Entries from February 2009 ↓

All new Tiida (Codename X12C) firstly introduce Sedan before Hatchback version to expand width body by 1,740-1,760 mm. based on B-platform,Extreamly performance a new enginrange from HR16DET 180 HP 20-25 kg/m.

Sale target New Tiida Sedan  late 2010.

- Unique interior-concept prototype developed from painstaking research -

TOKYO (February 27, 2009) – It is almost painful to watch Nissan designer Naoki Yamamoto get out of a test car. To understand the challenges aging drivers face, the 39-year-old interaction specialist is encased in a proprietary “aging suit” that gives him the mobility and faculties of a driver twice his age. “Sure, it’s uncomfortable,” Yamamoto says, “but to really understand a problem you have to feel it in your bones.”

At an “Interaction Design Workshop” today at the Nissan Design Center in Atsugi, Japan, Yamamoto demonstrated to reporters one of many methods Nissan’s Interaction Design team employs in a continuing effort to make future car interiors easier to understand and more comfortable to use.

Interaction design covers all aspects of the interface between people and cars. How do we understand which knob does what – and how it’s supposed to work? Where do we expect to find it? How can one design meet the diverse needs of people big and small, strong and weak all over the planet? And how does the experience make people feel?

Feelings – emotional responses to what people see, touch, hear and smell in a car – are absolutely critical to the success of any design. Feelings are also inherently and frustratingly subjective – which is why quantifying and analyzing them is among the paramount tasks of interaction design. For example, how much resistance feels right when turning a knob? What makes leather feel richer than a synthetic alternative?

Careful observation is vital, and Nissan’s interaction designers spend countless hours looking for signs of awkwardness as people interact with their vehicles. When not physically uncomfortable – as wearing the “aging suit” – the work can be mind-numbing. “Some days we watch hours and hours of video of different people doing the same thing,” says Associate Chief Designer Etsuhiro Watanabe says. “But the biggest challenge is figuring out what to look for.”

Sometimes the remedy can be ridiculously simple – like putting a small arrow by the fuel gauge so rental-car drivers don’t have to get out to see which side the tank is on.

But as on-board electronic functions proliferate, interiors become ever more complex and the need for interaction design becomes acute. So in 2005 Nissan created the Interaction Design Team to ensure logic and simplicity are not sacrificed. This move represents a key “Life on Board” initiative in Nissan’s four-fold technology strategy. (Safety, Environment and Dynamic Performance are the other three.)

“We’re a small team relative to the whole Nissan Design department,” Watanabe says. “But consistent with what we call ‘the Nissan Way’ we work cross-functionally with other teams in Design, Engineering, Product Planning, Marketing and Sales as well as Purchasing. It’s hard to know exactly what competitors are doing, but we suspect we’re among the leaders in our field. And our results are quickly incorporated in new products.”

Centerpiece of today’s workshop was BUI-2 – as in, “Best Usability Interior” – second-stage prototype of a unique interior concept incorporating leading-edge ergonomic features developed from the Interaction Design team’s research efforts.

Until you open the door, BUI-2 looks any other current-model Nissan Note. Even once behind the wheel, the interior layout feels so logical and familiar it takes a moment to feel surprised by what you find.

“That’s exactly the reaction we want,” Watanabe says. “What you see as you get behind the wheel should be instantly understandable and reassuring. You shouldn’t need a manual to know what to do next.”

The steering wheel itself is the first thing you notice: a compact oval that impedes neither knees nor sightlines to the instrument panel. With spokes linked to the steering column at 4:30 and 7:30 (as on a clock face) fingers find a comfortable grip at 3 and 9 o’clock (the Nissan-recommended posture). And yet palms find no resistance as they slide around the wheel when turning.

Hands need not leave the wheel at 3 and 9 o’clock as all controls on the steering-wheel hub – such as audio and cruise control – are within easy thumb’s reach. The left index finger can just as easily operate an electronic gearshift paddle at 10 o’clock. As the eye intuitively follows the finger, gear selections are sensibly displayed right next to the paddle.

Once the car begins to move, the eyes need never travel far. All drive-critical information is clearly displayed within the driver’s field of vision, between the top of the steering wheel and the road ahead. Video screens at left and right of the main cluster show what’s happening at the front bumper corners with sightlines so natural you might think they were windows. And glare is never an issue thanks to displays shaded by an arched dash.

Peripheral controls such as onboard navigation, climate control and mirror adjustment are laid out with equally intuitive logic: immediately visible, comprehensible and right where you would expect them.

Nowhere is the interaction challenge greater than with two functions that have frustrated generations of car designers: “ingress” and “egress.” Getting in and out of a car is physically awkward – especially for today’s older and larger users. But the Nissan team’s methodical approach is yielding results.

“Egress,” getting out of a car, is a complex, multi-step process that involves pulling a small handle, pushing a large and necessarily heavy door, sliding legs sideways, then using arms and legs in an effort to step out and down at the same time.

Nissan’s Interaction Design team has focused on the first steps in this process.

“Watch how different people grasp the same door handle,” Watanabe told workshop participants viewing a research video. “Men wrap fingers round the latch and push the door out with their elbows. Women use one hand for the latch and push with the other. People approach left and right side doors differently.”

“What we observed,” Watanabe continued, “is that since fingers approach the latch from several different angles, it has to be ergonomically efficient no matter how you grasp it.”

That insight led to the team’s simple but elegant oyster-shaped latch design used in BUI-2, and already incorporated in the new Fairlady Z and Nissan Cube.

Going a step further, the team realized users needed a better grip when swinging the unlatched door. That led to an easy-to-grip molded ridge running along the inside of each door parallel to the bottom of the window. Just below the latch is a sculpted knob that can be grasped to swing the door open or shut.

In the ongoing struggle for ease of egress, the Interaction team’s latch, ridge and knob comprise a significant advance that will quickly benefit customers.

“Sometimes our painstaking efforts may not be obvious to the customer,” says Watanabe. “But our work is very gratifying when we’re able to make life on board better for Nissan’s customers.”

The refreshed Volvo S80 – first class exclusiveness and driving properties

The refreshed Volvo S80 is the result of an intensive dialogue between Volvo Cars’ project group and the discerning customers in the premium sedan segment. “We are ready to give the competition a tough match. With the new S80, we’re placing the bar at the very highest level when it comes to exclusiveness, quality and driving properties,” says Volvo Cars President and CEO Stephen Odell.

The refreshed Volvo S80 is being unveiled for the very first time at the Geneva Motor Show in early March and sales will start in spring 2009.

Building on great success in key markets such as Russia, Volvo Cars’ large sedan model takes centre stage with far greater self-assurance than ever, the result of a more distinctive and elegant design, a more exclusive interior and a sharper chassis and upgraded engine range.

“From the outside, the refreshed S80 looks both larger and more elegant. But we’ve also given it a tougher face. In Germany, they talk about the “böser blick”, that is to say the front of the car should look rather menacing when it fills the rear-view mirror of the car in front,” explains Volvo Cars Design Director Steve Mattin. He adds:

“However, the refreshed S80 should not just be seen, it has to be experienced. The atmosphere inside is both more comfortable and luxurious, with an increased aura of craftsmanship. We’ve also made the interior more driver-oriented, not least with a new steering wheel and upgraded instruments. Our chassis and engine experts have made sure the driving experience is as exclusively attractive as the interior is.”

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The sporty compact car Subaru and Toyota were developing together has been put on hold because of the worldwide economic slowdown, both companies confirm.

The program had been developing a pair of sporty small cars for sale by both automakers in 2011. The companies’ other high-profile collaboration, the assembly of Toyota Camrys in Subaru’s Lafayette, Ind., plant, remains intact.

Toyota took a small stake in Subaru when GM ended its relationship with the all-wheel drive specialist in 2005.

The 2+2 compact sporty car had been slated to use a version of the Subaru Impreza’s platform, horizontally opposed boxer engine and transmission. It reportedly modified Subaru’s all-wheel drive drivetrain to a rear-drive setup and moved the engine slightly rearward in the chassis to improve weight distribution.

The car would have filled one of the few obvious gaps in Toyota’s lineup, a small and affordable sporty car.

It would also have given Subaru a performance model priced below the $24,995 all-wheel drive Impreza WRX.

The Toyota and Subaru models reportedly had different exterior designs.

source : By Mark Phelan via Freep.com

Toyota’s revolutionary iQ, the world’s smallest four-seat passenger car, will adopt Toyota’s 99bhp (100 DIN hp) 1.33-litre Dual VVT-i engine from July.

Benefiting from Toyota Optimal Drive technology and equipped with the economy-boosting Stop & Start system, the new engine will give iQ combined cycle fuel consumption of 58.9mpg and CO2 emissions of 113g/km, using the standard six-speed manual transmission. Toyota’s seamless Multidrive transmission will also be available, giving 55.4mpg and 120g/km (mpg and CO2 figures provisional, subject to final homologation).

In spite of its compact dimensions, iQ has been designed to offer the highest levels of occupant protection and is fitted as standard with a comprehensive range of active and passive safety equipment and pedestrian impact protection. The performance of these and the effectiveness of the iQ’s multi-load path body structure have been proven in independent Euro NCAP crash testing, earning the car a top five-star safety rating.

Tata Motors on Thursday announced that the much-awaited Tata Nano will be launched at a function in Mumbai on March 23, 2009.

The cars will be on display at Tata Motors [Get Quote] dealerships from the first week of April 2009. Bookings will commence from the second week of April 2009.

Since it’s unveiling on January 10, 2008, the Tata Nano has evoked an unprecedented interest in the country, with its Web site having recorded over 30 million hits in the past one year and the creation of over 6,000 interest groups and communities.

Tata Motors is making arrangements for the widest possible network to book the car, so that prospective customers can conveniently avail of booking facilities at their locations, across the length and breadth of India. The booking process and other details will be announced on March 23, 2009.

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC), in cooperation with its Hong Kong distributor Universal Cars Ltd., today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Environment Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China regarding local evaluation of the zero-emissions i MiEV*1 electric vehicle.

As an investigative step toward possible future introduction of the electric vehicle, the proposed project would begin as early as May 2009 and would examine issues including market acceptability, as well as incentives and structural issues such as the suitability of the charging infrastructure.

Announced in October 2006, the i MiEV represents the pinnacle of Mitsubishi Motors’ green technologies. Currently involved in testing and promotional activities in Japan, New Zealand, the United States and across Europe, the i MiEV will be launched in Japan during the summer of 2009.

*1 MiEV: Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle

Protoscar unveils the unique features of “LAMPO”: the electric sporty showcar powered by renewable energy. Protoscar SA will unveil LAMPO – a full size sport cabriolet – at the next Geneva Motor Show on March 2nd, 2009 (stand 5141 in the e-mobile area). LAMPO is powered by two BRUSA electric motors (one rear and one front), optimized for maximizing acceleration and regenerative braking respectively. They deliver a total output of 268 HP and a torque of over 440 Nm. The lightweight Lithium-Ion battery pack with a capacity of 32 kWh allows for a range of over 200 km. LAMPO shows that also a zero-emission electric vehicle can offer the same performance as a traditional sporty car.

The primary energy source used for charging the LAMPO has been in existence for more than 4.5 billion years and has demonstrated to be rather reliable: it’s the sun. The exploitation of solar energy for LAMPO is possible thanks to a 16 kWp photovoltaic plant located in Seggiano, Tuscany.

Never before a premium driving pleasure like the one of the LAMPO has been achieved at such an optimal level of overall “Well-to-Wheel” energy efficiency – and zero emissions. However, even if the LAMPO was “filled up” with today’s particularly clean Swiss electricity mix, the WtW CO2 emissions of this vehicle would only account for about 7 g/km! Considering the EU electricity mix projection scenario for 2020, elaborated by Eurelectric, the WtW CO2 emission would still be limited to about 40 g/km.

Through the showcar LAMPO, Protoscar and its partners aim to demonstrate new technologies which include absolute innovations such as “intelligent charging” or interactive GPS-based “range estimator” – and discuss potential applications
together with car manufacturers, in order to implement these solutions into their plans for future CleanCars.

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Nissan Motor Co. said Thursday that inventory levels have dropped low enough to ease domestic production cuts in March.

Facing plunging sales, Nissan said earlier this month that shift elimination, work stoppages and shorter working hours will help reduce global production by 20 percent, or 787,000 vehicles, from its initial plan by the end of this fiscal year through March.

It also aimed to reduce inventory by 20 percent to 480,000 vehicles from 630,000 in March 2008.

The tighter inventory management is now “bearing fruit,” said Nissan spokeswoman Pauline Kee.

Nissan, which expects to lose money this fiscal year, slashed production in Japan by about 60 percent in January and 70 percent in February. It plans to lighten those cuts to roughly 50 percent in March and will produce 60,000 to 70,000 units, according to Kyodo news agency.

Kee declined to provide specific production goals for the month or which factories would be affected. Local media estimates are not based on official information from the company, she said.

Tokyo-based Nissan, allied with Renault SA of France, is the nation’s third-biggest automaker, manufacturing the Altima sedan and March compact.

Its domestic rivals are also expecting output to pick up slightly in the months ahead.

Toyota, which has been working hard to reduce excess inventory by stopping assembly lines on some days, is expected to achieve normal inventory levels by May.

Still, a complete recovery in production is unlikely to materialize anytime soon as economies around the world continue to deteriorate and consumers hold off on buying new cars.

Government data Wednesday showed that Japan posted a record trade deficit in January, with exports tumbling 46 percent from a year earlier. Exports to the U.S. fell 53 percent, with car shipments down 81 percent on a value basis.

Nissan expects a 265 billion yen ($2.7 billion) net loss for the fiscal year through March and announced 20,000 job cuts earlier this month.

Kia will be displaying an all-new MPV concept, a range of Idle Stop & Go cars and an
innovative Hybrid at the 79th Salon International de l’Auto which opens in Geneva on 3 March. There will be a total of 18 vehicles on the Kia stand [Stand 5231, Hall 5] including three models making their first appearance in Switzerland – the Kia Soul, upgraded 2009 Kia Sportage compact SUV and upgraded, new-look 2009 Kia Magentis sedan.

Kia No 3 Concept Car
All-new, the Kia No 3 Concept Car redefines the small MPV genre by creating a beautiful car that is also fun-to-drive. The concept features a unique extended windscreen and panorama glass roof with a diagonal supporting bar, an automatic sun visor and the new ‘face of Kia’ displays the front grille, head lamps and brand logo in a new constellation. The 4045 mm long concept is finished in matt Titanium Grey with contrasting gloss-white accents.

Kia cee’d ISG
The new Kia cee’d ISG (Idle Stop & Go) models, which offer up to 15% fuel savings in city driving, are now on sale in many countries across Europe. Kia’s innovative ISG
system automatically switches the engine off when the car is stopped in traffic and restarts the engine instantly when the driver wishes to move off. Kia cee’d ISG cars are available with a choice of 1.4-litre and 1.6-litre gasoline engines and each of the three cee’d family bodystyles – five-door hatchback, five-door sporty wagon and three-door pro_cee’d. The 1.4-litre ISG models at Geneva have a 137 g/km CO2 rating.

Kia cee’d Hybrid
Kia Motors has produced a fleet of prototype Kia cee’d Hybrid cars especially for testing and evaluation in Europe. The cee’d Hybrid uses an upgraded powertrain with Kia’s Gamma 1.6-litre gasoline engine, mated to a 15kW, 105 Nm AC synchronised
electric motor, a CVT transmission and the new ISG (Idle Stop & Go) system. Kia
calculates that the cee’d Hybrid accelerates to 100 kph in 11.8 seconds and can reach a top speed of 185 kph. The prototype achieves fuel consumption of 4.81 litres per 100 km and a CO2 figure of 109 g/km – down 25% compared to the standard 1.6-litre gasoline cee’d.