SEAT Altea MPV (2010 – ) first drive

SEAT has added a new common-rail version of the 140bhp, 2.0 TDI diesel to the engine line-up for Altea and Altea XL SE models.

Available with a choice of five-speed manual or seven-speed DSG transmissions, this new engine replaces the previous 140bhp Pumpe Duse (PD)  version.

Emissions and economy up

If might have the same output as the outgoing engine, but this is where the similarities end. Emissions for the manual version drop from 147g/km to 125g/km of CO2 (124g/km for the DSG) and average fuel economy is up from 50.4 to 58.9mpg.

Smoother and quieter at idle

We drove manual and seven-speed DSG versions of this new engine in both the Altea and Altea XL versions at the launch in Barcelona. Those expecting a massive change over the outgoing PD engine will be disappointed. The only differences we noticed was that this engine felt noticeably smoother through the gears and quieter at idle.

It’s no sports car, but considering the fact that the Altea isn’t the newest MPV on the block we found both versions with the two transmissions were an engaging drive on the Spanish test route.-autotrader.co.uk

Prices start at £18,330 for the Altea 2.0 TDI SE.

Key facts:Model tested: SEAT Altea 2.0 TDI, Altea XL SE
On the road price: 
£18,330, £19,030
Date tested: November 2010
Road tester: Martyn Collins

Its not a Merc – Its BAW’s latest MPV

For those that are thinking “the new B-Class looks different”, well think again as this is the new MPV from BAIC, who also happen to be major partners to Mercedes.

From what we have learned so far, the first BAIC C30 MPV will be powered by 1.3L and 1.5L engines from Mitsubishi. The 1.3L engine will have 73Kw of power and 126Nm of torque, where as the 1.5L is slightly more powerful with 83Kw on tap and 141Nm of torque at 4000rpm.

An end of year launch is being touted by the automotive press, which means it is almost certain to be on show at the Guangzhou Auto Show. In addition to this model, BAIC are also planning for a compact saloon variant.-chinacartimes.com

Malaysia's Proton aims to mass produce hybrid electric cars by 2012

The battery charge level is indicated on an energy monitor screen of Malaysian national carmaker Proton's Exora Range Extended Electric Vehicle in Cyberjaya, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thursday, Nov. 25, 2010. Proton will roll out its first fleet of hybrid electric vehicles in January for a pilot test before mass production targeted for 2012, officials said Thursday. (AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin)

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Malaysia's national car maker Proton will roll out its first fleet of hybrid electric vehicles in January for a pilot run before mass production begins in 2012, officials said Thursday.

Proton began testing prototypes two months ago in Britain and will conduct further tests in Malaysia before launching a fleet of 30 to 50 vehicles in mid-January for use by the government, said Nordiana Nordin, the company's head of government liaison and infrastructure.

"We have a target of 2012 for mass production but it's subjected to the fleet test program," she told The Associated Press.

State-owned Proton is diversifying its business to boost its fading fortunes. It returned to the black in the financial year ended March, but its domestic market share has dwindled to under 30 per cent from more than two-thirds just over five years ago due to greater competition.

Proton's hybrid car is being developed with its British technology partner Fraser-Nash Research Ltd., its British unit Lotus, and South Korea's LG, officials said.

Ilham Shamsul Ibrahim, head of Proton's electric vehicle project, showed a prototype of the hybrid at a seminar on green technology outside Kuala Lumpur.

It has a 400 cc gasoline engine that powers a generator and recharges the electric battery when it is depleted. But unlike current hybrid cars such as Toyota's Prius that switch between gasoline engines and electric motors, Proton's model cannot run on its gasoline engine due to its small capacity, he told entrepreneurs at the seminar.

The car can travel as far as 621 miles (1,000 kilometres) on one full petrol tank and a fully charged battery, depending on road conditions and speed, Ilham said. It will have a top speed of 87 miles (140 kilometres) an hour and can be recharged from a regular home socket, he said.

The government plans to build 10 charging stations, mostly around its administrative capital Putrajaya, as part of the pilot test for the car.

Ilham acknowledged that the green car industry in Malaysia faced considerable challenges, including lack of infrastructure and issues with batteries — long charging times, high cost and short life span.

On the other hand, the hybrid car — if it takes off — will see Malaysia cut its dependence on fossil fuel, help relieve the government's burden of hefty fuel subsidies and reduce polluting emissions, he said.

He said Proton is in talks with several suppliers in the U.S. and South Korea about manufacturing the batteries locally to cut cost. He couldn't elaborate on the estimated price and production details.-canadianbusiness.com

PROTON POSTS RM186 MILLION PROFIT BEFORE TAX IN FIRST HALF OF FY2010/2011

PROTON Holdings Berhad registered a profit before tax of RM186 million in the first half of its 2010/11 financial year benefitting from the improved market sentiments and conditions which had accounted for a 13% increase in its vehicle sales. The growing demand for Proton vehicles were significantly contributed by three core models; the Saga, Persona and Exora. Cumulative Group profit before taxation rose to RM186 million compared to the profit of RM165 million posted in the corresponding period last year as a result of higher domestic sales and improved profit margins. The higher vehicle sales were also attributed to a growth of 14% in the total industry volume (TIV) in the first nine months of 2010 according to the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA). The national car company sold a total of 40,205 vehicles in Q2 2010/11 compared to 42,520 units in the corresponding period last year. Group profit before taxation at RM81 million for the individual quarter however, was lower than the RM105 million recorded in the immediate preceding quarter. This was attributable to a oneoff provision for stock obsolescence, and branding and restructuring costs incurred by Group Lotus for the business turnaround exercise. This involved the launching of a new brand identity for Group Lotus and culminated with the worldwide unveiling of five brand new Lotus models at the Paris Motor Show in September. Moving forward, the MAA expects that the upward trend for vehicle sales is unlikely to be as strong for the rest of the calendar year 2010 due to seasonal slowdown in purchasing towards the calendar year end. "PROTON remains confident that sales will continue to grow, on the strength of the public's positive response towards the recently launched Inspira. This is envisaged to further improve the Group's profitability and our market share in the domestic market," said PROTON Holdings Berhad Chairman Dato' Sri Mohd. Nadzmi Mohd. Salleh. "We are also encouraged by the overwhelming response received for the Inspira. As of yesterday, PROTON had already received a total of 3,400 bookings for the Inspira since it was first opened for booking on 14th of October," said Dato' Sri Mohd. Nadzmi. He also added that PROTON's performance going forward will also be backed by the introduction of refreshers and variants. He further explained that the Group will also focus on expanding into selected key markets, intensifying on branding and marketing initiatives, and continuing to invest in development activities and the acquisition of new technology. Meanwhile, PROTON's Group Managing Director Dato' Haji Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir said the Company intends to take an early advantage of and capitalize on the Government's initiative to make Malaysia a regional hub for hybrid, electric and environmentallyfriendly vehicles. One of the key announcements in Budget 2011 was in granting full exemption on the import and excise duties for hybrid cars below 2,000cc which includes electric cars, hybrid motorcycles and electric motorcycles until December 31, 2011. "These exemptions would serve as an attractive incentive for local companies such as PROTON to manufacture such vehicles in Malaysia. This will not only extend significant savings to car owners in terms of lower fuel costs but assists PROTON in the forefront of promoting Malaysia as a regional hub for the development and manufacturing of green technology vehicles," said Dato' Haji Syed Zainal Abidin. PROTON is already in the final phase of testing and validating a Proton Exora Extended Range Electric Vehicle which is targeted for commercial production as early as 2011. The Proton Exora Extended Range Electric Vehicle had also earlier this month won the ‘Best Range Extender Electric Vehicle' category in the inaugural Brighton to London Future Car Challenge organized by the prestigious Royal Automobile Club in the United Kingdom. The challenge is a motoring contest for Electric, Hybrid, and Low-Emission Internal Combustion Engine passenger cars. Winners were based on cars with the lowest energy consumption on the 91.2 km drive from Brighton to London. Going against a more prominent name in the global green automotive industry, the Exora Extended Range Electric Vehicle emerged as the winner in its category after consuming only 2.2 litres of petrol during the entire Challenge. The win had benchmarked PROTON against the best in the industry. Participation in the event was also an opportunity for PROTON to demonstrate its technological capabilities and commitment in developing highly efficient fuel vehicles that are also environmentally friendly. FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS Q2 (AS AT 30 SEPTEMBER, 2010)    2010/2011 (30/09/2010) RM'000 2010/2011 (30/09/2009) RM'000 Profit before taxation (cumulative period) 185,914 165,031 Profit before taxation (individual period) 81,265 100,652 Revenue (Q2) (Cumulative period) 4,530,396 3,956,108 Revenue (Q2) (invidual period) 2,240,509 2,104,090 Cash, bank balances & deposits (unaudited) 1,315,035 1,500,926

Vauxhall Corsa Gets New Look

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Some manufacturers use a green-sounding name to denote a single low-CO2 car in a particular range, but with the Vauxhall Corsa ecoFLEX you get a choice, and it leads to a rather peculiar situation. The one being reviewed here uses a 74bhp version of the 1.3-litre CDTi turbo diesel engine, and since the alternative is the same unit in 94bhp form you might imagine that this is the more economical of the two.

In real-world motoring, it's safe to assume that this is true. However, there's a strange anomaly here. In the official EU it's the 94bhp car which produces the better result, namely 78.5mpg versus the less powerful car's 70.6mpg. This isn't particularly significant, except that the same test rates the 94bhp car at 94g/km of CO2 emissions versus 105g/km for the 74bhp car, and the upshot is that the faster ecoFLEX is exempt from annual Vehicle Excise Duty payments while the slower one isn't.

Admittedly, the difference in taxation is just £20 per year, and you would have to rabidly opposed to paying money into the Exchequer to consider that a problem. The 74bhp car is almost certain to emit less CO2 during its lifetime, regardless of what the official figures say, and if expense is a consideration you might want to bear in mind that it's around £500 cheaper to buy in the first place, a statistic which completely obliterates the tax situation.

You can spend considerably less still by opting for other ecoFLEX models such as the one-litre petrol model or the 74bhp 1.3 diesel without the start/stop system fitted to the object of this test. They don't cost much to tax either, but with CO2 ratings of 117g/km and 112g/km respectively they won't seem nearly as impressive to the environmental lobby.

So this is the truly "green" Corsa ecoFLEX, and it's certainly worth thinking about as long as you don't need to get anywhere in a hurry. 0-60mph times don't reveal much about a car's performance, but the fact that this one takes 13.6 seconds to perform the feat is enough to tell you - as a brief test drive will confirm - that it's no hot hatch. Taking it a long motorway run would be rather a chore, but for urban and gentle country motoring it's as quick as it needs to be.

It's also adequately, but not excessively, well-designed inside. Vauxhall is starting to style the interiors of some of its larger cars (such as the Astra and Insignia) with some panache, but the Corsa still tends towards the functional, and in this respect it's closer, among its obvious mainstream rivals, to the Renault Clio than to the Ford Fiesta or Volkswagen Polo. With the exception of the controls for the headlights, foglights and instrument panel lighting - which are mounted very awkwardly, low down on the dash to the right of the steering wheel - it's generally good enough for the job.

My other problem with the Corsa, in three-door form, is the downward sweep of the rear side windows, which has bedevilled the car for a decade and is really due for a change. On the other hand, there's a surprising amount of fun to be had even in this notably slow version because, unlike previous Corsas, it both rides and handles rather impressively, despite occasional hints that it was set up for smooth German roads rather than dodgy British ones.

Practicality is limited only by the tailgate, which tapers inwards towards the bottom in a manner which suggests that, here as elsewhere in Vauxhall's line-up, styling was considered a higher priority than anything else. Luggage space varies between 285 with the rear seats in place, which is as near identical to the opposition as makes no difference, to 1050 litres with the seats folded, which is slightly better than the Clio and significantly better than the Fiesta and Polo. If you really want a lot of space in this class, the car to go for is the Skoda Fabia, but that's available only in five-door form.

One more thing: all Corsas are getting a facelift as from February 2011, so they won't look quite like the one pictured here, but there are no mechanical changes (and the rear side windows are the same shape).-carkeys.co.uk