINI Challenge are on the program (although not the exciting little Aussie Racing Cars, despite them being built just down the road). And there are big music concerts Saturday and Sunday nights.
While the V8 Supercar Championship has come down to the wire, as it ideally should, this weekend is going to be an important test of the strength of the category. A test in terms of the attendance the event draws to the circuit and the TV audience it attracts in Sydney and around the country, up against the Australian Open golf tournament, also in Sydney, and an Ashes cricket test in Adelaide.
It also will compete for attention with the never-ending stream of football news, especially the wash-up from Australia missing out overnight on hosting the 2022 soccer World Cup and the latest episode of players from whichever code behaving badly.
On top of all this, there's the strong prospect of a weekend of dodgy weather. Scattered showers are forecast for Sydney both days of the weekend.
A lot of NSW taxpayer dollars have gone into the Sydney Telstra 500 – most of it in the set-up for the first one last year.
Year one was moderately successful by many measures, although it didn't have the enthralling championship battle that this year does. Twelve months ago Whincup only needed to start one of the Homebush races to seal the title. Now this season's grand finale needs to find its place in the V8 Supercar – and broader Australian motor racing, and general sporting – charts.
As the conclusion to the championship, and the decider, in the biggest city and market in the country it needs to establish itself as at least the equal of Adelaide's 500 and the Gold Coast's now 600.
When V8 Supercar chief Tony Cochrane was fighting to establish the Sydney Telstra 500, and finally got his way with the NSW government, there were some saying it would be "The Bathurst of the Big Smoke". That's not something it's going to become in a couple of years.
First it needs to set itself above 10 or so other rounds and, as noted above, at least the equal of Adelaide and the Gold Coast.
Those other two have their own advantages – Adelaide being the first Australian round of the championship and a city with a particular passion for motor racing, and the Gold Coast its setting and sunshine (as well its location in the stronghold of V8 Supercar racing). Sydney has what ought to be one huge plus – not that the racing is run on the hallowed streets of the Olympic site, nor that the competition is supplemented by big concerts (so are Adelaide and the Gold Coast), not even that it is slap, bang in the middle of the country's biggest market, but that it is here that Australia's major motor racing championship climaxes.
Any of the three potential champions should be good news.
Courtney is already well known beyond the motorsport community for his television dancing stint. He'll be a breath of fresh air as champion -- no disrespect to Whincup intended.
The champion of the past two seasons has accumulated an amazing record in a short term. All the more amazing, still, because he was not rated highly by a couple of team owners who otherwise have shown a sharp eye for talent – Garry Rogers and Larry Perkins.
Winterbottom has been a bridesmaid in V8 Supercar racing for quite some time but if he were to come from so far behind to steal the title it would be a sensation.
For Ford, having seen Team Vodafone/Triple Eight Race Engineering take Whincup and Craig Lowndes across to Holden this season and seemingly set to see Courtney switch to Toll Holden Racing Team next year, the title in the hands of Ford Performance Racing's lead driver Winterbottom would be the best outcome.
But it's hard to envisage that it won't be Courtney hoisting the trophy on Sunday.
An incredible success it will be for him, in light of the turmoil that has embroiled Dick Johnson/Jim Beam Racing for so much of the season – and so publicly since around Bathurst time.
Courtney was a karting world champion and gave open-wheeler racing a big shot overseas – getting to the brink of Formula One. To have come home and settled into V8 Supercar racing, a national title five years later is deserved. He will be the face of the triumph.
Yet, we can't help thinking there is an irony to it all. Two and three years ago Dick Johnson, a multiple champion and Bathurst winner, was on skid row in V8 Supercars. DJR almost collapsed. Johnson's standing in many eyes was greatly diminished – particularly the eyes of creditors.
A forklift entrepreneur, Charlie Schwerkolt, then came to the rescue, buying half the team.
Schwerkolt is given much of the credit for turning around the team's fortunes. Yet Johnson and Schwerkolt have fallen out. Bitterly and, it seems, irretrievably.
For weeks it looked as though Schwerkolt would untangle himself from the DJR ownership imbroglio and take Courtney to run under the FPR umbrella next year. Now it appears Courtney is destined for HRT and Schwerkolt, surely the biggest shaker and mover in V8 Supercar circles of late, is in something of a no man's land in the sport.
And, if Courtney becomes champion this weekend, he will go into the history books having done it for Dick Johnson. It's a curious irony.
We make no judgment on either Johnson or Schwerkolt. Just glad that Australia's oldest touring car team survives, and hope a neat solution is found to the mess behind the success already achieved this year.
And may the best driver win the championship on the weekend.
Ferrari unleashes 458 Challenge at Bologna show
All-new factory racer promises to light up circuits around the world in 2011 as hostilities resume in Ferrari Challenge one-make series
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Ferrari used the Bologna motor show to peel the covers off its eagerly awaited new factory racer, the 458 Challenge. And the Italian racer looks every bit as tantalising as its sworn enemy, Porsche's latest 911 GT3 Cup car.
Conceived for the Ferrari Challenge (as was the case with the Challenge versions of its 348, F355, 360 and F430 predecessors), the latest track-focused car is based on the 458 Italia and is the fifth model used by Ferrari in its single-make racing series.
The Ferrari Challenge is currently split into Italian, European and North American championships, but these will from next year be supplemented by the new Asia-Pacific series.
The company claims the 458 Challenge is two seconds a lap quicker than its predecessor around Ferrari's Fiorano test track, setting a new benchmark of 1min 16.5sec. Equally impressive, according to Ferrari, is the amount of lateral grip the new racer generates -- up to 1.6G.
The direct injection 4499cc V8 remains in production tune, eking out 420kW at 9000rpm, but the gear ratios and calibration of its dual-clutch F1 gearbox have been tweaked to allegedly deliver more oomph at low revs.
As per the road-going model, the 458 Challenge is equipped with the E-Diff electronic differential, signalling the first time this technology has featured in a Ferrari track car.
The competition-focused chassis set-up brings steel uniball joints, stiffer springs, single-rate alloy dampers, centre-nut 19-inch forged rims, larger dimension Pirelli slicks and a ride height lowered by 50mm all round.
The 458 Challenge also scores the new-generation Brembo CCM2 brakes integrated with the latest ABS system that debuted on Ferrari's 599XX experimental racer/laboratory car.
Another first for a Ferrari Challenge model is the adoption of the F1-Trac traction control system, claimed to be the most sophisticated of its kind. Ferrari says the F1-Trac is completely integrated with the E-Diff to guarantee maximum stability and acceleration both into and out of corners.
The ABS/EBD, F1-Trac and E-Diff calibration settings are selected via the manettino on the steering wheel, the first time this technology has been adopted on a model developed for the Ferrari Challenge series.
The driver has a choice of three configurations: OFF position (traction control deactivated), position 1 and position 2. The latter two settings have progressively higher levels of control system intervention and are selected in accordance with grip conditions on the track.
Ferrari claims considerable time and effort went into trimming the car's weight (although the exact figure isn't mentioned in Ferrari's blurb). Measures resorted to include reducing the thickness of the body panels and making extensive of use of lightweight materials such as carbon-fibre and Lexan.
In the words of the company: "With the new 458 Challenge, Ferrari puts an exceptional combination of extreme performance, superb fun behind the wheel and unique driving emotions at the finger-tips of its sporting, professional and gentleman-driver clients."
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site.
prestige new cars » Get the best price on a new Ferrari
Ferrari used the Bologna motor show to peel the covers off its eagerly awaited new factory racer, the 458 Challenge. And the Italian racer looks every bit as tantalising as its sworn enemy, Porsche's latest 911 GT3 Cup car.
Conceived for the Ferrari Challenge (as was the case with the Challenge versions of its 348, F355, 360 and F430 predecessors), the latest track-focused car is based on the 458 Italia and is the fifth model used by Ferrari in its single-make racing series.
The Ferrari Challenge is currently split into Italian, European and North American championships, but these will from next year be supplemented by the new Asia-Pacific series.
The company claims the 458 Challenge is two seconds a lap quicker than its predecessor around Ferrari's Fiorano test track, setting a new benchmark of 1min 16.5sec. Equally impressive, according to Ferrari, is the amount of lateral grip the new racer generates -- up to 1.6G.
The direct injection 4499cc V8 remains in production tune, eking out 420kW at 9000rpm, but the gear ratios and calibration of its dual-clutch F1 gearbox have been tweaked to allegedly deliver more oomph at low revs.
As per the road-going model, the 458 Challenge is equipped with the E-Diff electronic differential, signalling the first time this technology has featured in a Ferrari track car.
The competition-focused chassis set-up brings steel uniball joints, stiffer springs, single-rate alloy dampers, centre-nut 19-inch forged rims, larger dimension Pirelli slicks and a ride height lowered by 50mm all round.
The 458 Challenge also scores the new-generation Brembo CCM2 brakes integrated with the latest ABS system that debuted on Ferrari's 599XX experimental racer/laboratory car.
Another first for a Ferrari Challenge model is the adoption of the F1-Trac traction control system, claimed to be the most sophisticated of its kind. Ferrari says the F1-Trac is completely integrated with the E-Diff to guarantee maximum stability and acceleration both into and out of corners.
The ABS/EBD, F1-Trac and E-Diff calibration settings are selected via the manettino on the steering wheel, the first time this technology has been adopted on a model developed for the Ferrari Challenge series.
The driver has a choice of three configurations: OFF position (traction control deactivated), position 1 and position 2. The latter two settings have progressively higher levels of control system intervention and are selected in accordance with grip conditions on the track.
Ferrari claims considerable time and effort went into trimming the car's weight (although the exact figure isn't mentioned in Ferrari's blurb). Measures resorted to include reducing the thickness of the body panels and making extensive of use of lightweight materials such as carbon-fibre and Lexan.
In the words of the company: "With the new 458 Challenge, Ferrari puts an exceptional combination of extreme performance, superb fun behind the wheel and unique driving emotions at the finger-tips of its sporting, professional and gentleman-driver clients."
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site.
Audi A1 aims to beat Mini in its first year
German city-car poised to drive another sales surge, with prices starting from under $30,000
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The Audi A1 may be small but there's a lot riding on its petite frame. Indeed, the German prestige brand expects to outsell its main rival, the MINI Cooper hatch, within its first 12 months on sale.
And it is taking the fight to the streets, with mobile A1 showrooms set to appear in St Kilda and Southern Cross Station in Melbourne, and Darling Harbour and Bondi in Sydney over the next fortnight.
At the launch of the A1 in Melbourne overnight, the boss of Audi Australia, Uwe Hagen, told the Carsales Network that the company expected to sell in excess of 2000 cars in its first full year on sale.
MINI has customarily sold about 2000 Coopers a year and is on track to eclipse that figure in 2010. But the A1 could put a dent on the dominance of the BMW-owned small car icon.
"We don't target the MINI specifically," Hagen said. "The rivals for the A1 are all types of cars. People are downsizing and coming from completely different vehicles, not only small cars."
When asked how many A1 Audi dealers expected to sell, Hagen said: "For sure I think 2000 sales is not a problem. If this is more than MINI then so be it, but that is not the target."
Hagen said that the premium small car market was growing so rapidly that there was room for everyone.
"I think we can all exist. The market is really expanding – so far this year it is up 33 per cent."
He said the A1 was a "new entry gate" to the Audi brand but would also help give the company another sales surge.
In the past three years, Audi sales have grown by 30 per cent, then 20 per cent, waning to a forecast 10 per cent this year.
"If we do an extra 2000 cars with the A1, as well as get some improvement from our other models, we should again get in the high teens, maybe 18 per cent growth in 2011," Hagen opined.
Audi believes between 80 and 90 per cent of A1 owners will be new to the Audi brand.
"We hope to have them come to Audi for the A1 and then stay with us," he said.
The Audi A1 starts from $29,990 for a 1.4-litre turbo four-cylinder petrol model with six-speed manual, ranging to the top grade model with a seven-speed twin clutch automated transmission at $35,000 (both prices exclude registration and dealer charges).
To appeal to "young urban professionals", Audi has introduced a finance package that bundles lease repayments and scheduled servicing for $169 per week. The interest rate is locked at 9 per cent and the terms vary from 36 to 48 months, depending on the model.
The A1 is reasonably well equipped but there is at least one glaring oversight. Wireless Bluetooth phone connection, standard on many cars that are less than half the price of the littlest Audi, is part of an option pack that costs between $1450 and $1800 depending on the model.
A 1.6-litre turbodiesel will be introduced mid-2011, and a five door variant will follow in 2012. A cabrio is not yet confirmed but could arrive in 2013.
The much anticipated all-wheel-drive, high performance S1 has been ruled out as it would be too expensive to modify the rear underbody to fit the all-wheel-drive system. Instead the S1 will have to wait until the next all-new model is developed for release in five years' time.
The Audi A1 shares its core underbody with the latest Volkswagen Polo – the reigning World Car of the Year and already a winner of a number of awards in Australia in 2010. Audi, however, is at pains to point out it has made significant engineering changes to improve quality, refinement and dynamics.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site.
prestige new cars » Get the best price on a new Audi
The Audi A1 may be small but there's a lot riding on its petite frame. Indeed, the German prestige brand expects to outsell its main rival, the MINI Cooper hatch, within its first 12 months on sale.
And it is taking the fight to the streets, with mobile A1 showrooms set to appear in St Kilda and Southern Cross Station in Melbourne, and Darling Harbour and Bondi in Sydney over the next fortnight.
At the launch of the A1 in Melbourne overnight, the boss of Audi Australia, Uwe Hagen, told the Carsales Network that the company expected to sell in excess of 2000 cars in its first full year on sale.
MINI has customarily sold about 2000 Coopers a year and is on track to eclipse that figure in 2010. But the A1 could put a dent on the dominance of the BMW-owned small car icon.
"We don't target the MINI specifically," Hagen said. "The rivals for the A1 are all types of cars. People are downsizing and coming from completely different vehicles, not only small cars."
When asked how many A1 Audi dealers expected to sell, Hagen said: "For sure I think 2000 sales is not a problem. If this is more than MINI then so be it, but that is not the target."
Hagen said that the premium small car market was growing so rapidly that there was room for everyone.
"I think we can all exist. The market is really expanding – so far this year it is up 33 per cent."
He said the A1 was a "new entry gate" to the Audi brand but would also help give the company another sales surge.
In the past three years, Audi sales have grown by 30 per cent, then 20 per cent, waning to a forecast 10 per cent this year.
"If we do an extra 2000 cars with the A1, as well as get some improvement from our other models, we should again get in the high teens, maybe 18 per cent growth in 2011," Hagen opined.
Audi believes between 80 and 90 per cent of A1 owners will be new to the Audi brand.
"We hope to have them come to Audi for the A1 and then stay with us," he said.
The Audi A1 starts from $29,990 for a 1.4-litre turbo four-cylinder petrol model with six-speed manual, ranging to the top grade model with a seven-speed twin clutch automated transmission at $35,000 (both prices exclude registration and dealer charges).
To appeal to "young urban professionals", Audi has introduced a finance package that bundles lease repayments and scheduled servicing for $169 per week. The interest rate is locked at 9 per cent and the terms vary from 36 to 48 months, depending on the model.
The A1 is reasonably well equipped but there is at least one glaring oversight. Wireless Bluetooth phone connection, standard on many cars that are less than half the price of the littlest Audi, is part of an option pack that costs between $1450 and $1800 depending on the model.
A 1.6-litre turbodiesel will be introduced mid-2011, and a five door variant will follow in 2012. A cabrio is not yet confirmed but could arrive in 2013.
The much anticipated all-wheel-drive, high performance S1 has been ruled out as it would be too expensive to modify the rear underbody to fit the all-wheel-drive system. Instead the S1 will have to wait until the next all-new model is developed for release in five years' time.
The Audi A1 shares its core underbody with the latest Volkswagen Polo – the reigning World Car of the Year and already a winner of a number of awards in Australia in 2010. Audi, however, is at pains to point out it has made significant engineering changes to improve quality, refinement and dynamics.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site.
Honda dragging its heels on diesel
Other importers are seeing good sales of diesel models but Honda still can't hop on the gravy train just yet
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Honda is one of the few brands in Australia without a diesel option among its range. Worse still, the local arm is forced to watch others enjoy significant sales momentum for diesel's frugal motoring.
Cost and source are the two main issues preventing diesel Honda models from appearing in local showrooms, according to spokesmen for the brand.
Honda is developing new, more efficient petrol engines and a small diesel option for Europe by 2012, but Honda Australia "does not plan to introduce it," according to company MD Satoshi Matsuzawa.
"That doesn't mean diesel is off the table [for Australian Honda customers]," he quickly added during the press conference for the launch of the new Insight.
"We need to assess whether it is viable and profitable," he explained.
But surely its viability and profit-making potential is obvious when some brands' volume is attributed to up to 50 per cent diesel models?
"There's clearly a market for diesels so we're not ruling it out," said Stephen Collins, General Manager Sales and Marketing for Honda Australia.
"At the end of the day the business case has to add up and cost [currently] is an issue. But we certainly recognise the opportunity, in various segments... We don't deny there's an opportunity there."
The figures won't "add up" for at least 12 months, Collins suggested. "Beyond there, we're still working through it [the case for diesel]... It's certainly an interest but at this stage we can't confirm anything in that respect."
Not only is the cost of sourcing Honda diesel powerplants for local buyers prohibitive but the local team also needs to close-up the price for a diesel over a petrol engine.
"Ultimately the premium between a diesel and petrol [offering] needs to be reasonable in its marketplace, especially given how competitive our marketplace is," said Collins.
Honda Australia's National Public Relations Manager, Mark Higgins added factory costs and a lack of surplus also delayed plans for a diesel offering locally.
Currently the well-acclaimed 2.2-litre turbodiesel is available in European-market Accord, Civic hatch and CR-V models and even if Honda Australia could trim source expenses, supply would be constrained due to demand elsewhere.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at the carsales mobile site.
discount new cars games » Get the best price on a new Honda
Honda is one of the few brands in Australia without a diesel option among its range. Worse still, the local arm is forced to watch others enjoy significant sales momentum for diesel's frugal motoring.
Cost and source are the two main issues preventing diesel Honda models from appearing in local showrooms, according to spokesmen for the brand.
Honda is developing new, more efficient petrol engines and a small diesel option for Europe by 2012, but Honda Australia "does not plan to introduce it," according to company MD Satoshi Matsuzawa.
"That doesn't mean diesel is off the table [for Australian Honda customers]," he quickly added during the press conference for the launch of the new Insight.
"We need to assess whether it is viable and profitable," he explained.
But surely its viability and profit-making potential is obvious when some brands' volume is attributed to up to 50 per cent diesel models?
"There's clearly a market for diesels so we're not ruling it out," said Stephen Collins, General Manager Sales and Marketing for Honda Australia.
"At the end of the day the business case has to add up and cost [currently] is an issue. But we certainly recognise the opportunity, in various segments... We don't deny there's an opportunity there."
The figures won't "add up" for at least 12 months, Collins suggested. "Beyond there, we're still working through it [the case for diesel]... It's certainly an interest but at this stage we can't confirm anything in that respect."
Not only is the cost of sourcing Honda diesel powerplants for local buyers prohibitive but the local team also needs to close-up the price for a diesel over a petrol engine.
"Ultimately the premium between a diesel and petrol [offering] needs to be reasonable in its marketplace, especially given how competitive our marketplace is," said Collins.
Honda Australia's National Public Relations Manager, Mark Higgins added factory costs and a lack of surplus also delayed plans for a diesel offering locally.
Currently the well-acclaimed 2.2-litre turbodiesel is available in European-market Accord, Civic hatch and CR-V models and even if Honda Australia could trim source expenses, supply would be constrained due to demand elsewhere.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at the carsales mobile site.
Honda's new micro-car unveiled
Sub-Jazz model to take on Suzuki Alto – but not in Australia
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This is not a new Mazda. It's Honda's new price-busting city car, the Brio.
It was unveiled at the Thailand International Motor Expo in Bangkok last week and, although it bears a striking resemblance to the Mazda2 from the front and side views, it is in fact designed to sell in the sub-light car class against the Suzuki Alto. But it won't be doing that here.
The Honda Brio has been designed for emerging markets, and Australia is not on the list of likely destinations, says Honda Australia spokesman Mark Higgins.
"At this stage the Honda Brio is not for Australia," he said. "It's not been offered to us and was never intended for us. The Brio is intended for developing countries such as India, Thailand and other parts of the Asia-Pacific and is not yet confirmed for Honda Australia. If anything were to change, and if it were to become available to us, we would certainly look at it."
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
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This is not a new Mazda. It's Honda's new price-busting city car, the Brio.
It was unveiled at the Thailand International Motor Expo in Bangkok last week and, although it bears a striking resemblance to the Mazda2 from the front and side views, it is in fact designed to sell in the sub-light car class against the Suzuki Alto. But it won't be doing that here.
The Honda Brio has been designed for emerging markets, and Australia is not on the list of likely destinations, says Honda Australia spokesman Mark Higgins.
"At this stage the Honda Brio is not for Australia," he said. "It's not been offered to us and was never intended for us. The Brio is intended for developing countries such as India, Thailand and other parts of the Asia-Pacific and is not yet confirmed for Honda Australia. If anything were to change, and if it were to become available to us, we would certainly look at it."
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
2012 Mercedes SLK leaked on promo film
Baby Benz roadster exposed well ahead of world debut at next March's Geneva motor show
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We gave you a glimpse of what was in store a few months ago, and now Mercedes-Benz itself has revealed its all-new SLK in a French promotional video that appears to have prematurely found its way onto youtube (watch the video here).
The touchy-feely promo film runs for almost 10 minutes and confirms much of what we had already suspected, especially the fact that its styling draws heavily from that of Merc's SLS AMG flagship as well as from the recently revealed CLS.
The promotional video provides ample footage of the new SLK's details, as well as of the car in motion, highlighting its more contemporary and aggressive design language, particularly its face, which is fronted by slanted headlights and a thrusting grille emblazoned with the three-star logo.
Kit levels are set to grow as the available features list will include Intelligent Light System, Distronic Plus, a Harman Kardon sound system, Dynamic Handling Package with Adaptive Suspension, Comand Online with internet access and Sun-Reflective Leather.
The new SLK's petrol-engine line-up will consist entirely of direct-injection powerplants (which Merc identifies with the "CGI" moniker) with Eco start-stop function. The 7G-Tronic Plus seven-speed auto will be standard across the range.
Also on offer will be the draft-stopping Airguide and Panoramic Vario Roof with 'Magic Sky Control', which darkens the glass roof panel at the touch of a button.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
discount new cars » Get the best price on a new Mercedes-Benz
We gave you a glimpse of what was in store a few months ago, and now Mercedes-Benz itself has revealed its all-new SLK in a French promotional video that appears to have prematurely found its way onto youtube (watch the video here).
The touchy-feely promo film runs for almost 10 minutes and confirms much of what we had already suspected, especially the fact that its styling draws heavily from that of Merc's SLS AMG flagship as well as from the recently revealed CLS.
The promotional video provides ample footage of the new SLK's details, as well as of the car in motion, highlighting its more contemporary and aggressive design language, particularly its face, which is fronted by slanted headlights and a thrusting grille emblazoned with the three-star logo.
Kit levels are set to grow as the available features list will include Intelligent Light System, Distronic Plus, a Harman Kardon sound system, Dynamic Handling Package with Adaptive Suspension, Comand Online with internet access and Sun-Reflective Leather.
The new SLK's petrol-engine line-up will consist entirely of direct-injection powerplants (which Merc identifies with the "CGI" moniker) with Eco start-stop function. The 7G-Tronic Plus seven-speed auto will be standard across the range.
Also on offer will be the draft-stopping Airguide and Panoramic Vario Roof with 'Magic Sky Control', which darkens the glass roof panel at the touch of a button.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
Thứ Bảy, 24 tháng 3, 2012
Hyundai Veloster set for Detroit debut
Value-packed sportster will finally be revealed in production form at next month's Detroit motor show
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Hyundai has officially confirmed the production version of its Veloster sporty hatchback -- revealed in concept form (pictured) at the 2007 Seoul motor show -- will debut on January 10 at the Detroit motor show.
Heavily disguised prototypes of the compact sportster have been spied on numerous occasions over the past several months, but Hyundai's latest anouncement is accompanied by a short teaser video (watch it here) that gives away a few tidbits of key information.
We already knew a direct-injection engine (a version of Hyundai's Theta II GDI powerplant) was destined to reside under the car's pointy snout, but now we know it will be mated to a VW Golf/Scirocco-mimicking dual-clutch transmission.
Interestingly enough, Veloster prototypes have been spied testing alongside the Scirocco, so it's clear what the South Koreans have been benchmarking the car's dynamics against.
The teaser video also highlights a consumption figure of 40 miles per gallon (5.9L/100km), so we're sticking to our earlier speculation that the base powerplant will be a smaller unit than the 2.4 engine used by the i45 (aka Sonata).
Importantly, the video also provides confirmation that the concept's Veloster moniker would be car games ried over to the production car, and Hyundai America CEO John Krafcik has been quoted as saying the showroom version retains between 70-80 per cent of the design language previewed by the show car.
Spy shots aired over the past few months suggest the Veloster could sport a MINI Clubman-esque rear-hinged door on the passenger side to provide easer ingress/egress to the rear seats.
As previously reported, value for money will be one of the Veloster's USPs, with Krafcik touting the car's fun factor and fuel economy. In this respect it will compete head-on against the Honda CRX, with which it shares its basic proportions.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at the carsales mobile site.
discount new cars » Get the best price on a new Hyundai
Hyundai has officially confirmed the production version of its Veloster sporty hatchback -- revealed in concept form (pictured) at the 2007 Seoul motor show -- will debut on January 10 at the Detroit motor show.
Heavily disguised prototypes of the compact sportster have been spied on numerous occasions over the past several months, but Hyundai's latest anouncement is accompanied by a short teaser video (watch it here) that gives away a few tidbits of key information.
We already knew a direct-injection engine (a version of Hyundai's Theta II GDI powerplant) was destined to reside under the car's pointy snout, but now we know it will be mated to a VW Golf/Scirocco-mimicking dual-clutch transmission.
Interestingly enough, Veloster prototypes have been spied testing alongside the Scirocco, so it's clear what the South Koreans have been benchmarking the car's dynamics against.
The teaser video also highlights a consumption figure of 40 miles per gallon (5.9L/100km), so we're sticking to our earlier speculation that the base powerplant will be a smaller unit than the 2.4 engine used by the i45 (aka Sonata).
Importantly, the video also provides confirmation that the concept's Veloster moniker would be car games ried over to the production car, and Hyundai America CEO John Krafcik has been quoted as saying the showroom version retains between 70-80 per cent of the design language previewed by the show car.
Spy shots aired over the past few months suggest the Veloster could sport a MINI Clubman-esque rear-hinged door on the passenger side to provide easer ingress/egress to the rear seats.
As previously reported, value for money will be one of the Veloster's USPs, with Krafcik touting the car's fun factor and fuel economy. In this respect it will compete head-on against the Honda CRX, with which it shares its basic proportions.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at the carsales mobile site.
CN's gripes of 2010
It's not all sugar and spice behind the wheel as the Carsales Network team reveals its pet hates for 2010
Gripes of the year 2010
In this job, you'd think we find it pretty hard to complain about anything, really. But at the end of each year there's always something to get on our goat and for 2010 the main bones of contention are car safety, road safety and safety cameras... Notice a theme?
Mike Sinclair - Editor in Chief
Broken record time... For once I'm not going to whine about poor product, poor marketing or poor performances -- from a car or car company. Frankly of the cars I drove in 2010 there wasn't a huge amount to grizzle about -- a clanger here and there but pretty good overall.
No, the thing that got on my wick this year (and in most other years) was road safety -- in particular the hackneyed and predictable focus on speed as the only cause of road trauma. When are the pollies and road safety 'professionals' going to understand that people have switched off...
If, and it's a huge arguable if, speed is the main enemy, then the campaigns have failed. Indeed, by governments like Victoria's own admission they have failed. Well, they must have -- why else, logically, would they continue to budget for the revenue they expect to gather from speed cameras to increase.
Fine-based 'hit them with a stick' road safety does not work. Fining people for petty minor speed infractions actually turns them against any of the potential positives. In my experience, even more concerning, it makes them actively contrary to the road safety messages that are proffered.
Certain Australian state governments are now hooked on fine (and pokies) revenues. It's about time they got real and admitted it instead of pretending to want to really progress road safety.
Ken Gratton - News Editor
I'm going to make myself unpopular with members of the brotherhood here, but my gripe is the constant fixation of journalists with Ford's local manufacturing/indigenous Falcon design future. We just go round and round in circles with sections of the press beating the same drum over and over again.
If even Ford Australia doesn't yet know how the post-2015 Falcon will look, why bother with ill-informed speculation -- and yes, some of it is certainly ill-informed and misreported, as we know from the Detroit show early in the year.
The parochial syndrome is now well-known among Ford's higher-placed executives too, with Alan Mulally telling one Aussie journalist at the Paris Motor Show that he wouldn't discuss Falcon -- since he would be just repeating the same thing he has told this journalist for the past 18 months to two years.
While I don't subscribe to the view that negative reporting is necessarily a self-fulfilling prophecy as then-CEO Rob McEniry suggested of the ABC's coverage when Mitsubishi's local manufacturing was looking less sustainable, I'm sure that Holden and Toyota would be pleased not to be in Ford's shoes at the present.
Melissa McCormick - Production Editor
Australian drivers, Victorian road rules... This might as well be an ongoing gripe.
My brilliant career involves lots of travel to various car-making countries; encountering odd environments (driving on the 'wrong' side of the road, weird line markings, 'where are we?' and 'am I in a bus lane?!' moments...) and of course the road mannerisms of the locals. So how come the 'culture' of road-use in these places (admittedly with Western or Westernised transport infrastructure) seems far more considerate and obliging than that shown by us, with our big backyards and great weather?
Observing local driving tactics during taxi trips from Tulla, not long after driving an Optima in Seoul for example, confirms the worst: truck drivers and slow-moving cars in the right-hand lane, tradies on mobile phones or the horn, P-platers texting... To quote one taxi driver this year (Indian-born; driving for 25 years): "Some people's driving here makes me sick. We have far more cars, more bikes and more people to deal with on the roads at home..."
Sitting in traffic around overweight cities like Melbourne is made worse by perspective-deficient tools leaving too much space between themselves and the car in front. See Volvo's latest idea on road 'trains' to prevent road congestion...
Feann Torr - Staff Journalist
The increasing number of 'safety cameras'. In Victoria at least, the number of fixed and mobile speed cameras is increasing by the month yet while the politicians rake in the cash, the road toll is still rising. Rather than looking at advanced driving training and driving behavior, or perhaps safer roads, the powers that be just install more 'safety cameras' and make us feel like criminals for nudging a few kilometers over the speed limit.
Speed is not always the issue, but it's a convenient and incredibly lucrative one.
Matt Brogan -Staff Journalist
I guess there's not a lot to complain about. I mean for a small nation (in population terms) we get a massive selection of makes and models to choose from. But what is a bother is that there are a number of vehicles we could readily have access to but don't receive due to our perceived “likes and dislikes”.
All too often at press launches we hear that a car isn't what the public wants, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary. ADR compliance issues sometimes exacerbate the issue with windscreen thickness and ISOFIX preparation two notable variations that often hold up or prevent imports. Further, certain combinations of make/type or engine/gearbox selection don't make the grade.
One example that springs to mind is a pair of Japanese manufactures who don't offer an automatic option with their diesel engines, or other that don't offer a diesel option at all, despite them being available elsewhere in the right-hand drive world. Suspension tuning is another gripe, where stiffening the hell out of a car seems to mean it's "tuned for Australian conditions".
I know these examples are in the minority and we should be grateful for the level of choice we have, but until we are completely understood by our metal making overlords things are unlikely to improve. My suggestion: Vote with your feet!
Joshua Dowling - Contributing Writer
Sorry, I can't contain it to one this year. I have three main gripes. Missing curtain airbags, inflator kits for tyres, and speed cameras.
First: missing curtain airbags. Carmakers which still try to charge extra for basic safety features need a reality check. This stuff gets me so angry I may run out of space, or not get to my other two whinges for 2010.
Why is it you can buy a $12,990 Suzuki Alto with six airbags and stability control, and cars dearer than this don't have these features?
Among those on the shame file are:
Falcon... Ford still charges extra for full length curtain airbags on some models when its rivals have had them across the sedan range for years) Ford: it costs $300 retail, so the cost to you must be fifty bucks. Tick the box and get over it.
The new cut price Mitsubishi Outlander and Challenger models (two airbags only, side and curtains optional, are you serious?). The Ford Fiesta base model has curtains as an option despite now coming from low-cost Thailand -- and despite the fact that many cars cheaper than it has six or more airbags standard (including Nissan Micra, Holden Barina Spark, new Suzuki Swift etc.)
And why did Toyota fit curtain airbags to the 1.5 Yaris and not the 1.3? Because the extra airbags would have made no difference to the 1.3's ANCAP safety score because it didn't have stability control at the time. So the base Yaris has no stability control and you have to pay for the extra airbags. Plain nasty, but there's worse...
Why has the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries allowed cars without anti-lock brakes to be sold? Why didn't the FCAI get its members in one room, bang their heads together and say 'Let's all do ABS, it's the only right thing to do'. And yet, less than 12 months from stability control being compulsory we still have Holden, Hyundai, Kia and Proton selling their price-leading hatchbacks at teaser prices -- without such basics as antilock.
Second topic: inflator kits for tyres instead of space savers. The fine people at Ford have removed the skinny space saver and replaced it with a can of goo in the new Fiesta. Volvo did the same with the new S60 sedan. Memo to Europe: you all need your heads read.
Let's take one of the European engineers out to the middle of nowhere and give them a flat tyre where the sidewall has split. Let's see how far a can of goo gets them. More than 3000 flat tyres are changed daily in one capital city alone. I don't buy the argument that flat tyres hardly ever happen. By Ford's reasoning we don't need seatbelts or airbags because we hardly ever crash. Oh, that's right, Ford doesn't put all airbags in all its cars.
A full-size spare tyre means you're on your way again in 15 minutes at worst. Does anyone really think 20kg of spare tyre is going to be felt in their fuel economy? No chance. It's all to save carmakers money, not car buyers.
If carmakers want to put a can of goo in the boot, fine. But it should be compulsory for customers to be told this before they sign on the dotted line when buying the car. If there is nothing for the customer to be concerned about, as Ford tried to force feed us recently, then there should be no trouble telling the customer before they buy the car -- or get stranded in the middle of nowhere.
Despite how cosmopolitan Australia likes to think it is sometimes, it is still a vast country with long, remote distances between its capital cities and regional centres.
Third topic: speed cameras. Soft target, I know. Speed cameras no doubt got a mention elsewhere in this section, but here's my two-bob's worth. If speed cameras are so great at preventing road deaths, why is it that the road tolls in Victoria and Queensland (which have widespread use of covert and mobile cameras) have not reduced by as much as the road toll in NSW (which has not had mobile cameras in recent years until a rollout of seven covert Ford Territorys mid-year)?
The five-year data from the Australian crash safety bureau shows this anomaly. Surely this is evidence there is no direct link between speed cameras and fatal crash reductions.
Michael Taylor- International Correspondent
The complete lack of official Australian government and police reaction to the visit and comments of Benz's safety guru, Dr Mellinghoff.
They ignored Holden's Laurie Sparke for years because his perspective and depth of knowledge was inconvenient to Speed Kills arguments, and they did the same with Mellinghoff.
Gautam Sharma - International Correspondent
BMW was regularly lambasted during the Bangle era for doing things to the styling of luxury sedans that nobody thought should be done. Sure, they looked a little confronting, but the superseded 5 Series and 7 Series had a real sense of innovation and envelope-stretching about them.
Not everyone liked them, but no one can deny they were among the most influential luxo sedans of the past decade. Why then is it that their successors are so plain ho-hum and unadventurous? Yes, they're elegantly proportioned and laden with techno features, but there's no way they'll spark any debate or animated discussions. BMW has played it super-safe with their styling and this is sufficient cause for me to get up on my soapbox and have a rant.
Audi is guilty of the same conservative approach. The A4/A6/A8 seemingly come from the Russian doll styling manual, whereby each one is a virtual clone of the other, with size being the only real differentiator.
I'm sure the brainiacs in charge have done their sums and determined this is the best path to go down, but I would liked to have seen each model endowed with its own unique identity, without totally abandoning the brand's family look.
Jeremy Bass - Green Motoring Writer
The financial bankruptcy of Sydney's Lane Cove Tunnel and the squeals of pain from the operator of Brisbane's Clem7 tunnel provide us with yet more proof of the political bankruptcy driving public-private partnerships. The LCT (and the Cross City Tunnel before it) wasn't even made viable by the wilful ruination of surface traffic routes to funnel drivers through the tollgates.
What's most galling about it is the subsequent propping up at taxpayer and road-user expense of the private operators who took on the projects in the first place. Whatever happened to the entrepreneurial assumption of risk after due diligence and proper assessment?
Business journalist Michael Pascoe summed it up in his recent dismissal of Gerry Harvey's grumblings about online competitors: “Scratch any red-blooded free-market-loving capitalist and you'll find someone who either wants a monopoly or government assistance.”
Maybe some things are just not made for profit. Now, when will state governments acknowledge the social costs of a AAA credit rating?
Anyhow, for the moment, half the people taking up Sydney's roads aren't driving on them -- they're standing on them in fluoro jackets and hard hats. The entire metro area has been reduced to one massive roadworks zone with flashing merge-arrows everywhere, lanes blocked by trenches and great piles of dirt, while nature strips everywhere are covered in lights, generators and all manner of big yellow machines.
Fortunately, the end is in sight. Sometime around the end of February, for the first time in living memory, the roadworks -- all the roadworks -- will be complete. Just in time for the state election. The cynicism of politicians is matched only by cynicism about politicians.
Finally, can someone please tell marketers what 'dynamic' means? It's up there among 'edgy', 'funky' and that old favourite 'icon'
Mike McCarthy - Contributing Writer
Friends, Romans and fellow drivers, lend me your gears. As a newly inducted GOB (Grumpy Old Bloke), I can't help but cite ongoing Ozzie apathy as 2010's grande gripe.
Glaring instances abound of our infinite capacity to meekly absorb whatever authoritarian wrongs come our way. More than too many objectionable subjects exist even within our spheres of motoring.
In just one f'rinstance, reflect upon our woosy acceptance of covert speed cameras, despite that insidious tactic being irrevocably contrary to straight policing and a healthy society. But it pays well. Next you'll believe in the Easter Bunny and Safety Cameras. Bah, humbug!
When were you last pulled over and warned, not necessarily booked, by a Safety Camera? Hell, it could be weeks before you learn you did a bad thing. No matter how much spin surrounds cameras, they're not safety sentinels. Try Speed Tax devices. That's them.
Ah, but we're told that if you don't speed you have nothing to fear. The gullibility is frightening. In gospel truth, speed cameras are not infallible. You know it, I know it and the police and pollies know it. Red light cameras aren't saintly either. Yet they're breeding in spite of solid overseas data that red-runners are statistically few and rarely trigger crashes.
On top of which, red-light cameras' strike rate is easily misled by traffic flow's inconsistencies, and is readily manipulated (by income-challenged authorities) by 'adjusting' the green/amber phases. Someone should tell the wallopers that monitoring Stop signs would be more lucrative.
Also more effective, if that counts for anything.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at the carsales mobile site
Gripes of the year 2010
In this job, you'd think we find it pretty hard to complain about anything, really. But at the end of each year there's always something to get on our goat and for 2010 the main bones of contention are car safety, road safety and safety cameras... Notice a theme?
Mike Sinclair - Editor in Chief
Broken record time... For once I'm not going to whine about poor product, poor marketing or poor performances -- from a car or car company. Frankly of the cars I drove in 2010 there wasn't a huge amount to grizzle about -- a clanger here and there but pretty good overall.
No, the thing that got on my wick this year (and in most other years) was road safety -- in particular the hackneyed and predictable focus on speed as the only cause of road trauma. When are the pollies and road safety 'professionals' going to understand that people have switched off...
If, and it's a huge arguable if, speed is the main enemy, then the campaigns have failed. Indeed, by governments like Victoria's own admission they have failed. Well, they must have -- why else, logically, would they continue to budget for the revenue they expect to gather from speed cameras to increase.
Fine-based 'hit them with a stick' road safety does not work. Fining people for petty minor speed infractions actually turns them against any of the potential positives. In my experience, even more concerning, it makes them actively contrary to the road safety messages that are proffered.
Certain Australian state governments are now hooked on fine (and pokies) revenues. It's about time they got real and admitted it instead of pretending to want to really progress road safety.
Ken Gratton - News Editor
I'm going to make myself unpopular with members of the brotherhood here, but my gripe is the constant fixation of journalists with Ford's local manufacturing/indigenous Falcon design future. We just go round and round in circles with sections of the press beating the same drum over and over again.
If even Ford Australia doesn't yet know how the post-2015 Falcon will look, why bother with ill-informed speculation -- and yes, some of it is certainly ill-informed and misreported, as we know from the Detroit show early in the year.
The parochial syndrome is now well-known among Ford's higher-placed executives too, with Alan Mulally telling one Aussie journalist at the Paris Motor Show that he wouldn't discuss Falcon -- since he would be just repeating the same thing he has told this journalist for the past 18 months to two years.
While I don't subscribe to the view that negative reporting is necessarily a self-fulfilling prophecy as then-CEO Rob McEniry suggested of the ABC's coverage when Mitsubishi's local manufacturing was looking less sustainable, I'm sure that Holden and Toyota would be pleased not to be in Ford's shoes at the present.
Melissa McCormick - Production Editor
Australian drivers, Victorian road rules... This might as well be an ongoing gripe.
My brilliant career involves lots of travel to various car-making countries; encountering odd environments (driving on the 'wrong' side of the road, weird line markings, 'where are we?' and 'am I in a bus lane?!' moments...) and of course the road mannerisms of the locals. So how come the 'culture' of road-use in these places (admittedly with Western or Westernised transport infrastructure) seems far more considerate and obliging than that shown by us, with our big backyards and great weather?
Observing local driving tactics during taxi trips from Tulla, not long after driving an Optima in Seoul for example, confirms the worst: truck drivers and slow-moving cars in the right-hand lane, tradies on mobile phones or the horn, P-platers texting... To quote one taxi driver this year (Indian-born; driving for 25 years): "Some people's driving here makes me sick. We have far more cars, more bikes and more people to deal with on the roads at home..."
Sitting in traffic around overweight cities like Melbourne is made worse by perspective-deficient tools leaving too much space between themselves and the car in front. See Volvo's latest idea on road 'trains' to prevent road congestion...
Feann Torr - Staff Journalist
The increasing number of 'safety cameras'. In Victoria at least, the number of fixed and mobile speed cameras is increasing by the month yet while the politicians rake in the cash, the road toll is still rising. Rather than looking at advanced driving training and driving behavior, or perhaps safer roads, the powers that be just install more 'safety cameras' and make us feel like criminals for nudging a few kilometers over the speed limit.
Speed is not always the issue, but it's a convenient and incredibly lucrative one.
Matt Brogan -Staff Journalist
I guess there's not a lot to complain about. I mean for a small nation (in population terms) we get a massive selection of makes and models to choose from. But what is a bother is that there are a number of vehicles we could readily have access to but don't receive due to our perceived “likes and dislikes”.
All too often at press launches we hear that a car isn't what the public wants, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary. ADR compliance issues sometimes exacerbate the issue with windscreen thickness and ISOFIX preparation two notable variations that often hold up or prevent imports. Further, certain combinations of make/type or engine/gearbox selection don't make the grade.
One example that springs to mind is a pair of Japanese manufactures who don't offer an automatic option with their diesel engines, or other that don't offer a diesel option at all, despite them being available elsewhere in the right-hand drive world. Suspension tuning is another gripe, where stiffening the hell out of a car seems to mean it's "tuned for Australian conditions".
I know these examples are in the minority and we should be grateful for the level of choice we have, but until we are completely understood by our metal making overlords things are unlikely to improve. My suggestion: Vote with your feet!
Joshua Dowling - Contributing Writer
Sorry, I can't contain it to one this year. I have three main gripes. Missing curtain airbags, inflator kits for tyres, and speed cameras.
First: missing curtain airbags. Carmakers which still try to charge extra for basic safety features need a reality check. This stuff gets me so angry I may run out of space, or not get to my other two whinges for 2010.
Why is it you can buy a $12,990 Suzuki Alto with six airbags and stability control, and cars dearer than this don't have these features?
Among those on the shame file are:
Falcon... Ford still charges extra for full length curtain airbags on some models when its rivals have had them across the sedan range for years) Ford: it costs $300 retail, so the cost to you must be fifty bucks. Tick the box and get over it.
The new cut price Mitsubishi Outlander and Challenger models (two airbags only, side and curtains optional, are you serious?). The Ford Fiesta base model has curtains as an option despite now coming from low-cost Thailand -- and despite the fact that many cars cheaper than it has six or more airbags standard (including Nissan Micra, Holden Barina Spark, new Suzuki Swift etc.)
And why did Toyota fit curtain airbags to the 1.5 Yaris and not the 1.3? Because the extra airbags would have made no difference to the 1.3's ANCAP safety score because it didn't have stability control at the time. So the base Yaris has no stability control and you have to pay for the extra airbags. Plain nasty, but there's worse...
Why has the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries allowed cars without anti-lock brakes to be sold? Why didn't the FCAI get its members in one room, bang their heads together and say 'Let's all do ABS, it's the only right thing to do'. And yet, less than 12 months from stability control being compulsory we still have Holden, Hyundai, Kia and Proton selling their price-leading hatchbacks at teaser prices -- without such basics as antilock.
Second topic: inflator kits for tyres instead of space savers. The fine people at Ford have removed the skinny space saver and replaced it with a can of goo in the new Fiesta. Volvo did the same with the new S60 sedan. Memo to Europe: you all need your heads read.
Let's take one of the European engineers out to the middle of nowhere and give them a flat tyre where the sidewall has split. Let's see how far a can of goo gets them. More than 3000 flat tyres are changed daily in one capital city alone. I don't buy the argument that flat tyres hardly ever happen. By Ford's reasoning we don't need seatbelts or airbags because we hardly ever crash. Oh, that's right, Ford doesn't put all airbags in all its cars.
A full-size spare tyre means you're on your way again in 15 minutes at worst. Does anyone really think 20kg of spare tyre is going to be felt in their fuel economy? No chance. It's all to save carmakers money, not car buyers.
If carmakers want to put a can of goo in the boot, fine. But it should be compulsory for customers to be told this before they sign on the dotted line when buying the car. If there is nothing for the customer to be concerned about, as Ford tried to force feed us recently, then there should be no trouble telling the customer before they buy the car -- or get stranded in the middle of nowhere.
Despite how cosmopolitan Australia likes to think it is sometimes, it is still a vast country with long, remote distances between its capital cities and regional centres.
Third topic: speed cameras. Soft target, I know. Speed cameras no doubt got a mention elsewhere in this section, but here's my two-bob's worth. If speed cameras are so great at preventing road deaths, why is it that the road tolls in Victoria and Queensland (which have widespread use of covert and mobile cameras) have not reduced by as much as the road toll in NSW (which has not had mobile cameras in recent years until a rollout of seven covert Ford Territorys mid-year)?
The five-year data from the Australian crash safety bureau shows this anomaly. Surely this is evidence there is no direct link between speed cameras and fatal crash reductions.
Michael Taylor- International Correspondent
The complete lack of official Australian government and police reaction to the visit and comments of Benz's safety guru, Dr Mellinghoff.
They ignored Holden's Laurie Sparke for years because his perspective and depth of knowledge was inconvenient to Speed Kills arguments, and they did the same with Mellinghoff.
Gautam Sharma - International Correspondent
BMW was regularly lambasted during the Bangle era for doing things to the styling of luxury sedans that nobody thought should be done. Sure, they looked a little confronting, but the superseded 5 Series and 7 Series had a real sense of innovation and envelope-stretching about them.
Not everyone liked them, but no one can deny they were among the most influential luxo sedans of the past decade. Why then is it that their successors are so plain ho-hum and unadventurous? Yes, they're elegantly proportioned and laden with techno features, but there's no way they'll spark any debate or animated discussions. BMW has played it super-safe with their styling and this is sufficient cause for me to get up on my soapbox and have a rant.
Audi is guilty of the same conservative approach. The A4/A6/A8 seemingly come from the Russian doll styling manual, whereby each one is a virtual clone of the other, with size being the only real differentiator.
I'm sure the brainiacs in charge have done their sums and determined this is the best path to go down, but I would liked to have seen each model endowed with its own unique identity, without totally abandoning the brand's family look.
Jeremy Bass - Green Motoring Writer
The financial bankruptcy of Sydney's Lane Cove Tunnel and the squeals of pain from the operator of Brisbane's Clem7 tunnel provide us with yet more proof of the political bankruptcy driving public-private partnerships. The LCT (and the Cross City Tunnel before it) wasn't even made viable by the wilful ruination of surface traffic routes to funnel drivers through the tollgates.
What's most galling about it is the subsequent propping up at taxpayer and road-user expense of the private operators who took on the projects in the first place. Whatever happened to the entrepreneurial assumption of risk after due diligence and proper assessment?
Business journalist Michael Pascoe summed it up in his recent dismissal of Gerry Harvey's grumblings about online competitors: “Scratch any red-blooded free-market-loving capitalist and you'll find someone who either wants a monopoly or government assistance.”
Maybe some things are just not made for profit. Now, when will state governments acknowledge the social costs of a AAA credit rating?
Anyhow, for the moment, half the people taking up Sydney's roads aren't driving on them -- they're standing on them in fluoro jackets and hard hats. The entire metro area has been reduced to one massive roadworks zone with flashing merge-arrows everywhere, lanes blocked by trenches and great piles of dirt, while nature strips everywhere are covered in lights, generators and all manner of big yellow machines.
Fortunately, the end is in sight. Sometime around the end of February, for the first time in living memory, the roadworks -- all the roadworks -- will be complete. Just in time for the state election. The cynicism of politicians is matched only by cynicism about politicians.
Finally, can someone please tell marketers what 'dynamic' means? It's up there among 'edgy', 'funky' and that old favourite 'icon'
Mike McCarthy - Contributing Writer
Friends, Romans and fellow drivers, lend me your gears. As a newly inducted GOB (Grumpy Old Bloke), I can't help but cite ongoing Ozzie apathy as 2010's grande gripe.
Glaring instances abound of our infinite capacity to meekly absorb whatever authoritarian wrongs come our way. More than too many objectionable subjects exist even within our spheres of motoring.
In just one f'rinstance, reflect upon our woosy acceptance of covert speed cameras, despite that insidious tactic being irrevocably contrary to straight policing and a healthy society. But it pays well. Next you'll believe in the Easter Bunny and Safety Cameras. Bah, humbug!
When were you last pulled over and warned, not necessarily booked, by a Safety Camera? Hell, it could be weeks before you learn you did a bad thing. No matter how much spin surrounds cameras, they're not safety sentinels. Try Speed Tax devices. That's them.
Ah, but we're told that if you don't speed you have nothing to fear. The gullibility is frightening. In gospel truth, speed cameras are not infallible. You know it, I know it and the police and pollies know it. Red light cameras aren't saintly either. Yet they're breeding in spite of solid overseas data that red-runners are statistically few and rarely trigger crashes.
On top of which, red-light cameras' strike rate is easily misled by traffic flow's inconsistencies, and is readily manipulated (by income-challenged authorities) by 'adjusting' the green/amber phases. Someone should tell the wallopers that monitoring Stop signs would be more lucrative.
Also more effective, if that counts for anything.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at the carsales mobile site
2011 AIMS on target for Melb
Following the 2010 International Motor Show in Sydney, it's now Melbourne's turn for the new bi-annual show format
Melbourne will get its first experience of the new Australian International Motor Show format, shared with Sydney on a year-about basis, in 2011.
The AIMS venue remains the same -- Jeff's shed on the Yarra -- but the dates have been changed from the traditional, Australian Grand Prix-friendly February fixture to the second-semester mid-year school holidays in July. According to the organisers, this will provide "substantial potential for family attendance."
The 2011 Melbourne show -- a joint FCAI and VACC venture -- will be held between July 1 and July 10.
The new bi-annual show is expected to provide a "far greater opportunity to attract major exhibits" with AIMS director Russ Tyrie claiming that the concept "has been quickly accepted, and the first show (in Sydney) has created a solid platform for growth. There are indications already of increased support from exhibitors."
The shared bi-annual show format started in Sydney in October 2010 and was instituted during the global financial crisis partly because of declining attendances and partly to ease the financial burden on car-makers who had traditionally, but with increasing reluctance, deemed it necessary to have displays at both Sydney and Melbourne venues during the year.
It is hoped that concentrating on just one major show during the year will not only help car-maker budgets, but also increase the impact of new-car launches held close to show time.
According to Russ Tyrie, "The new date refreshes the show in Victoria, and the fact that it will be held once every two years heightens anticipation."
Sydney's first experience with the new format drew disappointing results, with visitor numbers of 139,412 only slightly above the 2008 number of 136,557 -- and well down on the 244,658 visitor peak experienced in 2007.
Melbourne's 2008 figures were significantly higher than Sydney's (243,000), but dropped to 160,000 in 2009.
The first Melbourne motor show was held in 1926, and it has been a regular spot on the Victorian calendar since then.
Sydney's second AIMS under the new bi-annual format will be in 2012.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
Melbourne will get its first experience of the new Australian International Motor Show format, shared with Sydney on a year-about basis, in 2011.
The AIMS venue remains the same -- Jeff's shed on the Yarra -- but the dates have been changed from the traditional, Australian Grand Prix-friendly February fixture to the second-semester mid-year school holidays in July. According to the organisers, this will provide "substantial potential for family attendance."
The 2011 Melbourne show -- a joint FCAI and VACC venture -- will be held between July 1 and July 10.
The new bi-annual show is expected to provide a "far greater opportunity to attract major exhibits" with AIMS director Russ Tyrie claiming that the concept "has been quickly accepted, and the first show (in Sydney) has created a solid platform for growth. There are indications already of increased support from exhibitors."
The shared bi-annual show format started in Sydney in October 2010 and was instituted during the global financial crisis partly because of declining attendances and partly to ease the financial burden on car-makers who had traditionally, but with increasing reluctance, deemed it necessary to have displays at both Sydney and Melbourne venues during the year.
It is hoped that concentrating on just one major show during the year will not only help car-maker budgets, but also increase the impact of new-car launches held close to show time.
According to Russ Tyrie, "The new date refreshes the show in Victoria, and the fact that it will be held once every two years heightens anticipation."
Sydney's first experience with the new format drew disappointing results, with visitor numbers of 139,412 only slightly above the 2008 number of 136,557 -- and well down on the 244,658 visitor peak experienced in 2007.
Melbourne's 2008 figures were significantly higher than Sydney's (243,000), but dropped to 160,000 in 2009.
The first Melbourne motor show was held in 1926, and it has been a regular spot on the Victorian calendar since then.
Sydney's second AIMS under the new bi-annual format will be in 2012.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
Thứ Sáu, 23 tháng 3, 2012
Queensland Flood Relief Appeal
Carsales will donate a portion of every private ad placed this month towards the Queensland Flood Relief Appeal
Carsales.com Ltd has announced it will donate $1.00 from every private classifieds advertisement placed this month, with proceeds to go towards the official Flood Relief Appeal.
The magnitude of the devastation is almost incomprehensible, with Toowoomba the latest city to feel the full brunt of the floods. And now Brisbane is also on high alert as the torrent of water heads east, with a number of businesses and government departments already closed and evacuations underway.
Once the flood waters subside, estimates place the damage at well over $5 billion.
And the human toll is also horrific, with eight people confirmed dead at the time of writing.
Not planning on selling your car? Then head over to the Queensland Flood Relief Appeal website to donate.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site.
Carsales.com Ltd has announced it will donate $1.00 from every private classifieds advertisement placed this month, with proceeds to go towards the official Flood Relief Appeal.
The magnitude of the devastation is almost incomprehensible, with Toowoomba the latest city to feel the full brunt of the floods. And now Brisbane is also on high alert as the torrent of water heads east, with a number of businesses and government departments already closed and evacuations underway.
Once the flood waters subside, estimates place the damage at well over $5 billion.
And the human toll is also horrific, with eight people confirmed dead at the time of writing.
Not planning on selling your car? Then head over to the Queensland Flood Relief Appeal website to donate.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site.
Ford's design schools merge in Vertrek concept
New SUV concept revealed in Detroit may not succeed Kuga and Escape, but introduces revised styling strategy
discount new cars » Get the best price on a new Ford
Ford has lifted the covers off the Vertrek concept in Detroit at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS).
A design study for a compact SUV, the Vertrek incorporates 'Kinetic Design' styling cues from the European-market Kuga, but takes the styling further.
Ford has been reticent about whether the Vertrek will become a production reality -- but it is built on the Global C segment (Focus) platform and could enter production in fairly short order if the company decides to give the go-ahead. As mentioned in an earlier report, the Kuga is believed to have some years left in it, but Ford is reported to be planning for a new compact SUV to be built in the US to replace the Escape. Under the 'One Ford' regime, such a vehicle would also replace the Kuga, in due course.
A fact sheet available through Ford's global media website reveals that the Vertrek is slightly greater in length and wheelbase than both the existing Escape and Kuga. At 2789mm, the Vertrek's wheelbase is 99mm longer than Kuga's and about 170mm longer than Escape's. The overall length of the Vertrek (4534mm) leaves it 97mm longer than the Escape and 91mm longer than Kuga. In width too, Vertrek (1875mm) beats the Escape (1805mm) and Kuga (1842mm), but the Escape stands taller than the Vetrek (1679mm).
The larger dimensions for the SUV concept are a consequence of stretching the design to offer North American buyers the sort of luggage capacity the Escape boasts and the wheel-in-each-corner stance of the Kuga -- all topped off with some length and sleekness in the body for aerodynamic efficiency and fuel savings.
Unintentionally or otherwise, there's an ambiguity in the phrase 'Kinetic Design'. Not only is it design based around movement -- but the styling theme itself doesn't stand still. The Kinetic Design of today -- as seen in Fiesta and Mondeo -- will evolve into a design strategy for the near future, one that integrates styling details close to the hearts of global consumers. For the moment, Kinetic Design is seen as very much a Ford Europe initiative, but the company aims to harmonise its design across all global products.
The Vertrek introduces new technologies bundled together in the one package, including Blind Spot Information System, Active Park Assist, Auto Start-Stop and Smart Regenerative Charging. Ford's press material posits three engines for the US in the event the Vertrek goes into production: a 1.6-litre EcoBoost engine, a 2.0-litre EcoBoost and a 2.5-litre naturally-aspirated engine -- all four-cylinders. For Europe, in theory, the Vertrek would be limited to the 1.6-litre EcoBoost four and a 2.0-litre turbodiesel.
"Based on the reception of the Fiesta and all-new Focus models, customers are excited by our new global design strategy," said Ford executive design director, Martin Smith. "So it makes absolute sense to offer kinetic design in our next generation of compact utility vehicles as well."
"Overall, the Vertrek concept is a sleeker, sportier and smarter representation of what customers want in a compact SUV."
"Additionally, the exquisite detailing, such as the execution of the head-lamps, tail-lamps and wheels, evokes advanced technology and craftsmanship."
Even if the Vertrek doesn't go into production, it is a sure sign of Ford's on-going commitment to reduce global platforms through the 'One Ford' rationalisation program.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
discount new cars » Get the best price on a new Ford
Ford has lifted the covers off the Vertrek concept in Detroit at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS).
A design study for a compact SUV, the Vertrek incorporates 'Kinetic Design' styling cues from the European-market Kuga, but takes the styling further.
Ford has been reticent about whether the Vertrek will become a production reality -- but it is built on the Global C segment (Focus) platform and could enter production in fairly short order if the company decides to give the go-ahead. As mentioned in an earlier report, the Kuga is believed to have some years left in it, but Ford is reported to be planning for a new compact SUV to be built in the US to replace the Escape. Under the 'One Ford' regime, such a vehicle would also replace the Kuga, in due course.
A fact sheet available through Ford's global media website reveals that the Vertrek is slightly greater in length and wheelbase than both the existing Escape and Kuga. At 2789mm, the Vertrek's wheelbase is 99mm longer than Kuga's and about 170mm longer than Escape's. The overall length of the Vertrek (4534mm) leaves it 97mm longer than the Escape and 91mm longer than Kuga. In width too, Vertrek (1875mm) beats the Escape (1805mm) and Kuga (1842mm), but the Escape stands taller than the Vetrek (1679mm).
The larger dimensions for the SUV concept are a consequence of stretching the design to offer North American buyers the sort of luggage capacity the Escape boasts and the wheel-in-each-corner stance of the Kuga -- all topped off with some length and sleekness in the body for aerodynamic efficiency and fuel savings.
Unintentionally or otherwise, there's an ambiguity in the phrase 'Kinetic Design'. Not only is it design based around movement -- but the styling theme itself doesn't stand still. The Kinetic Design of today -- as seen in Fiesta and Mondeo -- will evolve into a design strategy for the near future, one that integrates styling details close to the hearts of global consumers. For the moment, Kinetic Design is seen as very much a Ford Europe initiative, but the company aims to harmonise its design across all global products.
The Vertrek introduces new technologies bundled together in the one package, including Blind Spot Information System, Active Park Assist, Auto Start-Stop and Smart Regenerative Charging. Ford's press material posits three engines for the US in the event the Vertrek goes into production: a 1.6-litre EcoBoost engine, a 2.0-litre EcoBoost and a 2.5-litre naturally-aspirated engine -- all four-cylinders. For Europe, in theory, the Vertrek would be limited to the 1.6-litre EcoBoost four and a 2.0-litre turbodiesel.
"Based on the reception of the Fiesta and all-new Focus models, customers are excited by our new global design strategy," said Ford executive design director, Martin Smith. "So it makes absolute sense to offer kinetic design in our next generation of compact utility vehicles as well."
"Overall, the Vertrek concept is a sleeker, sportier and smarter representation of what customers want in a compact SUV."
"Additionally, the exquisite detailing, such as the execution of the head-lamps, tail-lamps and wheels, evokes advanced technology and craftsmanship."
Even if the Vertrek doesn't go into production, it is a sure sign of Ford's on-going commitment to reduce global platforms through the 'One Ford' rationalisation program.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
New Chrysler 300 debuts
On-the-move US brand unveils its latest version of the successful large sedan at the Detroit show
discount new cars » Get the best price on a new Chrysler
Chrysler unveiled its "all-new" 300 sedan at the 2011 NAIAS Detroit motor show, treading carefully with the design that played a major part in putting the US company on the map in Australia.
Presenting the latest version of the 300, Chrysler brand president and CEO Olivier Francois said the new model "symbolises the greatness Detroit-designed vehicles offer the streets, highways and boulevards of the world."
Some might not agree wholly with the sentiments, but the 300C certainly did a good job of bringing the essence of US cars back to Australian roads from the moment of its Australian launch in 2005.
With a new interpretation of the familiar mafia staff car look incorporating sharper lines, bulging wheel arches and reinvented front and rear ends, the Chrysler manages to look new while retaining its basic, intrinsically American character.
Almost as a matter of course, the Chrysler adopts the familiar LED daytime running lights and taillights.
No data appears on the press release for the new 300, but it can be assumed the dimensions are essentially similar to the current model. Keeping with the more chiselled look, Chrysler has nonetheless improved the driver's field of vision through thinner roof pillars -- widening the view by a claimed 15 per cent. Aerodynamics have been enhanced by reclining the windscreen around 76mm.
Inside, Chrysler says it has put a lot of effort into upgrading quality -- something questioned by the local press.
In an interior said to be a lot quieter (there’s around 2.5 metres of acoustic insulation and double-glazed windscreen and front side glass), the choice of materials is reportedly a lot classier than the current model. The seats are all-new and are claimed to offer greater comfort.
Underpinning the Chrysler is a reworked suspension that has lowered the ride height by 4mm, while the tighter wheel arches are filled by even bigger, 19-inch wheels.
The company is said to have spent more than a billion dollars on the 300's E-Class Benz-derived chassis, which undoubtedly helps justify the claims of its being all-new.
New to the 300 is an all-aluminium 3.6-litre V6 developing 218kW and 396Nm and delivering improved fuel economy to the tune of around eight per cent. It is 16 per cent more powerful than the previous 3.5-litre V6 and produces slightly more torque.
The 5.7-litre HEMI V8 remains, of course, justifying itself with 271kW of power, zero to 100km/h acceleration in around six seconds and the Fuel Saver cylinder shutdown system that helps improve light-throttle economy.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
discount new cars » Get the best price on a new Chrysler
Chrysler unveiled its "all-new" 300 sedan at the 2011 NAIAS Detroit motor show, treading carefully with the design that played a major part in putting the US company on the map in Australia.
Presenting the latest version of the 300, Chrysler brand president and CEO Olivier Francois said the new model "symbolises the greatness Detroit-designed vehicles offer the streets, highways and boulevards of the world."
Some might not agree wholly with the sentiments, but the 300C certainly did a good job of bringing the essence of US cars back to Australian roads from the moment of its Australian launch in 2005.
With a new interpretation of the familiar mafia staff car look incorporating sharper lines, bulging wheel arches and reinvented front and rear ends, the Chrysler manages to look new while retaining its basic, intrinsically American character.
Almost as a matter of course, the Chrysler adopts the familiar LED daytime running lights and taillights.
No data appears on the press release for the new 300, but it can be assumed the dimensions are essentially similar to the current model. Keeping with the more chiselled look, Chrysler has nonetheless improved the driver's field of vision through thinner roof pillars -- widening the view by a claimed 15 per cent. Aerodynamics have been enhanced by reclining the windscreen around 76mm.
Inside, Chrysler says it has put a lot of effort into upgrading quality -- something questioned by the local press.
In an interior said to be a lot quieter (there’s around 2.5 metres of acoustic insulation and double-glazed windscreen and front side glass), the choice of materials is reportedly a lot classier than the current model. The seats are all-new and are claimed to offer greater comfort.
Underpinning the Chrysler is a reworked suspension that has lowered the ride height by 4mm, while the tighter wheel arches are filled by even bigger, 19-inch wheels.
The company is said to have spent more than a billion dollars on the 300's E-Class Benz-derived chassis, which undoubtedly helps justify the claims of its being all-new.
New to the 300 is an all-aluminium 3.6-litre V6 developing 218kW and 396Nm and delivering improved fuel economy to the tune of around eight per cent. It is 16 per cent more powerful than the previous 3.5-litre V6 and produces slightly more torque.
The 5.7-litre HEMI V8 remains, of course, justifying itself with 271kW of power, zero to 100km/h acceleration in around six seconds and the Fuel Saver cylinder shutdown system that helps improve light-throttle economy.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
Thứ Năm, 22 tháng 3, 2012
CN Confidential: time wasting tactics
Contemptuous cops and dastardly diesel whodunnits spike our interest in this week's CN Conf...
Whether it's from the www, the latest motor show or the back doors of a car games maker near you, Carsales Network Confidential features the good oil other sources either won't publish, don't care about or don't know. Heard an automotive rumour or new model tip? Then let us know - editor@carpoint.com.au
Booze bus outrage
Stuck in gridlocked traffic on a Friday afternoon isn't anyone's idea of fun, especially with the mercury nudging 30-degrees. But as a member of the Carsales Network's editorial staff sat on Eastlink with no "state-of-the-art" overhead signs to warn of the cause of the delay ahead frustration began to build.
Sure, if there's been an accident you can forgive an extensive delay, you might even tolerate road works to some degree, but after taking more than 75 minutes to travel a five kilometre section of my trip home, said Carsales staff member was ropeable.
The cause of the delay, as it turns out, was a booze bus operation carried out by the Victoria Police. Nothing unusual there really, except that in their infinite wisdom some nufty at the top had decided a main arterial road in peak hour was a terrific target.
The operation blocked all lanes and both sides of the Eastlink tollway at Bangholme. So extensive was the delay that cars couldn't even get on the tollway at the Frankston end. After a half-hour, delays had extended back to the Dandenong bypass in the north and into the suburb of Frankston at the road's end in the south.
To make matters worse, there were only half-a-dozen cops asking what seemed like thousands of drivers to "blow into this".
Surely if you're going to stage such an op you'd roster on a few more staff.
After 90 minutes one bright spark in blue decided to open an additional lane to ease some of the congestion, but queues continued well into the evening, until stumps were finally pulled just before 8pm.
It's the opinion of the staff member concerned that the Victoria Police's conduct in this instance demonstrated a complete lack of commonsense and, despite the undeniable need to remove impaired drivers from the roads, was absolutely unjustified in this instance.
Detaining so many motorists for such a lengthy amount of time to yield such a small result shows complete contempt for the public they're meant to serve.
Further, and after eight days, Carsales Network's attempts to contact Victorian Police media for comment have gone unanswered.
Chrysler's diesel whodunit
They can be a tight-lipped mob at Chrysler. There's a V6 diesel of unknown origin just months away from launch here in Australia, set to power the new Grand Cherokee, but the local management team either doesn't know who is building it for Chrysler Jeep -- or they're just not saying.
During the local launch of the new Grand Cherokee, the Carsales Network asked Chrysler Australia's spokesman, Dean Bonthorne, who was building the compression ignition engine for the Jeep.
"Don't have confirmation on what it is, but it won't be a Benz [engine],"said Bonthorne.
"The outgoing model was Mercedes-Benz-based -- a 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel. I believe that logic will dictate [the new engine] will be competitive with that engine.
"There's some similarities in the gearbox, but certainly not the diesel [engine]. For us, while diesel's always been an important element of the Australian SUV environment, the [Grand Cherokee] with the Pentastar V6, which is all-new for us, means we're able to offer this model with a powertrain that does deliver economy over the traditional V8. At the same time we've still got a towing capacity of nearly 2.3-tonne, combined fuel economy of 11.4L/100km, 210kW -- so it's a viable alternative to diesel.
"It's actually won awards over a fleet of diesels, which surprised a lot of people, so whilst we're looking forward to seeing the CRD come mid-year, offering what we've got at the moment -- the V6 and the HEMI V8 -- more than covers us adequately."
The Grand Cherokee CRD will arrive about the same time as Ford's diesel-engined Territory, so despite Bonthorne promoting the fuel efficiency of the new Pentastar petrol V6, people will be watching and waiting with interest for the diesel-engined Jeep. We asked Bonthorne what he expected the sales split to be: diesel versus petrol.
"Again... this is new territory for us, in terms of having a V6 of this calibre. The split in the past has been perhaps around the 50/50 mark, between a diesel and the V8, but because of the performance of this V6... people who were looking at the diesel purely from an economy perspective now have this V6 alternative. Those that want a towing capability, the HEMI V8 still has 3.5-tonne [capacity]..."
The reason we're curious about the engine supplier for the Grand Cherokee can be found in this article. An industry insider told us just two months ago that there was a chance Fiat and Chrysler might not be able to secure V6 diesels from VM Motori, the only engine supplier placed in a position to supply the powerplants for the Grand Cherokee CRD -- other than Mercedes-Benz. We're now of the opinion that the Italian engine builder (VM) will supply the diesel V6s for the Grand Cherokee CRD after all.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at the carsales mobile site
Powered By Motoring.com.au
Whether it's from the www, the latest motor show or the back doors of a car games maker near you, Carsales Network Confidential features the good oil other sources either won't publish, don't care about or don't know. Heard an automotive rumour or new model tip? Then let us know - editor@carpoint.com.au
Booze bus outrage
Stuck in gridlocked traffic on a Friday afternoon isn't anyone's idea of fun, especially with the mercury nudging 30-degrees. But as a member of the Carsales Network's editorial staff sat on Eastlink with no "state-of-the-art" overhead signs to warn of the cause of the delay ahead frustration began to build.
Sure, if there's been an accident you can forgive an extensive delay, you might even tolerate road works to some degree, but after taking more than 75 minutes to travel a five kilometre section of my trip home, said Carsales staff member was ropeable.
The cause of the delay, as it turns out, was a booze bus operation carried out by the Victoria Police. Nothing unusual there really, except that in their infinite wisdom some nufty at the top had decided a main arterial road in peak hour was a terrific target.
The operation blocked all lanes and both sides of the Eastlink tollway at Bangholme. So extensive was the delay that cars couldn't even get on the tollway at the Frankston end. After a half-hour, delays had extended back to the Dandenong bypass in the north and into the suburb of Frankston at the road's end in the south.
To make matters worse, there were only half-a-dozen cops asking what seemed like thousands of drivers to "blow into this".
Surely if you're going to stage such an op you'd roster on a few more staff.
After 90 minutes one bright spark in blue decided to open an additional lane to ease some of the congestion, but queues continued well into the evening, until stumps were finally pulled just before 8pm.
It's the opinion of the staff member concerned that the Victoria Police's conduct in this instance demonstrated a complete lack of commonsense and, despite the undeniable need to remove impaired drivers from the roads, was absolutely unjustified in this instance.
Detaining so many motorists for such a lengthy amount of time to yield such a small result shows complete contempt for the public they're meant to serve.
Further, and after eight days, Carsales Network's attempts to contact Victorian Police media for comment have gone unanswered.
Chrysler's diesel whodunit
They can be a tight-lipped mob at Chrysler. There's a V6 diesel of unknown origin just months away from launch here in Australia, set to power the new Grand Cherokee, but the local management team either doesn't know who is building it for Chrysler Jeep -- or they're just not saying.
During the local launch of the new Grand Cherokee, the Carsales Network asked Chrysler Australia's spokesman, Dean Bonthorne, who was building the compression ignition engine for the Jeep.
"Don't have confirmation on what it is, but it won't be a Benz [engine],"said Bonthorne.
"The outgoing model was Mercedes-Benz-based -- a 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel. I believe that logic will dictate [the new engine] will be competitive with that engine.
"There's some similarities in the gearbox, but certainly not the diesel [engine]. For us, while diesel's always been an important element of the Australian SUV environment, the [Grand Cherokee] with the Pentastar V6, which is all-new for us, means we're able to offer this model with a powertrain that does deliver economy over the traditional V8. At the same time we've still got a towing capacity of nearly 2.3-tonne, combined fuel economy of 11.4L/100km, 210kW -- so it's a viable alternative to diesel.
"It's actually won awards over a fleet of diesels, which surprised a lot of people, so whilst we're looking forward to seeing the CRD come mid-year, offering what we've got at the moment -- the V6 and the HEMI V8 -- more than covers us adequately."
The Grand Cherokee CRD will arrive about the same time as Ford's diesel-engined Territory, so despite Bonthorne promoting the fuel efficiency of the new Pentastar petrol V6, people will be watching and waiting with interest for the diesel-engined Jeep. We asked Bonthorne what he expected the sales split to be: diesel versus petrol.
"Again... this is new territory for us, in terms of having a V6 of this calibre. The split in the past has been perhaps around the 50/50 mark, between a diesel and the V8, but because of the performance of this V6... people who were looking at the diesel purely from an economy perspective now have this V6 alternative. Those that want a towing capability, the HEMI V8 still has 3.5-tonne [capacity]..."
The reason we're curious about the engine supplier for the Grand Cherokee can be found in this article. An industry insider told us just two months ago that there was a chance Fiat and Chrysler might not be able to secure V6 diesels from VM Motori, the only engine supplier placed in a position to supply the powerplants for the Grand Cherokee CRD -- other than Mercedes-Benz. We're now of the opinion that the Italian engine builder (VM) will supply the diesel V6s for the Grand Cherokee CRD after all.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at the carsales mobile site
Powered By Motoring.com.au
Priceless Porsches presented
Legendary Porsche race cars to tour Australia as part of 60-year celebrations
prestige new cars » Get the best price on a new Porsche
A selection of legendary Porsche models will make its way to Australia this year as part of the brand's celebration of 60 years down under.
The six-car collection includes cars that have made motor racing history, such as the 935 "Moby Dick" that represented the "climax in 935 race development". Its 621kW engine was capable of propelling the car at speeds of up to 366km/h -- as recorded at Le Mans in 1978.
Also part of the rolling museum is a 956/962 representing the race car that won the Le Mans 24-Hour seven times, between 1982 and 1994. The car on tour is the 962 driven by Derek Bell, Hans Stuck and Al Holbert that was victorious in 1987.
Then there are two Targa Florio cars: The classic 718 RS 60 Spyder that won in 1960, and the 908/02 Spyder that took out the first four Targa Florio places in 1969.
As if that's not enough, the 911 SC driven by Walter Rohrl in the 1980 San Remo rally is also coming to Australia as part of the "rolling museum".
But wait, there's more: In the form of a more contemporary exercise – the stunning Carrera GT road car from 2003.
Phillip Island will be the first venue to be visited, with many of the cars appearing at Australia's biggest annual historic car race between March 18 and 20.
Then, during April, a "selection" of the cars will feature in Tasmania, in both the Longford Revival and the Targa Tasmania road rally.
Accompanied by museum ambassador Klaus Bischof, the cars will also feature in static displays at various venues around the country.
Porsche Cars Australian managing director Michael Winkler said "Each of the visiting museum cars holds a special place in Porsche history. The fact that each car can be fired into life and driven makes their interaction with the public more dynamic and presence more impactful."
Interestingly, Porsche came to Australia as the result of a chance meeting in early 1951 between Ferdinand Porsche's son Ferry Porsche and Australian Norman Hamilton.
The result was the arrival of the first Australian Porsches in October the same year – a maroon 356 coupe and a silver 356 cabriolet – two years before Dr. Porsche's other famous brainchild, the VW beetle, went on sale in this country.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at the carsales mobile site
prestige new cars » Get the best price on a new Porsche
A selection of legendary Porsche models will make its way to Australia this year as part of the brand's celebration of 60 years down under.
The six-car collection includes cars that have made motor racing history, such as the 935 "Moby Dick" that represented the "climax in 935 race development". Its 621kW engine was capable of propelling the car at speeds of up to 366km/h -- as recorded at Le Mans in 1978.
Also part of the rolling museum is a 956/962 representing the race car that won the Le Mans 24-Hour seven times, between 1982 and 1994. The car on tour is the 962 driven by Derek Bell, Hans Stuck and Al Holbert that was victorious in 1987.
Then there are two Targa Florio cars: The classic 718 RS 60 Spyder that won in 1960, and the 908/02 Spyder that took out the first four Targa Florio places in 1969.
As if that's not enough, the 911 SC driven by Walter Rohrl in the 1980 San Remo rally is also coming to Australia as part of the "rolling museum".
But wait, there's more: In the form of a more contemporary exercise – the stunning Carrera GT road car from 2003.
Phillip Island will be the first venue to be visited, with many of the cars appearing at Australia's biggest annual historic car race between March 18 and 20.
Then, during April, a "selection" of the cars will feature in Tasmania, in both the Longford Revival and the Targa Tasmania road rally.
Accompanied by museum ambassador Klaus Bischof, the cars will also feature in static displays at various venues around the country.
Porsche Cars Australian managing director Michael Winkler said "Each of the visiting museum cars holds a special place in Porsche history. The fact that each car can be fired into life and driven makes their interaction with the public more dynamic and presence more impactful."
Interestingly, Porsche came to Australia as the result of a chance meeting in early 1951 between Ferdinand Porsche's son Ferry Porsche and Australian Norman Hamilton.
The result was the arrival of the first Australian Porsches in October the same year – a maroon 356 coupe and a silver 356 cabriolet – two years before Dr. Porsche's other famous brainchild, the VW beetle, went on sale in this country.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at the carsales mobile site
Audi supercar scores 1-2 finish in Bathurst 12 Hour
Australian team robbed of victory after botched pit stops
Audi R8 supercars cruised to a 1-2 victory in the Bathurst 12 Hour yesterday -- but the race-favourite Australian drivers were left to play second fiddle to their teammates after they were forced to circulate slowly behind a safety car on two separate occasions, while the German Audi team made timely pit-stops.
The German team car of Marc Basseng, Christopher Mies and Darryl O'Young completed 292 laps in a formation finish ahead of the Australian driver trio of Craig Lowndes, Warren Luff and Mark Eddy.
Local Porsche drivers Tony Quinn, Klark Quinn and Craig Baird finished third in their 911 GT3R -- one lap down on the Audi duo and ahead of a trio of Porsches and a Ferrari.
While the podium Porsche team led on a couple of occasions during the day, the event was effectively a two-horse race within the factory-backed mega-dollar Audi supercar squad.
Although the Australian Audi team had qualified on pole position and was consistently faster throughout the race, they were effectively robbed of the win after German team management twice left the Australian car to lap slowly behind the safety car in what was dismissed as a "breakdown in communication".
"It wasn't a stitch up," Lowndes told the Carsales Network. "There was just a breakdown in communication. By the time they figured out where we were on the track it was too late."
Audi race team manager Ralf Juttner told the Carsales Network: "It was to do with driving time issues. If you look at the driving times of the three drivers it was very close to the maximum."
The head of Audi's customer racing programs worldwide, Romolo Liebche, said: "The Australians lost the race when they got a puncture."
A punctured tyre forced the Australian Audi team to make an unscheduled pit stop about half race distance.
But despite this, the Australian Audi -- primarily driven by five-times Bathurst winner Craig Lowndes and his V8 Supercar counterpart Warren Luff, also a Bathurst veteran -- climbed back into outright contention and overtook the German Audi team in the final hour of the race.
On lap 263, both the German and Australian Audis had pitted at the same time but the German car spun on cold tyres as it left pit lane -- and Lowndes quickly took the lead.
Lowndes, who continued to lap faster than the German car in the final stages of the race, should have cruised to victory. But he was forced to make an extra pit stop because of controversial rules that required the elite 'Class A' cars to make a minimum of 12 compulsory pit stops, each lasting 90 seconds, at least 10 laps apart.
Because the punctured tyre earlier in the race was replaced within 10 laps of a previous pit stop, it did not count towards the Australian team's tally. And so the Australians had to make a 13th stop that lasted 90 seconds -- while the German team's 13th stop was merely a 'splash and dash', enabling them to take the lead and, ultimately, the chequered flag.
The 90-second pit stop rules were designed to give showroom cars a chance at staying in touch with the big budget exotics, but instead created a farce as soon as the race started.
The podium Porsche team remained stationary in pit lane for the first 90 seconds of the race -- to eliminate one of its 12 compulsory stops.
Meanwhile, concerned about how the mega-dollar motor-racing indulgence may be viewed by the Australian community following the devastation from several natural disasters across the country, Audi Australia donated $35,000 to the Queensland Relief Fund -- the equivalent of $1000 from each dealer. The drivers in the Australian Audi team also donated their $5000 prize money for qualifying on pole position.
French tyre maker Michelin, whose tyres drove all three cars on the podium and most Top 10 finishers, had earlier pledged a donation of at least $100,000.
Both Lowndes and Luff were due to fly out for the first round of the 2011 V8 Supercar championship in Abu Dhabi today (Monday).
Lowndes said: "I'm really pumped about this season. I finished really strong last year and this is the first time in a long time that I'm taking an old car with me into a new season."
Luff, who returns to V8 Supercars full-time this year, said: "It's going to be hard to go back to a V8 Supercar after this."
The Audi R8 they drove was powered by a V10 engine, had a paddle-shift gearbox, anti-lock brakes and stability control, which enabled the drivers to brake much later and deeper into the corners. It was also the first time both drivers had raced a left-hand drive car around the mountain.
"It's absolutely awesome," said Lowndes. "The grip and how late you can brake is just phenomenal, it's such an easy car to drive. The slower cars weren't too bad at getting out of the way, but I'm not sure what it'd be like with twice the number of cars out there as we had today."
Although the top speed of the Audis on Conrod Straight was 270km/h -- about 25km/h less than a V8 Supercar -- they lapped within two seconds of V8 Supercar race lap times because of their incredible grip and low-slung stability across the top of the mountain.
Of the 29-car field, 19 cars finished, including a Holden Astra and a BMW 130i.
Production car ace Mark Brame won the showroom car class in a Mitsubishi Evo X he shared with category stalwarts Anthony Robson and Peter Conroy, finishing ninth outright ahead of a Porsche 911.
This year is the first time exotic supercars -- on slick racing tyres as opposed to grooved rubber used on production cars -- have been allowed to compete in the 12 Hour; previously vehicles that cost in excess of $130,000 were excluded from competition.
This year the event attracted 18 GT supercars but organisers expect to attract up to 25 next year -- and 10 to 15 production cars.
Organisers said a crowd of 6700 spectators attended the race on Sunday -- about 300 more than last year -- while another 1900 or so viewers watched the event's live streaming footage on the internet throughout the day, with a peak of 2700 viewers tuning in near the end of the race.
A three-hour highlights package of the race hosted by motorsport commentator Greg Rust and V8 Supercar driver Garth Tander will be broadcast on Channel Ten's One Digital channel on Saturday 19 February from 7.30pm.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
Audi R8 supercars cruised to a 1-2 victory in the Bathurst 12 Hour yesterday -- but the race-favourite Australian drivers were left to play second fiddle to their teammates after they were forced to circulate slowly behind a safety car on two separate occasions, while the German Audi team made timely pit-stops.
The German team car of Marc Basseng, Christopher Mies and Darryl O'Young completed 292 laps in a formation finish ahead of the Australian driver trio of Craig Lowndes, Warren Luff and Mark Eddy.
Local Porsche drivers Tony Quinn, Klark Quinn and Craig Baird finished third in their 911 GT3R -- one lap down on the Audi duo and ahead of a trio of Porsches and a Ferrari.
While the podium Porsche team led on a couple of occasions during the day, the event was effectively a two-horse race within the factory-backed mega-dollar Audi supercar squad.
Although the Australian Audi team had qualified on pole position and was consistently faster throughout the race, they were effectively robbed of the win after German team management twice left the Australian car to lap slowly behind the safety car in what was dismissed as a "breakdown in communication".
"It wasn't a stitch up," Lowndes told the Carsales Network. "There was just a breakdown in communication. By the time they figured out where we were on the track it was too late."
Audi race team manager Ralf Juttner told the Carsales Network: "It was to do with driving time issues. If you look at the driving times of the three drivers it was very close to the maximum."
The head of Audi's customer racing programs worldwide, Romolo Liebche, said: "The Australians lost the race when they got a puncture."
A punctured tyre forced the Australian Audi team to make an unscheduled pit stop about half race distance.
But despite this, the Australian Audi -- primarily driven by five-times Bathurst winner Craig Lowndes and his V8 Supercar counterpart Warren Luff, also a Bathurst veteran -- climbed back into outright contention and overtook the German Audi team in the final hour of the race.
On lap 263, both the German and Australian Audis had pitted at the same time but the German car spun on cold tyres as it left pit lane -- and Lowndes quickly took the lead.
Lowndes, who continued to lap faster than the German car in the final stages of the race, should have cruised to victory. But he was forced to make an extra pit stop because of controversial rules that required the elite 'Class A' cars to make a minimum of 12 compulsory pit stops, each lasting 90 seconds, at least 10 laps apart.
Because the punctured tyre earlier in the race was replaced within 10 laps of a previous pit stop, it did not count towards the Australian team's tally. And so the Australians had to make a 13th stop that lasted 90 seconds -- while the German team's 13th stop was merely a 'splash and dash', enabling them to take the lead and, ultimately, the chequered flag.
The 90-second pit stop rules were designed to give showroom cars a chance at staying in touch with the big budget exotics, but instead created a farce as soon as the race started.
The podium Porsche team remained stationary in pit lane for the first 90 seconds of the race -- to eliminate one of its 12 compulsory stops.
Meanwhile, concerned about how the mega-dollar motor-racing indulgence may be viewed by the Australian community following the devastation from several natural disasters across the country, Audi Australia donated $35,000 to the Queensland Relief Fund -- the equivalent of $1000 from each dealer. The drivers in the Australian Audi team also donated their $5000 prize money for qualifying on pole position.
French tyre maker Michelin, whose tyres drove all three cars on the podium and most Top 10 finishers, had earlier pledged a donation of at least $100,000.
Both Lowndes and Luff were due to fly out for the first round of the 2011 V8 Supercar championship in Abu Dhabi today (Monday).
Lowndes said: "I'm really pumped about this season. I finished really strong last year and this is the first time in a long time that I'm taking an old car with me into a new season."
Luff, who returns to V8 Supercars full-time this year, said: "It's going to be hard to go back to a V8 Supercar after this."
The Audi R8 they drove was powered by a V10 engine, had a paddle-shift gearbox, anti-lock brakes and stability control, which enabled the drivers to brake much later and deeper into the corners. It was also the first time both drivers had raced a left-hand drive car around the mountain.
"It's absolutely awesome," said Lowndes. "The grip and how late you can brake is just phenomenal, it's such an easy car to drive. The slower cars weren't too bad at getting out of the way, but I'm not sure what it'd be like with twice the number of cars out there as we had today."
Although the top speed of the Audis on Conrod Straight was 270km/h -- about 25km/h less than a V8 Supercar -- they lapped within two seconds of V8 Supercar race lap times because of their incredible grip and low-slung stability across the top of the mountain.
Of the 29-car field, 19 cars finished, including a Holden Astra and a BMW 130i.
Production car ace Mark Brame won the showroom car class in a Mitsubishi Evo X he shared with category stalwarts Anthony Robson and Peter Conroy, finishing ninth outright ahead of a Porsche 911.
This year is the first time exotic supercars -- on slick racing tyres as opposed to grooved rubber used on production cars -- have been allowed to compete in the 12 Hour; previously vehicles that cost in excess of $130,000 were excluded from competition.
This year the event attracted 18 GT supercars but organisers expect to attract up to 25 next year -- and 10 to 15 production cars.
Organisers said a crowd of 6700 spectators attended the race on Sunday -- about 300 more than last year -- while another 1900 or so viewers watched the event's live streaming footage on the internet throughout the day, with a peak of 2700 viewers tuning in near the end of the race.
A three-hour highlights package of the race hosted by motorsport commentator Greg Rust and V8 Supercar driver Garth Tander will be broadcast on Channel Ten's One Digital channel on Saturday 19 February from 7.30pm.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
Thứ Bảy, 17 tháng 3, 2012
Virage on the horizon
Aston Martin to unveil a new model at the Geneva Motor Show, Virage, with evident cues taken from One-77
prestige new cars » Get the best price on a new Aston Martin
Aston Martin has today unveiled a new sports luxury coupe some seven years in the making, a 'supremely elegant yet powerful' model dubbed Virage.
Virage, a model name steeped in Aston Martin history, draws its name from the French for bend or curve, a change in direction.
Gaydon's latest masterpiece aims to position itself between the current DB9 and DBS, offering the Aston Martin customer greater choice. Its bold performance (0-100km/h in 4.6 seconds) is derived from a hand-built and front-mid mounted 6.0-litre V12 engine developing 365kW/570Nm. Virage's creators say the combination makes for an outstanding balance between outright performance and ideal balance (50:50).
Power is delivered via a car games bon fibre prop shaft to a transaxle mounted six-speed Touchtronic II automatic transmission with 'Sport' function.
Similarly, a newly developed Adaptive Damping System intuitively reads the road ahead, continually adjusting to different conditions and offers five settings for greater suspension flexibility.
Virage is also fitted with carbon ceramic brakes as standard.
"100 years of automotive history has demonstrated that evolution delivers the best solutions in time," explained Aston Martin CEO, Dr Ulrich Bez.
"So it is with Virage; it is the next level of evolution in our VH architecture strategy and it does everything with the perfection that you would expect today. It is the perfect balance of opposites."
Bez says the Virage remains true to Aston Martin's DNA by offering a car that remains luxurious and understated but delivers increased performance that's readily accessible for effortless driving. Like many in the range, Virage sits low and wide as if to assert itself on the road. Single bi-xenon headlamps follow the lines of the coupe's shape which Gaydon says brings a more crisp and modern look to the front end.
The fascia draws inspiration from the Aston Martin One-77 and features five horizontal vanes which are chamfered to create an aerofoil profile. The bumper is moulded so as to bring 'simplicity' to the design, while the front guards distinguish the Virage from its stable mates by housing a new interpretation of Aston Martin's iconic strake housing six LEDs to form the side indicator lamp.
In profile, Virage sports signature swan doors over a pair of sills aimed to carry the simplicity of the bumper through to the rear diffuser which incorporates a body-coloured 'blade', accentuating the width of the car.
The luxurious cabin is finished in hand stitched Bridge of Weir leather (seven hides per car) and combines the latest in modern equipment. Both the Virage and Virage Volante include satellite navigation by Garmin, heated seats, cruise control, Bluetooth telephony and a powerful 700-watt premium audio system with full iPod integration.
The Virage and Virage Volante are now available for order with the first public debut and pricing details to be announced at next month's Geneva International Motor Show.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at the carsales mobile site
prestige new cars » Get the best price on a new Aston Martin
Aston Martin has today unveiled a new sports luxury coupe some seven years in the making, a 'supremely elegant yet powerful' model dubbed Virage.
Virage, a model name steeped in Aston Martin history, draws its name from the French for bend or curve, a change in direction.
Gaydon's latest masterpiece aims to position itself between the current DB9 and DBS, offering the Aston Martin customer greater choice. Its bold performance (0-100km/h in 4.6 seconds) is derived from a hand-built and front-mid mounted 6.0-litre V12 engine developing 365kW/570Nm. Virage's creators say the combination makes for an outstanding balance between outright performance and ideal balance (50:50).
Power is delivered via a car games bon fibre prop shaft to a transaxle mounted six-speed Touchtronic II automatic transmission with 'Sport' function.
Similarly, a newly developed Adaptive Damping System intuitively reads the road ahead, continually adjusting to different conditions and offers five settings for greater suspension flexibility.
Virage is also fitted with carbon ceramic brakes as standard.
"100 years of automotive history has demonstrated that evolution delivers the best solutions in time," explained Aston Martin CEO, Dr Ulrich Bez.
"So it is with Virage; it is the next level of evolution in our VH architecture strategy and it does everything with the perfection that you would expect today. It is the perfect balance of opposites."
Bez says the Virage remains true to Aston Martin's DNA by offering a car that remains luxurious and understated but delivers increased performance that's readily accessible for effortless driving. Like many in the range, Virage sits low and wide as if to assert itself on the road. Single bi-xenon headlamps follow the lines of the coupe's shape which Gaydon says brings a more crisp and modern look to the front end.
The fascia draws inspiration from the Aston Martin One-77 and features five horizontal vanes which are chamfered to create an aerofoil profile. The bumper is moulded so as to bring 'simplicity' to the design, while the front guards distinguish the Virage from its stable mates by housing a new interpretation of Aston Martin's iconic strake housing six LEDs to form the side indicator lamp.
In profile, Virage sports signature swan doors over a pair of sills aimed to carry the simplicity of the bumper through to the rear diffuser which incorporates a body-coloured 'blade', accentuating the width of the car.
The luxurious cabin is finished in hand stitched Bridge of Weir leather (seven hides per car) and combines the latest in modern equipment. Both the Virage and Virage Volante include satellite navigation by Garmin, heated seats, cruise control, Bluetooth telephony and a powerful 700-watt premium audio system with full iPod integration.
The Virage and Virage Volante are now available for order with the first public debut and pricing details to be announced at next month's Geneva International Motor Show.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at the carsales mobile site
1750 TBI power for Alfa 159 Sportwagon
Italian marque's high-tech turbo engine secures a spot in the engine bay of mid-size luxury wagon, but there's a hitch
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Alfa Romeo is now offering Australian buyers the 159 Sportwagon powered by the company's new 1750 TBI engine. Already slotted into the Giulietta and Spider models, the turbo four-cylinder powerplant will only be available to special order in the 159 Sportwagon. The local distributor arrived at this decision in light of buyer preference for the diesel-engined 159 Sportwagon models running the six-speed automatic transmission.
Alfa Romeo claims that the 159 Sportwagon with the 1750 TBI engine will reach a top speed of 233km/h and accelerate to 100km/h from rest in 7.9 seconds. Fuel consumption in combined-cycle testing is rated at 8.3L/100km.
Only the four-cylinder (1750 TBI) variants will offer a manual transmission -- a six-speeder -- the diesel and petrol V6 variants exclusively automatic. As for the diesel 159 Sportwagon, the 1750 TBI variant will be sold in two levels of trim: standard or Ti. Topping the range, the 3.2 V6 JTS is solely equipped to Ti level.
Peak power from the petrol four (displacing 1742cc) is 147kW and the engine produces 320Nm of torque. As in other applications, the engine features direct injection and turbocharging to achieve a combined-cycle fuel consumption figure of 8.3L/100km and emit 194g/km of CO2.
In the standard level of trim, the 159 Sportwagon is upholstered in leather (including steering wheel rim and gear knob). Cruise control, electrically adjustable heated mirrors, remote central locking, electric windows, reverse parking sensors, dual-zone climate control, Bluetooth and Blue&me infotainment are all fitted as standard.
For the Ti variant, the 159 Sportwagon comes as standard with black leather/red stitching, electrically-adjustable sports seats and aluminium decorative trim.
Outwardly, the Ti models can be identified by sports suspension (20mm lower), 19-inch alloy wheels with 235/40 tyres and Brembo brakes finished in red, plus a body kit and burnished aluminium door mirrors.
Standard safety features for both grades include ABS, Emergency Brake Assist, stability control, hill holder, rain-sensing wipers and auto-on/off headlights.
Prices are $51,990 for the 159 Sportwagon 1750 TBi or $56,480 when upgraded to the Ti specification.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
discount new cars » Get the best price on a new Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo is now offering Australian buyers the 159 Sportwagon powered by the company's new 1750 TBI engine. Already slotted into the Giulietta and Spider models, the turbo four-cylinder powerplant will only be available to special order in the 159 Sportwagon. The local distributor arrived at this decision in light of buyer preference for the diesel-engined 159 Sportwagon models running the six-speed automatic transmission.
Alfa Romeo claims that the 159 Sportwagon with the 1750 TBI engine will reach a top speed of 233km/h and accelerate to 100km/h from rest in 7.9 seconds. Fuel consumption in combined-cycle testing is rated at 8.3L/100km.
Only the four-cylinder (1750 TBI) variants will offer a manual transmission -- a six-speeder -- the diesel and petrol V6 variants exclusively automatic. As for the diesel 159 Sportwagon, the 1750 TBI variant will be sold in two levels of trim: standard or Ti. Topping the range, the 3.2 V6 JTS is solely equipped to Ti level.
Peak power from the petrol four (displacing 1742cc) is 147kW and the engine produces 320Nm of torque. As in other applications, the engine features direct injection and turbocharging to achieve a combined-cycle fuel consumption figure of 8.3L/100km and emit 194g/km of CO2.
In the standard level of trim, the 159 Sportwagon is upholstered in leather (including steering wheel rim and gear knob). Cruise control, electrically adjustable heated mirrors, remote central locking, electric windows, reverse parking sensors, dual-zone climate control, Bluetooth and Blue&me infotainment are all fitted as standard.
For the Ti variant, the 159 Sportwagon comes as standard with black leather/red stitching, electrically-adjustable sports seats and aluminium decorative trim.
Outwardly, the Ti models can be identified by sports suspension (20mm lower), 19-inch alloy wheels with 235/40 tyres and Brembo brakes finished in red, plus a body kit and burnished aluminium door mirrors.
Standard safety features for both grades include ABS, Emergency Brake Assist, stability control, hill holder, rain-sensing wipers and auto-on/off headlights.
Prices are $51,990 for the 159 Sportwagon 1750 TBi or $56,480 when upgraded to the Ti specification.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
Chery hits the ground in Oz
Official pricing, specs for Chinese brand's first two models
Chery Automotive has been formally launched in Australia ahead of a March 1 on-sale date. Two models are spearheading the new range's introduction to the local market: the J1 hatch and the J11 SUV.
As predicted, the Chinese brand will present a value proposition for new buyers, with the J1 priced at $11,990, inclusive of on-road costs, and the J11 sliding in at $19,990 driveaway. There's an automatic version of the J11 too, although that will set you back $2000 extra. For that money though, the SUV also gains cruise control and remote (steering wheel) audio controls.
The pricing and specification of the new models will be an all-important factor in attracting buyer interest and subsequent market acceptance for the new brand, which is being distributed in Australia by Ateco Automotive, the company that already distributes another Chinese brand, Great Wall.
"Chery is the largest and most diverse independent vehicle manufacturer in China," said Ric Hull, Managing Director of Ateco Automotive. "Chery is known for its focus on constant innovation and drive towards better quality, well appointed cars at an affordable price."
Powered by a 1.3-litre four-cylinder engine developing 62kW and 122Nm, the J1 is a five-door hatch with a five-speed manual transmission. On the combined-cycle fuel consumption test the J1 returns a figure of 6.7L/100km. There's no automatic option, but the standard equipment for the light car extends to: air conditioning, alloy wheels, electric windows/mirrors, remote central locking and an MP3-compatible six-speaker audio system.
Developing 102kW of power and 182Nm of torque, the 2.0-litre engine in the J11 drives through a standard five-speed manual transmission or the optional four-speed automatic to the front wheels only. Fuel consumption in combined-cycle testing is 8.9L/100km for either manual or auto variant. Standard features include: leather trimmed seats, air conditioning, electric windows/mirrors, MP3-compatible four speaker CD audio, 16-inch alloy wheels and remote central locking.
Safety features for both the J1 and J11 are limited to dual front airbags, antilock brakes with Electronic Brake-force Distribution and front seatbelt pretensioners. Due to go on sale officially from March 1, the two cars will be offered with a three-year, 100,000km warranty also incorporating 24-hour roadside assistance for the duration of the warranty.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
Chery Automotive has been formally launched in Australia ahead of a March 1 on-sale date. Two models are spearheading the new range's introduction to the local market: the J1 hatch and the J11 SUV.
As predicted, the Chinese brand will present a value proposition for new buyers, with the J1 priced at $11,990, inclusive of on-road costs, and the J11 sliding in at $19,990 driveaway. There's an automatic version of the J11 too, although that will set you back $2000 extra. For that money though, the SUV also gains cruise control and remote (steering wheel) audio controls.
The pricing and specification of the new models will be an all-important factor in attracting buyer interest and subsequent market acceptance for the new brand, which is being distributed in Australia by Ateco Automotive, the company that already distributes another Chinese brand, Great Wall.
"Chery is the largest and most diverse independent vehicle manufacturer in China," said Ric Hull, Managing Director of Ateco Automotive. "Chery is known for its focus on constant innovation and drive towards better quality, well appointed cars at an affordable price."
Powered by a 1.3-litre four-cylinder engine developing 62kW and 122Nm, the J1 is a five-door hatch with a five-speed manual transmission. On the combined-cycle fuel consumption test the J1 returns a figure of 6.7L/100km. There's no automatic option, but the standard equipment for the light car extends to: air conditioning, alloy wheels, electric windows/mirrors, remote central locking and an MP3-compatible six-speaker audio system.
Developing 102kW of power and 182Nm of torque, the 2.0-litre engine in the J11 drives through a standard five-speed manual transmission or the optional four-speed automatic to the front wheels only. Fuel consumption in combined-cycle testing is 8.9L/100km for either manual or auto variant. Standard features include: leather trimmed seats, air conditioning, electric windows/mirrors, MP3-compatible four speaker CD audio, 16-inch alloy wheels and remote central locking.
Safety features for both the J1 and J11 are limited to dual front airbags, antilock brakes with Electronic Brake-force Distribution and front seatbelt pretensioners. Due to go on sale officially from March 1, the two cars will be offered with a three-year, 100,000km warranty also incorporating 24-hour roadside assistance for the duration of the warranty.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
Thứ Sáu, 16 tháng 3, 2012
Toyota Yaris hybrid is not for Australia
But there could be a budget-priced 'mini-Prius' instead
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Geneva International Motor Show
Toyota unveiled a hybrid version of its all-new Yaris hatch at the Geneva motor show overnight – but it won't be coming to Australia anytime soon.
This model will initially be made in a Toyota factory in the north of France from next year for the European market, as a left-hand-drive model only.
Although there are plans to make a right-hand-drive version of the Yaris hybrid in Japan from next year, it is unlikely to come to Australia because Toyota wants to make way for an all-new model.
The Carsales Network understands that Toyota is developing a 'mini-Prius', a dedicated hybrid car with a unique body that shares the silhouette of the Prius – but is similar in size to the Yaris city car.
It is designed to take on the Honda Insight, which went on sale priced below $30,000 late last year.
Toyota heirachy has publicly stated that the company will have a hybrid version of every model in its line-up by 2020.
"Whether that means we get a hybrid Yaris next year or in five years is yet to be determined," said Toyota Australia spokesman Mike Breen. "As with all new cars we look at it and they are always under consideration."
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at the carsales mobile site
discount new cars » Get the best price on a new Toyota
Geneva International Motor Show
Toyota unveiled a hybrid version of its all-new Yaris hatch at the Geneva motor show overnight – but it won't be coming to Australia anytime soon.
This model will initially be made in a Toyota factory in the north of France from next year for the European market, as a left-hand-drive model only.
Although there are plans to make a right-hand-drive version of the Yaris hybrid in Japan from next year, it is unlikely to come to Australia because Toyota wants to make way for an all-new model.
The Carsales Network understands that Toyota is developing a 'mini-Prius', a dedicated hybrid car with a unique body that shares the silhouette of the Prius – but is similar in size to the Yaris city car.
It is designed to take on the Honda Insight, which went on sale priced below $30,000 late last year.
Toyota heirachy has publicly stated that the company will have a hybrid version of every model in its line-up by 2020.
"Whether that means we get a hybrid Yaris next year or in five years is yet to be determined," said Toyota Australia spokesman Mike Breen. "As with all new cars we look at it and they are always under consideration."
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at the carsales mobile site
Audi A3 sedan concept
One of Audi's best-kept secrets has made its debut in Switzerland, a sporty four-seat notchback sedan that will do battle with BMW 1 Series
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Geneva International Motor Show
One of the premiere launches at the 2011 Geneva motor show, the Audi A3 sedan concept is almost guaranteed to become a reality where it would rival vehicles such as the BMW 1 Series. Audi is calling the new concept four-seat notchback sedan, and measuring 4.44 meters in length it sits firmly within the small car category.
On the surface it would appear as though Audi is looking to develop a more agile and sporty sedan that slots in underneath the ever-expanding A4, perhaps to pre-empt a BMW 1 Series sedan.
The Audi A3 sedan concept adheres to Ingolstadt's design ethos, retaining the single-frame front grille, angular headlights and conservative silhouette, though the stubby rear-end lends it a more sporting character. A kerb weight of 1540kg would ensure light footedness.
While Audi's bread-and-butter model, the A4, grows in size and is increasingly being seen as a family car, the A3 sedan would deliver a vehicle for buyers less concerned with back-seat passengers. As such, the concept rides on large 20-inch alloy wheels that sit beneath pumped wheel arches, and the A3 sedan concept is powered by the RS3 hatchback's five-cylinder turbocharged engine outputting 300kW -- a good 50kW more than the RS3.
Peak torque is likewise lofty, 500Nm from as low as 1600rpm.
The Audi's engine power is transferred to all four wheels via a twin-clutch seven-speed S tronic gearbox, and the car will accelerate from zero to 100km/h faster than the RS4, in about 4.1 seconds.
Stay tuned to the Carsales Network for more news and interviews from the 2011 Geneva motor show.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site.
prestige new cars » Get the best price on a new Audi
Geneva International Motor Show
One of the premiere launches at the 2011 Geneva motor show, the Audi A3 sedan concept is almost guaranteed to become a reality where it would rival vehicles such as the BMW 1 Series. Audi is calling the new concept four-seat notchback sedan, and measuring 4.44 meters in length it sits firmly within the small car category.
On the surface it would appear as though Audi is looking to develop a more agile and sporty sedan that slots in underneath the ever-expanding A4, perhaps to pre-empt a BMW 1 Series sedan.
The Audi A3 sedan concept adheres to Ingolstadt's design ethos, retaining the single-frame front grille, angular headlights and conservative silhouette, though the stubby rear-end lends it a more sporting character. A kerb weight of 1540kg would ensure light footedness.
While Audi's bread-and-butter model, the A4, grows in size and is increasingly being seen as a family car, the A3 sedan would deliver a vehicle for buyers less concerned with back-seat passengers. As such, the concept rides on large 20-inch alloy wheels that sit beneath pumped wheel arches, and the A3 sedan concept is powered by the RS3 hatchback's five-cylinder turbocharged engine outputting 300kW -- a good 50kW more than the RS3.
Peak torque is likewise lofty, 500Nm from as low as 1600rpm.
The Audi's engine power is transferred to all four wheels via a twin-clutch seven-speed S tronic gearbox, and the car will accelerate from zero to 100km/h faster than the RS4, in about 4.1 seconds.
Stay tuned to the Carsales Network for more news and interviews from the 2011 Geneva motor show.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site.
De Tomaso's Geneva resurgence
Venerable Italian sports car marque set for a new lease of life... but this time its focus is more mainstream
Geneva International Motor Show
De Tomaso -- a once-iconic brand synonymous with brawny supercars -- is staging a Lazarus-like resurgence by revealing a crossover concept at this week's Geneva motor show.
Known for now as the SLS (for Sport Luxury Sedan) -- presumably with apologies to Mercedes-Benz -- the coupe-wagon-sedan-morphing design study will rival the likes of the BMW 5 Series GT and even Porsche's Panamera.
As per the Porsche and BeeEm, it will be offered with a choice of V6 and V8 propulsion, with power outputs of 221kW and 404kW respectively -- relayed to the tarmac via an all-wheel-drive system. There will also be a 182kW V6 diesel.
According to European reports, the revitalised De Tomaso is planning a three-model range comprising coupe, sedan and crossover body styles, all underpinned by an aluminium chassis.
The Pininfarina-penned SLS is set to go into production later this year, and the company is targeting build volumes of 3000 units per year. The showroom-spec model will be renamed, but it's not yet known what its moniker will be.
The sedan and coupe models are set to be unveiled further down the track, and the company plans to annually build 3000 units of the former and 2000 of the latter.
De Tomaso is perhaps best known for the muscular Pantera -- a mid-engined brute stuffed with a warmed-over Ford 351-cubic-inch Cleveland V8. It offered performance to match its contemporaries from Ferrari and Lamborghini, but it was a relatively crude device.
The company was founded in 1959 by Argentinian-born Alejandro de Tomaso, but it went bust in 2004 before being purchased from a bankruptcy court in 2009 by former Fiat exec Gianmario Rossignolo.
Rossignolo signed a deal with Pininfarina a month later to rent its Grugliasco plant, which has an assembly line, body shop and paint shop and employs 900 people. An investment of 116 million euros ($158m) has been earmarked for the project.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site.
Geneva International Motor Show
De Tomaso -- a once-iconic brand synonymous with brawny supercars -- is staging a Lazarus-like resurgence by revealing a crossover concept at this week's Geneva motor show.
Known for now as the SLS (for Sport Luxury Sedan) -- presumably with apologies to Mercedes-Benz -- the coupe-wagon-sedan-morphing design study will rival the likes of the BMW 5 Series GT and even Porsche's Panamera.
As per the Porsche and BeeEm, it will be offered with a choice of V6 and V8 propulsion, with power outputs of 221kW and 404kW respectively -- relayed to the tarmac via an all-wheel-drive system. There will also be a 182kW V6 diesel.
According to European reports, the revitalised De Tomaso is planning a three-model range comprising coupe, sedan and crossover body styles, all underpinned by an aluminium chassis.
The Pininfarina-penned SLS is set to go into production later this year, and the company is targeting build volumes of 3000 units per year. The showroom-spec model will be renamed, but it's not yet known what its moniker will be.
The sedan and coupe models are set to be unveiled further down the track, and the company plans to annually build 3000 units of the former and 2000 of the latter.
De Tomaso is perhaps best known for the muscular Pantera -- a mid-engined brute stuffed with a warmed-over Ford 351-cubic-inch Cleveland V8. It offered performance to match its contemporaries from Ferrari and Lamborghini, but it was a relatively crude device.
The company was founded in 1959 by Argentinian-born Alejandro de Tomaso, but it went bust in 2004 before being purchased from a bankruptcy court in 2009 by former Fiat exec Gianmario Rossignolo.
Rossignolo signed a deal with Pininfarina a month later to rent its Grugliasco plant, which has an assembly line, body shop and paint shop and employs 900 people. An investment of 116 million euros ($158m) has been earmarked for the project.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site.
Video: McLaren MP4-12C GT3 racer completes first tests
High-tech competition variant of McLaren's mid-engined twin-turbo V8 road car edges closer to final spec
We recently brought you news of McLaren's upcoming MP4-12C GT3 racer, and now the Woking-based concern has released additional footage and info of the track demon.
The video (watch it here) features McLaren chief test driver Chris Goodwin, who says the best bits of the road car games have been retained for the competition variant.
"Those who have seen the new MP4-12C production car won't be surprised to learn that immense attention to detail has been applied in developing the GT3 version. Quality is a watchword," says Goodwin.
"We know that our potential customers will expect McLaren GT to deliver a competitive car right out of the box and, starting now with a programme covering aerodynamics development and durability testing, we are determined to do just that."
The company has also announced the recruitment of 26-year-old Portuguese racer Alvaro Parente as one of the official test drivers for McLaren GT -- a new offshoot that brings together the know-how of the McLaren Group and CRS Racing.
The initial shakedown tests undertaken with the 12C GT3 focused on calibrating new components and appraising the aero-focused body addenda that distinguishes the race car from the road-going version.
McLaren says the initial tests will be followed by comprehensive tests scheduled throughout March and April at a number of FIA-certified circuits across Europe, after which the MP4-12C GT3's full driver line-up and competition schedule will be announced.
The initial tests carried out at UK's Silverstone and MIRA proving ground followed months of virtual testing in the McLaren Simulator at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking (also used to develop the 12C production car and Vodafone McLaren Mercedes' Formula 1 cars).
Although the MP4-12C GT3 features race-specific composite body panels, a large rear wing, a new front splitter, door blade, diffuser and louvres in the front fenders, the twin-turbo 3.8-litre V8 has been carried over from the road car (albeit tuned to race spec).
The transmission is a bespoke paddle-shift system operating an all-new Ricardo-designed gearbox -- in lieu of the seven-speed SSG dual-clutch Graziano transmission fitted to the standard 12C. The GT3's braking system also features bespoke callipers by Akebono, which already supplies the McLaren F1 team.
Due to racing regulations, the GT3 version ditches the road-going 12C's ProActive Chassis Control System (which negates the need for sway bars) -- instead using competition-specific anti-roll bars and dampers.
Gentleman racers will have to be patient though, as McLaren Automotive and CRS Racing will only begin rolling out a limited number of MP4-12C GT3s from 2012 onwards.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
We recently brought you news of McLaren's upcoming MP4-12C GT3 racer, and now the Woking-based concern has released additional footage and info of the track demon.
The video (watch it here) features McLaren chief test driver Chris Goodwin, who says the best bits of the road car games have been retained for the competition variant.
"Those who have seen the new MP4-12C production car won't be surprised to learn that immense attention to detail has been applied in developing the GT3 version. Quality is a watchword," says Goodwin.
"We know that our potential customers will expect McLaren GT to deliver a competitive car right out of the box and, starting now with a programme covering aerodynamics development and durability testing, we are determined to do just that."
The company has also announced the recruitment of 26-year-old Portuguese racer Alvaro Parente as one of the official test drivers for McLaren GT -- a new offshoot that brings together the know-how of the McLaren Group and CRS Racing.
The initial shakedown tests undertaken with the 12C GT3 focused on calibrating new components and appraising the aero-focused body addenda that distinguishes the race car from the road-going version.
McLaren says the initial tests will be followed by comprehensive tests scheduled throughout March and April at a number of FIA-certified circuits across Europe, after which the MP4-12C GT3's full driver line-up and competition schedule will be announced.
The initial tests carried out at UK's Silverstone and MIRA proving ground followed months of virtual testing in the McLaren Simulator at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking (also used to develop the 12C production car and Vodafone McLaren Mercedes' Formula 1 cars).
Although the MP4-12C GT3 features race-specific composite body panels, a large rear wing, a new front splitter, door blade, diffuser and louvres in the front fenders, the twin-turbo 3.8-litre V8 has been carried over from the road car (albeit tuned to race spec).
The transmission is a bespoke paddle-shift system operating an all-new Ricardo-designed gearbox -- in lieu of the seven-speed SSG dual-clutch Graziano transmission fitted to the standard 12C. The GT3's braking system also features bespoke callipers by Akebono, which already supplies the McLaren F1 team.
Due to racing regulations, the GT3 version ditches the road-going 12C's ProActive Chassis Control System (which negates the need for sway bars) -- instead using competition-specific anti-roll bars and dampers.
Gentleman racers will have to be patient though, as McLaren Automotive and CRS Racing will only begin rolling out a limited number of MP4-12C GT3s from 2012 onwards.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
Hydrogen power for F1 cars "inevitable"
FIA supremo Jean Todt says pinnacle of motorsport must adopt new technology
If you thought the return of four-cylinder Formula One cars sounded bad, this may leave you silent.
The roar of Formula One engines is on track to be replaced by the hum of a hydrogen fuel-cell powering an electric motor.
Jean Todt, the president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the peak motorsports body, believes electric- and hydrogen-powered F1 cars are "inevitable".
Race fans are already up in arms over the fact that the fastest race cars in world will switch from 2.4-litre V8s to 1.6-litre turbo four-cylinder power in two years -- now it has emerged they could be powered by alternative fuels by the end of the decade.
During a brief visit to Australia this week, when asked about alternative energy in F1, Todt said bluntly:
"It’s essential ... Formula One as a sport has to be the pinnacle of technology, in this respect it must have a strong link with what is happening in modern society.
"You cannot be blind ... without considering what is happening around you in the world."
Todt (pictured here in his earlier role as head of Ferrari's F1 team) said he has visited car makers in Japan and Europe over the past 12 months and came away impressed by how advanced they were with the development of electric and hydrogen-powered cars.
"And they already have a vision for 2020," he said. "Times are changing and the cars will change. It will definitely happen. It's a fascinating period to think about the sport ... to foresee what will be the situation in five, ten, fifteen years. Everything is changing at high speed."
When asked if he thought F1 would be more likely to embrace hydrogen instead of pure electric power, he said: "I'm a manager, not an engineer, but a lot of my success as a manager is having good engineers. Talking to engineers and trying to understand what they are developing, I'm more of a believer in hydrogen technologies in the future rather than electric."
He said pure-electric cars were better suited to city use rather than long distance driving or racing.
Todt also said motorsport enthusiasts should not panic. "If we look two or three decades behind, the sport changed so much as well."
He said any changes would involve close collaboration with the car industry and race teams.
"As is the case with the [2013 engine downsizing plans] it is not something which has been imposed without consultation with the F1 championship," he said. "It has been the result of lengthy detailed discussions with all the stakeholders involved in -- and potentially involved in -- the future of F1.
"We must end up with this result which takes into account new technology and the evolution of society. We have already applied it to world rallying [1.6 turbo engines] and we will apply to each world championship going forward."
In the meantime, the switch to 1.6 turbo power will mean that Formula One has come full circle -- F1 cars in the 1960s were powered by 1.5-litre four-cylinder engines, either turbocharged or supercharged.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
If you thought the return of four-cylinder Formula One cars sounded bad, this may leave you silent.
The roar of Formula One engines is on track to be replaced by the hum of a hydrogen fuel-cell powering an electric motor.
Jean Todt, the president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the peak motorsports body, believes electric- and hydrogen-powered F1 cars are "inevitable".
Race fans are already up in arms over the fact that the fastest race cars in world will switch from 2.4-litre V8s to 1.6-litre turbo four-cylinder power in two years -- now it has emerged they could be powered by alternative fuels by the end of the decade.
During a brief visit to Australia this week, when asked about alternative energy in F1, Todt said bluntly:
"It’s essential ... Formula One as a sport has to be the pinnacle of technology, in this respect it must have a strong link with what is happening in modern society.
"You cannot be blind ... without considering what is happening around you in the world."
Todt (pictured here in his earlier role as head of Ferrari's F1 team) said he has visited car makers in Japan and Europe over the past 12 months and came away impressed by how advanced they were with the development of electric and hydrogen-powered cars.
"And they already have a vision for 2020," he said. "Times are changing and the cars will change. It will definitely happen. It's a fascinating period to think about the sport ... to foresee what will be the situation in five, ten, fifteen years. Everything is changing at high speed."
When asked if he thought F1 would be more likely to embrace hydrogen instead of pure electric power, he said: "I'm a manager, not an engineer, but a lot of my success as a manager is having good engineers. Talking to engineers and trying to understand what they are developing, I'm more of a believer in hydrogen technologies in the future rather than electric."
He said pure-electric cars were better suited to city use rather than long distance driving or racing.
Todt also said motorsport enthusiasts should not panic. "If we look two or three decades behind, the sport changed so much as well."
He said any changes would involve close collaboration with the car industry and race teams.
"As is the case with the [2013 engine downsizing plans] it is not something which has been imposed without consultation with the F1 championship," he said. "It has been the result of lengthy detailed discussions with all the stakeholders involved in -- and potentially involved in -- the future of F1.
"We must end up with this result which takes into account new technology and the evolution of society. We have already applied it to world rallying [1.6 turbo engines] and we will apply to each world championship going forward."
In the meantime, the switch to 1.6 turbo power will mean that Formula One has come full circle -- F1 cars in the 1960s were powered by 1.5-litre four-cylinder engines, either turbocharged or supercharged.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
Final week to win a drive of the i-MiEV
It's not too late to enter our competition to drive Mitsubishi's avant-garde electric car
discount new cars » Get the best price on a new Mitsubishi
Just days remain to put your name forward for the carsales.com.au 'Electric Dream' competition.
The winner will get to enjoy emissions-free motoring for three months in the Carsales Network's Mitsubishi i-MiEV. It's a great opportunity to see how the future might look -- without the waiting.
All that's required to enter the competition are some details about yourself and 25 words outlining why you would make an outstanding guest reporter to assess the car. Merely click on the link to the competition (www.carsales.com.au/electricdream) and give it your best shot.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
discount new cars » Get the best price on a new Mitsubishi
Just days remain to put your name forward for the carsales.com.au 'Electric Dream' competition.
The winner will get to enjoy emissions-free motoring for three months in the Carsales Network's Mitsubishi i-MiEV. It's a great opportunity to see how the future might look -- without the waiting.
All that's required to enter the competition are some details about yourself and 25 words outlining why you would make an outstanding guest reporter to assess the car. Merely click on the link to the competition (www.carsales.com.au/electricdream) and give it your best shot.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
Thứ Ba, 13 tháng 3, 2012
SHANGHAI AUTO SHOW: Changan the next Chinese brand to watch
Mature design, broad model range, interested parties apply
With three passenger car games brands already on Australian soil the search is on for the next big hope.
And while nothing has been confirmed, the best of the rest appears at this stage to be the Changan car company.
Apart from having the equally most-developed production vehicles compared to Great Wall Motors, Chery and Geely, it also had high quality concept cars -- one of which was styled by a Japanese designer.
The Changan brand had three main concept vehicles on display: the Voss van, the Clover EV small sedan, and a sleek medium-sized sedan concept that could easily have stood proudly on a Mazda stand, such was the quality of the design and the construction of the car itself.
When Changan was asked if it had plans to export its vehicles to Australia, journalists were told the company was in discussions but it wasn't forthcoming about the other party involved -- or if any deal had been signed.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
With three passenger car games brands already on Australian soil the search is on for the next big hope.
And while nothing has been confirmed, the best of the rest appears at this stage to be the Changan car company.
Apart from having the equally most-developed production vehicles compared to Great Wall Motors, Chery and Geely, it also had high quality concept cars -- one of which was styled by a Japanese designer.
The Changan brand had three main concept vehicles on display: the Voss van, the Clover EV small sedan, and a sleek medium-sized sedan concept that could easily have stood proudly on a Mazda stand, such was the quality of the design and the construction of the car itself.
When Changan was asked if it had plans to export its vehicles to Australia, journalists were told the company was in discussions but it wasn't forthcoming about the other party involved -- or if any deal had been signed.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
SHANGHAI AUTO SHOW: Volvo wants car controls as easy as iPads
And the Swedes also want to ditch the owner's manual
discount new cars » Get the best price on a new Volvo
The new German boss of Volvo, Stefan Jacoby wants to make cars of the future so simple they won't need to come with an owner's manual.
Responding to concerns about driver distraction, Jacoby said Volvo was uniquely positioned to rise to the challenge with "simplistic Scandinavian design".
During a roundtable conference with international media at Auto Shanghai yesterday, Jacoby said: "We need to feel comfortable with the controls, to steer the car, [and operate] the navigation system, the entertainment system, the air-conditioning. I agree we are not yet there ... and there we will put our strength."
While holding an iPhone, he said: "Everyone knows this is maybe the simplest machine we operate. It even comes without the instruction manual. Everybody can really use these days an iPhone or an iPad.
That's my vision for Volvo as well.
"I'm not sure whether we will be able to -- or legally be able to -- introduce a car without an instruction manual, but it should be simple to control. You should be able to sit in the car and know what to do intuitively. That's my intention and that's my vision for Volvo cars."
He said luxury cars had become too complicated, an oblique reference to cabin control systems used by BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi.
"I define luxury also as things that are simple," he said. "That makes life simpler, less complicated; that for me is luxury as well.
"I have a DVD player at home that I cannot program because I forgot already how to use it ... and I have lost the manual and that makes me feel uncomfortable. And I hate it, and it's complicated.
"We have a lot of these machines in day to day life and I think it fits to a brand like Volvo if we focus with our engineering on making things easier and less complicated for the consumer.
"I believe our cars in the future will be simple and intuitive to steer and control and to drive."
Jacoby said that although Volvo has returned to profitability it still was not in the clear just yet.
"We are a little flower which is growing," he said. "I want to have a strong tree out of this which is sustainable.
"We managed to transfer the company to profitability during 2010 ... but we are not yet sustainable. We have ambitious objectives by more than doubling our sales and bring Volvo to sustainability. We are not yet 100 per cent weather-proof for another storm."
He said once Volvo had more cash behind it, the company would consider building exciting, indulgent models such as a modern version of the Volvo P1800 classic from the 1960s.
"Once we are safe then we can look at other cars like this (P1800); I have a picture on my wall in my office I see it every day."
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
discount new cars » Get the best price on a new Volvo
The new German boss of Volvo, Stefan Jacoby wants to make cars of the future so simple they won't need to come with an owner's manual.
Responding to concerns about driver distraction, Jacoby said Volvo was uniquely positioned to rise to the challenge with "simplistic Scandinavian design".
During a roundtable conference with international media at Auto Shanghai yesterday, Jacoby said: "We need to feel comfortable with the controls, to steer the car, [and operate] the navigation system, the entertainment system, the air-conditioning. I agree we are not yet there ... and there we will put our strength."
While holding an iPhone, he said: "Everyone knows this is maybe the simplest machine we operate. It even comes without the instruction manual. Everybody can really use these days an iPhone or an iPad.
That's my vision for Volvo as well.
"I'm not sure whether we will be able to -- or legally be able to -- introduce a car without an instruction manual, but it should be simple to control. You should be able to sit in the car and know what to do intuitively. That's my intention and that's my vision for Volvo cars."
He said luxury cars had become too complicated, an oblique reference to cabin control systems used by BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi.
"I define luxury also as things that are simple," he said. "That makes life simpler, less complicated; that for me is luxury as well.
"I have a DVD player at home that I cannot program because I forgot already how to use it ... and I have lost the manual and that makes me feel uncomfortable. And I hate it, and it's complicated.
"We have a lot of these machines in day to day life and I think it fits to a brand like Volvo if we focus with our engineering on making things easier and less complicated for the consumer.
"I believe our cars in the future will be simple and intuitive to steer and control and to drive."
Jacoby said that although Volvo has returned to profitability it still was not in the clear just yet.
"We are a little flower which is growing," he said. "I want to have a strong tree out of this which is sustainable.
"We managed to transfer the company to profitability during 2010 ... but we are not yet sustainable. We have ambitious objectives by more than doubling our sales and bring Volvo to sustainability. We are not yet 100 per cent weather-proof for another storm."
He said once Volvo had more cash behind it, the company would consider building exciting, indulgent models such as a modern version of the Volvo P1800 classic from the 1960s.
"Once we are safe then we can look at other cars like this (P1800); I have a picture on my wall in my office I see it every day."
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
NEW YORK AUTO SHOW: Chrysler trio debuts
New Chrysler 300C, Wrangler Mojave and Grand Cherokee SRT8 steal the stage in New York
discount new cars » Get the best price on a new Chrysler
The Chrysler group of companies has continued its model onslaught with a trio of new models announced at this week's New York Auto Show.
Three versions of the marque's new 300 were debuted ahead of their Q3 US launch. And the line-up is wider than ever including a performance SRT8 variant, 300S, a model to target younger buyers dubbed the 300S, and 300C Executive Series -- the latter billed as the 'most luxurious Chrysler sedan ever'.
King of the 300 hill, the SRT8 is powered by a 6.4-litre HEMI V8 developing 347kW/630Nm, a 29kW/61Nm increase over the 6.1-litre mill it replaces. The American brand says the figures are enough to rocket the large sedan from rest to 60mph in "the high four-second range". Sub 13 second quarter mile times are also projected, as is a top speed of 282km/h.
Fuel economy figures have yet to be announced, though Chrysler says the big-block 300 SRT8 will outshine the consumption figure of its predecessor by around 25 per cent, a new exhaust system allowing the engine's cylinder shutdown system to operate across a wider rev-range. The 'active exhaust system' also opens completely under load for a more robust aural experience.
The show model rides on 20-inch aluminium and black-finished alloy wheels and packs a high-end audio package, black trim accents and special 'monochrome black' upholstery.
The upscale 300C Executive Series, powered by a 270kW 5.7-litre HEMI V8 (available in rear and all-wheel drive format) is clad with ultra-premium leather upholstery and includes what Chrysler says is 'world-class refinement', improved handling and state-of-the-art safety and infotainment features.
The luxury model is defined by a leather bound instrument cluster brow and instrument panel, the centre console side panels and door skin uppers and armrests also wrapped in up-scale cow hide. Twelve-way electric seats and dual-mode ventilation and heating is also offered on the front pews while real wood trim punctuates the cabin in a low-gloss finish.
On the exterior, the flagship model replaces chromed fascia, mirror and door handle accents with a unique platinum chrome finish also found on the car's grille surround.
A more aggressively styled, youth-oriented 300S model is available with the choice of 218kW 3.6-litre Pentastar V6 or 270kW 5.7-litre HEMI V8 power. Riding on a 'touring' suspension tune the S rolls on 20-inch alloy wheels.
Externally, the S variant is styled for a "low-key street presence", says Chrysler, with body-coloured fascia accents and mirror caps, black-accented headlamp bezels and a black chrome grille. Cloth seats in black or 'radar red' are complemented by a matte graphite finish decor accented by piano black highlights. Fitting its youthful image, 300S is available with a powerful audio system promising studio-quality sound.
Joining its sedan cousin, the Jeep Wrangler Mojave -- named in tribute to the famed 138-mile Mojave Trail -- follows a succession of special edition models, this time with a desert inspired motif. Set to arrive in US showrooms from June 2011, the Mojave is available in Wrangler and Wrangler Unlimited guise and features an aggressive tyre and wheel package, body-coloured hardtop and fender flares, lizard decals and model-specific side steps.
Indoors, bespoke driftwood vent surrounds, steering wheel inserts and grab handles are a prominent accent in an otherwise standard cabin. The floor's 'slush mats' are finished in a Mopar tread pattern design.
Finally, the impressive new Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 comes complete with the same all new 6.4-litre HEMI V8 found in the aforementioned 300 SRT8.
With the same output figures, the Grand Cherokee SRT8 reaches triple figures in 4.8 seconds, covers the quarter-mile in 'the mid-13 range' and boasts a top speed of 250km/h. Equally impressive is the Grand Cherokee SRT8's claimed stopping prowess, Jeep claiming a 100-0km/h distance of just 35.3 metres.
With a performance-orientated version of Grand Cherokee's advanced Selec-Track suspension management system, Jeep says the hi-po SUV managed cornering forces of 0.90g on a skid pan, making it the best handling Jeep ever built. And despite its performance slant, Chrysler says the brawny Grand Cherokee delivers a 13 per cent improvement in highway fuel efficiency.
The Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 will be in US showrooms Q3 this year.
Chrysler Australia's head of marketing, Dean Bonthorne, told the Carsales Network that he can confirm both the 300 and Grand Cherokee SRT8 models are on the list for local showrooms, though we still have just over a year to wait.
"We can confirm both SRT8s are slated for Australia, but it's a bit to early to lock in dates. If I had to guess, I'd say the new 300 range will arrive in about 12 months time with the SRT8 variant early in Q3 [next year]. The Grand Cherokee SRT8 will arrive at roughly the same time as the 300, somewhere towards to pointy end of Q2."
Bonthorne also confirmed the Wrangler Mojave is a US-only special edition and will not be sold in right-hand drive.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at the carsales mobile site
discount new cars » Get the best price on a new Chrysler
The Chrysler group of companies has continued its model onslaught with a trio of new models announced at this week's New York Auto Show.
Three versions of the marque's new 300 were debuted ahead of their Q3 US launch. And the line-up is wider than ever including a performance SRT8 variant, 300S, a model to target younger buyers dubbed the 300S, and 300C Executive Series -- the latter billed as the 'most luxurious Chrysler sedan ever'.
King of the 300 hill, the SRT8 is powered by a 6.4-litre HEMI V8 developing 347kW/630Nm, a 29kW/61Nm increase over the 6.1-litre mill it replaces. The American brand says the figures are enough to rocket the large sedan from rest to 60mph in "the high four-second range". Sub 13 second quarter mile times are also projected, as is a top speed of 282km/h.
Fuel economy figures have yet to be announced, though Chrysler says the big-block 300 SRT8 will outshine the consumption figure of its predecessor by around 25 per cent, a new exhaust system allowing the engine's cylinder shutdown system to operate across a wider rev-range. The 'active exhaust system' also opens completely under load for a more robust aural experience.
The show model rides on 20-inch aluminium and black-finished alloy wheels and packs a high-end audio package, black trim accents and special 'monochrome black' upholstery.
The upscale 300C Executive Series, powered by a 270kW 5.7-litre HEMI V8 (available in rear and all-wheel drive format) is clad with ultra-premium leather upholstery and includes what Chrysler says is 'world-class refinement', improved handling and state-of-the-art safety and infotainment features.
The luxury model is defined by a leather bound instrument cluster brow and instrument panel, the centre console side panels and door skin uppers and armrests also wrapped in up-scale cow hide. Twelve-way electric seats and dual-mode ventilation and heating is also offered on the front pews while real wood trim punctuates the cabin in a low-gloss finish.
On the exterior, the flagship model replaces chromed fascia, mirror and door handle accents with a unique platinum chrome finish also found on the car's grille surround.
A more aggressively styled, youth-oriented 300S model is available with the choice of 218kW 3.6-litre Pentastar V6 or 270kW 5.7-litre HEMI V8 power. Riding on a 'touring' suspension tune the S rolls on 20-inch alloy wheels.
Externally, the S variant is styled for a "low-key street presence", says Chrysler, with body-coloured fascia accents and mirror caps, black-accented headlamp bezels and a black chrome grille. Cloth seats in black or 'radar red' are complemented by a matte graphite finish decor accented by piano black highlights. Fitting its youthful image, 300S is available with a powerful audio system promising studio-quality sound.
Joining its sedan cousin, the Jeep Wrangler Mojave -- named in tribute to the famed 138-mile Mojave Trail -- follows a succession of special edition models, this time with a desert inspired motif. Set to arrive in US showrooms from June 2011, the Mojave is available in Wrangler and Wrangler Unlimited guise and features an aggressive tyre and wheel package, body-coloured hardtop and fender flares, lizard decals and model-specific side steps.
Indoors, bespoke driftwood vent surrounds, steering wheel inserts and grab handles are a prominent accent in an otherwise standard cabin. The floor's 'slush mats' are finished in a Mopar tread pattern design.
Finally, the impressive new Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 comes complete with the same all new 6.4-litre HEMI V8 found in the aforementioned 300 SRT8.
With the same output figures, the Grand Cherokee SRT8 reaches triple figures in 4.8 seconds, covers the quarter-mile in 'the mid-13 range' and boasts a top speed of 250km/h. Equally impressive is the Grand Cherokee SRT8's claimed stopping prowess, Jeep claiming a 100-0km/h distance of just 35.3 metres.
With a performance-orientated version of Grand Cherokee's advanced Selec-Track suspension management system, Jeep says the hi-po SUV managed cornering forces of 0.90g on a skid pan, making it the best handling Jeep ever built. And despite its performance slant, Chrysler says the brawny Grand Cherokee delivers a 13 per cent improvement in highway fuel efficiency.
The Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 will be in US showrooms Q3 this year.
Chrysler Australia's head of marketing, Dean Bonthorne, told the Carsales Network that he can confirm both the 300 and Grand Cherokee SRT8 models are on the list for local showrooms, though we still have just over a year to wait.
"We can confirm both SRT8s are slated for Australia, but it's a bit to early to lock in dates. If I had to guess, I'd say the new 300 range will arrive in about 12 months time with the SRT8 variant early in Q3 [next year]. The Grand Cherokee SRT8 will arrive at roughly the same time as the 300, somewhere towards to pointy end of Q2."
Bonthorne also confirmed the Wrangler Mojave is a US-only special edition and will not be sold in right-hand drive.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at the carsales mobile site
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