General Motors USA has unveiled as slightly facelifted version of the Beat (Spark to the rest of the world) during the Centennial Anniversary Celebrations in Detroit. The car has a new larger honey comb grille with differently shaped bumpers at the front and back and a larger Chevy bow tie. It also has new design ORVMs and alloy wheels. The car also has modified headlamps and rear brake lamps apart from new fog lamps. The company has also said that it has modified the interiors a little as well. Apart from this GM also has said that it will be unveiling a new family of engines for the whole world with displacements from 1.0 litre to 1.4 litres. These engines are both diesel and petrol and some will feature turbo charging.
The Maruti Alto challenger that Hyundai has readied will have six trim levels. All of them will feature the same three cylinder 814 cc petrol engine with five forward gears that can only be shifted manually. The trim levels are D-Lite, D-Lite (O), Era, Magna, Magna(O) and Sportz. The D-Lite and Era cars will come with steel wheels with hub cap and will feature a tyre size of 140/80 R 12 while from the Magna onward the tyre size will change to 155/70 R 13. The D-Lite and Era trim cars will have only one outside rear view mirror (on the driver side) with manual adjustment from inside while the Magna and Sportz trim cars will get dual outside rear view mirrors. The base D-Lite only has a blower while the D-Lite (O) gets full air conditioning. The Era trim will also offer a power steering, body coloured bumpers, silver console, tinted windows and a tinted strip on the windscreen. The Magna will offer full wheel covers, front power windows , tilt adjustable steering wheel and central locking while the Magna (O) additionally offers a stereo system that has a CD player with Aux port and rear parcel tray. The Sportz version will come with airbag for driver, metallic finished steering wheel, front fog lamps, body coloured ORVMs and door handles and key less entry. Hyundai seems to be straddling two segments with this car.
Seven vehicle manufactures Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Porsche and Volkswagen have collaborated to develop a Combined Charging System. This universal charging system needs only a single charging interface at the vehicle allowing the customer to charge with all existing charging methods: one-phase AC-charging, fast three-phase AC-charging, DC-charging at home or ultra-fast DC-charging at public charging stations.
A uniform vehicle interface reduces the complexity for development and deployment of electric vehicles. Multiple connectors in the infrastructure and different charging inlets at the vehicle are not needed for AC-charging on the one hand and DC-charging on the other hand. This unification goes beyond the connector: The Combined Charging System integrates also the charging communication and the electric and safety architecture. This will lead to cost reduction and facilitates the spread of electro-mobility at world level.
Ford also reports that the seven auto manufacturers have also agreed to use HomePlug Green Phy as the communication protocol. This approach will also facilitate integration of the electric vehicle into future smart grid applications.
The concept of the Combined Charging System was submitted in close cooperation with the above mentioned American vehicle manufacturers to the International Standardization in January 2011. The German manufacturers will also present the Combined Charging System at the 15th International VDI-Congress and Exhibition “Electronic Systems for Motor Vehicles” from 2011-10-12/13 for the first time. The presentation at Baden-Baden will show the installation of the Combined Charging System in vehicles of manufactures being part of this initiative. This marks another development milestone. The Combined Charging System will be ready for deployment mid 2012 and then introduced into the market.
We do wonder about the outcome of such a system taking into consideration the fact that it’s being called different names by different manufacturers, like ‘Initiative Charging Interface’,’Combined Charging System’, and ‘Harmonized Electric Vehicle Fast Charging Solution’. Ford, in its press release has suggested agreeing upon a single, harmonized DC fast charging system, whereas the Germans seem to want it to be versatile enough to charge with all existing charging methods: one-phase AC-charging, fast three-phase AC-charging, DC-charging at home or ultra-fast DC-charging at public charging stations. It is this correspondent’s humble opinion that EVs are but a stop gap measure before we again go digging for alternative methods of propulsion, and it does make us wonder why all the fuss.
The ‘Nouva Panda’ has been restyled on the outside with soft, rounded lines on a regular and a very effective volume for utilizing space. The new Panda takes inspiration from the belief that every person has their a unique lifestyle, needs, and a personal relationship with objects they own and again, a unique way of distributing them in space. The Panda with it’s well thought out interiors, and effectively designed volume lets the consumer fill the space in a personal way and with appealing interiors, is a pleasure to share the space with others.
Centro Stile Fiat, which simply is Fiat’s design center, has released a comic strip like design story that delves into the thought process that went into designing the new Fiat Panda. Fiat designers start off by introducing us to what they call the ‘SQUIRCLE’.
Designers at Fiat say, the ‘squircle’ is a the evolution of the square. The efficiency of a primitive, regular shape like the square, with the pleasing aesthetics of the circle. Such a combination hints at robustness as well as appealing roundness, and the designers believe, it is also the ideal shape to offer protection, internally and externally.
The vertical sides of the old Panda have given way to the boxy rounded shape derived from the squircle. In the transition though, the essence of the Panda has not been lost. Seamless, wrap around glazing (defined as : part of a window, made of glass) is obvious in this version of the Panda too. The front face, with a slightly convex bonnet, an elegant horizontal grille and new rounded headlamps are most distinctive examples of the evolution. The headlamps are split into two elements one below the other and have the same function, organization and family look as the Fiat 500. Look closely and you will notice how the area around the door handles display the ‘robust’ squircle design not just in 2D but also in 3D. The third window, another distinctive feature of the Panda, now is designed with rounder angles in harmony with the softer shape of the exteriors to create the effect of the ‘uninterrupted glazed surface’ stretching back up to the vertical rear light clusters. This window also extends the visibility toward the rear, and improves aerodynamics thanks to the streamlined shape.
Smooth, rounded shapes are also found in the strips applied to bumpers and side panels which in addition to paying tribute to the first-generation Fiat Panda also accentuate the “all-terrain” look of the model, which is confirmed by the pronounced wheel arches. Finally, as on the current model, the lower section of the tailgate protrudes with respect to the rear window. This, combined with the side line, gives a distinct impression of a roof panel resting on the bodywork.
The light clusters have been positioned higher up to improve lighting and though we doubt it, Fiat claims that it reduces the possibility of damage in case of minor scrapes. The side and front/rear plastic cladding, definitely is a boon in tight parking spaces.
The illustration below is one of the reasons why we love this design story by Fiat. Beautifully penned, and explains clearly about the often uttered ‘better visibility’. Of course, we doubt how useful the third window will be in situations other than parking and reversing, but it never hurts to have a larger day light opening, wouldn’t you agree?
The seats have not been spared the special treatment, with the squircles (we are starting to like this word, really) electrically welded onto the backrest to improve ventilation and comfort by letting air flow between the passengers back and the seat. The seats, with the redesigned backrest and cushion inserts are designed to increase the feeling of containment.
Gigi Dall’Igna, the Sporting Director at the Piaggio group who are owners of Aprilia has said that he wants to see four works spec Aprilias on the grid for World Superbikes. Aprilia has found success with Max Biaggi and won the title in World Superbikes last year but this year Carlos Checa on a Ducati has won it thanks also to injury that Biaggi suffered. Dall’Igna wants two more Aprilias and his vision seems to be coming true with Eugene Laverty signing with Aprilia instead of BMW which was thought to his preferred course of action. There is speculation that Paul Bird Motorsport which lost the status of running Kawasaki’s official team, may get one motorcycle for Tom Sykes who has done reasonably well on the Kawasaki. Interesting times these.
Ever since MotoGP shifted to four stroke engines, the story of Suzuki has been one of decline. The manufacturer last won a premier class title with Kenny Roberts Jr in the 500cc category and has since then secured a solitary victory in the hands of Chris Vermeulen in a wet race. Otherwise there were only a few brilliant performances by John Hopkins but those never even converted to podiums. Following Kawasaki’s withdrawal from the MotoGP series it looks like Suzuki too will be out. Unlike Kawasaki, Suzuki has maintained a stoic silence about its future plans. Will it quit race in MotoGP and if it will with what bike? The existing 800cc? Or will it just pull the plug. What about its intentions in World Superbikes? Will race there? Will it chose one category over the other or race in both or quit both? Lots of questions and silence doesn’t answer any of those. It is hoped that Suzuki will have some answer at Philip Island.
Casey Stoner is on the verge of getting his second world title in the premier MotoGP category and the first ever since the dawn of the 800cc category for Honda. This year was Honda’s last chance at becoming world champions in the 800cc category since from 2012 on, MotoGP moves to 1000cc engines. Stoner is an Australian and therefore wants to clinch the World title in his home race at Philip Island. However, Jorge Lorenzo of Yamaha may have his own ideas about that. While only a tragedy of epic proportions can deny Stoner and Honda the world titles, Lorenzo wants to ensure that Stoner has to fight till the end of the season to get the title in his kitty.
Mercedes Benz has sold more than 5700 vehicles in the first nine months of this year while it sold 5600 units in the whole of 2010. Mercedes Benz which commands tremendous brand equity in India and was the first German maker to start operations in India in the 1990s, has been stung by BMW that has consistently sold more cars in India in the last two years despite being a relative unknown. Mercedes Benz has hit back with a two pronged strategy of opening more dealerships even in tier II and tier III towns and also has been launching newer models. For now the strategy seems to have worked since it has sold more cars this year in nine months than it did in the whole of last year. Mercedes is aiming to exceed 7000 units sale by the time this calender year ends. The question is will this be enough to beat BMW which still has its nose ahead in terms of sales figures?
Indian Autos Blog is carrying pictures of the Sumo Gold which is supposedly the replacement of the Victa. As already reported the new Sumo has a bigger and more powerful engine and better upholstery and Tata hope that this version will resume its fight with the Mahindra Bolero and pull back some numbers from the Bolero which sells more than some hatchback cars. Though the Sumo was the third passenger vehicle from Tata after the Sierra and the Estate, it was the first to bring in volumes for Tata and help establish itself as a player of consequence in the passenger vehicle space. Though it too like the Sierra and the Estate based on the mechanicals of the one tonne 206 Tatamobile pick up, it captured the taxi space as well as personal vehicle space in the mid nineties. One hears again and again the apocryphal story that the Sumo was short for Sumant Mulgaonkar, and he was the person who pushed for Tata’s entry into passenger vehicle space and started the process with the Tatamobile which is now the grand daddy of the Xenon. The Grande is also based on the Sumo and started life as the Sumo Grande but recently Tata dropped the Sumo from the Grande in order to position it as a personal vehicle. Interestingly the Gold moniker was first used on another version of the Sumo called the Spacio (it looked just like the Sumo but had an agricultural diesel engine) and one would therefore believe that the Sumo is going again for the jugular of the tourist taxi trade.
Picture courtesy: Indianautosblog.com
The web space dealing with autos is anticipating the launch of the SEAT brand of cars in India by Volkswagen. VW owns many brands such as Skoda (Czech Republic), Bugatti (France), Lamborghini (Italy), Audi (Germany) and SEAT (Spain). SEAT originally was an acronym standing for Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo (Spanish Touring Car Company, in English) and had its first collaboration with Fiat which ended with a spat. Volkswagen then picked up the brand and made it just SEAT (no acronym anymore) and positioned it as a youthful brand. VW has deployed the SEAT Leon in World Touring Car Championship and won titles with it. One of the notable SEAT Leon drivers in the series is Tiago Monteiro who was Narain Karthikeyan’s teammate at Jordan.
Websites are speculating that SEAT will come to India with its version of the VW UP! just as Skoda will bring the same car as the Citigo. Everybody now knows that VW can’t wait to be king (meaning becoming World No.1 in sales) and since India loves small cars VW may bring three versions of the UP! and push sales. Let us warn you that this is all firmly in the realm of conjecture and we don’t know if there is ANY truth in this whole thing at all.