The Fiat 500 is now Ferrari’s courtesy car. Ferrari’s corporate cousin produced 200 all-red special versions of the little retro car to be used throughout Europe. Although the performance will likely be a step down from whatever the driver had before, the courtesy cars come with Fiat’s largest engine for the 500 (1.4 liters, 100 horsepower), and they also “offer specific tuning and exhaust in perfect harmony with the sporty spirit of the ‘prancing horse’.”
Fiat is also touting items on the car such as the red brake calipers, sporty pedal set, special black steering wheel with red stitching and 16” alloy wheels. But honestly, no matter how special this 500 may be, if you pick up a date in your economy-based courtesy car, do you really think she’s going to believe you when you tell her that your Ferrari is in the shop?
The most exciting part of the Malaysian company Proton is that they own Lotus, and Proton knows this too. That’s why the new Persona carries over the tradition of the original car and will sport “Handling by Lotus” badges.
This is no way a lie, but just because Lotus’ engineering arm touched your car doesn’t mean you’ve got Colin Chapman’s blessing to go racing in your budget-minded Persona.
This is not a new idea in automotive sales. The badge from Lotus has been applied to De Loreans, Pontiacs and Isuzus, to add a little more excitement to somewhat mundane cars. But no stories have ever surfaced of people buying the car purely for this badge.
When you hear the name Scion, you probably think about the “stylish” Scion xB. The xB was such a success, with over 60,000 xBs sold in 2007; it outsold its smaller sibling the xA. Apparently, the xA just wasn’t cool enough. That is probably the reason why Scion decided to stop production of the xA back in 2007. However, the xA was quickly replaced with a newer and nicer model- the xD. The 2008 Scion xD was first introduced to the public on February 2007 at the Chicago Auto Show, and production started that same summer. The new xD wants to be fuller, sportier and more playful than the defunct xA, let’s see if that is the cas Full story
Sometime in the future, gas stations would switch to selling gas. Gas in the sense, air, which when compressed to an extent, has enough energy to help a specially designed engine, generate power. Big companies like BMW and Mercedes-Benz, are interested in looking for other ways to run their cars, and might want to take a close look at these air powered engines.
Sure, these things make a lot of noise and don’t coax out enough horsepower, but with time and research, things could change drastically. Just like how electric cars or hybrid cars have evolved and reached a certain stage where the trade-offs are not considerable and offer a number of advantages over the normal cars, soon air powered engines might catch on and small-car manufacturers could use them on a large scale.
Poland is emerging as one of the world’s leading places from where green and fuel efficient engines are born. Toyota’s 1-liter engine which is presently performing duties on the Aygo small car, won the International engine of the year award a while back. That engine was also developed in Poland giving us strong hints that Poland should be one of the best countries for developing and manufacturing small engines.
Italian manufacturer Fiat has put its hand up and decided to manufacture a low emission 900cc gasoline engine in Poland. Unlike any of the engines present in European cars today, this one would be the smallest of the lot with only 2 cylinders. The new engine will give life to Fiat’s new microcar, the Topolino, when launched late next year for European markets.
Sufficient engine options will be on offer for the Topolino, ranging from a 65hp normally aspirated version to a turbcharged 110hp version equipped with Fiat’s Multiair adjustable valve timing (110hp from a 900 c.c engine?!) which promises to be powerful yet frugal. I guess there are more reasons for Mercedes and Toyota to worry about as the Topolino is likely to be another massive hit.
One can expect to see this engine in cars like the 500, Grande Punto and Panda a few years from now on, especially with the emission norms getting tougher, the idea of a 2-cylinder and sub-100 gram per kilometer of CO2 emission engine is definitely a bright one.
