AUTO MANIA: by Dr. Iain Corness [email protected]

New Chevrolet Corvette goes topless

Topless Corvette.

The hard-top version of the new Chevrolet Corvette was released at the Detroit Motor Show last month, but GM have now leaked images of their new Corvette Convertible, which will be released at the Geneva Motor Show next month.
Details are scarce on the convertible, including whether the car will be offered with a soft or folding hard-top lid. However, the same 6.2 liter V8 engine that develops 335 kW of power and 610 Nm of torque will be fitted with the choice of six speed auto or seven speed manual. (The power gives the hard-top a 0-100 km/h in less than four seconds.)
The styling is very sharp and angular, getting away from all the swoopy designs currently all the rage, and I like the look of it.
That’s all the good news. The bad news is that it is only for LHD markets. GM denied it was planning a right-hand-drive variant, “I’m telling you there is no plan,” said Tim Lee, General Motors president of international operations and the vice-president of global manufacturing, at the Detroit motor show.

Hello Sweetie, I’m Sylphy

Sweet Sylphy.

Nissan is excellent at one thing - picking ridiculous names for their cars. I’m no macho man, but I am damned sure you won’t catch me driving a Cedric. Or for that matter, a Tiida - just what on earth is a Tiida? But nothing daunted, the Nissan Stupid Names department has now come up with Sylphy!
The Americans and the Aussies said “No thanks”, and the US call theirs the Sentra and in Australia it is the Pulsar (but it is made in Thailand).
After China, Thailand is the second country to get the Sylphy, with a 1.6 liter producing 85 kW and a 1.8 down with 96 kW. The Thai lineup consists of 1.6 S, 1.6 E, 1.6 V, and 1.8 V, all with standard features like air conditioner, CD player (the 1.8 V gets a color display audio system), electric windows and electrically adjustable and folding mirrors, with dual airbags across the range. There is a navigation option for the 1.8 V and dual zone climate control with rear air ventilation, pricing starts from B. 746,000 - 931,000 so it is right in the Corolla territory. Looks OK, but Oh that name! Since the Aussie Pulsar is made here, perhaps they might throw in the Pulsar name badge if you asked nicely.

MG to go world-wide for 7-eleven

MG6.

A few weeks ago I wrote on the alliance being formed by Chinese conglomerate Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) and the CP Group (which also owns 7-eleven) to build MG in Thailand.
However, pre-empting the Thai-made MG’s, SAIC is saying it will launch MG in Australia around Easter 2013. Spokesman for SAIC, Xiaomin Xi, head of right-hand-drive markets for SAIC, said that the brand will launch over the Easter weekend. Xi says the distributors and the head office are working closely with existing owners and enthusiasts via the MG car club, stating the launch event will take place on the back of the club’s national meeting in Toowoomba, Queensland, on the last weekend of March. It will be interesting to see just how well a Chinese MG will be accepted by the MG enthusiasts.
Xi says the company is working to add dealers in Brisbane and Newcastle, and confirmed that the brand will initially only offer the MG6 sedan and hatchback, with power coming from a turbocharged 1.8 liter engine producing 118 kW of power and 215 Nm of torque. Hardly enough to blow your flat cap off.
According to the MG UK website, the 6 can lumber from 0-100 km/h in 8.4 seconds, and return consumption figure of 7.5 L/100 km.
The MG6 is about the size of a Mazda3 sedan at just over 4.6 meters long and 1.8 m wide, and has a class-competitive boot size of 498 liters.
It is not clear what safety equipment will be standard on the MG6 destined for Down-under. The MG UK site suggests all models have six airbags (dual front, front-side and full-length curtains), as well as stability control.
There is no indication yet what price the MG6 will be offered, but the car was recently launched in New Zealand significantly cheaper than the Toyota Corolla.

Natter Nosh and Noggin

The car club meets at Jameson’s Irish Pub on Soi AR next to Nova Park. The next meeting is on Monday February 11 at Jameson’s at 7 p.m. A totally informal meeting of like-minded souls to discuss their pet motoring (and motorcycling) loves and hates (plus lies and outright exaggerations). Come along and meet the guys who have a common interest in cars and bikes, and enjoy the Jameson’s specials, washed down with a few beers. A couple of the members are scrutineers at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, so they may have some scuttlebutt about the F1 scene. Always a fun night. Be prepared to laugh a lot at some of the antics of the members (when they were younger)! The Car Club nights are always on the second Monday of the month (not every second Monday)!

Blowing in the wind?

Blow up here.

French car conglomerate PSA Peugeot Citroen is showcasing a set of bold future technologies including a hybrid drivetrain that uses compressed air rather than batteries to store energy and will become production reality in 2016.
Now, the compressed air idea has been around for a while too, even advertised in an inventions magazine in 1928. However, as recently as 2000, CNN reported on a Korean company that had created a car engine that ran on air. The engine, which powers a pneumatic-hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), works alongside an electric motor to create the energy source. The compressed air drives the pistons, which turn the vehicle’s wheels. The air is compressed using a small motor, powered by a 48 volt battery, which powers both the air compressor and the electric motor. Once compressed, the air is stored in a tank.
The manufacturer also said the compressed air system could reduce the cost of vehicle production by about 20 percent, because there was no need to build a cooling system, fuel tank, spark plugs or silencers.
Round about the same time, a French company (MDI), and called Zero Pollution Motors in South Africa, produced a two cylinder compressed air engine. They called the vehicle they installed it in, the e.Volution, and even showed it at South African Auto show in 2000, and again at the Paris show in 2002. The cars generated much interest at the time, and the Mexican government was purportedly signing a deal to buy 40,000 e.Volutions to replace gasoline and diesel-powered taxis in the heavily polluted Mexico City.
The claims for e.Volution were quite substantial. It would travel for 200 km before needing another charge of compressed air. The e.Volution was powered by a two-cylinder, compressed-air engine. The basic concept behind the engine was unique in that it could run either on compressed air alone or act as an internal combustion engine. Dual fuel capabilities.
The compressed air was stored in carbon or glass fiber tanks at a pressure of 300 bar. This air was fed through an air injector to the engine and flows into a small chamber, which expands the air. The air pushing down on the pistons moves the crankshaft, which gives the vehicle power, very similar to the way burning fuel pushes down on the pistons to move the crankshaft in internal combustion engines.
Air tanks fixed to the underside of the vehicle can hold about 300 litres of air. When your air tank nears empty, you can just pull over and fill the e.Volution up at the nearest air pump. Using a household electrical source, it takes about four hours to refill the compressed air tanks. Well, that was the theory anyway.
Come today, and among the exhibits at the PSA Innovation day, held at its research and development center on the south-western fringe of Paris, was the company’s new modular global platform and a low-cost diesel-electric mild hybrid system that will feature on production cars from 2017.
The Hybrid Air system was developed with Bosch, which has experience in hydraulic energy recovery and traction systems for heavy trucks, and is claimed to deliver fuel savings of up to 45 percent in city driving or 35 percent overall.
A hydraulic pump powered by regenerative braking, or the petrol engine, stores the energy as compressed air in a cylinder in the car’s transmission tunnel.
The stored energy is later used to power a hydraulic motor that drives the wheels through the car’s transmission.
In zero-emissions mode, which PSA says runs for 80 percent of urban driving but has not indicated a maximum driving range, the petrol engine switches off and the hydraulic motor alone drives the wheels at up to 70 km/h.
PSA says Hybrid Air makes full hybrid technology more affordable, the pressure accumulators do not eat into interior space, and as a mechanical system it is reliable, robust and easy to maintain.
Quite frankly, I cannot see this compressed air system working. With the limited size of a tank that can fit in the transmission tunnel, it will not propel a car any decent distance. I think PSA are huffing and puffing, to be honest.

From the Thai Auto Book
Nissan Thailand will build a new 11 billion baht factory next to the Samut Prakan factory on 150 rai, a move aimed at sustaining Nissan’s growth across Southeast Asia.
The new plant will have an initial production schedule of 75,000 vehicles a year when it starts up in August 2014, doubling to 150,000 within a few years.
The factory will produce pickup trucks, which are no longer built at Nissan’s existing factory after production was moved to the Mitsubishi Motors plant in Laem Chabang, Chonburi.
At full capacity, Nissan will have an annual production capacity of 370,000 vehicles (excluding the 60,000 Navara pickups now built at Mitsubishi’s factory).
That is all good news for Thailand, and with Toyota stating that they are going to be spending 12 billion baht to build a factory to produce their own eco car, it will not be long to wait to see Thailand in the top five car producing countries in the world.

Autotrivia Quiz

Last week I asked you to name this car. That was too easy! It was a Lohner Porsche of around 1902, with the in-wheel motors giving the game away.
So to this week. What significant motoring news happened in Camden, NJ in 1933?
For the Automania free beer this week, be the first correct answer to email [email protected].