Category: Industry News

The Malaysian carmaker is currently working on a new engine range that includes diesel units as part of a plan to increase its global sales.

The small carmaker has no other solution than increasing its export if it doesn’t want to disappear in the future. Aware of the problem, its engineers hae been orered to develop a new in-house engine range to replace the Mitsubishi engines. The new range will include diesel units in an attempt to boost sales in Europe where the carmaker owns Lotus. The diesel engines will also help the company to boost its sales in the growing Indian market.

Along with the new engines, Proton will unveil new models next year. The company will launch its first minivan. Details remain unknown at this stage although the new model will likely be a people carrier like other Asian players. Proton will also launch facelited Persona and R3 Satria which suffers from poor qualities to compete on the European market.

A small British carmaker plans to unveil the Virago coupé at the Top Marque motor show at the end of next month.

Vigaro Cars, will launch a new coupé which will be powered by a 3.0-litre V6 Ford Durated engine. the power output will be between 230 and 280bhp enabling the coupé to run from 0 to 62mph in less than 5 seconds.  The Virago is expected to be sold at around £50,000.

However the Virago Coupé is far from production stage as the carmaker has set the mission to find investors and buyers during the motor show. The company needs about £4 million to build the coupé.

The New York Auto Show looks rather far for us in the UK but the motor show gets more and more attention from carmakers which like the idea to have another American show with a national coverage, but still focused on American market while Detroit became the show of German carmakers in the past years.

The motor show will feature eight world debuts and three concept cars: Acura TSX, eagerly-awaited Dodge Challenger, Hyundai Genesis coupé, facelifted Mercedes ML-Class, new Nissan Maxima, Pontiac G8 GXP, Pontiac Solstice coupé, the 2010 Pontiac G8 Sport Truck for the new vehicles and Kia coupé, Scion Hako coupé and Suzuki Kizashi 3 for the concept cars.

Acura

The new TSX saloon will debut in New York as a longer and wider vehicle then the current generation. The new TSX will be powered by the same engine that powers the new Accord in Europe, the 201bhp 2.4-litre four-cylinder petrol engine hooked up to either a six speed manual gearbox or a five speed automatic gearbox.

Dodge

Without a doubt, the new Challenger will be praised by professionals and the public. Dodge will likely unveil the entry-level engine, a 3.6-litre V6 petrol unit.

Hyundai

The Korean carmaker will pursue its goal to move upmarket after the new Genesis saloon and the facelifted Sonata by unveiling the long-awaited Genesis coupé which will be powered by a 3.8-litre V6 petrol engine delivering over 300bhp.

Kia
Kia is expected to show a concept car that previews its future coupé whose launch date remains unkwown.

Mercedes Benz

The German carmaker will show its facelifted ML-Class and will also launch three new Bluetec diesel models, the R320, the GL 320 and the ML320 all powered by a 3.0-litre V-6 turbodiesel engine that also injects urea into the exhaust stream to clean emissions.

Nissan

Nissan will unveil the new Maxima. The company will try to differentiate the Maxima from the Altima saloon as the former suffers from the latter’s competitive pricing.

Pontiac

The American carmaker wants to lead the show and will unveil three new vehicles. Pontiac will show the G8 Sport Truck derived from the Holden Ute. Due to reincarnate the legendary El Camino, the new model will feature a 361bhp 6.0-litre V8 engine and will shuttle to 60mph in just 5.4 seconds. The carmaker will also unveil the G8 GXP which is expected to offer over 400bhp. Along with the two G8s, Pontiac will also take the wraps off the Solstice coupé.

Scion

The Toyota’s brand destined for young buyers will unveil a concept car called Hako which will be a sporty interpretation of a box shape.

Suzuki

After the Kizashi 1 and 2, Suzuki will show a third iteration of the Kizashi family simply called Kizashi 3. The concept car will be a saloon that previews a future model the carmaker plans to launch in the future although to launch date has been revealed.

Mahindra & Mahindra is reported to be interested in buying the troubled coachbuilder Bertone. The final winner will be announced within three months.

In last November, the Italian coachbuilder filled for bankruptcy protection, and the future looked rather blurred after Domenico Reviglio, founder of Gruppo Prototipo, walked away in January. Since then the company has placed under administration and the current administrator has received seven offers, including one from Mahindra & Mahindra, the Indian carmaker who lost the Jaguar and Land Rover bid.

Mahindra & Mahindra bought another Italian designer, GRD, in January. If Grafica Ricerca Design doesn’t have the prestige of a Bertone, it will help the Indian carmaker to increase its research and design skills. GRD has been renamed Mahindra Graphic Research and Design.

Adding Bertone to its portfolio would boost Mahindra & Mahindra in terms of production capacity in Europe and in technology but also in terms of design. Without a doubt, this acquisition would enable the carmaker to offer stylish models quickly. With the future factory in the US, the Indian giant will need an attractive range. With Bertone, it would get talented people in hand to succeed.

Morgan has unveiled more details of the upcoming LIFEcar concept car that will be revealed at the Geneva Motor Show.

In pictures, the LIFEcar is an astonishing car, but technical details remained scarce. The Morgan concept car features a hydrogen fuel cell, called QinetiQ, that has a power output of 22kW, emitting only water and heat. The power is directed to the four wheels via four electric motors able to re-use 50% of the energy generated by braking. The energy is the stored in a bank of ‘ultracapacitors’.

The carmaker claims the new system developed with the university of Cranfield is more efficient than the traditional batteries. Morgan also gives some figures. 62mph takes less than 7 seconds; the carmaker quotes a top speed of about 85mph. The LIFEcar has a 250 mile range.

Direct Line Car Insurance has commissioned a survey that reveals that Britons are four times more likely to buy a less fuel efficient vehicle than the more environmentally friendly hybrid cars this year.

The survey also reveals that despite the new congestion charge scheme, 27% of polled Londoners are still planing on buying a car this year compared to just 20 per cent of those living in the Midlands and 21 per cent of Northerners.

The conventional brands are still favoured for future purchase despite a sales surge in retro models such as the Mini or the Fiat 500. The most popular brands are still Ford, Toyota and Vauxhall. Conservative choices also lead the way on colour with silver/grey topping the list, followed by blue and red.

After a few teasers, Pininfarina finally takes the wraps off its latest concept car, the Sintesi, which will be on display at Geneva next week.

The Sintesi is four-door crossover coupé-hatch, but fortunately, it is a winsome combination thanks to an appealing styling penned under Lowie Vermeersch, the company’s head of design and its scissor-opening doors.

What’s more interesting about the Sintesi is the alternative propulsion which is a fuel cell system developed by Nuvera. The Sintesi also comes with a system called Clancast and able to talk with other cars on the road to communicate traffic patterns eliminating the need for traffic lights or street signs.

The Sintesi is the first concept car in three since the company has revealed the Maserati Birdcage concept car at the same Geneva Motor Show.