Sports Cars | Sports Car Accessories

Monday, January 4, 2010

2009 Ferrari 430 Luxury Car

2009 Ferrari 430 Car Picture

2009 Ferrari 430 Side View

2009 Ferrari 430 Rear View

Kia World has scored the first official photos of the 2010 Kia Sorento, and from the looks of things, it's in keeping with the other marked improvements the automaker has been making to its lineup. In fairness, the current Sorento is no ugly duckling, with a shape that's evocative of the Jeep WJ Grand Cherokee and last-gen Lexus RX. Kia retains a traditional SUV profile with the latest version, but you can see that a thick D-pillar now resides aft of the side glass. In its report, OmniAuto notes that new, larger Sorento will have seven-passenger capability.

The new Sorento doesn't appear to mess with success, retaining the same basic shape while incorporating Kia's new, handsome corporate face and a clamshell hood. Its public debut is slated for the Seoul Motor Show next month, and Kia World reports that the the new SUV will be available with a Euro 5-compliant 2.0-liter clean diesel making 200 horsepower and 295-lb-ft of torque. Stateside, expect a 170-horsepower 2.4-liter four and and a 3.8-liter, 260-horse Lambda V6. Koreans also get a 2.7-liter LPG-powered engine. After its Seoul debut, we'd expect to see the Sorento pop up in Manhattan for the New York Auto Show

Mahindra-Renault begins restructuring due to dismal Logan sales

Think of “low cost car” and before the Tata Nano came up you’ll most likely think of the Renault Logan. The Logan is a car designed from the beginning to be very cheap to build, which means everything is low cost down to the design of the car’s exterior and interior, which feature shapes that are technically easy to cast and mould, etc.

You’d think that the Logan would do well in India but for some reason the Mahindra Renault Logan flopped. Last year’s sales only justified a production run of well under 20,000 units per annum – less than a third of Mahindra’s planned capacity of 50,000 units. The Mahindra Renault JV lost 4.9 billion rupees in the 2008/09 financial year.

The Indian-majority 51:49 JV is currently scaling down its business to adjust to lower than expected sales of the Logan. Everything will be slashed down to a level of business that supports only 500 units sales per month – that’s just 6,000 a year! India is a huge huge country with a massive customer base and that’s really low considering in Malaysia we saw the Perodua Myvi hit just over 7,000 registrations in November 2009 while the Saga did just over 6,000. Even moving up the price segments, a total of 791 Honda Civics were registered in November. So 500 a month in India is low.

The Logan’s failure is attributed to various factors – its higher price due to escalating material costs due to a rising Euro, a less than desirable low-cost styling which did not gel well to the tastes of an increasingly sophisticated Indian consumer’s tastebuds, etc.

Rising material costs due to forex is a real issue to the Logan as it is claimed that over half the Logan’s content is imported, and current volumes do not justify localization of supply in India. The Logan’s size is also over 4 meters in length so it is in one excise tax bracket too high.

I know many unrelated stories somehow end up being related to Proton in the comments but in this case I feel it is worth mentioning that these cases should be studied closely and taken seriously by Proton’s export team in order to ensure that a Proton entry in India is successful. For one, the Saga looks way better than the Logan so I don’t think that will be an issue! With the current Proton management’s product planning style of taking market research seriously, let’s hope that an Indian entry will be a good one.

VW and Suzuki to develop hybrids and EVs in India

Following the , Vopurchase of 19.9% of Suzuki lkswagen has wasted little time in executing its masterplan. Back then, VW said: “both parties are focused on achieving synergies in the areas of rapidly growing emerging markets as well as in the development and manufacturing of innovative and environmentally friendly compact cars”. Now, VW and Suzuki have revealed that they will be working together on hybrid and electric car projects in India.

The two companies are looking at establishing an R&D centre in the Subcontinent, and it’s likely to be on current Suzuki premises. VW has an arsenal of efficient drivetrains while Suzuki has plenty of small cars in all shapes and sizes. The latter also has a fuel cell programme going on. Will the Volkswagen Up! Lite Concept soon be reality?

It will be interesting to see the fruits of this marriage take shape, and how affordable they can make it to be. Millions of Indians adopting green cars will not only be good for VW and Suzuki, but the rest of the world, as the booming nation is set to be one of the top emitters of greenhouse gases.

audi hofele pictures

What’s a successful halo car? In our opinion, a halo car has fulfilled its purpose if models below it start to ape big brother. The Lancer Evo is a classic example, and Audi seems to have executed a similar masterstroke with its R8 supercar. The mid-engined beauty that Tony Stark drives is so cool that it’s inspiring “R8 style” kits for cars like the Audi A5 and TT.

German tuner Hofele Design takes a shot at this direction with kits for the A5 Coupe, Convertible and Sportback. It comes with an R8-look front bumper with the air vents below the headlamps. Coupe and Convertible owners can even match it with the R8’s signature side blades and a rear bumper with faux air-outlets and integrated diffuser. Four exhaust tips complete the “transformation”.

Style is subjective – some might like it, but we think that these add-ons contaminate the sleek, classy design of the A5. Not to mention proclaiming to the whole world that “I can’t afford an R8″. I have seen an Audi TT with similar looks in the Klang Valley and was nearly fooled, from a distance I must add.

More pictures after the jump!