Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Nouvelle Audi A5 coupé

Audi A5 : nouvelles armes pour nouveau succès

Discrètes retouches de style, nouvelles motorisations, technologies ultramodernes : la gamme Audi A5 cisèle ses armes de séduction. Elégance, plaisir de conduite et connectivité sont au menu de l'automne 2011, avec de nouveaux feux à LED, une direction électromécanique de série sur toute la gamme, mais aussi, en option, la préparation téléphone 8W avec Internet embarqué et connexion à Google Earth.


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Saab 9-4X Safety

Saab 9-4X Joins Saab 9-5 Sedan in earning Top Safety Pick 2011

Trollhättan, Sweden: The new Saab 9-4X crossover has earned ‘Top Safety Pick´, the highest rating for crashworthiness awarded by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) in the United States. Only three weeks ago, the Saab 9-5 Sedan received the same accolade.
“To achieve two Top Safety Picks in three weeks is, of course, extremely gratifying," says Per Lenhoff, Head of Safety Development at Saab Automobile. “Our main priority is always the protection of real people in real accidents, but the IIHS tests are a valuable guide for consumers and it is important for us to achieve good results."

IIHS is a research and communications organization funded by auto insurers in the US. The test procedures include front impact (offset) and side impact crashes. Seat/head restraints are also tested in a simulated rear-end impact to assess protection against whiplash injuries and the roof structure is tested to assess vehicle rollover protection.

Performance is rated as ´Good´, ´Acceptable´, ´Marginal´ or ´Poor´ in each of the tests and to achieve the ´Top Safety Pick´ award, cars must achieve the highest rating in all four procedures



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Range Rover Sport 2012

Range Rover Sport 2012 with new 8-speed automatic

The 2012 Range Rover Sport features more power, reduced CO2 and better fuel efficiency – the latter improvements partly due to a new ZF 8-speed automatic gearbox. The latest transmission also offers a ‘Drive Select’ rotary gearshift, and steering-wheel-mounted paddleshift.

The power of the Range Rover Sport’s 3.0-litre SDV6 diesel engine has been upped from 245HP to 256HP, while CO2 emissions have at the same time been reduced: from 243g/km to 230g/km. Combined fuel economy has also benefited, growing from 30.7mpg to 32.1mpg. Meanwhile, the 5.0 LR-V8 Supercharged remains unchanged for 2012.

The 2012 Model Year Range Rover Sport goes on sale in the UK in October, and costs from £48,795 on the road.

(source: http://www.classicdriver.com)



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Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid

Porsche lines up with an even more efficient 911 GT3 R Hybrid

Porsche takes up the Nürburgring 24 hour race on 25 June with a further developed version of the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid. Priority of the development was given to the improvement of efficiency through the targeted optimisation of hybrid components, which also resulted in a 20 percent weight reduction. Version 2.0 of the 911 GT3 R Hybrid is intended to achieve the same lap times as its predecessor but with less fuel consumption.

The general layout of the hybrid was adopted from the 2010 model. A portal axle with two electric motors drives the front wheels and supplements the four-litre, depending on the balance of performance classification approximately 470 hp, six-cylinder boxer engine at the rear. The output of both electric motors has increased from 60 to 75 kilowatts each. For seconds at a time, pilots now have almost an additional 200 hp at their disposal with the 911 GT3 R Hybrid 2.0. Depending on the programming, this power is automatically activated through use of the throttle pedal. Moreover, pilots can manually call up this extra power, for instance when overtaking.

The electric flywheel accumulator, with its rotor spinning up to 40,000 rpm and stor-ing energy mechanically as rotational energy, is now housed with the other hybrid components in a carbon fibre safety cell on the passenger’s side.

At first glance, the new GT3 R Hybrid is clearly distinguishable from the 2010 model. Thanks to the optimisation of the hybrid system’s high voltage components, the large louvres in front of the rear fenders were no longer necessary. This reduces drag and also lowers fuel consumption. All in all, the weight of the vehicle decreased from 1,350 to 1,300 kilograms.

“We’ve collected a great deal of information from our races on the Nürburgring, at the ALMS race at Road Atlanta in the USA, as well as from the ILMC race on China’s Zhuhai circuit, which was an invaluable help for the further development of our racing laboratory,” says Hartmut Kristen, head of Porsche motorsport. “The emphasis of our work was on improving efficiency. That means we want to keep the lap times consis-tent with 2010 but use less energy, hence less fuel. In this way, we support future developments of road-going, sporting hybrid vehicles.”

The cockpit of the 911 GT3 R Hybrid has also been completely revised. Most of the displays and controls have moved to the steering wheel. Drivers can operate the rest of the functions via backlit buttons now situated on the centre console. Priority was placed on the ergonomics and the clear layout for pilots – particularly in darkness.
The new 911 GT3 R Hybrid is a perfect example of the ‘Porsche Intelligent Perform-ance’ philosophy, a principle found in every Porsche: More power on less fuel, more efficiency and lower CO2 emissions – on the race track and on the road.




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