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Future Chevrolet Camaro barely disguised

The production version has been recently caught during testing in Australia, but this time it is a barely disguised of the future muscle car built by GM.
As expected, the production model will be close to the concept car with a similar overall shape but loses its sharp lines. The air intakes disappeared and the wheel arches are smaller. In a way, it seems that the production Camaro will be softer and oddly less muscle car in its styling.
As said in a previous post, the Camaro will share its platform with Holden VE Commodore also sold in the US as the Pontiac G8 model. The engine range will offer V6 and V8 petrol engines.
Source: Camaro5
December 14, 2007
New Nissan V6 Named One of Ward’s 10-Best Engines

For the 14th time, the Nissan VQ engine family has been chosen to be part of the list of the 10 Best Engines by Ward’s Automotive Group.
This year, Ward’s people picked up the new VQ37VHR engine which appeared in the Infiniti G37 Coupe. An evolution of the VQ35 petrol unit, it comes with the VVEL system which combines hydraulic-controlled variable valve timing and electronically controlled variable valve lift on the intake side to help improve performance and response.
The engine also features increased cylinder block height (from the previous 3.5-litre design), ladder frame construction for greater rigidity, asymmetric piston skirts, an electronically controlled “drive-by-wire” throttle system and a symmetric twin air intake system. All those technologies produces a nice 328bhp and a torque of 270 lb ft.
The prize winner will be unveiled on January 16, 2007 during the Detroit Motor Show.
December 14, 2007
Wald’s CL Class: All Blacks will love it!

The Japanese tuner has unveiled a body kit for the exclusive Mercedes CL-Class and black appeared to be its muse.

Sporting an all-black exterior,the Wald’s CL features a range of aerodynamic and visual appendixes such as a front and rear apron, new side skirts, new spoilers and a few ungraceful air intakes.
December 14, 2007
Opel considers building the Astra in the US

Due to go on sale from next January, the new Saturn Astra, a re-badged Opel compact car, has been well acclaimed by the American press and Opel is seriously considering producing the model in the US.
The German car maker plans to sell 40,000 vehicles there next year, half of the outgoing model Ion, but if there was a stronger demand for compact cars on the US market, Opel would be ready to move the production from Antwerp to the US. Indeed, the weak dollar will likely reduce the profit margin per car and building there would reduce the currency fluctuations.
The Opel CEO Hans Demant said that Opel would need to sell at least 250,000 cars there to justify building a new production facility. The future Insignia might help, but it would cannibalise the recently launched Aura model derived from the current Vectra. So, Opel needs to think of another model. What do you think of the Corsa?
December 14, 2007
Volkswagen to unveil a roadster at Detroit?

This might be the biggest and most unexpected surprise at Detroit: according to rumours, Volkswagen might unveil a roadster concept car that previews a future production model whose release date remains unknown.
Dubbed Rayra, the concept car would be Volkwagen’s serious attempt to move its brand image upmarket on the American market, but it might also be a mistake. Indeed, it is said that the concept car share shares its platform with the Audi R8 and features a similar layout with a mid-engine and all-wheel drive. The car would be powered by the same 4.2-litre V8 which produces 414bhp at 7,800 rpm. The concept car would comes with an innovative anti-theft vehicle alarm system and a speed warning device.
Volkswagen doesn’t need another car derived from an Audi to build its brand image and increase its sales. The market doesn’t need another V8-powered roadster with a price starting at £75,000. At a time when regulations are stricter, Volkswagen needs to learn that power doesn’t mean fun. There is a Japanese car maker who understood it, it’s Mazda. Its Mazda MX-5 sells more and more every new-generation but no European car makes had the guts to launch a model that could compete with the small roadster. Bring the 2003 Concept R (pictured) or the 2005 EcoRacer concept car to production but don’t put roll off an umpteeth supercar.
Beyond this rumour, if Volkswagen brings the Rarya at the Detroit Motor Show, will Audi unveil the R8 roadster? Or is the Rayra the rumoured R8 roadster?
December 14, 2007
Nissan Forum concept-car to feature a microwave oven.

Nissan has revealed a bit more information about its next concept car due to be unveiled in a few weeks at Detroit. The Forum will offer a unique seating configuration called ‘Turntable Seating’.
Featuring three seat rows, the Forum concept car enables the second’s to be rotated by 90 degrees to either side or 180 degrees to face the three-passenger 3rd row seat. It will also include the latest entertainment gadgets and an unexpected console-mounted microwave oven.
December 14, 2007
2008 Citroen ZX Fukang

A previous post reported an interview given by PSA CEO Christian Streiff about the revised Fukang model and here are the latest specs. The Fukang is a compendium of ’90s technologies and design with a Gallic taste.

On the outside, the car still looks the same as it did in 1991, when it was first released in Europe, but it adopts a new paint scheme likely to be trendy in the US. On the inside, nothing has changed, even the antediluvian stereo system has joined the party, but the seats and plastics trimmings adopt like the exterior a colour that would fit in an American car.

The biggest changes concern the engines which are now compliant with the Euro 5 regulation. The Fukang is available with a choice of two petrol engines, a 1.4-litre and a 1.6-litre.

We can, of course, laugh at the idea of a 2008 Citroen ZX entirely similar to the original model launched in 1991, but for the Chinese customer, it means that Citroen had more than fifteen years to make the car reliable and unbreakable. At a time when Chinese car makers compete on prices to sell their models, reliability is not their priority. But, the threat might not come from the Chinese manufacturers but from other big players like Toyota which put two cars in the top ten for November.
December 14, 2007
Iran_Khodro’s global car to be launched in 2011
In an interview with Reuters, Iran_Khodro’s CEO Manouchehr Manteghi said that the car will be finance by Muslim countries and built in three countries, Iran of course, but also Malaysia and Turkey, the only two other Muslim markets to have decent automotive industries.
Proton CEO Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir had said in an interview in November that the future car would feature specific Islamic equipments but Iran_Khodro CEO said such features were not planned as the car is expected to be sold worldwide. However he added that each country will be able to add its own equipment.
At this stage, details remain scarce but the car will sold at a price tag between £4,300 and £5,700. and will target markets in Africa, the Middle East and southeast Asia.
The original idea might sound a bit ridiculous and too much political but with a market of 1.1-1.8 billion Muslims, the effort mustn’t be ignored and the case followed with interest.
December 13, 2007
100,000 Nissan Qashqai in Europe

Nine months after hitting the showrooms, the Qashqai has already been sold at 100,000 units in Europe. United Kingdom, Russia and Italy are the largest markets with sales at the end of November of 17,554, 15,376 and 10,746 units respectively since launch.
Qashqai has exceeded all sales forecasts since its launch in March. To meet demand for the car in Europe, production was increased by 20% in June at the factory in Sunderland, England, where it is manufactured. And starting this month, the manufacture of the Japanese version of Qashqai will be transferred from Sunderland to Nissan’s factory in Kyushu, Japan, freeing up extra production capacity for Europe. Sales of Dualis in Japan, as it is badged in that market, have also exceeded expectation, with total sales of over 18,000 sales since its introduction in May.
Qashqai buyers come from varied backgrounds: they can be former owners of compact cars such as the Renault Megane or the Vauxhall Astra, upper saloons like the Toyota Avensis or the Renault Laguna and small SUV such as the Kia Sportage or previous-generation Hyundai Santa Fe. Bold design is cited as one of the main asset of the crossover.
The Nissan Almera definitely became a forgotten page in the automotive books.
December 13, 2007
Mazda to unveil the Furai concept car and revised RX-8 at Detroit

Mazda might become ambitious as it will unveil a supercar at the next Detroit Motor Show in January. The Furai for ‘Sound of the wind’ will apply the Mazda’s unique design language called Nagare on an American Le Mans Series (ALMS) racing car.
Information remains scarce but Mazda says the engine will be a 450bhp three-rotor rotary engine using ethanol (E100) produced by British Petroleum (BP). Franz von Holzhausen, Mazda’s North American director of design, says “Furai purposely blurs boundaries that have traditionally distinguished street cars from track cars. Historically, there has been a gap between single-purpose racecars and street-legal models — commonly called supercars — that emulate the real racers on the road. Furai bridges that gap like no car has ever done before.” We’re excited to see the concept car in a few weeks
Mazda will also surprise visitors and journalists with a face-lifted RX-8 model whose nobody has ever heard before. However a development mule based on the current RX-8 has been recently shot. Would it be the revised coupé and no the next-generation as originally thought?
December 13, 2007