The Japanese automaker Mazda has commenced production on their compact hatchback the Mazda2 at their AutoAlliance factory in Thailand. Although the diminutive city car may not seem so impressive, you have to remember that it did win a few car of the year awards in its previous form and that the new car comes with an all new enticing feature, an even wider grin. The new Mazda2’s smiley face is not only more inviting than the generation that came before but it also gives the 2010 model year small city car a fun face that adds to the Japanese automaker’s Zoom-Zoom spirit of car building.
Just like the new MX-5, the Mazda2 has undergone a design refreshening and features a new front bumper that incorporates a set of larger larger vertical air intakes as well as the new happy face five point lower grill that is going into all of Mazda’s fun to drive vehicles. A new Mazda2 also gives hope that a new open air roadster inspired version could be in the works, especially after consumers have adjusted to the new car’s playful front end. As for now, these images are pretty much all we have to go on, but we promise to get back to you with more details as they become available.
Press release after the jump.
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While the current economic crisis has resulted in a few interesting partnership with a number of unlikely automobile manufacturers and other manufacturers weary of risky high priced ventures, the man from Prodrive feels that his super car company can sell premium compact city car for the not so unheard of asking price of $32,000; after all it is an Aston Martin. As part of the English coach builder’s plans to unroll a few new vehicles in order to recuperate some profits the powers at be behind Toyota and Aston Martin have joined forces to create a fashionable compact city car for the crowded narrow streets of densely populated European urban environments. What they ended up with is the upscale Aston Martin Cygnet based on the economical Toyota i.Q.
The venture actually sounds like another English sport/luxury hybrid when Mini commissioned the design team at Rolls Royce to produce a series of extremely extravagant small cars. The car’s foundation will be built at Toyota’s factory in Japan and then shipped to the Aston Martin factory in Gaydon where the team of hand built super car interiors will have a go at restyling the lowly Toyota’s interior bringing it up to super car status. Obviously the Cygnet should also wear some unique body work like an Aston Martin style twin vented hood, some flared arches and plenty of winged emblems.
This is a very bold move for the English automaker, attempting to sell a car smaller than a Smart for a little over $30,000. The German luxury automaker Audi has recently admitted to having a hard time justifying a premium hatchback for the U.S. market, dooming whatever chances we might have had for an RS3 stateside. The Vantage should be happy because it can now pass on the title of being the baby Aston; if they can keep production limited and watch the demand skyrocket, they should have no problem selling out of their Cygnet inventory. After all, who would pass up on the chance to buy a brand new Aston Martin for the price of a Nissan Maxima.
The blue oval has just unveiled the extremely efficient new for 2010 Ford Focus ECOnetic at the Frankfurt Motor Show in Germany without the use of any electric motors. The new more environmentally friendly Focus incorporates the American automaker’s new Ford Auto-Start-Stop system that eliminates wasteful emissions by brining the car’s engine to a halt when the Focus is at rest, this mild hybrid system was first previewed on the Ford iosis MAX Concept from the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year.
The 2010 Focus ECOnetic is powered by a 1.6 Liter Duratorq TDCi engine that makes a maximum output of only 109 HP because when you are looking for efficiency, power isn’t quite a priority when you are getting 74 MPG. The Duratorq four cylinder engine makes use of a standard coated Diesel Particulate Filter that reduces the vehicle’s harmful emissions to a road legal level. The Focus ECOnetic is also the first vehicle from the automaker to feature Ford’s new Eco Mode system standard, a software application that is integrated into the instrument cluster in order to give the Focus’s driver a more useful and realistic green driving experience.
According to Dr. Thilo Seibert, Manager of CO2 Technologies for Ford of Europe, "From the very beginning of Ford’s ECOnetic approach it has been our clear intention to offer customers affordable eco-technology, and to also pave the way for the possible integration of these technologies into the core vehicle programs,...with its new comprehensive set-up, the new Focus ECOnetic offers exactly what it takes: versatility, latest level technology and – regardless of version – excellent CO2 and fuel economy figures."
Press release after the jump.
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The Korean automaker Hyundai has just officially unveiled the all new 2010 Sonata in its home market of South Korea, after which the next generation Sonata will follow up with a U.S. market debut at either the upcoming L.A. Auto Show in December, or at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit early next January.
The sixth generation Hyundai Sonata makes use of the automaker’s more fluid design language that has shaped the Hyundai Genesis luxury sedan. The exterior of the new Sonata is made up of a host of complex curves and bold body lines that create character through their refined and harmonized sculpture. The interior of the new Sonata has a very dynamic look that compliments the exterior while refusing to compromise comfort or convenience for the passengers traveling inside. The 2010 Hyundai Sonata is available in nine different exterior colors ranging from Remington Red to Blue Black and even Espresso; a move made in order to appeal to a more diverse younger customer base.
The new Sonata will be powered by a 2.0 Liter Theta II MPi gasoline burning engine cranking out 165 HP and an alternatively fueled LPG variant that generates a maximum output of 144 HP, in either instance the power plants are mated to a new six speed automatic gearbox. When it finally does arrive stateside, Hyundai’s updates to the 2010 Sonata should payoff big time.
Press release after the jump.
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We have just received a brand new third generation Toyota Prius into the Top Speed test fleet. Wile we are usually about high horsepower rides that are in contention to set land speed records even we must bow out and admit that these little Hybrid commuter cars are only going to become more common as time goes on. Now this is not quite the prototype we saw back in May, our 2010 Prius didn’t come with the very trick sunroof mounted solar panel and we didn’t even get leather. But that’s OK, because we do have the same 1.8 Liter Hybrid Synergy Drive engine that was in the previous Prius we saw. In an effort to improve fuel economy Toyota has decided to increase the engine’s displacement giving it more torque across the rev band meaning that it won’t have to work as hard getting the Prius moving to the tune of 50 MPG.
It seems that everything about the Prius was made so that the car could cut through the air with the least amount of resistance. The bulges on the sides of the front bumper push air away from the turbulent rotating wheels at speed, which are covered with some pretty interesting plastic covers that were almost certainly included as a fuel-saving afterthought. The design team even incorporated finlets at the rear of the flat paneled under tray that are more functional that the majority of the diffusers bolted to the bottom of a rear bumper. Toyota engineers go to countless measures to squeeze every last ounce of efficiency from their flagship hybrid. A number that was being thrown around when we first spoke to a Toyota representative was one million, because that is how much the Japanese automaker spends every hour of every working day conducting drag reduction research which has led to the Prius’ .25 Cd.
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A very interesting little five door Ford Fiesta hatchback was spotted rolling around the U.S. wearing some familiar automotive camouflage. What makes this particular Fiesta so special is that unlike the Fiesta Movement cars, this appears to be a full fledged U.S. spec car. When we spoke with the Fiesta’s Brand Manager Sam de la Garza, who was extremely excited about the new car; he told us that the final production version will be very similar to what we drove, the only changes to the body will come from government mandated safety regulations. In the U.S. the importance is put on passengers surviving a crash while in Europe the magistrates are more concerned with how the unfortunate pedestrian will fair.
Nevertheless from the looks of things our money is on Ford adding the five door model to the Fiesta lineup when they go on sale next year. The only thing that we here at Top Speed are pleading for is some sort of a Ford Racing Parts catalog dedicated to the blue oval’s interpretation of the VW GTI. What we would really like to see is a few Fiestas to show up in showrooms wearing some iteration of the rally car’s boxed fenders and oversized rear wing, and if Ford’s engineers can give it even a quarter of the Pikes Peak Fiesta’s 800 HP output that would be fine by us as well.
We recently received a 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring into the Top Speed test fleet. Starting at only $17,800 this Vivid Blue beauty is easily one of the most stylish Korean cars we have seen in a while. The front end is made up of aggressive curves that create sharp lines that keep your eyes glued to the little five door hatchback. Not only is the body attractive but also tasteful thanks to the vehicle’s design team using just the right amount of chrome trim to dress up the car without making it look gaudy. We especially love the $1,500 Premium Sports Package that includes a set of 17 inch, dual finish rims. In theory it sounds like a very tacky item, but the Elantra is able to pull it off well, quite possibly because of that blue body.
Inside the Elantra, the Premium Package benefits s----over in the form of a power sunroof and heated seats, which is interesting considering that they are still wrapped in cloth. One thing that is impressive about the interior of the Elantra Touring is that despite the vehicle’s rather small footprint it is extremely spacious on the inside. The audio serves up tunes in the form of AM/FM/XM radio with an in dash CD player and a very convenient AUX input for any MP3 storage device that you may own. The trunk offers a hidden shelf underneath the floor and plenty of storage with the back seats up and a whole lot more when they are down.
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It turns out that a few key structural components of the new Ford Fiesta are made of the ultra high strength metal alloy, Boron due to its superior structural rigidity and safety applications, and Ford Fiesta Movement agent Ryan Dembroski decided to pay a visit to the king of high performance blenders, Tom Dickson.
If you have never seen one of the "Will it blend?" viral videos on youtube then you are missing out on one of the best collections of videos on the internet, they have blended everything from iPhones to diamonds. After all, Tom is a true car guy, he once put his Blendtec blender up against a Nissan GT-R. So the question of the day is, will it blend?
Our guess is no.
Press release after the jump.
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Even if the practical Volkswagen Polo isn’t on the top of most tuners lists of cars that they are crazy about. It is small, the engine is not very large, the only thing that it has going for itself is that it is cheap and light. However the aftermarket suspension manufacturer KW sees something special in the smallest Volkswagen. That is why KW has developed a set of coil overs for the compact five door hatchback.
The Variant 1 system exclusively offers a ride height adjustment by turning the spring perch on the body of the threaded shock absorber. This particular application is available in both the basic and inox-line and offers a drop between 35 and 65 mm. The Variant 2 setup features the same range of vehicle lowering, but also adds adjustable rebound damping which allows the owner to adjust the strength with which the shock absorber will spring back into place after being compressed.
The Variant 3 coil overs are the top of the line units and are only being offered in the stainless steel technology inox-line. The beauty of the Variant 3 suspension kit is that it offers independent adjustments for both rebound and compression damping. This allows the owner to adjust the stiffness of the shock absorbers in both directions and is able to be tuned for all driving situations, like whether they wish to take out a date or go to the track. Prices for the more basic setup start at just 799 Euros.
Press release after the jump.
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Aside from driving all of the high performance offerings at Ford’s Deaborne test facility, we thought it might be a good idea to familiarize ourselves with a product that we should be seeing a lot more of in the near future. This little green Ford Fiesta is not the production version that will be sold as a 2010 model, but instead a European spec Fiesta, complete with a speedometer that read in kilometers.
We weren’t provided with any official specs for the Fiesta because Ford is still finalizing the design in order to provide American consumers with the best Fiesta possible. When we spoke with the Fiesta’s Brand Manager Sam de la Garza, who was extremely excited about the new car; he told us that the final production version will be very similar to what we drove, the only changes to the body will come from government mandated safety regulations. In the U.S. the importance is put on passengers surviving a crash while in Europe the magistrates are more concerned with how the unfortunate pedestrian will fair.
The Fiesta felt just like an old GTI; it was nimble and quick thanks to its light weight. The engine is peppy, but it is clear that the blue oval engineers tuned the four cylinder lump for economy and not peak performance. The Fiesta feels comfortable at speed, however it takes a while to get up there. There is not a lot of acceleration under the hood, but whatever speed you are able to muster can easily be carried through any corner. We liked the Fiesta, however we are waiting for a WRC inspired model, or an appearance package based on the Pikes Peak cars, but our friend Sam let us know that Ford was first going to worry about getting the car into U.S. showrooms.
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