Autoesque

Chevrolet has unveiled the Trax, which is due to make its public debut at September’s Paris Motor Show. Although the firm is claiming that the small sport utility vehicle is ‘all-new’, perhaps it would be better described as ‘new to Chevrolet’. That’s because beneath the styling changes, it’s essentially a rehashed version of the Buick Encore and Vauxhall / Opel Mokka twins. The 2013 Chevrolet Trax... ... the 2013 Buick Encore... ... and the 2013 Vauxhall Mokka. Detailed specifications have yet to be revealed and, with planned launches in over 140 countries, they are bound to vary by market. The United States is one territory that won’t be getting the Trax though, which is a bit peculiar given that the first sales will be in neighbouring Canada and Mexico towards the end of this year. The relationship between the Trax and its Buick and Vauxhall / Opel equivalents, especially in terms of prices and equipment levels, is going to have be carefully managed to avoid sales...

Lotus Racing has unveiled the Evora GTC race car. Essentially a development of the Evora GT4, the GTC version gains traction control, anti-lock brakes and wider wheels that sit beneath enlarged arches. However, thanks to carbon fibre panels and Plexiglass glazing, it actually weighs 30 kg (66 lbs) less than its predecessor, tipping the scales at 1,130 to 1,140 kg (2,491 to 2,513 lbs) depending on final specification. The 4 litre V6 engine is unchanged, and it still produces 450 bhp (335 kW / 456 PS) and 460 Nm (339 lb/ft) of peak torque. Drive to the rear wheels is via an Xtrac six-speed sequential transmission. Customer racing teams are already planning to run the Evora GTC in the Rolex Sports Car Series in the USA and the Britcar MSA Endurance Championship in the UK. It’s also anticipated that the car will be eligible to compete in the British GT Championship, VdeV Series and Dutch Supercar series, as well as individual endurance races such as the Dubai 24 Hours and the 12...

The new John Cooper Works GP is set to be the quickest Mini ever produced. Unveiled at the Mini United event in France, it follows the themes established by the first-generation JCW GP back in 2006: more power, less weight, an upgraded chassis, no rear seats and a unique look. 2012 Mini John Cooper Works GP. Scroll down for more images. Although no performance figures have been released, Mini is claiming that the 2012 version is capable of lapping the infamous Nürburgring Nordschleife in 8 minutes and 23 seconds, which is almost 19 seconds less than the original managed. There’ll certainly be no mistaking the hottest Mini, thanks to its body kit, roof spoiler and rear diffuser. The graphics and colour scheme might be a bit too lurid for some tastes though, while those four-spoke alloy wheels could never be described as subtle. Production of the Mini John Cooper Works GP will be limited to just 2,000 examples across all territories. Pricing, market allocations and on-sale d...

Suzuki Motorcycle India has revealed its new 112.8 cc Hayate, which is aimed at the novice and commuter markets. The styling is neat if not particularly exciting, and it looks noticeably similar to Suzuki’s existing Slingshot range. Technically things are very simple, with power coming from an air-cooled single-cylinder engine that develops 8.2 bhp (6.1 kW / 8.4 PS) and 8.8 Nm (6.4 lb/ft) of peak torque. Attached to a single downtube frame, it comes connected to a four-speed gearbox. Other components include drum brakes, 17” alloy wheels, five-way adjustable shock absorbers at the rear and conventional telescopic forks up front. Colour choice comprises Sparkle Black, Metallic Lush Green, Metallic Flint Grey, Pearl Mica Red and Pearl Mirage White. Suzuki is hoping to sell 10,000 examples of the Hayate each month, and its pricing should help to achieve that objective. The kick-start version costs Rs. 40,162 ex-dealer in Pune (around £465 / €580 at current exchange rates), ...

It might have taken a while, but Smart has finally announced that its all-electric escooter will enter series production. There’s still going to be a wait before customer deliveries begin though, because market launches aren’t due to take place until 2014. When it was originally unveiled in concept form at the 2010 Paris Motor Show, the escooter featured a 5 bhp (4 kW / 5 PS) rear hub-mounted motor and a 48 volt lithium-ion battery. That package was said to be good enough for a top speed of 28 mph (45 km/h) and a range of around 60 miles (100 km), but whether or not those figures will apply to the showroom version remains to be seen. The escooter will join the new third-generation fortwo electric drive and ebike in Smart’s zero-emission vehicle range. Related posts: Smart ebike due in 2012 Upgraded Smart fortwo ED Smart and Mini scooters

As a footnote to the sad demise of Saab, the last right-hand drive Saab 9-3 Convertibles have now arrived in the UK. Imported by Saab Parts UK for sale through its network of eighty-seven Authorised Repairers, the assembly of the cars was completed by Saab employees working out of a dealership in Trollhättan, Sweden. Just twenty-six examples are available nationwide, and all have been built to 2012 model year specifications. Of those, seven are Independence Edition versions which come finished in an exclusive Amber Orange paint finish. Powered by a 1.9 litre twin-turbo diesel engine, they also feature a six-speed automatic transmission, five-spoke 18” alloy wheels, leather upholstery, special floor mats and a unique serial number etched into the rear-side glass. The remainder are either SE or Aero models, and for these there’s a choice of petrol or diesel engines. On the road prices start from £22,750. Related posts: Saab returns to motorsport Saab 9-3 Aero Carlsson 119 g/...

The new all-electric Toyota RAV4 EV has been revealed at the 26th annual Electric Vehicle Symposium in Los Angeles. Developed in partnership with electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors - who supply the battery and powertrain system - the project has taken just twenty-two months to come to fruition. The front-wheel drive RAV4 EV is powered by a 154 bhp (115 kW / 156 PS) electric motor, which delivers a zero to 60 mph (96 km/h) time of 7.0 seconds and a top speed of 100 mph (160 km/h) when in Sport mode. Switch to the more battery-friendly Normal mode and naturally those figures worsen, albeit to a still respectable 8.6 seconds and 85 mph (136 km/h). Toyota is being rather vague on range, but the estimate is around 100 miles (160 kilometres). Recharge time for the 41.8 kWh lithium-ion battery pack is expected to be approximately six hours using a 240 V / 40A charger, proving that the process is getting quicker. Realistically, it’s still an overnight job though. Changes ...

Aprilia has revealed a pair of new supermoto-inspired scooters. The SR Motard 50 is powered by a two-stroke 49 cc engine, and will cost £1,770 in the UK. Its bigger brother, the SR Motard 125, comes with a 124 cc four-stroke motor and a price tag of £2,120. Both feature five-spoke 14” wheels, a front disc brake, minimalist styling and a two-tone saddle with white stitching. The paintwork choice comprises black, metallic orange or black. Related posts: Aprilia RS4 Biaggi replicas Aprilia SRV 850 revealed Aprilia SR Max scooters

11 July 2012 update For more details of the Adam city car, please see this post: Vauxhall Adam first view Opel has confirmed that its new city car is to be called the Adam, presumably in honour of the company’s founder. It had previously been known as the Junior, but GM is now saying that that was just an internal codename. The Adam moniker will also be applied to the Vauxhall version. This makes less sense, but it does at least maintain the policy of identical model names across both brands. GM is pitching the Adam as a ‘premium urban car’, and buyers will be encouraged to personalise both the interior and exterior. Smaller than the Corsa supermini, its intended rivals are the stylish Fiat 500 and Mini Hatch. There’s no doubting the ambition then, and it signals an intention to shift the Vauxhall and Opel marques more upmarket - a move that’s needed to help further differentiate them from sister brand Chevrolet in Europe. Although technical details have yet to be annou...

Yamaha has announced some changes to its Indian-market FZ, FZ-S and Fazer motorcycles. Still powered by a 153 cc air-cooled engine that produces 13 bhp (10 kW / 14 PS) and 13.6 Nm (10.0 lb/ft) of torque, the alterations include a bigger pillion seat, a larger rear mudguard and better chain protection. New LCD instruments also feature, as do revised colours and graphics. Prices (ex-showroom in Delhi) start from Rs. 69,250, which is around £810 / €1,000 at current exchange rates: Model Price Colours FZ Rs. 69,250 Midnight Black, Lava Red FZ-S Rs. 71,280 Black Cyber Green, Fiery Orange, Sunset Red, Competition White Fazer Rs. 76,380 Black Cyber Green, Midnight Black. Lava Red, Competition White Related posts: 2012 TVS Apache RTR Revised Yamaha YZF-R15 © Autoesque .

A stock Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 has run an 11.93 second quarter-mile at the Milan Dragway in Michigan, reaching 116 mph (186 km/h) in the process. GM engineers set the time using a ZL1 equipped with the optional 6L90 six-speed automatic transmission. All of the car’s parts were completely standard, including the Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar G:2 tyres. A manual ZL1 was also brought to the strip and, with an 11.96 second quarter-mile achieved, it proved to be virtually as quick. Tony Roma, Camaro ZL1 program engineering manager, commented: “The ZL1 is great at everything and we’re very proud of that. “You can take it to the drag strip and run 11-second quarter-miles all day long. You can also take it to a road course, where it’s balanced, handles well, and does exactly what you want - including lapping Virginia International Raceway’s Grand Course in under three minutes - and yet the ZL1 is sophisticated enough to use as a daily driver.” Prices for the Camaro ZL1 start fr...

Chrysler UK has announced prices for its flagship 300C saloon, which goes on sale this June. Lead-in model is the 300C Limited, which costs £35,995 and features as standard heated seats front and rear, self-levelling suspension and the ubiquitous LED daytime running lights. The only other trim grade to be offered is the 300C Executive. Although buyers will need to find an extra £4,000, the specification is more generous and includes Nappa leather upholstery, keyless entry, adaptive cruise control and a blind spot monitoring system. Both versions are powered by a 3.0 litre V6 diesel engine that produces 236 bhp (176 kW / 239 PS) and 540 Nm (398 lb/ft) of torque. Although no performance data has been released, combined cycle fuel consumption is 39.8 mpg (7.1 l/100km), while CO2 emissions range from 185 to 191 g/km according to wheel size. However, a potential problem for the Chrysler is that those figures are eclipsed by the competition. Take the Jaguar XF, for example. In...

The new Euro 5 compliant Vauxhall Vivaro ecoFLEX promises to offer operators reduced running costs. Based on the short wheelbase, standard roof panel van or 9-seat Combi versions, special features include low rolling resistance tyres, aerodynamic tweaks, revised gear ratios and exhaust gas recirculation. All are designed to enhance efficiency, and indeed CO2 emissions from the Vivaro’s 2.0 litre CDTi engine drop from 198 g/km to 180 g/km. While that’s very admirable, most users are probably going to be more concerned about fuel consumption, given the spiralling cost of diesel. For them, the good news is that economy improves from the standard 37.7 mpg (7.5 l/100km) to 40.9 mpg (6.9 l/100km), which Vauxhall reckons should save around £800 over 60,000 miles. However, that green technology does come at a cost. Prices for ecoFLEX versions of the Vivaro are £500 more than the regular models, and start at £18,848.33 (excluding VAT). Image © General Motors. Related posts: New V...

Subaru UK has announced that its new BRZ 2+2 coupé is to cost exactly the same as the virtually identical Toyota GT86 . That means a starting price of £24,995, which buys the 2.0i SE version. It comes with a torque-sensing limited slip differential, keyless entry, a six-speaker audio system and 17” alloy wheels. A second trim level, the 2.0i SE Lux, is also being offered. Although it costs £26,495, the only extra items of kit compared to the SE are heated seats and leather upholstery. Both variants are powered by a 197 bhp (147 kW / 200 PS) 2.0 litre boxer engine that drives the rear wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox. To keep things simple, only three options will be available: special paint colours (£500), satellite navigation (£1,000) and a six-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters (£1,500). Deliveries of the Subaru BRZ are due to begin this summer. A more stripped-out 2.0i S version is expected to join the range sometime during 2013, which should be o...

Audi has confirmed that its UK dealers will be accepting orders for the new TT RS Plus from early May, with the first deliveries due to follow over the summer. 2012 Audi TT RS Plus Coupé. Scroll down for more images. Available in both Coupé and Roadster guises with a choice of manual or S tronic dual clutch transmissions, on the road prices have been set £3,085 higher than the equivalent TT RS models: · TT RS Plus Coupé manual - £48,945 · TT RS Plus Coupé S tronic - £50,285 · TT RS Plus Roadster manual - £50,925 · TT RS Plus Roadster S tronic - £52,265 Power comes from a 2.5 litre, five-cylinder TFSI petrol engine that has been tweaked to produce 355 bhp (265 kW / 360 PS) and 465 Nm (342 lb/ft) of peak torque. The results might not be too spectacular (the zero to 62 mph / 100 km/h times only fall by 0.2 seconds, for example), but they do reinforce the TT’s performance superiority over both the BMW 1 Series M Coupé and Porsche Cayman R. Standard specification for the...

Indian motorcycle firm TVS might not be particularly well known outside of its home market, but during the year to March 2012 it sold over two million machines. To help maintain that kind of popularity, the company has just announced a series of updates to its Apache RTR series. The changes mainly focus on the looks of the bikes , and include redesigned tank side panels, a more aggressively styled belly pan, LED running lights and refreshed instruments that get blue backlighting. Lead-in model for 2012 is the Apache RTR 160, which features a 14 bhp (11 kW / 15 PS) engine and is capable of 73 mph (118 km/h). Available in green, grey, red or yellow dual-tone colour schemes, it is priced at Rs. 67,505 (ex-showroom in Delhi), which is around £790 / €970 at current exchange rates. For those wanting a little extra power, the Apache RTR 180 can reach 77 mph (124 km/h) thanks to its 16 bhp (12 kW / 17 PS) engine. Costing Rs. 72,090 (about £840 / €1,030), paintwork choice is black, g...

Outputs from the 5.8 litre, supercharged V8 that powers the 2013 Ford Shelby GT500 have been SAE-certified at an impressive 662 bhp (493 kW / 671 PS) and 855 Nm (631 lb/ft) of torque. Those figures are slightly more than Ford estimated when the GT500 was first announced back in February, and reinforce the claim that it features the world’s most powerful production V8 engine. Developed by Ford’s SVT division, the performance Mustang has been engineered to be driveable right through the rev range, and to that end ninety percent of peak torque is usefully available from 2,200 rpm up to 5,800 rpm. Although no acceleration stats have been released, Ford is saying that the GT500 coupé is capable of hitting 200 mph (321 km/h). Fortunately the chassis has also been tweaked to cope, despite the presence of an archaic live rear axle set-up. That comprehensive approach is summed up by Jamal Hameedi, SVT chief engineer, who said: “Our goal is to create outstanding all-around performanc...

As the majority of North Americans seem stubbornly resistant to the idea of diesel power for their cars, most manufacturers have simply not bothered offering anything apart from gasoline engines. The price disparity between the two types of fuel certainly hasn’t helped diesel’s cause, but some of the refusal to change also stems from perceived noise and refinement issues. Now, to help dispel some of the myths, Chevrolet has embarked on a campaign extolling the benefits of diesel. Of course, there is an ulterior motive behind this work: last year, it was announced that a diesel-powered Cruze is to be launched in the United States sometime during 2013. Whether buying habits will be changed remains to be seen, but in a market where diesel cars currently account for just three percent of sales, Chevrolet is going to have a tough task convincing customers to switch. Images © General Motors. Related post: Diesel for American Cruze

After three rounds, Aprilia rider Max Biaggi is leading the 2012 World Superbike Championship by a single point. So it’s either brilliant foresight or merely pure coincidence that the Italian manufacturer has decided to produce a couple of Biaggi replicas. Perhaps surprisingly, the bikes that Aprilia has selected to receive the treatment are the smaller capacity RS4 125 and RS4 50, rather than the 999 cc RSV4 Factory that’s used to compete in WSB. While both feature a fancy paintjob, the RS4 125 version also gets a single seat cowl, wavy discs, Pirelli Diablo Rossi II tyres and a quickshifter. It’s priced at £4,299 in the UK, which is only £200 more than the standard model. The RS4 50 replica meanwhile costs £3,099, an increase of just £50. Deliveries are expected to start in June. Related posts: Aprilia SRV 850 revealed Aprilia Dorsoduro 1200

Mazda has decided to give its RX-8 coupé a stay of execution. When the final run-out version, the RX-8 Spirit R , was announced late last year, the intention was to build just 1,000 examples. But now, thanks to strong demand, that production volume is going to be doubled. Availability will still be restricted to Japan, though. The Spirit R’s specification includes red brake calipers, piano black trim for the transmission tunnel, curtain and front side airbags and a choice of Aluminum Metallic, Sparkling Black Mica or Crystal White Pearl Mica paintwork. Models equipped with a six-speed manual gearbox also get Recaro front seats and 19” bronze alloy wheels, while those with a six-speed automatic transmission feature larger brakes, sports suspension, leather upholstery and gun metallic alloy wheels. Related posts: Mazda RX-8 Spirit R The end of the RX-8