Auto News – Page 775 – Automobiles Review

Hyundai Velocity Concept Debuts at SEMA [VIDEO]

Hyundai Velocity Concept is a vehicle which is to proudly debut at 2012 SEMA show. Originally the car is a Veloster sport coupe, but being a tuning it adds more aggressiveness and exceptional design language.

This Hyundai runs on 19 x 9.0 inch, HRE lightweight satin-charcoal racing wheels. In addition, the special car is fitted with tarmac-scraping lower body kit with generous front and rear brake cooling ducts, lift-reducing rear diffuser, oversized rear wing, and number one racecar design graphic.

The concept keeps the original silhouette of the Veloster, however adding a note on exponential performance gains and functional design cues. Furthermore, the 1.6-liter, direct-injected engine underwent some transformations thanks to Cosworth, including performance pistons, rods, turbocharger, intercooler, intake manifold, intake-charging design, fuel system and engine management.

All this results in more than 400 horsepower (295 kW) and 350 lb.-ft. (475 Nm) of torque. In addition, Velocity’s suspension and braking modifications handle the acceleration capabilities under hood, with Brembo® 4-piston calipers and two-piece rotors, Bilstein® springs with monotube dampers, and Kumho Ecsta SPT 275/35R19 high performance summer tires.

httpv://youtu.be/ufKu7JY9BgA

The list of Velocity performance enhancements includes the following:

Powertrain

Cosworth engine upgrades: Pistons, Rods, Turbo, Intercooler, Intake Manifold, Intake charge design, Fuel system, and Engine Management system
CPR Fabrication: Custom Exhaust system

Interior

Sparco: A1 WTX 5H Helmets, gloves, shoes, and seat belts.
Race-keeper: Race-Keeper Video GPS data Acquisition System
Katzkin custom suede leather interior:
Raven and scarlet themed suede with red stitching
CPR Integrated Roll Bar

Exterior

Velocity HATCI Design Body Kit:
Front and rear braking airflow ducts
Lift-reducing rear diffuser
Integrated front splitter
Aero side skirt lip
Oversized rear wing spoiler
#1 racing number design motif
HRE P40 model 19 x 9.0″ lightweight satin-charcoal wheels

Brakes

Brembo: 350x28mm two-piece Rotors and 4-Piston Calipers

Suspension

Bilstein: Monotube dampers and spring kit
Kumho: Ecsta SPT 275/35R19 High Performance Summer Tires

Video Source: YouTube

Source: Hyundai

October 17, 2012

Market launch of the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT

The unique Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT can now be seen at dealerships is disguise of both Coupé and Roadster variants. With the highly performance-oriented GT variant, the range has now grown up to five models.

This Mercedes conveys more dynamism and athleticism. It is fitted as standard with AMG forged wheels painted in matt black with a high-sheen finish, darkened headlamps and tail lights as well as red-painted brake calipers.

The wing-shaped cross fins and the star recess in the radiator grille, the exterior mirrors and the fins on the bonnet and wings are retained in high-gloss black.The AMG logo on the right of the boot lid also features the additional letters “GT”.

The more important information here however is in terms of power. In details, the maximum output for the 6.3-litre V8 front-mid engine is 435 kW (591 hp) at 6800 rpm, while the maximum torque is 650 Nm at 4750 rpm. This means that there will be no problem for the super sports car accelerates from zero to 100 km/h in just 3.7 seconds, and to reach a speed of 200 km/h in 11.2 seconds. The top speed here is 320 km/h (electronically limited).

The engine is mated to the AMG SPEEDSHIFT DCT 7-speed sports transmission located on the rear axle. In addition, the latter is more direct and spontaneous than ever. The automatic double-declutching function when shifting down is also more pronounced.

The new AMG Ride Control Performance suspension is fitted with variable, electronically controlled damping. It includes stiffer spring/damper tuning and dispenses with “Comfort” mode. “Sport” mode is recommended as the optimum setting for undulating road surfaces and routes requiring increased suspension travel. On the other hand the “Sport plus” mode delivers higher damping forces and includes specific control algorithms which have been adjusted for a sporty driving style on routes with a level road surface.

The interior here is decisively sporty as well. For example, the sports seats have embossed badges on their head restraints and centre sections finished in Alcantara. The same mterial can also be found on the door centre panels.

Furthermore, the black interior appointments are combined with red seat belts. In fact, all of the contrasting stitching on the AMG sports seats, the centre console and the door panel lining is retained in red too. Even the floor mats feature red edging.

A highlight among the optional extras is the Bang & Olufsen BeoSound system. The surround sound system delivers one-of-a-kind music experience. This is due to the amplifier, which provides a 1000-watt output, the 11 loudspeakers, and the precise distribution of the music signals.

The starting price of the 2013 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT is 204,680 euros for the coupe and 213,010 euros for the roadster.

Source: Mercedes-Benz

October 17, 2012

2013 Vauxhall Cascada – available from March

Vauxhall has released full details of 2013 Cascada full-size convertible that will launch the company into a fourth new sector this year, following on from its Ampera, Mokka and ADAM models.

The new Cascada will feature an all-new 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine delivering 170HP (125 kW) and 280Nm (207 lb-ft) of torque. The engine range also includes a 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol engine produces 140HP, and up to 220Nm thanks to an overboost function. There will be a diesel version coming with powerful 2.0 CDTi delivering 165HP and 380Nm of torque. The engines will be available with either a 6-speed manual or 6-speed automatic transmission.

The car comes with a high-quality fabric hood, with superior acoustic and thermal insulation thanks to a special layer of polyester fleece between the outer and inner linings. This makes the 2013 Cascada “weather proof”, so it can be used despite harsh conditions. The hood can be opened in just 17 seconds at speeds up to 30mph by an interior switch, or via a button on the key fob.

“Cascada is set to change people’s perception of Vauxhall once again,” commented Duncan Aldred, Vauxhall’s Chairman and Managing Director.

“The full-size convertible sector tends only to be occupied by very high-priced cars from premium manufacturers. With Cascada, we’re offering customers high levels of equipment, technology and luxury but at an affordable price.”, he added.

Cascada pricing will be announced in line with order banks opening at the start of next year. First UK deliveries will be from March 2013.

Source: Vauxhall

October 17, 2012

2014 Renault Clio Cup – Price

2014 Renault Clio Cup - Front Angle

“We’ve enjoyed 22 fantastic years of Renault UK Clio Cup racing and the brand new Clio Cup race car is an incredibly exciting new chapter in the story for everyone”, commented Renault UK Communications Director Jeremy Townsend.

“We will continue to run the existing car in the British championship through 2013, with the intention to then introduce the new turbo-charged Clio Cup car the following season. Getting the timing right is very important, the car will race in the Clio Eurocup next year so our teams in the UK will have ample opportunity to see it in action ahead of its planned 2014 UK debut.”, Mr. Townsend added.

The car is currently put on various test including different race courses. It will hit the market in September, next year with price of €37,800 (excluding VAT), which is a lot, but for such amount of money you will get superfast road car.

Talking about power, the new Clio Cup has a turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine with 220HP (161 kW) and 270Nm (199 lb-ft) of torque. The engine is mated to a 6-speed sequential gearbox. The car is FWD, but it has a LSD (limited slip differential) granting maximum traction at every conditions.

The Clio Cup also comes with complete high-performance brake system from AP Racing. The suspension features ZF-Sachs adjustable dampers. Last, but not least is the data acquisition system with a dashboard-mounted display giving all needed information to the driver.

The exterior of 2014 Clio Cup boasts new front fascia, a roof-mounted scoop and 17” Speedline Corse alloy wheels fitted with performance tires. There is also a rear wing, which is not only for good looks, but provide 40 kg of downforce at speeds of over 200 km/h.

Source: Renault

October 17, 2012

Rimac e-M3 World Record [video]

Rimac-e-M3 Rimac Automobili has finally finished their project – an electrically driven BMW E30. The project name is “Rimac e-M3” and it has broken several world records. Currently this is the fastest electric car in class 3 (above 1000 kg).

“I owned an old BMW E30 (MY 1984) which I used for drift and circuit races. At one of these races, the gas engine blew up. Then I decided to try building an EV. After one year or so the car was able to drive but I was not satisfied with the result. It was heavy, not very powerful and the range was very limited. I started to gather a team of experts to develop our own components since I believed that the electric propulsion can give much more compared to what was available on the market. At that time, I already had a very clear vision of my ultimate goal. Today, hard work is making my dream come true.”, said the founder of the company – Mate Rimac.

Rimac e-M3

“We had to wait over a year for FIA‘s official approval to publish the records. But while we were waiting the spirit of inventiveness took us even further, so we made something even faster. Our pre-production car, the Concept_One, can beat the e-M3; by far.”, added Mr. Rimac.

The power of the green E30 is 600HP and 900Nm of torque. 0-100 km/h in 3.3 seconds and a top speed of 280 km/h.

Enjoy the video!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AHStDMhDvE

Records:

– 1/8 mile: 7,549
– 1/4 mile: 11,808
– 1/2 km: 13,714*
– 1 km: 23,260*
– 1 mile: 35,347*

*Records subject to official FIA approval (pending)

Source: Rimac

October 16, 2012

Nissan Juke-R 001 – €500,000

Nissan has delivered the first Juke-R, which a number plate “001”. This particular model was sold for €500,000. As you know, the Juke-R has everything needed from one of the best cars in the world – Nissan GT-R R35.

In other words, the Juke-R is powered by a twin-turbocharged 3.8 liter V6 with 485HP (362 kW). 0-100 km/h in 3.7 seconds and a top speed of 257 km/h (160 mph). This is almost 5 seconds faster than a regular Juke and 57 km/h more top speed.

The Juke-R story began when it was revealed for the first time as a one-off concept in January 2012 in Dubai. The wild child of the Nissan range soon became an automotive legend in its own right, even though it was never intended for either physical or virtual production.

A YouTube sensation, the Juke-R‘s fan base grew exponentially – more than 5,000,000 views of Juke-R videos have been recorded to date.

“People loved the Juke-R in Dubai – we were receiving offers for the original concept on the street! We couldn’t disappoint such dedicated fans, so with three genuine offers on the table we made the commitment to build a limited run of Juke-Rs.”, said Darren Cox, Brand Director Nissan in Europe.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14I4kiU3k5c

Source: Nissan

October 16, 2012

2013 Lexus LS 460 F-Sport TRD

2013 Lexus LS 460 has received a full body kit from TRD (Toyota Racing Development). The car looks really well and even more attractive than the stock version.

TRD body kit includes a new front splitter, a rear diffuser, a pair of side skirts, sport mufflers and a set of forged aluminum wheels fitted with low profile run-on-flat tires. It is important to say that the TRD body kit is exclusive for the F-Sport model of the new Lexus LS, so it won’t fit to the regular ones.

2013 Lexus LS is available in four versions: LS 460, LS 460L, LS 460 F SPORT and the LS 600hL.

The LS 460 F-Sport is powered by a V8 4.6-liter engine delivering 386HP (288 kW) for the RWD version and 360HP (268 kW) for the AWD model. The engine is mated to an 8-speed sequential shift automatic transmission.

Source: WCF

October 16, 2012

2013 Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Super Trofeo

Here are several photos published in Facebook of the new 2013 Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Super Trofeo. The car is a part of the 2012 series which consists of six race weekends where 58 drivers compete at different race tracks, including the world’s toughest course – the Nurburgring.

The Super Trofeo race car is based on the Gallardo LP 560-4 sports car, but with a reworked chassis and a direct injection V10 engine rated at 570 HP (419 kW) with higher compression ratio of 12.5:1, variable valve timing.

The car has dry weight of 1,300 kg (2,900 lbs). E-gear transmission is standard. The race car and parts package cost €200,000 plus tax, available via Lamborghini dealerships, with support and parts sales trackside.

The new 2013 model comes with a new rear diffuser, an updated spoiler and redesigned wheel arches.

Source: Facebook

October 16, 2012

Debut For Hyundai i30 Premium Trim Level

Hyundai i30 Premium is the new trim level in the i30 line-up which has just made its debut. The model will be available as both Hatchback and Tourer and will deliver new standard features and more comfort.

Premium trim features all the equipment from the Convenience and Individual packs, however they go here as a standard. More importantly these go along with several additional features. In details, the Premium models benefit from a new 17-inch alloy wheel design, chrome door handles with illumination and automatically folding door mirrors, which also incorporate puddle lamps.

In terms of interior the new Hyundai trim level includes a number of additional standard features over the Style Nav such as leather upholstery, automatically dimming rear view mirror, electric driver’s seat with lumbar support, heated front seats, keyless entry with engine start/stop button plus supervision cluster with LCD colour display. A height adjustable passenger seat is also now available as an option, however.

More importantly, the Premium will be available with two engine options including a 120 hp (88 kW) 1.6-litre petrol with manual transmission on the hatchback and a 1.6-litre CRDi 128 hp (94 kW) diesel on both Hatchback and Tourer with a choice of either a manual or automatic gearbox.

Furthermore, three new exterior colors will be offered, delivering even more freshness and vitality. These are Cool Red (solid), Ice Blue (metallic) and Blueberry Blue (metallic).

Source: Hyundai

October 16, 2012

Vauxhall Corsa Achieves 85.6 MPG Efficiency Result

2012 Vauxhall Corsa is more economical than ever achieving 85.6mpg while emitting just 88g/km. The environmentally friendly car is equipped with 95 hp (70 kW) 1.3CDTI ecoFLEX Start/Stop engine which contributes to the numbers delivered.

Furthermore, some additional improvements have been made in order to minimize the consumption and emissions. For instance, the turbodiesel is equipped with a variable displacement oil pump which delivers only the necessary oil pressure.

In fact, it changes the oil volume having “in mind” the load so that it can reduce energy needed for oil circulation. The use of special low-viscosity transmission oil also contributes to efficient fuel consumption.

Next to be mentioned is the engineered manual transmissions with a more precise and smooth gear change action. The modifications result in high shift comfort and optimized operation in cold and warm conditions. In addition, what also takes part in the great efficiency are the new 185/65 R15 low-rolling-resistance tyres.

Performance however is not a compromise here, given the achieved results. The maximum torque of this Vauxhall model is of 190 Nm (140 lb-ft) is available between 1,750 and 3,250rpm. The powerful 95 hp (70 kW) turbodiesel gives the Corsa the acceleration time of 12.3 seconds for the sprint from 0 to 100 km/h.

Source: Vauxhall

October 16, 2012

Mercedes-Benz A-Class Receives Environmental Certificate

Mercedes-Benz-A-Class-THumb The award winning Mercedes-Benz A-Class is now achieving even higher standards thanks to fuel saving numbers it has shown. In particular the fuel savings are of up to 26 percent, emissions as low as 98 g CO2/km, a best-in-class Cd value of 0.27 and all petrol-engine variants complying with the Euro 6 emissions standard.

This basically means that the A-Class sets new benchmarks in efficiency and in addition has a high environmental performance, which was confirmed by the inspectors at the TÜV Süd technical inspection authority. They have given this Mercedes-Benz model the Environmental Certificate in accordance with ISO standard TR 14062.

As a matter of fact, the aforementioned certification is based on a comprehensive ecological life-cycle assessment of the car, documenting every detail of ecological relevance. The life-cycle assessment means that the brand analyzes the environmental compatibility of its models from production through their long years of service to recycling at the end of their lives.

And this is where the A180 BlueEFFICIENCY causes 16 percent (5.7 tons) less CO2 emissions than its predecessor. The energy balance shows a similarly positive picture, with primary energy consumption over the vehicle’s entire life cycle cut by 15 percent in comparison to its predecessor.

The fuel efficiency is due to the BlueEFFICIENCY technology, which combines optimization measures in the area of the powertrain, energy management, aerodynamics, tyres optimization, weight reduction through lightweight construction and information, which encourages the driver to an energy-saving style of driving.

Source: Mercedes-Benz

October 16, 2012

2013 Ford Figo Adds New Design Elements and Smart Features

2013 Ford Figo has just been launched in the Indian market. In fact the model has been one of the most successful ones and now comes to offer even more. Figo is now with improved Kinetic design, trendy new colors and a host of enhanced smart features.

The exterior colors are complemented by the introduction of two new bold and exciting colours – Bright Yellow and Kinetic Blue. The new design language of the brand in applied to the front fascia. It now has new hexagonal grill, redesigned headlamps and tail lamps and several other style changes.

Furthermore, the new 14” alloy wheels and wheel cover design were added. They are made in Titanium variant that gives the Ford a sportier look.

The Kinetic design elements are continued throughout the interior, where one can see second instrument panel color – “Riviera Blue”, and new blue seat fabric. In addition, the cabin is now even quieter: New Double Bulb weather strips on doors further reduce noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) levels.

Inside the cabin, the passengers will have a comfortable ride thanks to the better seating with improved lumbar support and head rest adjustment. And the driver can now enjoy steering column mounted radio controls.

More importantly here is that the new Figo is offering far greater performance. It has improved engine calibration which delivers higher acceleration during first few seconds resulting in better pick up. And what’s left to add is that shifting gears now requires less effort.

Source: Ford

October 16, 2012

Category: Auto News