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19 Apr,
2008
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Opel Insignia
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Opel has released the first details of its new Insignia, the
replacement of the long-serving Vectra. The Insignia is a much larger
car than Vectra, being 210 mm longer (total 4830 mm) and 50 mm wider
(1850 mm). In other words, it is nearly as big as the old Omega. Is it
really a replacement of Vectra ? or actually a reborn Omega ? Like Ford
did to its Mondeo recently, Opel might found the demise of Omega left a
space for the new Vectra to go upmarket, which will be better to fend
off the competition from German premium cars (BMW 3-Series / Audi A4)
and the bigger offerings from Japanese and Korean. As the car go up
market, the Vectra name has to be replaced by Insignia.
Coincidentally, the new Insignia also looks like Omega, thanks to the
curvy shape. This is the first appearance of the new Opel design
language. The previous sharp-edge design theme of Astra and Corsa went
to Ford together with former design chief Martin Smith. New chief
designer Mark Adams prefers a rounded design, which also benefits
aerodynamic drag coefficient, i.e., 0.27 for base versions. The car
looks quite fat and tall compare with Ford Mondeo, Mazda 6 and European
Honda Accord. The bonnet level and sitting position are obviously
raised. All these make it less sporty than its rivals.
In the mechanical side, the Insignia debuts the new GM Epsilon II
platform (remark: some said the one being used by Saturn Aura and
Chevrolet Malibu is Epsilon 1.5). Still a front-wheel-drive platform,
but now it can be equipped with Saab's XWD system as option. The XWD
employs a Haldex multi-plate clutch to engage the rear wheels and, in
addition, is capable of controlling the torque distribution between the
rear wheels. The chassis has a wheelbase 2735 mm, compare with the
previous 2700 mm. It is said to offer more rear legroom, although the
swoopy roofline means rear headroom more or less the same. The new car
has better NVH suppression and crash protection. The suspensions, still
MacPherson struts up front and multi-link at the rear, now adopts
adaptive damping and IDS+ control system (like Astra). The latter
allows the driver to alter suspension stiffness, steering weighting and
throttle response. It also links the suspensions with ESP stability
control and the 4-wheel-drive system.
Powertrains include 4 petrol engines and 3 diesel engines at launch.
Opel revealed little details about them, but AutoZine has identified
the petrol engines to be:
- 1.6-liter
16V VVT Twin-port 115hp (same as Astra)
- 1.8-liter
16V VVT Twin-port 140hp (same as Astra)
- 2.0-liter
16V Turbo 200hp (same as Astra and Saab)
- 2.8-liter
V6 24V Twin-scroll Turbo 260hp (same as Saab and outgoing Vectra)
The diesel
engines are no longer the existing 1.9-liter unit, but a 2.0-liter unit
as introduced in Antara SUV. It has 3 states of tune - 110hp, 130hp and
160hp. Sadly, it does not offer the excellent 1.9TTiD twin-turbo engine
of Saab 9-3. However, in the future it will offer GM's forthcoming
250hp 2.9-liter turbo diesel V6. All petrol and diesel engines are
available with either 6-speed manual or 6-speed automatic.
The new Opel Insignia seems not as advanced as we had hoped for. Its
engines are mostly existing ones and hardly foresee the future
development trend. It will offer biofuel engines later on, and Hybrid
has been mentioned, but these are likely to be existing technologies
(Saab's biofuel engines and Saturn Aura / Chevrolet Malibu's
mild-hybird powertrain) and it shouldn't take so long to launch. When
it comes to eco-friendly downsized turbocharged engines, we have yet to
see any. The only advanced feature is the adaptive headlamps with
energy-saving LED daytime driving lamps, which are said to save 6 grams
of CO2 emission per kilometer (remark:
IMO this figure could be overstated). The Insignia seems to emphasize
on luxury rather than sportiness. This will distinguish itself from
Ford Mondeo further apart. But luxury alone cannot make a new Omega.
The rear-drive Omega was also renowned for driver appeal.
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19 Apr,
2008
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FPV Falcon gets more power (as
expected)
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Australian Ford will release details of the new generation FPV
performance Falcon in June, but now its engine specifications are
available: The F6 model will be powered by the 4.0-liter turbo
straight-6 boosted to 415hp @ 5500 rpm (up from the production car's
362 hp) and 415 lb-ft of torque @ 1950-5200 rpm (from 393 lb-ft). It
gets higher turbo boost, larger intercooler and strengthened pistons to
achieve the additional power.
What about the Boss V8 ? It gets slightly more power at 422 hp @ 6500
rpm (up from 405 hp) and 406 lb-ft @ 4750 rpm (from 398 lb-ft).
Actually slower than the F6 in real world, but traditional fans of V8
power will keep it alive.
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19 Apr, 2008
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| Industry News |
Subaru-Toyota
sports car joint-venture
As Toyota is increasing its stake in Fuji Heavy Industry (Subaru) from
the current 8.7% to 16.5%, they will have closer cooperation in the
coming future. First of all, Subaru will stop producing its own K-cars
and instead buying from Daihatsu as it is more cost effective. Toyota
will also supply its compact car bB to Subaru. However, the most
interesting to car enthusiast should be the confirmation that they are
joint-developing a rear-wheel-drive coupe. To say “joint-developing” is
a bit misleading, as it will be primarily developed by Subaru on a new
platform and built at a new Subaru factory. It will also be powered by
Subaru’s boxer engine, believed to be a version of the turbocharged
four-cylinder unit of Impreza. The Subaru version of the coupe will
arrive at late 2010, then followed by the Toyota version (with its own
styling) in early 2011. This will be the first Subaru coupe since the
SVX and Toyota’s first rear-drive coupe since Supra.
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3 Apr,
2008
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Seat Ibiza
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The new Ibiza is the first Seat penned by Luc Donckerwolke since he
became the design chief of Seat. Despite of his fame in Lamborghini, I
don’t think he has broken any new ground in the design of Ibiza. It
looks like a BMW 1-Series meets a Hyundai i30. Under the skin is the
new generation Volkswagen group small car platform (which will be
adopted by next generation Polo and Fabia). It measures 4.05 meters
long, versus the current car’s 3.97 m. Front and rear tracks have been
widened by 30 mm and 33 mm respectively, as you can see from the
aggressive wheelarches. Unsurprisingly, Seat promises more rear legroom
and a larger boot space (292 liters) for its new supermini.
The Ibiza will be initially available with 3 petrol engines – 70 hp
1.2-liter 3-cylinder 12V, 85 hp 1.4-liter 16V and 102 hp 1.6-liter 8V.
Later on we expect there will be 1.4TSI, 1.4TDI and 1.9TDI engines.
Transmission is 5-speed manual as standard, 6-speed manual for diesel
and 7-speed DSG as option.
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3 Apr, 2008
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| Industry News |
Frank Stephenson
left Fiat / Alfa
 Alfa
Romeo design head Frank Stephenson has left Fiat group. This is
unlikely to be a surprise to our readers because I pointed out the
possibility back in last May. Stephenson is a highly respected designer
in our generation. He was made famous by designing the (BMW) Mini, then
worked as Ferrari’s first ever in-house design chief, during which he
shaped Ferrari F430, 599 GTB and Maserati Quattroporte together with
Pininfarina. He was then promoted to head the overall design activity
of Fiat group. Today’s Fiat 500, Bravo and Lancia new Delta are all
strongly influenced by him. His cars look as handsome as his face.
However, Stephenson has not won the heart of Fiat boss Sergio
Marchionne. Last year the latter employed ex-Pininfarina design
director Lorenzo Ramaciotti to oversee the design activity of the whole
group. As a result, Stephenson’s position was downgraded and
transferred to head only Alfa Romeo Center of Style. This is believed
to be the reason of his resignation.
The position of Stephenson at Alfa Romeo will be taken by Austrian
Christopher Reitz, who previously worked for VW / Audi, Nissan Europe
and became head of Fiat brand design 3 years ago. By the way, Reitz is
the nephew of Ferdinand Piech.
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1 Apr,
2008
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Ferrari "Nuova Dino"
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Forget what other sources said recently, AutoZine can prove that the
forthcoming Ferrari "new Dino" is a mid-engined lightweight sports car
like the original !
This spy photo shows the latest state of the development car. It was
taken sometime at somewhere by somebody. Apparently, the development
car was undergoing intensive winter testing to find out how long the
test driver could withstand sub-zero temperature before getting a cold.
From this photo, we can see the new Dino has its engine mounted
amid-ship rather than up front, because we cannot see a bonnet up
front. Moreover, the rear end of the car was concealed, so there must
be some expensive things there...
Like the original Dino, the Nuova Dino is powered by a quad-cam V6.
Built according to Enzo Ferrari's principle of "Weight is Enemy", its
chassis is made of aluminum spaceframe while the body shell is
constructed from aluminum sheets like the original Dino. Insiders said
it will weigh more than 1000 kg but less than 2000 kg. Horsepower will
be in the region of 300-400 hp, or at most 500-600 hp depending on the
accuracy of our guestimation. Transmission will include 5th gear for
sure. The car will be a hybrid - the engine will drive the rear wheels
while electric motors will drive the front windows.
According to insiders, Ferrari plans to build 3,000 units of Nuova Dino
at Hethel annually starting from the April Fools next year. Like the
original car, the Dino is named after the pet dinosaur of Fred
Flintstone.
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