A big congratulation to the Nissan Leaf as it has defeated the Audi A8 and BMW 5-Series to earn the title of 2011 World Car of the Year. In 2010, the Volkswagen Polo took home this award. The award shows once again the importance of electric vehicles and the trend will continue in the next years. Fuel efficient vehicles are slowly becoming the core product of large automakers and a bet that can transform many companies.
I have been doing a little bit of reading here and there about the future of car interiors. Aside from the fact that I had nothing else better to do I have realized that I actually spend a whole lot of my time in my cars and also the other cars I happen to get my hands on from time to time. An average person would spend at least an hour or two in their car trying to get from here to there during rush hour or trying to get about town and that car seat and all the controls like the steering wheel, gear shifter and hand controls are what you interact with as you drive. But note that in the near future, you will see that only the seat you are on and the steering wheel in front of you would be similar to the car of today.
Attractive ladies are no new concept in the world of motor shows, but we men never get tired of it. Fortunately for us, this week’s 2011 Shanghai Auto Show in China had plenty of exotic Far East leggy models for our viewing pleasure while boasting many new production and concept models. They are as hot as the models in the Tokyo Motor show in my opinion.
Click the link below for a high resolution photo gallery of the lovely booth ladies of the Shanghai Auto Show, which runs from April 21 to April 28.
Kia has unveiled the North American version of the Kia Rio sedan at the New York International Auto Show in the US. The compact sedan shares the same platform as the Kia K2 unveiled at Auto Shanghai a couple of days ago but it features a face that more closely resembles the Kia Rio hatch. The chassis and undercarriage of the Kia Rio sedan is largely the same as that found on the hatch version. Similarly, the interior is configured in much the same way as the hatch, with minor revisions here and there.
It looks like Volvo wants to challenge the big boys again by showing us a preview of its Volvo Concept Universe top-of-the-line concept car at this year's Shanghai Motor Show. The location was chosen as China's Geely now owns Volvo and this concept car is also the first look on where Geely wants to take Volvo. And I hope Volvo gets to go places as the Volvo Concept Universe, daft name aside, looks pretty impressive. Awkward, but truly impressive.
I came across this story at asiaone motoring and found it so hilarious I thought I should share it with readers of this blog as well. Its about a woman who parked at a carpark with full knowledge that her car could be clamped because there was a huge sign saying 'private property' and that unauthorized parking will result in the car being wheel clamped. And she did get wheel clamped but went to the extent of begging the attendant to unclamp her car without paying the fine. This is absolute Hollywood material..
What they did was lay out a small circuit at the Marina Bay Golf Course, and let us journalists loose in the spicy little car. And, knowing how competitive us motoring writers are, there were prizes awarded for the top three fastest times of the day.
It has been a while since I last typed about something from the good old days. Since we live in a society that basically disposes of their cars after a decade or so it is apt that we share something older than 10 years so that we can reminisce on the good old days, or the day old days, depending on the car I choose to review. So let's start the ball rolling with a Volvo. The Volvo 850 T5-R and the 850R models to be exact.
To adopt the lingo of the marketing campaign for the 2011 Suzuki Swift - I'm a fan! And if you went down to the nearest Suzuki dealership to give this new hatch a test drive, there is a pretty good chance you would be one too!
I was a victim of vandalism a couple of months ago and the result is a 5cm deep scratch mark on the right door fender. My car was slightly over one year old then and I had a strong urge to send the car for a paint job. However, a bad paint job by Kah Motors on my former Pearl White FD Civic leaves me with second thoughts – one year after the work, the “2 tone” effect was very obvious. However, I was determined to find out if there were other options by visiting a reliable workshop at Kaki Bukit AutoBay, whom I have patronized before.
