Meet the Eon, the Korean automaker’s new pint-sized econobox for the Indian market. Bloomberg Businessweek says Hyundai expects to sell 140,000-150,000 of the $5,496 hatchbacks in the subcontinent each year. With styling and interior treatments borrowed from higher up in the Hyundai food chain, we wouldn’t be surprised.
Powered by an 814-cc 3-cylinder making 55 horsepower and 55 lb-ft of torque, the 137.6-inch Eon rides on a 93.7-inch wheelbase. That makes it 8 inches shorter than a hatchback, meaning it’s smaller than any four-seater currently sold in the U.S. market. Unsurprisingly, Hyundai is pushing fuel economy and interior roominess as the Eon’s key selling points, claiming not only best-in-class fuel economy but that its width and wheelbase are also tops in its segment.
The Eon is designed to compete directly with the Maruti Suzuki Alto, the best-selling car in India. Suzuki Maruti currently holds 43 percent of the market, with Hyundai capturing only 20, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.
Guinness recognized a new world record for the fastest this week. The expedition occurred in December 2010, when two modified Toyota Hilux trucks travelled 1,434 miles across the Antarctic High Plateau in 108 hours.
That the average speed for the trip was just over 13 miles per hour gives an indication of the extreme conditions the drivers faced, at altitudes up to two miles above sea level. The expedition was organized by the Kazakhstan National Geographic Society and The Antarctica Company, and included four members: Konstantin Orlov and Stanislav Makarenko from KNGS, Andrey Myller from TAC, and Hlynur Sigurdsson from Arctic Trucks – the off-road tuning company that built the vehicles.
Arctic Trucks used 170-horsepower, 3-liter turbodiesel Hiluxes for the expedition build, modified to carry a whopping 285 gallons of fuel, 74 in tanks and the rest in the bed. The Arctic Trucks Expedition AT44 gets its name from 44×18.5 tires fitted to 15-inch rims and run at tire pressures as low as 2 psi. The four-by-four ice-crawlers have five-speed automatic transmissions with part-time transfer cases and a 2.566:1 low gear. Besides carrying up to 1.3 tons, the trucks are equipped to tow an additional 1.5 tons on a trailer. The AT44 weighs in at 4,960 pounds and manages about 5 mpg in the Antarctic snow.
There’s nothing worse than a bored law enforcement officer, as a few Beverly, Massachusetts residents learned firsthand when the local police went around checking vehicles for unlocked doors and open windows. Owners received warnings for failing to protect their property and officers proceeded to lock every door they could, including vehicles with their keys still inside.
Petty thieves had been swiping iPods, GPS devices and prescription drugs from unlocked vehicles, and the police felt that a few hard lessons would change residents’ perceptions on securing their belongings.
Now, we understand that being careless about leaving windows down and doors unlocked makes your car easy prey when thieves start prowling. That said, we have trouble believing that police officers’ time couldn’t have been better spent, say, searching for offenders instead of trying door handles and punishing otherwise innocent vehicle owners all day. But that’s just us.
Take one , hand it over to Germany’s TuningWerk, ask for the second-stage tune that the company characterizes as “a little revitalization,” and the sedan you get back will top out at 720 horsepower, 803 pound-feet and 217 miles per hour.
The super stormer gets bigger, lighter brakes, a new sound system, a sport exhaust, and a weight-loss totaling 264 pounds, The eight-speed transmission is swapped for a beefier unit with either five or six speeds. It all makes getting from zero to 62 mph a minor inconvenience, taking but 3.5 seconds.
If all that’s too much – and at €198,000 ($274,982 U.S.) it may be – you can hold steady at the Stage One tune that raises the game to “just” 530 hp and 546 lb-ft. There’s more info in the presser after the jump.
pulled form-fitting covers off two of its all-new models today at Rennsport Reunion IV, marking the first official unveiling of the vehicle in North America. While we were at the in mid-September for the , it was an excellent opportunity to check out a few static examples up close and watch some of Porsche’s famed drivers take hot laps around the Laguna Seca race circuit in two similar models circling the track.
On display were two of the upgraded 911 S models, fitted with 3.8-liter flat-six engines that produce 400 horsepower and 325 pound-feet of torque (standard Carrera models have a 3.4-liter flat-six rated at 350 horsepower and 287 pound-feet of torque). A six-speed manual is standard in both rear-wheel drive models, with Porsche’s seven-speed PDK automated gearbox optional.
Bigger, better and lighter than its equivalent Type 997 predecessor, the new two-door promises impressive performance. According to Porsche, the 3,075-pound Carrera S will hit 60 mph in 3.9 seconds with the PDK (with Sport Chrono option), while the 3,042-pound Carrera will need 4.2 seconds to hit the same benchmark. Our first opportunity to drive is just around the corner, and we can’t wait to tell you about it.
Check out the photo gallery of the 2012 Porsche 911 above, and look for more coverage from Rennsport Reunion IV over the next few days.
Safety advocacy is a touchy subject when it comes to the motoring world. After all, everyone has heard the warnings about buckling up, drinking and driving, and more recently, the dangers of distracted driving. And while we applaud the intent of these messages, we can’t help but have our doubts about how effective most of these campaigns are. Still, there are many different approaches to the road safety public service announcement genre, and we’ve seen a few genuinely stirring takes on the matter, including some strikingly beautiful work like the .
Choosing to veer more toward the scared-straight school of thought is Australia’s Transport Accident Commission, and its ad quotes a particularly interesting (if frightening) statistic related to motorcycle riding. Admittedly, the spot is not as shocking as the UK’s of a couple years ago, but it’s still the type of thing that makes us sit up and take notice, so perhaps these more graphic PSAs have more of an impact.
What do you think, are road safety PSAs like this effective? Watch the video PSA – the whole thing – then have your say in our poll below.
Autoworkers are damned and determined to win back concessions.
The noises you might here if you drop in at Solidarity House – the headquarters of the – this week are the sounds of union leaders scrambling to prevent what could be a catastrophic confrontation that is beginning to look increasingly inevitable.
In the weeks leading up to the mid-summer launch of contract talks with Detroit’s Big Three, that he was pushing for “creative problem solving.” The best way to read that statement was that he was looking for a way to keep the automakers competitive in return for more jobs – while also seeking a way to sell new contracts to workers who were damned and determined to win back the concessions they’d made in recent years.
Paul A. Eisenstein is Publisher of , and a 30-year veteran of the automotive beat. His editorials bring his unique perspective and deep understanding of the auto world to Autoblog readers on a regular basis.
Those of you hoping to hear the boisterous voice of coming out of your TomTom GPS are going to be quite disappointed. As it turns out, part of the BBC’s editorial guidelines state that none of the Top Gear presenters can endorse motoring products, and thus, having Clarkson screaming out of your TomTom is a clear violation of this policy.
Some 54,000 units of the have already been produced, with many already in stores. BBC Worldwide has stated that it will now donate all proceeds from the TomToms to the Children In Need charity. The BBC told UK’s The Guardian that Jezzeh was in no way involved with setting up this deal and will not make any money from the partnership between BBC and TomTom.
Looks like drivers will now be forced to add in their own insults, sarcasm and humor to the TomTom sat-nav experience.
has announced that it is returning to the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile’s World Endurance Championship in 2012. The car it will be contesting the series with is a new prototype that will use a hybrid gasoline/electric powertrain. We can only hope the experience will equal more exciting future models under the range…
The last time Toyota competed in Le Mans racing was in 1999, just before the Japanese automaker abandoned the GT-One program to focus on Formula One.
We don’t expect Toyota’s new LMP1 racer to have anything in common with the erstwhile GT-One, which was powered by a 600-horsepower 3.6-liter twin-turbo V8 engine. Though always fast, Toyota’s last-gen endurance racer never quite put together a complete race. Here’s hoping the effort produces more consistent results this time around. Check out the official announcement .
Thanks to a snafu on BMW’s media website this morning, we weren’t able to show you all of the official images released of the redesigned . The problem has since been corrected, and one frustrating afternoon of downloading, resizing and uploading later, we finally have ready the official 112-image-strong high-res gallery to share with you.
Click away to see the new 3 Series from every angle imaginable. There are also two official videos available to view , and you can read all about the new 3 Series by .
It’s hard not to be skeptical when we read a report in Automotive News like this one: “Work also is under way on a compact sedan, but that car is a few years away from production, officials said.”
It’s been over six months since we last reported on , the would-be rival to the , and . Unlike, say, the Cadillac ATS, we still have relatively little actual information about this new competitor in one of the most hotly contested luxury segments.
How Jaguar might be planning on plugging such a gaping hole in its product lineup remains to be seen, but the hope is that the new sedan might share components with the forthcoming sports car based on the from the . The concept was fitted with a supercharged 3.0-liter V6 making 376 horsepower, along with a hybrid battery pack to allow for an additional 94-hp boost.
However Jaguar plans to go at its competition, it will be an uphill battle, as the brand hasn’t fared well in the segment in recent years. Its was poorly received when it was launched under ownership a decade ago. Since then, the entry luxury market has seen plenty of excellent sport sedans attempt to dethrone BMW, including models like the .
Nothing incinerates a perfectly good set of tires better than a drift car. And no drift car makes as much smoke as Kenneth Moen’s turbocharged . Yes, turns out some great videos with high production values and plenty of tail-wagging craziness… but wait ’til you get a load of this.
Moen pointed his battle-scarred Supra in the general direction of ‘up’ at the Lysgårdsbakkene Ski Jumping Arena in Lillehammer, Norway, a facility you may recall from the 1994 Winter Olympics. Smoke-filled antics ensued, and it was all captured on video for your viewing pleasure.
If you fancy yourself a fan of drifting insanity, do yourself a favor and watch the video .
There are innumerable design and engineering hurdles to clear if you’re an automaker intent on selling your wares worldwide, but few are more core to the business than safety. China knows this all too well. For years now, we’ve been hearing how the nation was planning to go global with its vehicles – several companies have even gone so far as to hold press conferences at U.S. auto shows.
And while there are many reasons why you don’t have a Chery or BYD dealer down the street yet, China’s expansionist efforts have been hampered by the persistent perception of poor automotive safety standards, an impression not helped by the viral spread of a number of frightening crash-test videos on the internet (like the shown above and ). But that may be about to change. According to new reports, the China New Car Assessment Program (C-NCAP) is coming in for a comprehensive overhaul.
A raft of changes are expected to go into effect in July of 2012, and the revised standards are expected to include new low-speed crash testing and whiplash standards. In addition, the safety of rear seat occupants will be considered for the first time (previously, only the safety of front seat occupants was measured). The more stringent crash test standards will reportedly also weigh the presence of other safety systems, including electronic nannies like stability control. Overall, the new standards are expected to more closely mimic the standards of other markets (namely Europe’s NCAP), including tougher scenarios like the 40 mph offset frontal crash test.
China Car Times reports that only 59 new models have been awarded five-star ratings under current C-NCAP standards – about 43 percent of those models tested since 2006. As Chinese automakers are already having a tough time meeting current crash test regulations, meeting the new standards that go into effect next year will likely pose a very serious challenge. But while any Chinese automaker looking to play in established markets like North America or Europe will still have to pass local crash test standards, they’ll almost certainly have a better shot at good results – and better public perception – if the regulations in their home country are similar.
Eleven years ago, designer Melvin Betancourt suffered a serious heart problem and had to undergo intense open-heart surgery at the Henry Ford Hospital in Dearborn, Michigan. The surgery was a total success, with Betancourt crediting Henry Ford’s doctors with saving his life. Now, the designer uses his expertise as a way to give back to the medical field that helped give him a second lease on life.
This special edition has been done up as a modern interpretation of the famed coupe Parnelli Jones raced to victory in the 1970 Trans-Am Championship. Painted in School Bus Yellow and complete with black accents and number decals, the Boss will be auctioned off at the Get Your Heart Racing benefit on October 15. The benefit is sponsored by Ford Motor Company and the Henry Ford Health System and raises money for cardiovascular care, research and education. More information is available in Ford’s press release .
While the BMW X6’s form-over-function aesthetics have been the source of controversy since the luxury crossover’s debut in 2008, its aggressively tapered ducktail has always reminded us of many of the desert racing trucks we’ve seen tackle various transcontinental dustups. It appears we weren’t the only ones.
Enter the All German Motorsports-Jimco X6 trophy truck, 4,500 pounds of twin-kidney desert pounder. Boasting 25 inches of suspension travel up front and a massive 32 inches in the rear, the V8-engined and its 750 horsepower are headed into the thick of the SCORE trophy truck series this season.
Of course, to call this beast a would be to judge a book by its mud-spattered cover – there’s almost nothing here that Stuttgart’s finest would recognize. The X6-shaped shell is fiberglass and there’s a completely custom chassis and Fox suspension system hanging beneath it. The engine is at least production-based, with a 4.4-liter block that’s similar to the one found in the xDrive50i and .
The X6 Trophy Truck will see its inaugural competition outing at next month’s Baja 1000 with driver Armin Schwarz behind the wheel. Check out our high-res gallery above, then click to check out a pair of brief videos.
The word floated around the room and landed gently on our notepad during the morning press conference. Initially, it seemed like a perfect fit. But the more we learned about the new all-electric 2012 Coda sedan, the more we realized that “simple” was nothing but a misunderstood first impression.
Strictly discussing physical appearances, the Coda four-door is easily the least interesting vehicle we have set our eyes on in years – “unassuming” is an understatement. Yet an in-depth look reveals the plain-Jane façade is deceiving. Hidden beneath the ho-hum sheetmetal, under the hard plastic dash and below the thin-pile carpet is an ingenious all-electric propulsion system. Not just forward thinking, it shows genuine promise and innovation.
We recently spent several hours with , visiting its , learning about the technology inside that uninspiring bodywork and taking an hour-long test drive in the Los Angeles Basin. Our visit answered a lot of questions. Who is behind Coda? What is the Chinese connection? How does the Coda sedan drive? Most importantly, how does newcomer Coda expect to compete against other EVs in the segment?
The has been the most lauded sport sedan in the world for longer than we can remember. Worthy competitors pop up, only to fall short of beating this benchmark – often by some subjective measure that can’t be quantified. So it’s a big deal when the 3 Series is up for a clean-sheet redesign. Not one to refuse a challenge, has stepped up to the task of redesigning its best-selling vehicle and came up with this, the redesigned 2012 BMW 3 Series.
BMW clearly wanted to bring the design of the new 3 Series more in-line with the look of its other new cars, mainly the , and . To that end, the most visible difference is up front, where the car’s nose has grown in size. Likely a nod to European safety standards that require taller hoods for pedestrian safety, the 3 Series’ new schnoz is both taller and wider than before. The new, larger twin-kidney grille is also no longer separated from the headlights, which are also bigger. Instead, the grille surrounds meet a small portion of the lights to create the impression of a more unified front fascia. It looks a bit like the 5 Series, but also appears to draw inspiration from the forthcoming i8. The new 3 Series looks most familiar, from the side while the new rear end shows off the car’s larger trunk.
Tailgating is an important part of going to see a sports event in person, and in the city of Detroit, that pastime also includes something called the Booty Lounge. The Booty Lounge is a low-rent strip-club on wheels, and it has been a somewhat shady part of the game-day experience in Detroit since 2005.
Owners of the mobile strip club were likely hoping for a big payday thanks to a Lions appearance on the NFL’s Monday Night Football, but instead, the bus was impounded by Detroit Police. Detroit’s NBC affiliate reports that the bus was towed way because it was parked illegally, the driver didn’t have a commercial license and the vehicle wasn’t inspected by the Michigan Department of Transportation. The fuzz reportedly weren’t targeting the rolling tribute, but the bus recently came under fire after a local TV station uncovered the goings-on inside the bus.
The Booty Lounge will reportedly be cleared to exit the impound once it provides proof of inspection, but we’re getting the feeling that this tailgater is going to be sitting out a quite few more games. Click to watch Sports Time Out’s coverage of the Booty Lounge.
While there was undoubtedly some consternation among pickup truck traditionalists and industry pundits, it appears Americans like their full-size V6 pickups just fine, thank you. According to The Wall Street Journal, had expected sales of its 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6-equipped to represent about 40 percent of its mix, but the turbocharged six-cylinder is on target to be around 45 percent of the mainstay model’s sales tally, with sales hitting about 100,000 units in 2011.
Despite the sour economy, WSJnotes that sales of Ford’s pickups are up around eight percent this year, though that increase trails that of its crosstown rivals at General Motors and .
The may be Hyundai’s new hotness, but the is still its flagship performance car. And with this year’s show right around the corner, is quickly readying a full fleet of tuner cars to debut in Las Vegas. Here, we see the Genesis Hurricane SC – a collaboration between the Hyundai America Technical Center (HATCI) located near Ann Arbor, Michigan, and companies like Magnuson Products, Rhys Millen Racing, Harman International and Torvec Inc.
As its name suggests, the swan song of this tuned Genesis Coupe is its engine – a supercharged version of Hyundai’s 3.8-liter V6. Adding this supercharger means the Hurricane is good for more than 450 horsepower, and Torvec Inc. has fitted its IsoTorque differential to allow for improved handling and traction. Hyundai says that the Hurricane is a full second quicker around its proving ground road course than the stock Genesis Coupe.
Rhys Millen Racing provided the new front bumper, grille, side skirts, hood, diffuser and rear deck, and the company’s partners – Enkei and Hankook – are responsible for the 19-inch wheel and tire package. Inside, there’s a high-level Lexicon audio system and custom Katzkin leather upholstery with blue suede inserts on the seats. After all, it wouldn’t be SEMA without heaps of suede.
Hyundai has only released this one teaser image as of this writing, but we’ll be sure to bring you a full gallery live from SEMA next month. for the full press release.
Paul A. Eisenstein is Publisher of , and a 30-year veteran of the automotive beat. His editorials bring his unique perspective and deep understanding of the auto world to Autoblog readers on a regular basis.
