Suzuki Moves Ahead without VW and Signs New Diesel Engine Deal with Fiat

Regular readers will no doubt remember the clash between the Volkswagen Group and Suzuki Motors with the Germans refusing to let go of their 19.9 percent equity stake in the Japanese company and Suzuki taking the matter to the international court.

While the issue remains unresolved, Suzuki has already moved on and today, the company announced that it is further expanding its business relationship with the Fiat Group, which also owns Chrysler.

The two parties reached an agreement for the supply of Fiat's 1.3-liter Multijet four-cylinder turbo diesel with 75-horses to Maruti Suzuki, which is the Japanese company's Indian subsidiary.

Fiat India Automobiles Limited (FIAL), a joint venture between Fiat and Tata Motors, produces the diesel engine at a plant near Pune in Maharashtra State.

Under the deal, Fiat will supply up to 100,000 1.3L MultiJet 75hp SDE engines per year, starting from January 2012 and for a maximum period of three years. Fiat noted that these volumes will be in addition to the 1.3L MultiJet SDE engines already licensed by Fiat and manufactured by Suzuki Powertrain India Limited.

The 75HP diesel unit will be used on Suzuki branded vehicles produced in India exclusively for the local market.

 

Read More

Toyota Introduces Updated 2012 Land Cruiser with V8 Turbo Diesel in theUK

After the recent presentation of the updated Toyota Land Cruiser in its home market of Japan and then in North America, the full-size 4x4 model has now been introduced in Britain where it goes on sale this March.

Available exclusively with a revised V8 turbo diesel and a single trim level, the 2012 Land Cruiser is priced at £62,285 on-the-road (equal to US$95,900 or €75,000).

On the outside, the large 4x4 sports a new fascia with a different bumper, grille and headlamps with LED daytime running lights, along with restyled taillights and exterior mirrors with LED turn indicators. Furthermore, the UK model gains new black roof rails, side mouldings with chrome details and new 20-inch alloy wheels.

The cabin gets new seats that are air conditioned/heated up front, a central cool box, heated steering wheel and improvements in the quality and appearance of the trims and finishes throughout.

The 2012 model is offered with the new Toyota Touch Pro multimedia and navigation system with a digital tuner, Bluetooth and a rear-view camera as standard, while the Japanese company offers an optional in-car entertainment package with two eight-inch seatback-mounted monitors that are said to be resilient to screen “jitter” when the vehicle is on the move.

Under the hood, the Land Cruiser's 4.5-liter turbocharged V8 diesel engine has been modified and now features a diesel particulate filter (DPF) along with new fuel injectors in the common rail system to comply with Euro 5 standards.

The V8 is rated at 268bhp (200kW) at 3,600rpm, and has a maximum torque of 650Nm (479.4 lb-ft) delivered between 1,600 and 2,800rpm.

Finally yet importantly, Toyota has introduced a slew of handling and driver-assistance systems. These include:

• Turn Assist, that reduces the vehicle’s turning radius when driving through tight off-road bends
• Crawl Control, with five speed settings for tackling steep climbs or descents
• Multi-terrain Select, with five selectable modes to tailor vehicle performance to different off-road conditions
• Multi-terrain Monitor, providing a 360-degree view of the area immediately around the vehicle via four external cameras
• Tyre Angle Display, displayed together with the predicted tyre path guidelines on the Multi-terrain Monitor, showing changes in steering angle between zero and 45 degrees
• Variable Flow Control power steering, with a unique, dedicated off-road setting

PHOTO GALLERY

Read More

Cadillac Refocuses on Global Markets, is Preparing Right-Hand Drive CTS-V

With around 34% of the world's population driving on the left hand side of the road, in countries like the United Kingdom, Australia, India and Japan, any automaker that aspires to go global needs to produce right-hand drive (RHD) vehicles.

With only a few exceptions like the fifth generation Seville (built from 1998 to 2004), Cadillac has for the most part shied away from RHD markets. But this is about to change as the wreath and crest brand is getting more serious about increasing its presence in markets outside of North America.

Aside from the product presentations like the new BMW 3-Series rivaling ATS sedan that will eventually be offered with a diesel option as well, Cadillac is also getting ready to introduce right-hand drive models.

“We’re geared up for right-hand drive now. We’re working on it," says General Motors marketing chief Joel Ewanick, according to a report from Autocar magazine.

One of the first models to get a RHD version will be the Cadillac CTS-V that sports a 6.2-liter supercharged V8 engine with 556-horses.

Ewanick also reiterated Cadillac's newly found commitment to global markets during the interview.

“There wasn’t a commitment to the product before and we didn’t design cars to the market demands,” he said. “The Germans do this very well. There is now a full resource commitment and a vision to get this right. Bankruptcy refocused GM.”

But it's not all good news for Cadillac fans as when asked about the well-received Ciel Concept shown at Pebble Beach last summer, Ewanick said that it's not among the company's top priorities:

“The Ciel reaction was very good. But we’ve got lots of other Cadillacs to do. It’s the busiest time in our history for all our GM brands. It was a strategic time to introduce a luxury concept to the brand, but you need to remember where we are with Cadillac at the moment; the Ciel is a much higher type of luxury.”

PHOTO GALLERY

Read More

Is the 2013 Dodge Dart Sedan Using an Automatic Transmission Supplied from Hyundai?

It's no secret that, aside from the Fiat Group-sourced 168bhp 1.4-liter turbocharged MultiAir engine, the new 2013 Dodge Dart compact sedan continues to use two powerplants from Chrysler's past.

You see, while the Detroit maker is marketing its 2.0-liter and 2.4-liter four-cylinder units under the new "Tigershark" moniker, both have their roots in the Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance (GEMA) family of engines.

To explain, GEMA was a joint venture of the Chrysler Group, Mitsubishi Motors, and Hyundai Motor Company for the development of a line of shared four-cylinder gasoline engines. In 2009, Chrysler bought out the shares of Mitsubishi and Hyundai and continued GEMA on its own.

And here's where Hyundai comes into the picture. Citing unnamed sources, Car&Driver is reporting that the 2013 Dodge Dart's Tigershark engines are fitted with a Hyundai-supplied 6-speed automatic transmission.

Speculation has it that Chrysler wanted a quick solution to replace the GEMA engine's obsolete four-speed automatic with a modern transmission so it came to an agreement with Hyundai that uses a six-speed auto on its 2.0-liter Turbo and 2.4-liter naturally aspirated Theta engines, both of which evolved from the GEMA program.

The magazine says that Chrysler won't confirm the agreement for the supply of the 6-speed auto while Hyundai hasn't offered any specifics on which transmission it will sell to the Detroit company – this also leads us to believe that C&D's sources may have come from within or a company related to Hyundai.

C&D also wrote that the same sources say Chrysler is having some difficulties with the final calibrations of the Hyundai gearbox.

We still don't know if Hyundai's gearbox was used on the model that Dodge says achieved an unadjusted combined rating of 40 mpg (which is not the same as the EPA ratings) and which gave Fiat the right to acquire an additional 5% stake in Chrysler.

But even so, since we're lacking any official information, the alleged calibration problems with the transmission may not have affected the car's economy.

Chrysler has confirmed that it is already working on a new 9-speed automatic transmission currently being developed by the ZF Group that will be added to the Dart's range in 2013.

PHOTO GALLERY

Read More