Honda if facing a severe shortage of parts for the assembly of its cars in India. Most of the components come from Thailand and due to the Honda plant in Thailand getting inundated by flood waters, there is an acute shortage of parts and components. Honda Siel Cars India has been hit a second time this year, the first time being the tsunami in Japan. With this the wait list on the Jazz and Brio is set to increase substantially. It is also believed that there is a scarcity of parts for the City as well and when the existing inventory at dealers for the City is cleared there is likely to be a waiting list for the City as well.
Sebastien Ogier, who signed with Volkswagen on leaving Citroen, was originally supposed to be aiding in the development of the Polo WRC car in 2012 before a full onslaught in the 2013 season. However, Ogier has now said that apart from developing the Polo, he will race the Skoda Fabia S2000 spec car for the whole of 2012 rally season. Skoda is a Volkswagen group company and therefore there should be no clash of interests involved in this arrangement.
The teams are falling into place and there is actually a prospect of more than 20 motorcycles on the MotoGP grid. Team Aspar has announced its riders for the MotoGP CRT entries that it has made. The team has veteran racer Randy De Puniet racing for them along with Aleix Espargaro. The team entry only has specified its engine as Aprilia with no mention of a chassis yet. It is believed that Aprilia is developing a chassis for the CRT entries since there are already five confirmed entries. Randy De Puniet has been testing with a mysteriously camouflaged with black tape chassis for Aprilia with Bridgestone tyres and carbon fibre brakes. The other confirmed Aprilia entries are Ioda Racing CRT with Danilo Petrucci, the Speedmaster CRT with Anthony West, And Paul Bird Racing CRT with James Ellison. It is believed that all or most of these teams could be using the full CRT package from Aprilia and if for whatever reasons that does not work out, they could be using the British FTR chassis that is being used by the BQR CRT team with Kawasaki engines. The BQR team is expected to soon confirm its intentions.
Here is the camouflage on the Aprilia chassis
Sebastian Vettel who has already clinched the 2011 World Championship in the Formula1 racing continues to motivate himself by aiming for records that can be broken. This season he and Red Bull Racing, the team that he drives for, have dominated qualifying with Red Bull taking 16 pole positions out of the 19 races scheduled for this year. Fifteen of those pole positions have gone to Sebastian Vettel. The 15th pole position of this season was grabbed by Vettel at Interlagos yesterday by Vettel who in the process broke Nigel Mansell’s record of 14 pole positions in one season. However, Nigel Mansell grabbed 14 pole positions in 16 race qualifications while Vettel has 15 from 19 qualifications.
Fiat & Chrysler have been jointly developing a ‘compact’ sedan for sometime now. ‘Compact’ in the context of the American market refers to the likes of the Chevy Cruze and Ford Focus. Since we had a hard time swallowing the fact that this might be the replacement to the Sonam Kapoor like elegant yet youthful Fiat Linea, we’ve been burning the internet pipelines trying to make sense of this madness.
We can tell you this much. This Fiat badged vehicle will also be sold in the US as the much hyped Dodge Caliber. Autoblog also reports that this is a four door sedan based on the Alfa Romeo Giulietta hatch.The side profile and the crosshair grille in the picture below clearly indicates Dodge design language.
There were also reports that the hatch version of this car would be called the Dodge Hornet, although subsequent reports have made it clear that it will not be so.
Until we receive more information, at Riot Engine we’ve decided not to believe that this is the Fiat Linea substitute headed to our shores. Look at that hood! All the Dodge-esque bulges. Fiat Centro Stile wouldn’t (pray) do something like this.
Don’t get us wrong, we think its a stunning looking car. Especially in the Autoblog colorized spy shots. As most of you are probably screaming your heads off, this just isn’t the Fiat we want.
Source:
Vince Burlapp Cars
Autoblog
We have featured the Mercedes-Benz Actros in a previous design feature. That Actros spent 2600 hours in the wind tunnel to turn out with fluid, seamless surfaces that ensured nearly a 12 to 15 percent lesser wind resistance compared to its predecessor.
Now Mercedes-Benz takes it to the next level, with the designers coming up with the Aero Trailer which has 18 percent lesser wind resistance.
A number of changes work together to drastically lower the wind resistance of the entire trailer. A front airdam on the trailer reduces the distance to the tractor unit and lowers the wind resistance by one percent. The side trim panels which you will notice from the pictures, are slightly drawn-in at the front and have an opening at the rear. This steers the air in the direction of the parallelogram shaped rear diffuser. The side panels contribute an eight-percent improvement. The diffuser links up with the underbody panelling. This improves the wind resistance by one to two percent.
A rear end taper measuring slightly more than 400 mm in length forms a crucial part of the aerodynamic concept. Mercedes-Benz says it features folding elements to facilitate access to the load compartment. The rear end taper improves wind resistance by a further seven percent.
This 18 percent lower wind resistance contributes to a reduction in fuel consumption amounting to almost five percent in real-life road traffic, says Mercedes Benz. In the case of an average mileage of 150,000 km a year this means a saving of some 2000 l of diesel fuel and savings of over five tonnes of CO2 per annum.
There’s a catch though. The aero trailer’s only restriction is the fact that its length measurement exceeds the currently permissible limit in Europe by almost half a metre, due to the tail-end extension. Mercedes Benz says, the handling and manoeuvrability are not in any way compromised by the taper. It is here that changes to legislation are necessary. Good luck with that Mercedes Benz! It isn’t as sad as it sounds, exceptions have already been made as in the case of tail lifts and transportable fork-lift trucks.
The aero trailer is the flagship of the new “Truck and Trailer 7plus” initiative being launched by Mercedes-Benz. By taking a holistic approach to the tractor unit and trailer it aims to considerably cut the fuel consumption – and thus also the CO2 emissions of semitrailer tractors at the same time – even further than is currently the case.
Mercedes-Benz also presents a case where even using just some of the components of the Aero Trailer can lead to fuel savings. The side trims panels for example, which cuts wind resistance by 8 percent lead to real-life consumption benefit of some 2 percent for a semitrailer tractor weighing 40 tonnes. That translates to savings of 750 L in a 150,000 km long-distance transport.
Similarly the addition of four flaps measuring just 400 mm in length to the rear of the trailer, and positioned at an angle reduce the wind resistance of the entire semitrailer tractor by nearly ten percent. In arithmetical terms this corresponds to virtually three percent less fuel consumption or more than 1000 l of diesel a year.
All the figures aside, we have to say, the trailer itself looks stunning!
Mahindra will launch the face lifted Duro soon. The ‘Powerscooter’ has been spotted testing with telescopic suspension. We also have confirmation regarding the telescopic forks from industry sources. We expect there to be minor cosmetic changes as well.
Meanwhile you can read our review of the current gen Duro here.
With features like digital immobilizer, tilt-steering, power steering, power windows, central locking, tubeless tyres, rear spoiler and roof rack, the four wheel drive Scorpio named LX 4×4 retails at Rs. 9.17 Lakh ex showroom Delhi.
The LX 4×4 can also shift from 4×2 to 4×4 on the move. Powered by the 2.2 L mHawk CRDe powerplant churning 120bhp, mated to a 5 speed transmission this Scorpio will be one of the more affordable 4x4s in the country.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpi2IAec9Ho
You’ve probably seen this video, but we’d be deep fried in hot vats of oil if we didn’t post it on Riot Engine for posterity.
The digital spot titled “Seduction” made its debut at the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show to hundreds of journalists and then was posted to the FIAT brand’s YouTube site. Without having ever been aired on television or cable networks, it has rapidly spread through the web and gained global attention. It represents the unique characteristics of the Fiat 500 Abarth as a sensual and strikingly stunning model and takes a peak at what happens the first time a customer encounters the race-ready vehicle. The spot ends with a sexy and edgy message, “The Fiat 500 Abarth. You’ll never forget the first time you see one.”
SJ Design Pvt. Ltd., a Transportation & Product Design Studio based out of Pune has put out teasers of its first offering the SJ1, a 2+2 coupé GT powered by a 1.9 TDI engine coupled with a 5 speed manual gearbox and front wheel drive transmission.
Mr. Sachin Jadhav, an automobile engineer who graduated from Mumbai University went on to get his Masters in Automotive Design from the hallowed halls of Conventry University seems to be the driving force behind SJ Design.
The teasers suggest a stretched out side profile, flared wheel arches, rectangular exhaust tips and a mean front end that if we may say so, has a striking resemblance to angry Goddesses depicted in Indian mythology.
At Riot Engine we dream of the day when automotive design evolves to the stage where a design language can be distinctly called ‘Indian’ as we do for Italian, Japanese and American designs now. SJ Design seems to be taking the first step.
Would the 1.9 TDI engine be from a Skoda Octavia? What do you think will be the platform for a Grand Tourer of such proportion? We should have some answers soon. Watch this space!
Source : car body design