Nissan has previewed its electric vehicle platform on a Tiida-based prototype in their quest for a pure zero-emissions vehicle. They also showcased a sophisticated EV-IT system developed to support electric driving 24 hours a day.
Suzuki, a small player in the global car market, is celebrating 100 years of business on October 2009. German companies such as Audi are also celebrating 100 years in far grander fashion, and keep focusing on a handful of old innovations and motorsports victories while still not being able to build a reliable car. But Suzuki has successfully brought trustworthy transportation to the masses, influencing millions of lives, with everything from the Suzuki-Maruti 800 for lower-income people right up to the cheap Suzuki Samurai for budget offroaders.
We don’t like ragging on Nissan. Even though they have blatantly refused to give us ads, we like the company, if only because they give us access to their press fleet, however late we may get them. They also make good cars, starting from the satanic GT-R right down to our “recommended list” Tiida, all of which we’ve driven. But driving press-fleet cars after everyone else means we sometimes get abused cars with peeling trim, creased leather or below-average performance. However, the 2009 Nissan Murano we got wasn’t too old, having racked up less than 5000 km. But some previous journalist’s possible offroad excursion meant there was a loose panel beneath our Murano that kept clunking throughout our test drive.
Acura, Honda’s North American luxury brand, has launched the all-new 2010 Acura ZDX “four-door sports coupe,” after showing off a concept version a few months ago.
It looks like Korean manufacturer Kia finally has a design language to adhere to, at least for now, as the 2010 Kia Rio has received a limited facelift that gives the sub-compact sedan a corporate grille.
Fahrmitgas.de, a German tuning firm named after its own website, is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing on July 20, 1969. While their motto for their celebratory project is “drive me to the moon,” their choice of vehicle is rather underwhelming. So it their spaceman mascot.
For customers in East Asian countries such as Malaysia, fuel costs are a priority as petrol prices are rather high. To satisfy those who want a big car without the associated running costs, Honda is now offering a 2.0-litre variant in these countries.
Kia Motors dealers in the UAE still haven’t gotten around to selling the 2010 Cerato compact sedan yet, but in its Korean home market where it is known as the Forte, Kia is already offering their first commercial hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), the Forte Liquid Petroleum Injection (LPI) Hybrid.
I asked for a GCC-spec Nissan GT-R back in March, after it seemed every magazine had driven it. Four months later and we finally got it from Nissan Middle East. I had lost all enthusiasm for this car by then and was ready to show my displeasure in the review. But slipping into the driver’s seat for the first time, putting it in gear and then pressing the accelerator pedal, the first thing I said was…
Some have accused us of being behind in news. And they’d be right. We’d prefer to be first in local automotive news, but are constantly left out of the loop by the local offices of car companies because, you know, no one uses the internet to look at cars. Take, for instance, the Lexus IS 300 C. Apparently the convertible version of the IS 300 sedan has been launched in the UAE, while all the local magazines have already test-driven it. And here we are, just hearing about the GCC version for the first time in those very magazines.