Car News Articles

Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren team can look forward to next season with the spy controversy now resolved.

Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren team can look forward to next season without the threat of a further points penalty after the sport’s governing body closed a spy controversy yesterday.

The International Automobile Federation (FIA) said in a statement that its World Motor Sport Council had agreed to cancel a hearing scheduled for February 14 in Paris to assess McLaren’s 2008 car.

FIA president Max Mosley proposed the cancellation last week after McLaren apologised for having Ferrari data in its possession and recognised that it had penetrated deeper into the team than it was first suspected.

The hearing had been called after FIA’s technical report raised suspicions some of the systems in the 2008 McLaren design could be influenced by the leaked Ferrari information. McLaren was stripped of all of its constructors’ points and fined $US100million ($116.52m) this year for the spy saga, and the proposed meeting in Paris threatened to prolong the agony with the possibility of a further sanction.

The team, which saw British rookie Hamilton lose the championship by a single point to Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, has offered to freeze development of the suspect systems.

Ferrari has agreed to close the controversy on a sporting level but is to continue legal action against individuals in Italy and Britain.

The 2008 season starts in Melbourne in March.

McLaren was also involved in a second controversy when former champion Renault was found at a hearing this month to have had McLaren data in its possession since last year.

Renault, which failed to win a race in 2007, was not punished because FIA ruled there was insufficient evidence that the championship had been affected.

In a 77-page transcript of that hearing published on the FIA website, the French manufacturer argued that the case was one of simple stupidity rather than any deliberate intention to cheat.

It denied gaining any advantage and said former McLaren engineer Phil Mackereth, who took technical information with him when he joined Renault, had acted for personal reasons.

“His actions in this situation were stupidity, naivety and a degree of recklessness; and little more than that,” the transcript recorded Renault’s technical director Bob Bell of telling the hearing.

“There is no malevolence, there is no intention to deliberately do wrong or to cheat. That is not in his make-up.”

Renault’s lawyer described Mackereth, who appeared at the hearing, as being like “a rabbit in the headlights.”

“He is a very unhappy, very guilty and a very contrite man,” he said.

- Reuters

Good old Aussie design ingenuity has again surfaced in a stylish concept car unveiled by General Motors.

 The four-door Invicta sedan is the work of former GM-Holden designer and Monash University graduate Justin Thompson, who says the sweepspear from the classic Buick is a significant part of the car. The sweepspear is the curved line along the car’s flanks, which dips at the rear door.

“We really had only one chance to get it right,” he says. “The designers were given five weeks to go from concept to reality.”

Thompson spent seven years at GM-Holden before joining the overseas GM Empire.

GM-Holden’s expertise has been recognised by the parent company before, in the Denali XT concept four-door ute unveiled early at the Chicago Motor Show in February.

The Denali was the work of the Holden design team in Melbourne. The significance of the Invicta’s unveiling at last month’s Beijing Motor Show was not lost on GM executives. Buick is GM’s biggest passenger brand in the communist country. Last year it sold 332,115 cars in China, which was significantly more than the 185,792 Buicks sold in the US.

The Invicta (Latin for invincible) is the face of Buick’s new global design and an evolution of the Riviera concept car.

It is powered by a direct-injection turbocharged four-cylinder engine mated to a six-speed automatic transmission.

The engine delivers 186kW/298Nm, which is performance that is normally associated with a high-end six-cylinder. The car was jointly developed by GM design centres in North America and China to meet customers’ expectations in the world’s two largest car markets.

Using virtual-reality centres in Shanghai and Warren, Michigan, designers fused the best ideas drawn from both cultures.

GM vice-president of global design Ed Welburn says the car sets a new design standard for Buick.

“It couldn’t have been achieved by one studio working in isolation,” he says.

- The Daily Telegraph

And talking about the new CO2 emissions regulations, how to you think a pick-up like the Ford F-150 will obey this regulation? Not very well; that’s for sure. But, no worry, if you really like pick-ups, but also care about the environment, Ford announced they start working on a smaller pick-up, based on the F-150, called F-100 and set to be launched in 2011.

The next generation F-1150, set to be launched in 2012 will also focus on “weight savings and manufacturing flexibility”. It will be built on the body-on-frame platform, and the same one, with a few modifications will be used for the F-100.

The F-100 is expected to be just under 9/10ths the size of the 2009 F-150 - a form factor that the 2000-2006 Toyota Tundra was roundly criticized for not too long ago. But that was before U.S. fuel prices skyrocketed to over $3.50 a gallon for regular gasoline and demand for half-ton trucks began to dramatically shrink. F-150 sales have fallen 15.5% through April from 2007 levels.

Engine choices are said to include naturally aspirated and ’EcoBoost’ twin turbo gasoline direct injection V6 engines and one V8 gas motor. We’re also hoping Ford offers its 2010 4.4-liter light duty diesel V8 as an option. The engine mix will be critical as Ford seeks to meet 2015’s 28.6 miles-per-gallon CAFE target for light duty trucks that was recently established by the federal government.

We do not consider ourselves experts on the buying habits of small car shoppers anymore, not after watching the redesigned 2008 Ford Focus streak to extremely strong sales despite sporting what we considered to be deal breaker bad looks. You can credit the car’s success to good marketing, exclusive availability of SYNC, a big car ride with small car fuel economy, whatever… regardless, the Focus is selling better than it has since the car first debuted in 2000.

Ford has heard all the criticism thrown at the 2008 Focus for its electric shaver looks, and in a very unusual move has solicited feedback from Focus fans and tweaked only the Coupe for 2009 and not the Sedan. The newish 2009 Focus Coupe features a front end with a larger lower air intake that’s supposedly inspired by the new Fiesta, and those garish faux fender vents are now completely gone (hopefully the sedan gets stripped of these, too). The flanking foglamps are also now better integrated into the body and the two-bar grille and other accents feature a dark, almost bronzed look rather than bright chrome. There are also new Dark Chrome 17-inch aluminum wheels and a roof-mounted spoiler, both standard on the top-shelf SES Coupe in addition to electronic stability control and SYNC, that make the Focus look more sporty than before. The overall effect of these changes reminds us of the last-generation SVT Focus Euro package. You can make up your own minds and let us know in the comments.

Though the Focus SVT is surely not returning, Ford did give the new coupe a new freer-breathing exhaust on models equipped with the five-speed manual to free up some horsepower, and also added a new 4.2 final drive ratio to make off-the-line acceleration a bit quicker. The 2009 Ford Focus Coupe will have a base MSRP of $15,920 when it goes on sale in late Summer, and you can check it out later tonight when Ford officially debuts it in a video on American Idol. We want to hear what supercar collector has to say about the new look Focus Coupe. Is it a Clay Aiken or a William Hung?

[Source: Ford]

PRESS RELEASE

SPORTY NEW LOOK FOR 2009 FORD FOCUS COUPE TO DEBUT ON WEDNESDAY ‘AMERICAN IDOL’ EPISODE

The 2009 Focus coupe is set to debut on “American Idol” on Fox on Wednesday.

• Sporty updates inspired by customer feedback, including new front and rear fascias, a new roof-line spoiler and standard 17-inch aluminum wheels on the SES series, enhance the car’s profile and further differentiate the Focus coupe from the sedan.
• Performance improvements include increased horsepower on 5-speed manual versions and quicker acceleration, thanks to a new final drive ratio on models with four-speed automatic transmissions – without any compromise to Focus’ 35-miles-per-gallon fuel economy rating.
• Focus posted an 88 percent increase in retail sales in April versus a year ago.

DEARBORN, Mich., May 13, 2008 – The hot-selling Ford Focus debuts a new coupe version for the 2009 model year Wednesday on American’s hottest television show – “American Idol.” This marks the first time Ford has ever revealed a new product on prime time television.

“Focus is the little car that delivers in a big way for customers, with 35 mpg fuel economy, cool features including SYNC, a fun drive, strong quality and the right price,” said John Felice, Ford Division group marketing manager. “We’ve built on those strengths to deliver an even sportier coupe version for 2009 and thought the ‘American Idol’ debut would be a new way for customers to see the upgrades for themselves.”

The new Focus coupe can be seen for the first time during the Wednesday broadcast of “American Idol” on FOX, which airs at 9 p.m. EST.

The Focus coupe will be part of the “American Idol” Ford Video featuring this season’s remaining contestants. Episodes of American Idol typically draws an audience of more than 20 million viewers. The 45-second music video also will be featured on the “American Idol” Web site at www.americanidol.com under the Ford Music Video page.

Sportier Design
Focus retail sales were up 88 percent in April versus the prior year, and a growing number of younger customers have been buying the new Focus model that was launched in late 2007.

“We’ve spent a lot of time talking with small-car customers and Focus enthusiasts,” said Sam De La Garza, Focus marketing manager. “Their overwhelming feedback was that a sportier exterior design could attract even more Millennials, or those people born between 1980 and 1995 – 11,000 of whom reach driving age every day in the U.S.”

With that in mind, the Focus team sculpted the coupe’s new front and rear fascias to provide a sportier appearance. The lower front fascia incorporates a larger open area that bares a strong resemblance to the acclaimed design of the new global Ford Fiesta subcompact. The fog lamps – now standard – are better integrated into the overall design of the front fascia, and its signature two-bar chrome front grille and chrome accents around the headlamps have been darkened for added differentiation.

“The new coupe looks really sporty,” said Thomas Tang, co-founder of www.focusfanatics.com and Ford Focus owner. “It is great to see that Ford values our feedback and is willing to make quick changes.”

“The new front fascia, 17-inch sport wheels and fog lamps remind me of the old Focus SVT models,” Tang added.

For differentiation, the high-end Focus SES will feature a standard high-mounted spoiler that is incorporated into the design of the roof. The high-mounted design contributes to Focus’ overall muscular stance. A decklid spoiler will remain part of the Focus SE exterior design.

New premium-painted Dark Chrome 17-inch aluminum wheels, also standard on SES, complete the coupe’s redesigned exterior.

Sounds ‘Bad’ and Goes Faster — With More Control
The 2009 Focus SES coupe features more horsepower and a throatier sound, thanks to a new sport-tuned exhaust. The SES coupe with a four-speed automatic transmission will have a new 4.2 final drive ratio to deliver quicker off-the-line acceleration for a faster 0-60 mph time.

A new option for 2009 is electronic stability control (ESC), which uses sophisticated sensors and the anti-lock braking system to help correct skids that can lead to accidents.

Fuel-efficient Powertrains
The 2009 Focus Coupe is equipped with a 2.0-liter, Duratec 20 dual-overhead-cam (DOHC), inline 4-cylinder engine that delivers 143 horsepower when mated to a five-speed manual transmission and 140 horsepower when paired with a four-speed automatic transmission.

Also available is a super-clean, 130-horsepower Duratec 20E engine that qualifies Focus as a Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle (PZEV). The 20E’s tailpipe emissions are cleaner than some hybrid gas-electric vehicles’. The Duratec 20 and 20E in Focus Coupe are mated to a five-speed manual transmission and achieve EPA-estimated fuel economy of 35 mpg.

SYNC Standard on Focus SES
Also setting the Focus coupe apart from other small cars is Ford’s industry-exclusive SYNC technology, which will be standard equipment on the SES series and optional on the SE. SYNC is a fully integrated in-vehicle, voice-activated communications and entertainment system for customers to use their Bluetooth cell phones and digital media players.

SYNC was first introduced on the 2008 Focus and was an immediate hit with customers, helping to increase Focus’ share in an extremely competitive small-car market. Nearly 50 percent of the 2008 model year Focus units sold during April included SYNC. SYNC-equipped vehicles sell nearly twice as fast as those without.

SYNC also was a feature that helped motivate editors of Kelley Blue Book’s kbb.com to name the 2008 Ford Focus one of the “Top Ten Coolest New Cars Under $18,000″ in April.

The 2009 Focus Coupe, available later this summer, will have an MSRP that starts at $15,920. All Focus models are built at the Wayne (Mich.) Assembly Plant.