A leaked Japanese brochure has surfaced of the new CR-Z hybrid sportscar, the spiritual successor to the CRX from the 1990s, ahead of its Detroit Motor Show debut next week. Honda enthusiast websites around the world, including the popular Temple of VTEC site, have splashed pictures and reveal specifications of the stylish little coupe.
As the brochure shows, the new hybrid two-door is almost identical to the concept shown at the Tokyo Motor Show in October. The CR-Z is expected to be launched in Japan within months and is also destined to arrive in Australia late this year or early in 2011. It is Honda's first mass-produced hybrid sports car.
According to the brochure the CR-Z is powered by a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine developing 84kW/145Nm, mated to an electric motor producing 10kW/78Nm. It will hit 100km/h in 9.7 seconds and is expect to deliver fuel economy between 4.0 litres/100km and 4.5 litres/100km.
The CR-Z is expected to be available with a six-speed manual or continuously variable transmission. Although details are still scarce, the CR-Z is expected to have LED lights in the exterior wing mirrors and daytime LED running lights, leather interior and the option of a satellite navigation system.
The CR-Z remains relatively compact. It is 4080mm long, 1740mm wide, 1395 high and sits on a 2435mm wheelbase. This makes it 305mm longer, 65mm wider and 125mm higher than the original, which was on sale here between 1987 and 1998. The wheelbase is also 135mm longer.
Santa has been pointed towards a new style of sleigh, although no-one is really sure if he used it on Xmas Eve this week. It's called the slEigh-REV and it was designed by the British cousins of the ace stylists at GM Holden in Fishermans Bend.
The plan is to overcome the methane emissions and limited power and range of a traditional reindeer with something that taps into the future-car development work at General Motors. It is, in effect, a super-stylish and Santa-focussed development of the Volt hybrid.
GM claims the slEigh-REV is swift and ultra-green, with a range- extending on-board engine which constantly charges the electric batteries which provide its power.
A group of British students have just discovered that the boring and basic High-Visibility safety jacket can also be the basis for a range of new fashion garments.They have added chic buttons, collars, fashion cuts and even frills to the ordinary reflective vest used around the world.
There is a growing push for more use of hi-vis vests by car owners, not just in industry. They are already compulsory across most of Europe, where they must be fitted before attending to a roadside breakdown.
And research in Europe shows a hi-vis vest increases the distance at which drivers can spot a pedestrian by up to 400 per cent. The hi-vis fashion challenge was run at Oaklands College in London and sponsored by Comma, a care car company. A total of 18 fashion students took part and created a range of takes on the challenge.
“This brief pushes the boundaries slightly but, I hope it reinforces the message that, however it looks, you should wear a high-vis vest if you have to get out of your car at the side of the road," says Sarah Easterby, fashion lecturer at Oaklands College.
"This project channels the students’ creative energy through a different avenue and will hopefully help to prepare them for the fashion industry.”
Only 10,000 copies of the Pirelli Calendar are printed each year, and it’s not for sale. The calendar is only ever given away, with the mailing list held as a closely-guarded secret, and only about 200 will come to Australia.
Carsguide has managed to get hold of one of those, and together with Pirelli, is offering the chance to win it.
As usual, it features beautiful girls. Catwalk and magazine superstars Miranda Kerr, Catherine McNeil and Abbey Lee Kershaw – all from Down Under — are among the eleven models in this year’s calendar. The others are Eniko Mihalik from Hungary, Marloes Horst of the Netherlands, Lily Cole, Daisy Lowe, and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley from the UK, Georgina Stojiljkovic of Serbia and two Brazilians, Gracie Carvalho and Ana Beatriz Barros.
But this year’s calendar has moved away from the very arty photography of recent years. The images for the 37th edition of the calendar were shot on location in Brazil earlier this year by Terry Richardson, the outrageous American fashion photographer whose images are often sexually provocative and can border on the graphic. However the calendar in its finished version is probably more startling for its contrast to previous years than anything else.
Following on from the lush and exotic Botswana landscape and fauna in which Peter Beard set the models for last year’s calendar – and the opulent chinoiserie costumes and backdrops used by Patrick Demarchelier in 2008 – Richardson’s shots are starkly simple. He’s returned to the classic Pop Art era pin-up calendar style, with little in the way of backdrops, props, make-up – or costume, for that matter. “A great photographer,” says Richardson, “captures the moment – that’s why I shoot without extra equipment and without assistants.” But critics have said Richardson’s images are simply an unimaginative return to objectification of women that grate on the modern eye.
To enter Carsguide’s calendar competition, tell us in the comment box below if you think the 2010 Pirelli Calendar is great or grating – and why.
The best comment before midnight January 16 (ADST) will win the calendar, a couple of early examples of which have already sold on ebay for around $1000.
Hyundai Australia has resolved its mid-sized sedan's identity crisis, with the Sonata nameplate being replaced by the i50. Hyundai Australia staffers have been given the green-light by Seoul to use the new ’I’ naming regime, which has proven popular with the Australian buyers.
The new i50 sedan, seen for the first time outside Korea at the recent Los Angeles motor show, will arrive during the second quarter of 2010. The all-new vehicle is set to have a six-speed automatic transmission and a two-litre Theta-II petrol engine and a features list that is likely to include as standard six airbags, stability control and hill-start control.
It was designed and developed in Korea and the US over four years at a cost of around AUD$428 million. It will be party of a trio of new ‘I’ models for the Korean brand, which is looking to consolidate its strong 2009 sales performance, which pushed passed 60,000 units for the first time and is more than 40 per cent up on 2008.
The Tucson will be replaced by the ix35 (which uses a similar ‘fluidic sculpture’ style) and the entry-level Getz will be joined by the i20 (its replacement in Europe).
The i20 is being aimed at the Mazda2 and others in the high end of the light-car segment, in the realm of $16,000 - but Hyundai is loath to remove the popular Getz from its local line-up just yet.
A Timberlake fan posted shots of the singer with the A1 hatch on social networking site Facebook. Audi's not too upset though, as the leaked images coincided with launch of a teaser graffiti sketch of the car and a video of the designers Dany Garand and Audi head of design Stefan Sielaff, discussing the car's key characteristics.
Audi has just announced Timberlake as a brand ambassador for the marque. He will front an internet campaign for the car ahead of its launch. The German carmaker plans to release snippets of A1 information every few days in the run up to the car's official March 2 unveiling at the Geneva Motor Show.
The hatch is expected to arrive in Australia early in 2011. In looks the A1 sticks very close to the metroproject quattro and Sportback concepts. Production versions will share their underpinnings with the new-generation Volkswagen Polo, which goes on sale here next year.
Like the metroproject, the A1 is expected to get the chromed-alloy strip running up the A-pillar and down to the C-pillar. Both three and five-door models will be available, as well as a cabrio version. An S version with a performance tuned turbo four cylinder is also planned.
Audi is likely to delve into its parts bin to release a range of TDI and TFSI four-cylinder engines, including VW's 1.4-litre TFSI engine. The company is expected to pitch the A1 as a premium luxury hatch, squarely aimed at BMW's Mini. That means entry pricing should start around $33,000.
A front passenger seatbelt reminder light will be added to all TS, TX and Ghia and Turbo Territorys from January 1, giving the car the best-possible Australasian New Car Assessment Program crash rating.
When it was initially tested in 2006, the Broadmeadows-built crossover comfortably scored four stars and made do with dual front airbags on the base models. Since the arrival of the Series II facelift earlier this year curtain airbags have become standard and the car has now been re-engineered for the seatbelt light.
Since the facelift and other improvements there has been a modest resurgence in Territory sales, according to Ford president and CEO, Marin Burela. Demand is such that Broadmeadows employees worked overtime earlier this month to build an extra 321 Territorys.
It is the first time since July 2005 the factory has been on overtime. "We've been planning to do that for a couple of months because there is a strong demand," Burela says. Burela is confident that when the 2.7-litre V6 turbo-diesel arrives next year, Territory sales will ‘grow it back to where it was’.
However, despite the Series II update, the car has remained largely unchanged, with the same interior and six-cylinder petrol engines it had at launch. Newer rivals in the hotly contested medium off-roader segment, including diesels, are nibbling at the Territory's heartland.
Sales have gone from a high of 23,454 in 2005 - its first full year on sale - down to just 9659 year-to-date. Given its maturity, Burela is reluctant to confirm whether Ford is close to signing off on the next-generation version. More immediately the future of the Falcon wagon is expected to be decided early next year.
"It's still doing its job," Burela says."We're clearly looking at a number of options. "We'll probably come out sometime in the first quarter and advise you about what we're doing with the wagon."
Given the arrival of the Mondeo wagon, Ford must decide whether to continue with two load-luggers. "Right now we can because they appeal to different customers," Burela says. Ford could further leverage Mondeo wagon sales by introducing a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel but Burela has refused to confirm it.
"It's too early to say," he says. However he did acknowledge that a diesel wagon could have strong fleet appeal because of its economy. "The big opportunity for us is how do we compete with the Holden Sportswagon?," he says "The customer for the Sportswagon is the same as the Mondeo wagon."
It edged out basic black, with white a long way back in third. Silver has been surging ahead in recent years, also topping the popularity contest in Australia in recent years despite the one-off attractions of everything from Kermit green to gold and even purple as hero colours on Australia's benchmark performance car, the SS Commodore.
The colour chart emerged this week from DuPont, an American paint maker that has been compiling a similar popularity poll in the USA for the past 57 years. "This is the first year we have run the world colour information. North America had silver at number one from 2000 to 2006, but while was number one from 2007 to 2009," says Nancy Lockhart, colour marketing manager for DuPont's original equipment paint division.
Lockhart says the results vary by regions, with black on top in Europe and silver dominating in Asia and South America. "There are still distinct regional differences in preference, but global trends are unmistakable. Colour preference can change from year to year because of a variety of factors including types of vehicles introduced, reduced vehicle size, consumer tastes and even the economy.
"These and other cultural, societal and demographic influences can shift regional trends over time.” But she says silver, the top choice with prestige brands including Benz and BMW, is the dominant force at the moment with little likely change in coming years. "Silver is likely to stay on top and will share the race with black," she says.
"Bright and chromatic metallic colours of high interest in North America. Purple is beginning to emerge in small volumes." DuPont charts the colour changes partly to boost its business and partly as a way of helping carmakers identify emerging colour trends.
“The auto industry is an increasingly global business, so regional and global colour data are vitally important to designers," Lockhart says. Despite regional differences, the top three colour choices rank well ahead of gray in fourth and — surprisingly — red in sixth.
“The top colours become ‘aspirational’ with a universal appeal," says Leatrice Eiseman, the executive director of the Pantone Color Institute. “There are many reasons to buy a new car, yet we know colour is often the ‘driver’ for purchasing a vehicle. “Consumers have gotten very savvy about how and where to look for colour trends and they do look for guidance on what’s new in colour.”
Silver is top in Australia in a reflection of the global results but DuPont says there are significant differences between regions. In Europe, black is pulling ahead from silver — 27 to 19.9 per cent — but in Japan the perennial favourite, white, lost four percentage points from 2008 and silver dropped back to be equal in second with black.
In China, silver is clearly the favourite with a 36 per cent score and black dropped back by four points despite remaining in second. The big upset in the latest results is Russia, where green — only eighth with 1 per cent of the global result — was second to silver and took 18.2 per cent in the DuPont rankings. GLOBAL CAR COLOURS
Top 10 choices — 2009 1. Silver — 25 per cent 2. Black — 23 per cent 3. White — 16 per cent 4. Gray — 13 per cent 5. Blue — 9 per cent 6. Red — 8 per cent 7. Brown/beige — 4 per cent 8. Green — 1 per cent 9. Yellow/gold — 1 per cent 10. Others
The upcoming Camry hybrid is an obvious prospect for overseas sales, with New Zealand already committed, but the real key for Australia is everything from car parts to engineering brains and design skills.
Toyota believes local brainpower could help fuel its growth in the Asian region over the next 10 years with many emerging economies linked through a re-organisation that puts Australia into the same region as China and India. "Australia is very much in a strategic position for this growth belt for automotive," said Yukitoshi Funo, one of only five executive vice- presidents of global Toyota, during a flying visit to celebrate production of the first petrol-electric Camry at Altona in Melbourne.
"Australia is very much strategically well positioned in terms of taking advantage of this growth belt. That is China, Asia, India, the Middle East and even Africa. Australia is not an amateur, if you like, in terms of doing exports for other destinations." But Funo stopped well short of pushing for more Camry exports and said Toyota Australia had other possibilities which would also be open to other local companies, including component makers, in coming years.
"How to integrate this automotive industry with those Asian neighbours is the key question. What is the advantage, what is the weakness, what is the area that should learn more? These are the issues that the Australian automotive industry should address," he said, before focussing on Toyota Australia.
"We have to look at Camry, we have to look at other models, we have to look at components, we have to look at components in components. Like, for example, to reduce the Yen component. "Of course, there are other areas. Like we have engineering units here. They could do organise a closer relationship with sister organisations located in Bangkok."
This would be a similar approach to the one which has worked successfully for both GM Holden and Ford in Australia. Ford has done a number of regional development programs, including two small cars for India and a pick-up for Asia, while Holden engineered and developed the Chevrolet Camaro which is now built in North America.
Toyota Style Australia, run under the direction of Paul Beranger, is already linked into Toyota's global design process and the company makes extensive use of proving ground facilities at Anglesee near Melbourne. Toyota is hopeful that its exports to the Middle East will rebound in 2010 after a major slump this year which has cut output at Altona from a peak of 148,000 to around 110,000 cars.
But, with just 10,000 hybrid Camrys on the books for next year, it is unlikely to be more than a trickle feed to any customers outside the country until at least 2011. Funo also outlined a program to try and make Australia the first 'currency free' operation inside Toyota, removing the peaks and troughs of exchange rate fluctuations that make it so tough to do business as both the country's biggest automotive importer and exporter.
"This company exports many, many cars to other destinations like the Middle East. But at the same time we import many. "I think if we apply a little bit more aggressive effort in terms of the exports, or reducing the currency, or something like that, from Japan to a weaker currency. By doing that we can maybe make Australia the first currency-free operation in the world for Toyota."
"We can expect some counter-measures ... if you want to call it that, with development of small cars and suchlike."
