News

Latest News

20 Feb, 2009

“Baby” Rolls-Royce unveiled

Rolls-Royce made only 1,212 cars last year even with the additional Phantom Coupe and Drophead Coupe beside the Phantom saloon. This mean it is still running at a loss. In contrast, its rival (and once sister brand), Bentley, set a sales record of 10,014 cars thanks to the popularity of its entry-level Continental models. No wonder Goodwood has to introduce a “Baby” Rolls-Royce to boost sales. Codenamed “RR4”, this entry-level car will bear the name “200EX” when it is unveiled as a so-called “concept car” in next month’s Geneva motor show. However, the production car is likely to get a more traditional name, most likely Silver-something.

The new car is smaller and cheaper than the Phantom. It measures 5399mm in length (5834mm for Phantom), 1948mm in width (vs 1990mm) and 1550mm in height (vs 1632mm). Wheelbase is 3295mm instead of 3570mm. However, the use of conventional steel monocoque chassis, versus the Phantom’s aluminium spaceframe structure, means it won’t be much lighter than the latter’s 2485kg. As for price, the baby RR is expected to cost £170,000-180,000 in its home market when it goes on sale at the year end. This is considerably cheaper than the Phantom’s starting price of £264,000. This mean it will compete directly with Bentley Arnage. Some journalists suggested it will rival Bentley Continental Flying Spur, but that car is actually much cheaper at £120,000-130,000.

Rolls-Royce admits the new car sources some 20 percent parts from BMW, most notably the new 7-Series. While we may say it is built on the platform of the Seven, its chassis, dimensions, packaging and tuning are so different that you won’t feel any common with the BMW. First of all, its exterior design is loyal to the imposing design theme of Phantom, just evolved to a more conventional size and proportion. Its goes without saying that Rolls-Royce design chief Ian Cameron is responsible for its styling, as he is one of the least busy design chiefs in the industry. Inside, the design is softer, more Bentley-like but retains the classy materials and craftsmanship of the larger Roller. Also retained are the “suicide” (rear-hinged) rear doors and the theatre-style (high-mounted) rear bench seats. The company said its interior provides nearly the same space as the Phantom, which is easy to achieve because that car is not renowned for space efficiency.

The car rides on suspensions with adaptive damping and air springs adapted from the 7-Series, with softer tuning to achieve supple ride. Its 20-inch wheels are smaller than the Phantom’s, but equally wide (255/45 front and 285/40 rear). Rolls-Royce has not revealed its engine specifications, only said that it has an all-new V12. Some sources suggested a BMW 6.0-liter direct injection V12 mated to ZF 6-speed automatic gearbox, while other sources said a twin-turbo 6.0 V12 and ZF’s new 8-speed automatic. The current Phantom employs a 6.75-liter V12.

This car will be assembled in Rolls-Royce’ Goodwood factory from parts pre-built by BMW in Germany. Its sales volume was originally projected at 2,000 units a year, but this is likely to be reduced under the current economic recession.

18 Feb, 2009

Mercedes E-class Coupe

After serving Mercedes-Benz for 7 years, the CLK coupe finally comes to retirement. It is replaced by not one, but two cars – C-class Coupe and E-class Coupe. The latter will arrive first in next month’s Geneva motor show.

As suggested by its name, E-class Coupe is derived from the E-class saloon, thus it will be priced higher than the outgoing CLK. It is larger than CLK, of course, but its wheelbase is shortened by 100mm from the E-class saloon, while the overall length is even shorter. This car does without B-pillars and window frames in the tradition of Mercedes coupes. Despite of its aggressive front end design and muscular rear fenders, its shape is actually very sleek, which explains why it can achieve a drag coefficient of 0.24. Note that this figure is the lowest in current production cars, beating the E-class and Toyota Prius’ 0.25. However, its exterior design seems less elegant than CLK.

Disappointingly, the interior of E-class Coupe employs the same dashboard as the saloon, although the center console and door panels have been modified slightly. The rear seats become two individual seats which may fold down to increase luggage space.

Mechanicals are more or less the same as the E-class saloon. Its suspensions have electronic adaptive damping which links to a control system providing Comfort / Sport mode for driver selection. Engines include the more powerful ones from the E-class:

204hp 1.8 direct-injection turbo (E250CGI)
292hp 3.5 direct-injection V6 (E350CGI)
388hp 5.5 V8 (E500 or E550)
204hp two-stage twin-turbo 2.2 diesel (E250CDI)
231hp 3.0 V6 turbo diesel (E350CDI)

Transmission are either 7G-Tronic or 6-speed manual. Then there are countless of sophisticated safety features, such as Pre-Safe, drowsy alert, radar cruise control, adaptive headlights, active bonnet (which pop up in collision to provide extra cushioning space for pedestrian) etc. etc.

18 Feb, 2009

BMW's "PAS" - the 5-Series Gran Turismo

In recent years BMW attempts to search for new areas of growth as it has already occupied all premium segments in the market. This resulted in X6, the crossover between SUV and coupe. The next step will be PAS, or Progressive Activity Sedan in its words. PAS means a crossover between luxury saloon, grand tourer and sport utility vehicle. Compare with X6, it is closer to conventional luxury saloons and grand tourers. It has no intention to offer offroad ability, hence a low ride height and free of plastic cladding. However, compare with conventional cars it has a higher roof line and seating position to enhance the sense of space and ease of access. BMW believes younger customers will prefer this car to its conventional saloons.

The PAS concept is now previewed by the new Geneva show car 5-Series Gran Turismo. It is designed by Adrian van Hooydonk under the last supervision of Chris Bangle. It is a nice looking car if you could overlook its ugly nose and eyes. Use a piece of paper to cover the lower half of its side view, you will see something like a 4-door coupe, thanks to its flowing roofline and fastback. The frameless windows – rare in BMW saloons - and chromed surrounds contribute to a clean and elegant feel. However, once you remove the paper, not even the XXL 21-inch alloy wheels could hide the height of the car. At 1555 mm, it is 87 mm taller than the current 5-Series saloon !

Everybody can easily see the 5-Series GT concept will go into production soon without much alteration. It shares platform with the 7-Series as well as the next generation 5-Series, with double-wishbone front suspensions replacing MacPherson struts. Rear ones continue to be multi-link setup. We expect adaptive damping will be an inevitable standard equipment for this class. In terms of size, the GT sits between 5-series and 7-series. Its length is just shy of 5 meters (4998mm) while the body measures 1.9 meter east-west. Its 3070 mm wheelbase is even identical to the standard 7-series. Its interior space matches that of the larger car, too, especially because its rear seats can slide back and forth for 100mm to vary the allocation of passenger / luggage space. The dashboard in the concept car is nearly a carbon copy of the 7-Series. However, its individual rear seats, split by a large central tunnel, should be reverted to conventional bench seats in production car.

The most interesting feature – well, may be not so interesting to the owners of the latest Skoda Superb – is a double-acting tailgate. If you need to load large luggage, you may lift the tailgate like conventional hatchback. If you want to access smaller luggage without affecting interior ambient, you can open only the lower half of the tailgate. The trunk swallows between 430 and 570 liters depending on the position of rear seats. If they are folded, load space will be expanded to 1650 liters.

We don’t have details about what engines to be offered. However, you won’t be wrong to bet on the 272hp 3.0 and 326hp twin-turbo 3.0 straight-6, 245hp / 286hp 3.0 turbo diesel and 408hp 4.4 twin-turbo V8.

My only question is whether such a new concept makes sense at a time everybody focus on fuel efficiency. Rich customers may be willing to pay premium for its excess over the 5-series saloon or touring, but will they accept its poorer efficiency compare with conventional saloons ? Moreover, under the current economy, is it the right time to market a more expensive version of 5-Series ? If I were BMW, I would have concentrated my energy to develop smaller and lighter vehicles.

18 Feb, 2009

Ford Taurus SHO returns

Ford Taurus SHO is back after missing for 10 years. The latest generation is powered by Ford’s new EcoBoost 3.5-liter twin-turbo direct-injection V6. It produces 365 horsepower, just 10hp more than the regular EcoBoost engine, but this is already 130hp more than the last SHO’s 3.4-liter Yamaha V8. Its maximum torque is 350 lb-ft. Predictably, the power transmits to the ground via a 6-speed automatic gearbox and 4-wheel drive system which is optional in other Taurus. The high specifications explain why it will carry a not-so-bargain starting price of US$38,000 in the USA.

18 Feb, 2009

Fiat 500C

This is the convertible version of Fiat 500, named 500C. It employs a canvas roof instead of full convertible in order to preserve chassis rigidity and save the need of expensive pop-up rollover protection. However, the soft roof is fully electric. The 500C offers 3 engines like the regular car, i.e., 69hp 1.2-liter 8V, 75hp 1.3 Multijet turbo diesel and 100hp 1.4-liter 16V. It just skips the Abarth engine.

18 Feb, 2009

Industry News

GM’s viability plan: more money, less jobs and no Saturn

GM has submitted its viability plan to the US government. It calls for an additional US$16.6 billion loan from the government funds, which will bring the total to an asontishing US$30 billion. It also plans to slash 47,000 jobs globally and close 14 plants this year. In the next 5 years, its dealerships will be reduced from 6200 to 4100 to reflect its smaller size.

The most important to us is the future of its brands. Saturn will die in around 2012 following its current models phased out. Hummer will be sold, as already publicized. Pontiac will be reduced to a niche brand with less model(s). The future of Saab is still under discussion with Swedish government. GM threatens that without government help it will put Saab into bankruptcy. Opel is also expected to seek financial help from German government.

Bob Lutz to retire

One of our favourite figures in the automotive industry in recent years is Bob Lutz, vice chairman of GM and its product chief. Lutz has been credited for turning around the image of GM as he vastly improved the styling, technology, build quality or, in short, desiribility of its cars. He was hired by Rick Wagoner (CEO of GM) in 2001 to lead the product reform. This resulted in Pontiac G6 (mainly styling), Pontiac Solstice, Saturn Aura, Chevrolet Malibu, Cadillac CTS and the forthcoming Chevrolet Volt. Originally planned to retire in 2010, he changed his mind and decided his last day with GM will be March 31. Why? A reduction of job satisfaction under this adverse situation is one of the main reasons. After all, he is already 77, not supposed to soldier on until GM recovers. We will definitely miss him. Good luck to GM !

Wolfgang Bernhard returns to Daimler

Most people believe Wolfgang Bernhard is a smart executive, but his character did not live well with his bosses. He worked for Daimler-Benz / DaimlerChrysler for 10 years from 1994, rose to the COO and product chief of Chrysler group and board member of DaimlerChrysler. Poised to head the Mercedes-Benz brand, he was suddenly ousted by chairman Juergen Schrempp in a board room dispute. Then he joined Volkswagen group in 2005 as the head of the Volkswagen car group (VW+Skoda+Bentley+Bugatti), improving its productivity and quality, but was again ousted by Ferdinand Piech in 2007. As a friend of the current Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche, Bernhard is returning to Munich to head the van division of Daimler. I strongly believe he will take the top job one day, assuming no more dispute with the chairman.

PSA turned red in 2008

A sales slump in the last quarter drove PSA (Peugeot-Citroen) into a loss of €343m for the full year 2008. Its full year revenue also dropped by 7.4 percent. The company expects further loss this year due to the adverse economy worldwide. Like Renault, it seeks financial help from the French government to overcome the biggest crisis it experienced in recent history.

Renault business result 2008

Renault was a little better than PSA, but its profit still dropped from €1.35 billion a year ago to just €212 million last year. In the first two quarters, Renault still managed to increase sales, but the trend reversed in Q3 and simply slumped in Q4, where its revenue down 30 percent in Europe ! The situation got even worse this January, with worldwide sales plunged from 220,000 to 120,000 units. Renault is seeking €3 billion loan from the French government plus another €400 million from the European Investment Bank.

Nissan predicts loss and plans to cut 20,000 jobs

Renault’s partner, Nissan, experiences a similar trouble. It predicts the current fiscal year (from Apr 2008 to end of Mar 2009) will turn a net loss of US$2.9 billion instead of the previously forecasted profit of US$1.8 billion. This will be the company’s first loss since 1999. In response to the market slump, Nissan announced a series of cost-cutting actions:

Slash 20,000 jobs in 2009 (that accounts for 8.5% of its workforce)
Cut labour cost by 20 percent
Reduce new model launches from 60 to 48 in the next 5 years
Suspend the building of new plants
Cut salary of board members by 10% and executives by 5%

Besides, Carlos Ghosn is asking for $550 million loan from Japanese government and try to tap in the US government funding for car makers.

4 Feb, 2009

Aston Martin V12 Vantage production car

Remember the V12 Vantage RS concept Aston Martin showed a year ago ? Now here comes the production car. Aston is going to produce 300-500 units of V12 Vantage annually and sell it at an estimated £140,000, that is considerably more expensive than the standard V8 Vantage (start from £83,000) and DB9 (at £110,000) but cheaper than DBS (at £160,000).

Scan through the specifications of the new car, you might be disappointed that its power has gone down from the concept’s 600 hp to 510 hp while kerb weight has been up from sub-1600 kg to 1680 kg. That is why it has lost the “RS” moniker. However, it still represents a slightly better power-to-weight ratio than the flagship DBS. In fact, V12 Vantage is based on the chassis of V8 Vantage but installed with exactly the same 5.9-liter V12 engine of DBS. The 10.9:1 compression, two-stage variable intake manifolds and even the output figures (510 hp @ 6500rpm and 420 lbft @ 5750 rpm) are the same, too. The same 6-speed manual transaxle transfers power to the rear wheels.

To accommodate the V12 in the smaller engine compartment of Vantage, Aston had to modify the front chassis structure while reducing the depth of the engine sump by 15 mm. Extra ventilation holes are opened on the bonnet to aid engine cooling. Brilliantly, despite of the big engine, it still achieves a near-perfect weight distribution at 51:49 front to rear. The extra weight (some 87kg) of the engine is partly compensated by using carbon-ceramic brakes (same spec as DBS again), forged alloy wheels, lightweight inner rear quarter panels and (optional) lightweight carbon-fiber bucket seats. As a result, the whole car weighs only 50 kg more than V8 Vantage. However, you may criticize that it weighs only 15 kilograms less than DBS, which is much larger. Note that DBS employs some expensive carbon-fiber body panels to trim weight but V12 Vantage doesn’t.

Predictably, V12 Vantage is not much quicker than DBS. It takes 4.1 seconds to accelerate from zero to 60 mph, just 0.1 seconds faster than DBS. Its 190 mph top speed is even 1 mph lower than DBS, blame to the extra drag introduced by the bonnet vents and the deletion of smooth undertray (as the larger engine left no space for that).

What it should excel is handling. The compact Vantage chassis is an inherent advantage over DBS. Moreover, Aston has lowered its ride height for 15 mm and beefed up its suspensions. It does without the DBS’ electronic adaptive dampers, but it adopts very aggressive settings with spring rates increased by 70% up front and 45% at the rear, while anti-roll bars are stiffened by 15% front and 75% rear. Besides, it is given with Pirelli P-Zero Corsa semi-slick tires. This mean V12 Vantage has a hardcore character unfound in any current Aston road cars, although it still retain many luxury features in the cabin.

	V12 Vantage	V8 Vantage	DBS
Price (UK)	£140,000 (est)	£83,000	£160,000
Length	4380 mm	4380 mm	4721 mm
Width	1865 mm	1865 mm	1905 mm
Height	1241 mm	1255 mm	1280 mm
Wheelbase	2600 mm	2600 mm	2740 mm
Engine	V12, dohc, 4v/cyl, variable intake.	V8, dohc, 4v/cyl, VVT.	V12, dohc, 4v/cyl, variable intake.
Capacity	5935 cc	4735 cc	5935 cc
Power	510 hp / 6500 rpm	420 hp / 7000 rpm	510 hp / 6500 rpm
Torque	420 lbft / 5750 rpm	347 lbft / 5750 rpm	420 lbft / 5750 rpm
Gearbox	6M	6M	6M
Suspensions (F/R)	All: double-wishbone	All: double-wishbone	All: double-wishbone
Tires (F/R)	255/35ZR19 / 295/30ZR19	235/40ZR19 / 275/35ZR19	245/35ZR20 / 295/30ZR20
Brakes (F/R)	398 / 360 mm carbon ceramic discs, 6 / 4-pot calipers	355 / 330 mm steel discs, 4 / 4-pot calipers	398 / 360 mm carbon ceramic discs, 6 / 4-pot calipers
Weight	1680 kg	1630 kg	1695 kg
Top speed	190 mph	180 mph	191 mph
0-60 mph	4.1 sec	4.7 sec	4.2 sec

3 Feb, 2009

Chris Bangle steps down !

We have been waiting for this day too long ! Today BMW suddenly announced the departure of Chris Bangle !! The short statement only said that he is leaving BMW with immediate effect to pursue his own design career beyond automotive industry. His position as the design director of BMW Group has been replaced by Adrian van Hooydonk, currently the design chief of BMW brand.

It is not known yet why Bangle left so suddenly, even without a chance to say goodbye to the press. It might be somewhat premature to assume that he had lost the support of top management or had severe disagreement with them, but from my experience of observing the auto industry leads me believe that his departure did not come as his plan. Let's wait for insiders to speak out.

American Bangle started his car design career at Opel, then turned to FIAT, where he designed the Fiat Coupe (though the car was built by Pininfarina). BMW hunted him as design chief in 1992. His first car was Z3, a very retro, un-BMW car. In the first few years his designs were overseen by product chief Wolfgang Reitzle, but when the latter left, Bangle began realizing his unusual taste in the production BMWs. This came the famous / notorious "Flame Surface" design theme and a series of controversial designs.

The motoring public appeared to be shocked at first, then gradually accepted his new design languages. Some press even described his new designs brought BMW unpreceding sales success, something I cannot agree with. In fact, BMW increased its investment into new cars and technology development drastically in the same period. The availability of a wider and more diversified model portfolio was the prime reason for the increased sales. There is no evidence that the sales was stimulated by his new designs. On the contrary, the disappointing sales of Z4 and 6-Series are down to their controversial designs.

However, don't think the forthcoming BMWs will be beautiful again anytime soon. Adrian van Hooydonk has been the right-hand man of Bangle and shares much of his taste. Some of the existing BMW cars, such as 6-series, 7-series E65, Z9 concept and CS concept, were penned by him under the watch of Bangle.

To say goodbye to Mr. Bangle, let us have a look back to his masterpieces through the years:

Bangle's Ugliest Designs:

Z3 (1996) - first retro BMW

1-Series (2002) - first "Flame Surface" experiment

X3 (2003) - rough and unimaginative

Bangle's Most Controversial Designs:

7-Series E65 (2001) - "Bangle Butt"

5-Series (2003) - like a heavily bruised tin

Z4 (2002) - proportion seriously distorted

Bangle's Silliest Concept Cars:

Mille Miglia (2006) - tried to redo a 1936 BMW 328

CS Concept (2007) - American-style bulldog

GINA Light Visionary (2008) - cloth skin is pointless from engineering viewpoint