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| Dec 28, 2009 |
| Ford
Mustang gets 5.0L 32-valve V8 |
 Ford Mustang has long been seen as a technologically outdated car, sacrificing modern technology for lower prices. This impression may be changed early next year, when the new Mustang GT 5.0 goes on sale. Powering the GT is no longer a SOHC 24-valve 4.6-liter V8 with 315 horsepower, but a brand-new 5.0-liter DOHC 32-valve V8 putting out 412 horsepower at 6500 rpm and 390 lb-ft of torque. The engine employs aluminum heads and block and plastic intake manifolds to save weight, while twin variable valve timing enhances its efficiency. Transmissions have also been upgraded from 5-speed to 6-speed for both manual and automatic. Although performance figures are not available yet, we can expect its straight line performance to exceed its arch-rival Chevy Camaro SS and Dodge Challenger SRT-8, and may threaten the flagship Mustang GT500. 0-60 mph should take about 4.5 seconds.  Nevertheless, the more powerful engine may expose the weaknesses of its chassis even more. Mustang GT still employs a live-axle rear suspension. Although Ford has modified it with stronger lower control arms, stiffer springs, dampers, bushings and anti-roll bars, it can hardly compare with an independent double-wishbones or multi-link setup. Moreover, to keep the car affordable, Ford reserves the larger Brembo brakes and 19-inch alloy wheels to cost options. Besides, the hydraulic power steering has been replaced by an electrical power steering in the name of boosting fuel economy. Talking about the latter, Ford claims the car to return equal or better EPA figures than the past, despite of the massive boost of horsepower. |
| Dec 28, 2009 |
| European
Ford gets Ecoboost 2.0 Turbo |
 The first product of Ford to get the new 2.0-liter SCTi "Ecoboost" engine will be the newly facelifted Galaxy / S-Max. The engine employs twin-continuous VVT (dubbed "Ti-VCT"), direct fuel injection and a turbocharger to produce 200 hp / 5500 rpm and 221 lb-ft / 1750-4500 rpm, more or less equivalent to Volkswagen group's 2.0 TSI engine, if not as efficient as Alfa Romeo's 1750 TBi engine. This engine effectively replaces the 160hp 2.3 Duratec engine and perhaps also the 220hp 2.5 five-pot turbo. Later on, Ford will replace its 1.8-2.0-liter class engines with a 1.4 or 1.6 Turbo. All these are part of the effort to meet the 130 g/km average fleet emission limit set by EU. |
| Dec 18, 2009 |
| Goodbye
Saab ! |
 The
inevitable has arrived ! Today GM has announced that it is winding down
Saab, after its final attempt to sell the latter to Spyker failed. The
wind down will proceed in order. Warranties of existing cars will
continue to be served from the dealers of other GM brands. Suppliers
and debt holders will get paid. But the brand and the historic
Trollhattan factory will be history. Sadly, this year is exactly the 60 years anniversary of Saab since it produced the first car. It originally hoped to introduce the new generation 9-5 next year to revive its fortune. Now the car will never reach showrooms. Nevertheless, fans of Saab will be able to buy the current 9-3 and 9-5, at least in China, because just a few days ago Saab agreed to sell the intellectual property rights and production lines of those cars to Beijing Automotive. Hopefully the money earned will help covering the cost of closure. Now let's look back the evolution of Saab:  Saab 92 / 93 (1950-59) Saab 99 (1968-84) Saab 900 (1978-93) Saab 9000 (1985-98) Saab 9-3 (2002-09) |
| Dec 13, 2009 |
| BMW Z4
sDrive35is |
 When the second generation Z4 was launched early this year, we were disappointed with its increased weight and defunct of the M-power version. This mean the 300hp Z4 sDrive35i is no where as fast as the previous Z4 M. Now BMW finally responds to the criticism by introducing a faster version, sDrive35is. Its 3.0 twin-turbo engine has been tweaked to 340 hp (DIN) and 332 lb-ft thanks to increased boost pressure and improved intake breathing. The max torque is available from 1500-4500 rpm, slightly narrower than the existing car's 1300-5000 rpm, but is 37 lb-ft more. Moreover, it allows a momentary overboost to 369 lb-ft. This enables 0-60 mph to be reduced from 4.9 to 4.6 seconds. The car has standard DCT dual-clutch gearbox, which has been reprogrammed for swifter shift. Other performance upgrade include a dual-mass flywheel which improves throttle response, a sportier tuning of its electric power steering, a stiffer and 10 mm lower suspension and larger, 18-inch wheels. Nevertheless, no words have been said for weight reduction. Instead of power increment, we would prefer some more weight savings, what about a carbon-fiber hardtop replacing the tricky tractable roof ? Unfortunately these days BMW rarely listens to real driving enthusiasts. |
| Dec 12, 2009 |
| Ferrari
P540 Superfast special |
 Well, Ferrari is not going to add another product line beside California, 458, 599 and 612. This P540 Superfast is a one-off custom made to the order of a rich American customer, something like the P4/5 preceding it. It is based on 599GTB, sharing the same 620hp V12 and underpinnings. The conversion to Targa roof required some strengthening to the chassis, though more carbon-fiber used kept weight increase to merely 20 kg. The classical styling reflects its owner's preference on the 1960s Ferraris, especially the 250GT Fantuzzi, although it also happens to look like Corvette C3. |
| Dec 9, 2009 |
| Just
after Porsche's deal done, Volkswagen takes stakes in Suzuki |
   Three months ago, Volkswagen announced that it would buy 42% stakes in Porsche AG as the first step of its full takeover. This turned out to be 49.9%, as the company revealed yesterday it had completed the deal costing 3.9 billion Euro. Today, Volkswagen announced it is going to take 19.9% stakes in Suzuki, the same amount General Motors used to hold until it sold back to Suzuki last year. While I don't expect Suzuki, still financially healthy and highly competitive in small car segments, will hand over control to the German, the alliance will benefit both parties. In particular, Suzuki could get Volkswagen's supply of high-tech diesel engines and probably access to its electric and hybrid technology under development. This will be crucial for its survival in the future. In return, Volkswagen's forthcoming A-segment cars (e.g. Up) may share platforms and components with Suzuki to lower production costs. Moreover, Suzuki's dominance in the India market could help Volkswagen to enter this market as well. The deal is to cost US$2.5 billion. Update: Suzuki will use half of the money it get to buy 2.5 percent voting stake in Volkswagen. This cross-holding relationship is similar to Renault-Nissan. It should make the Japanese feel more comfortable. |
| Dec 7, 2009 |
| Report said electric cars increase CO2 |
 We all think electric cars help reducing CO2 emission. According to British environmental group ETA (Environmental Transportation Association), the popularity of electric cars actually increases CO2 emission for the overall car fleet. Unbelievable ? Unquestionably, an electric car has lower CO2 emission than conventional cars, even when you take power generation into account. Take BMW's Vision EfficientDynamics concept car as an example, BMW said if its electricity comes from a typical electricity generation method of EU countries, its well-to-road emission will be equivalent to 50 g/km, much lower than the cleanest hybrid cars currently available - Toyota Prius at 92 g/km. However, ETA pointed out that the current EU legislation sets a limit of 130 g/km for average fleet of mass production car makers. This consider only the tailpipe emission, which means EVs are deemed to be zero emission. If a car maker has part of its fleet are EVs, the remaining cars can emit more than 130 g/km and the overall average is still able to meet the limit. Moreover, to encourage the development and sales of EVs, EU laws give them a so-called supercredit of 3.5. This mean the number of EVs produced will be multiplied by 3.5 in the calculation of the average fleet emission. For example, if a manufacturer has 10 percent of its fleet are EVs, the average emission of its conventional cars can be lifted from the level of 130 g/km to 180.6 g/km. Taking into account the 50 g/km that EVs actually emit through power plants, the total fleet average will be 167.5 g/km, much higher than the 130 g/km limit ! This mean car makers can do nothing to improve today's cars as long as it convert 10 percent of its production to EVs ! No wonder most manufacturers are keen to develop EVs. |
| Dec 7, 2009 |
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| Nissan Fuga: more details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 As mentioned before, the Japanese market Nissan Fuga is not offered with the big V8 of Infiniti M56. Its top engine is the VQ37VHR rated at 333 hp. Besides, a 2.5-liter VQ25HR with 225 hp serves as the entry-level powerplant. Sadly, both V6s are not equipped with direct fuel injection. Nissan said the Japanese version has a drag coefficient of 0.26, lower than the 0.27 of Infiniti M despite of its same tire size. The car also generates zero lift front and rear. 
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| Dec 3, 2009 |
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| Infiniti M56: more details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 More details has emerged for the new generation Nissan Fuga and its overseas version, Infiniti M. For the first time, this car will be available in not only Japan and USA, but also Europe. Predictably, the European version is equipped with smaller, more frugal engines, i.e. a 3.7-liter V6 and a Renault-sourced 3.0 V6 turbo diesel. The VQ37VHR is the same unit serving its smaller brother G37 / Skyline. It features VVEL variable timing and lift to produce 330 horsepower (SAE) at 7000 rpm and 270 pound-foot of torque at 5200 rpm. European version is rated slightly lower at 320 hp and 266 lb-ft. However, what catches our eyes is the flagship M56, available exclusively in the power-hungry North America market. Its large, 5552 cc V8 might be based on Nissan's truck engine, but it gets extensive enhancement including direct fuel injection and VVEL cylinder heads. The result is some 420 horsepower at 6000 rpm and 417 lb-ft of torque at 4400 rpm. It will eclipse the likes of BMW 550i (408hp), Mercedes E500 (388hp), Jaguar XF 5.0 (385hp) and Hyundai Genesis V8 (375hp) as the most powerful car in its class. Compare with the last generation Infiniti M45, it offers an extra 85 horsepower. Further helped by a 7-speed paddle-shift automatic transmission, Nissan claims the new M56 can accelerate from rest to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds, about the same time as the new BMW 550i.  The M56 is a large car, measuring 4945 mm long and runs a 2900 mm wheelbase. It tips the scale at 1900 kg, heavier than most of its rivals. For example, the new BMW 550i weighs 1830 kg. The fact that it employs aluminum doors to cut weight amplifies its otherwise overweight construction. Fortunately, part of the bulky dynamic can be offset by the continue availability of 4-wheel steering, if Sport package is opted. 4-wheel drive is also available as option. Similar to the last generation, the car is built on Nissan's FM rear-drive platform which shares with Skyline / Infiniti G and 370Z. Suspensions are similar to the last generation too - the double-wishbones front suspensions are carried over unchanged, while the rear multi-link suspensions are lightly modified to provide a quieter ride. The chassis gains rigidity thanks to more spot weld points and laser welding. Sadly, adaptive dampers and air springs are still absence from this luxury executive car, raising our concern whether it can balance the need for handling and refinement. You can select standard suspension setup or Spork package which comes with stiffer suspensions and aggressive, 245/40ZR20 tires. However, that can never provide the versatility of an adaptive suspension.  The styling also lacks the elegance of its European rivals. On the one hand it looks too muscular for an executive car. On the other hand its profile is too bulky for a sport-oriented sedan, blame to a height as much as 1510 mm. That said, its drag coefficient of 0.27 is pretty good.  Comparison with BMW 550i:
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| Dec 2, 2009 |
| Alfa Romeo Giulietta: first details |
 Until recently, the successor to Alfa Romeo 147 is destined to be called "Milano". However, as the marque is in the process of moving its remaining operations from Milan to Turin, the naming of this car meets protests from angry Milan workers. To settle the controversy, Alfa has renamed it to "Giulietta" at the last minute - so late that the Giulietta nameplates on these pictures are photoshop work. Never mind. To me, Giulietta is actually a better name, not only more romantic but also remind us one of the most successful Alfa Romeos in history, the Giulietta of the 1950s. In Sprint form it was a fast and exciting small car, a spiritual origin of today's GTi, Evo or STi. This name is definitely better than Milano, which was used on the American version of Alfa 75 in the 1980s.  In the fashion of Alfa, few technical details are released on its first unveil. You get no more than 3 pictures, two for exterior and one for interior (even without showing the dashboard !). Its styling is a combination of 147 and MiTo, with more aggression than the latter. You get approximate dimensions of 4.35 meters long, 1.80 meter wide, 1.46 meter tall and a 2.63 meter wheelbase. All these make it considerably larger than 147, or about average among its C-segment competitors. According to Autocar, the suspensions consist of MacPherson struts up front and - finally - a new multi-link setup at the rear, contrasting to the front double-wishbones and rear struts of its predecessor. All models get stability control, Q2 electronic differential (again utilizing brakes instead of mechanical LSD) and DNA handling control which offers 3 driving modes to alter throttle response, steering, Q2 and stability control setting.  Alfa's press release said there are four engines. In the petrol side, a 120 hp 1.4 Turbo (as seen in MiTo) and a more sophisticated 170 hp 1.4 Multiair Turbo (see MiTo Cloverleaf). In the diesel side, a 105 hp 1.6 JTDM and 170 hp 2.0 JTDM. Oh yes, don't miss the range topping Cloverleaf model which is powered by the new 1750 TBi direct-injection turbo engine. In this performance tune it produces 235 horsepower, up from 200 hp in 159 and Brera. Unfortunately, the launch of Giulietta is eclipsed by the news that Alfa Romeo's product program is now frozen and under review by FIAT CEO Sergio Marchionne. According to Automotive News, Marchionne is rethinking the business strategy of Alfa Romeo as the division is consistently running at loss. Last year, Alfa sold just 103,000 cars, about half of the number it did in year 2000. One of the possible solutions will be to concentrate on building small cars and let Chrysler to do the successors of 159 and 166 for it. As the production rate of 159 peaked at only 80,000 units, it doesn't make sense to develop a dedicated platform for its use. Integrating with the future Chrysler Sebring could be the answer. Before a conclusion is reached, no investment will be made beyond the launch of Giulietta. |
| Dec 2, 2009 |
| (Another) GM boss resigned |
|
There is a
Chinese saying "everything goes wrong when you are poor". I find it
describes exactly the situation at GM. Having failed to sell Saab,
Saturn and Opel, and continued losing sales through November, the
latest
round of casualty is its new CEO Fritz Henderson.
 Henderson
had a life
long career at GM and in the past 3 years held the position of CFO. 8
months ago, he took over the CEO position from Rick Wagoner, who was
ousted as a result of the government bailout. However,
being an old GM guy and especially the one responsible for its poor
finance, Henderson did not win the trust of the government-appointed
board of directors, especially Chairman Ed Whitacre. In the monthly
board meeting held yesterday, the board
decided it's time to have a new leader, bringing new approaches to the
resurrected company. As a result, Mr. Henderson had no choice but to
resign. GM will search for a successor to Henderson. In the mean time, Whitacre will take over his responsibility. |
| Dec 2, 2009 |
| American Ford Fiesta |
|
How long
have Ford been skipping the sub-compact car segment (A/B-segment) in
the USA market ? Since Festiva / Aspire (made by KIA in Korea)
evacuated in 1997, the blue oval no longer offers a car smaller than
Focus on its home soil. Admittedly, sub-compact car segment used to be
peanuts there, but recently owing to higher fuel price, poor economy
and the rise of green thinking, this segment has been growing rapidly.
Today, some 27 percent of all passenger cars sold in the USA belongs to
this segment (or 15 percent of all vehicles including trucks). Toyota
Yaris, Scion xB, Honda Jazz and Nissan Cube have all benefited from the
growth and made solid profits. To Ford CEO Alan Mulally, it is time to
relaunch a sub-compact car.
Mulally, the American equivalent of Le Cost Killer Carlos Ghosn, would not agree to build a brand new small car exclusively for the NA market, of course. European Ford has a fresh and excellent Fiesta, why should we bother ? Mulally asked the engineering department to re-engineer the Fiesta to satisfy Federal safety regulations. Some 60 percent of parts by value are common with its European counterparts. This mean substantial cost savings in R&D, toolings and parts purchasing.  The US version of Fiesta is available in two body styles – 5-door hatchback (like Euro version) or 4-door sedan (like Chinese version). Fortunately, the conversion from hatchback to sedan is much better resolved than the original Focus, so you won't find the sedan's styling disgraceful. Inside, it keeps the same funky dashboard, high-quality materials and solid build quality of the European car, plus nice optional leather seats. It feels more expensive than its Japanese counterparts. American sales will not match European, of course, so the Fiesta there offers only one compulsory engine – the 1.6-liter Ti-VCT (twin-variable cam timing) 16-valve engine with 119 hp and 109 lb-ft (SAE), basically the same as the top engine in Europe. The standard transmission is a 5-speed manual, but what surprises us is the automatic choice – a 6-speed PowerShift twin-clutch gearbox supplied by Getrag. It is a simplified version of the one serving the European Focus and Volvo S40. Torque capacity is reduced to 184 lb-ft, but its dry clutches means the gearbox is maintenance-free. Strangely, there are neither shift paddles nor a manual gearstick, because this gearbox is configured as a pure automatic, replacing traditional automatic. The US Fiesta is the first fruit of the so-called "ONE Ford" plan, which is to integrate different cars across Europe, America and Asia Pacific to global ones. The next step will be Focus Mk3, to be launched in Europe late next year and in North America in 2011. |
| Dec 2, 2009 |
| American Chevy Cruze |
 We have seen the European version of Chevrolet Cruze and its Korean version Daewoo Lacetti. This time is the US version Cruze. Outside or inside, we cannot spot a difference from the European version, but under the bonnet, here sits a 1.4-liter Ecotec turbo engine putting out 138 SAE horsepower and 148 pound-foot of torque. Yes, this is the same engine you can find in the latest Opel Astra. The downsized turbocharged engine is capable to return 40 mpg on highway, matching the most frugal US Ford Fiesta mentioned above, which is a great achievement considering it is a class larger than the Fiesta. Another engine choice is Lacetti's 1.8-liter DVVT normally aspirated unit, with similar horsepower (136) but significantly less torque (123 lb-ft) and undoubtedly higher fuel consumption. Its availability is rather unnecessary. Another difference from the Korean and European version is the manual transmission which has 6 forward gears instead of 5. Another transmission, 6-speed automatic, is unchanged. |
| Dec 1, 2009 |
| New Audi A8 |
 Audi has just unveiled its 3rd generation A8. From these pictures, we can see its single-frame grille gets even more prominent, while the headlamps - now fully made of LED - look more aggressive. These features somewhat constrast to the sleek and long body profile, which achieves an excellent aerodynamic drag of 0.26. At the back, the tail design has strong family resemblance to the current A4. It is an elegant design overall, if not as mould-breaking as Jaguar XJ. The A8's chassis is once again made of ASF aluminum spaceframe technology. Now it is bigger than ever - 5137 mm long (up 86 mm), 1946 mm wide (+55 mm), 1460 mm taller (+16 mm), with a wheelbase stretched to 2992 mm (+48 mm). In fact, it is larger than its arch-rival Mercedes S-class and BMW 7-series. An A8 with 4.2 V8 weighs 1835 kilograms, some 55 kg heavier than its direct predecessor.  The new chassis is 25 percent stiffer torsionally than the old one. Like A4, A5 and A6 which ride on the same ML (Modular Longitudinal) platform, its suspensions consist of a 5-link setup up front and a trapezoidal 4-link setup at the rear. In this flagship model, all suspensions employ aluminum control arms to save unsprung weight. Further cut in unsprung weight is achieved by using new ventilated brake discs with aluminum hubs, which save 3.75 kg each corner. Predictably, the suspensions have adaptive air springs and adaptive damping like the outgoing car. New to it is Audi Drive Select, a control system which provides 4 modes to vary the damping stiffness, steering weighting, throttle response, transmission speed and rear differential.  Talking about rear differential, Audi introduces an active rear differential to implement torque vectoring between the rear wheels. This cost option will definitely sharpen its handling, reducing the understeer that used to trouble A8. Similarly, the new Quattro system with 40:60 torque split front to rear can also reduce understeer and sharpen its steering. Powering the A8 are improved versions of today's V6 and V8 engines. Entry level is the 3.0 TDI diesel V6, in 204 hp or 250 hp tune. The former is the only one mating with standard front-wheel drive. All other engines have compulsory quattro system to cope with their greater output. The higher power diesel V6 can propel the A8 from rest to 60 mph in 6.2 seconds, so it is fast enough to be the best seller of the range in Europe.  European customers can opt for an even faster diesel engine - 4.2 TDI V8. Now it produces 350 horsepower and an astonishing 590 lb-ft of torque. With 0-60 mph done in 5.2 seconds, it is actually faster than the petrol V8. The 4163 cc FSI petrol V8 has underwent modifications to reduce friction from chain drive and auxilaries. Horsepower has been lifted from 350 to 372 hp, although the maximum torque of 328 lb-ft is nearly unchanged. 0-60 mph takes some 5.4 seconds, no match with BMW 750i (5.0 sec) and Mercedes S500 (5.2 sec). It seems to me that the Audi V8 needs more capacity or a pair of turbochargers to fight against its rivals.  At the moment there is no S8 or W12 engine unveiled, but we all know they will come sooner or later. Audi claims the new A8 has reduced fuel consumption by 15 percent in average. This is down to its new 8-speed Tiptronic gearbox (which saves 6% alone), automatic engine start-stop and brake energy regeneration.  Inside, the new A8 has a cabin familiar to current drivers. New MMI touch system provides a touchpad for the driver to write by his finger. Safety equipments are very generous, including pre-crash system, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, blindspot warning, night vision, pedestrian recognition and speed signs recognition.  |