Audi A1: MINI Sized Audi Confirmed, To Be Produced In Brussels Plant From 2009

Normally, the title should have been, "Audi takes control of former VW Brussels plant saving it from closure". However, since we have a never-ending love affair with the small print we concentrated on the part of Audi’s press release that confirms the production of the A1: “With the plant currently undergoing restructuring, the production volume of Audi Brussels will be around 84,000 vehicles this year. From the end of 2009, the Audi A1 will be built exclusively in Brussels.”

The A1 will succeed the ill-fated, aluminum A2, competing against rival MINI Cooper and the forthcoming Alfa Romeo Junior in the premium mini sector. To keep the development and construct costs low, the A1 will have a steel body using the VW Polo / Skoda Fabia / Seat Ibiza platform. While its quite early to say something about the engine-range, we suspect that Audi will equip the A1 with 1.4TSI (122 and 140Hp) and 1.8 TSFI (170Hp) petrol engines (the later probably with an S1 badge) along with a 2.0TDI available in 140 and 170Hp versions. What is that we hear you asking; RS1 with a 200Hp 2.0TFSI? Could be… -Press Release on Audi’s Brussels plant after the jump

Technorati: Audi, Audi+A1, cars, Carscoop, cars, autos, vehicles

Press Release: Brussels now part of the Audi family:

Audi takes over management responsibility at Brussels plant

Ceremony with Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt

New production capacity for further growth

Start of Audi A3 production with 30,000 cars a year

Production of Audi A1 from end of 2009

Audi Brussels to become important hub within Group

The Audi success story continues: following today’s ceremony at Audi Brussels, the Audi family now has a new member. With a workforce of around 2,200, the Brussels plant is to be integrated into the Audi production network. “We are putting the plant into good and safe hands,” said Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of AUDI AG. For Audi, the new plant is one of the requirements for achieving its strategic goal of building 1.5 million cars a year by 2015. Moreover, the production “turntable” between Ingolstadt and Brussels will open up the possibility for further increasing flexibility between the two plants.

In the presence of the Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG, Prof. Dr. Ferdinand K. Piëch, the Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, the Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG, Rupert Stadler, together with the Supervisory Board and the management of AUDI BRUSSELS S.A./N.V., the starting signal was given for the production of the Audi A3 Sportback and the “Four Rings” of Audi were symbolically unveiled. Three Audi A3 models in the colours of the Belgian flag – black, yellow and red – were presented on stage. The event’s guests of honour and speakers included Dr. Horst Neumann, Board Member for Human Resources and Director of Personnel at Volkswagen AG, Michael Riffel, Secretary-General of the European and World Group Works Council of Volkswagen AG, other representatives of the Volkswagen and Audi Boards of Management, the Audi Works Council and representatives of Belgian trade unions and politicians, including Members of the European Parliament.

With the plant currently undergoing restructuring, the production volume of Audi Brussels will be around 84,000 vehicles this year. From the end of 2009, the Audi A1 will be built exclusively in Brussels. “We are delighted to be able to add to our capacity in the Group thanks to the Brussels plant and a motivated team. We want to develop Audi Brussels into a benchmark within the Volkswagen Group with regard to production processes and productivity,” explains Audi Chairman Rupert Stadler.

Today’s assumption of management responsibility for the Brussels plant will also see the introduction of the successful Audi Production System. Continuous improvement processes, for example, which will permanently increase the economic efficiency of the plant, can be set in motion. “The Brussels plant is on the way up again. We can rely on the workforce’s outstanding qualifications,” explained Dr. Werner Widuckel, Board Member for Human Resources at AUDI AG and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Audi Brussels.

The framework conditions for a new collective agreement are laid down in a letter of intent, which was signed by the company management of AUDI AG and the Belgian trade unions on 12th March in Ingolstadt. Along with a 20 percent reduction in labour costs by 2009, these include a guarantee of jobs until 2010, flexible working hours on the basis of working time accounts, an income guarantee, a share in company profits, innovative work organisation, a more attractive workplace, through preventative health management for example, and training for the workforce. Widuckel: “The agreement is valid without any qualification, and will be implemented in every respect."

Negotiations for the collective agreement should be completed by the end of June. More than 76 percent of the workforce already voted in favour of the procedure in a referendum in March. “A clear verdict,” according to Alfons Dintner, spokesman of the Audi Brussels management. “The Brussels plant is determined to emerge from the restructuring process stronger and with a secure future ahead of it.” A further advantage is that Audi has already built the Audi A3 successfully at the Brussels plant between autumn 2004 and the end of 2005 and is therefore “best equipped for the new Audi era,” says Dintner.

Peter Mosch, Chairman of the General Works Council of AUDI AG, also sees the agreement as promising: “We are looking to the future in a positive frame of mind. The General Works Council and Audi’s employees are confident of rising to the forthcoming challenges. We know and have respect for our new colleagues in Brussels. Together, we now aim to continue to take Audi forward and achieve the targets we are striving for: growth and job security.”

The Brussels plant fits perfectly into Audi’s turntable concept. Producing volume models in two locations – such as the Audi A3 Sportback in Ingolstadt and Brussels – enables the company to respond flexibly to fluctuations in demand. This ensures a constant level of capacity utilisation at the plants and enables jobs to be protected in the long term. “Following complete restructuring, this production plant will have the potential to play a leading role in the car industry,” says Audi Board Member for Production, Frank Dreves.

In the 2006 financial year, Audi achieved record figures for production, vehicle sales, revenue and profit before tax. This trend continued in the first third of 2007. Worldwide vehicle sales rose by 9.4 percent to 332,900 units in the period January to April. Audi recently published a quarterly report on its revenue and profit for the first time. Compared with the same quarter of last year, the sales revenue of the Audi Group increased by 13.4 percent to EUR 8,679 (7,654) million. The operating result rose from EUR 350 to 401 million, an increase of 14.6 percent.

Mazda2 - Demio: 2008 JDM Version Gets New Naturally-Aspirated 1.3-liter Miller-cycle Engine

Rotar powered engines isn’t the only abandoned by others technology that Mazda continues to invest in. The Japanese firm also believes in the Miller-cycle tech developing a brand-new, naturally aspirated MZR 1.3-liter Miller-cycle engine for the 2008 Demio (known as the Mazda2 in overseas markets) when it goes on sale in Japan in July 2007. According to Mazda, the Miller-cycle engine powered Demio will be combined the firm’s first continuously variable transmission (CVT), achieving an avg. fuel consumption figure of 4.3 liters/100 -54.7 mpg (US). That’s a 20% improvement over the 5.2 liters/100 km - 45.2 mpg rating of the current model. As you can see in the press release that follows, Mazda hasn’t given out any power or performance figures.

But what exactly is a Miller-cycle engine? First of all, the name for the Miller-cycle engine was invented by an American engineer, Ralph Miller who patented his version of the forced induction Otto-cycle petrol engine in the 1940s. A traditional Otto cycle petrol engine uses four "strokes", of which two can be considered "high power" – the compression stroke (high power consumption) and power stroke (high power production). In the Miller cycle, the intake valve is left open longer than it would be in an Otto cycle engine. In effect, the compression stroke is two discrete cycles: the initial portion when the intake valve is open and final portion when the intake valve is closed. -Continued: Click “Read More…” below

This two-stage intake stroke creates the so called "fifth" cycle that the Miller cycle introduces. As the piston initially moves upwards in what is traditionally the compression stroke, the charge is partially expelled back out the still-open intake valve. Typically this loss of charge air would result in a loss of power. However, in the Miller cycle, this is compensated for by the use of a supercharger. The supercharger typically will need to be of the positive displacement type due its ability to produce boost at relatively low engine speeds. Otherwise, low-rpm torque will suffer. That does raise a few questions on the Demio’s naturally aspirated 1.3-liter Miller-cycle engine doesn’t it? (Miller-cycle engine info via: Wikipedia)

Technorati: Mazda, Mazda+Demio, Mazda2, cars, Carscoop, cars, autos, vehicles

PRESS RELEASE: Mazda Develops New Naturally-Aspirated MZR 1.3L Miller-cycle Engine

- The new MZR 1.3L engine powers the all-new Mazda Demio to achieve a fuel economy of 23.0 km/L and qualify for Japan's Green Tax exemptions -

HIROSHIMA, Japan—Mazda Motor Corporation has developed a new, naturally aspirated MZR 1.3L Miller-cycle engine, which will power the all-new Demio (known as the all-new Mazda2 in overseas markets) when it goes on sale in Japan in July 2007. In combination with Mazda’s first continuously variable transmission (CVT), the engine will assist the new Demio to achieve a 10-15 mode fuel economy of 23.0 km/L, an improvement of approximately 20 percent over the 19.2 km/L rating of the current model.

Newly developed from the current MZR 1.3L DOHC aluminum engine, the naturally-aspirated MZR 1.3L Miller-cycle engine employs delayed closing of the intake valves in order to reduce pumping losses and improve thermal efficiency through a higher expansion ratio. Intake valve timing is optimized by the Sequential Valve Timing System to provide improved fuel efficiency over the current MZR 1.3L engine when cruising and accelerating. In conjunction with the CVT, which transfers torque at low speeds without power loss and eliminates gear-shift shock, the setup achieves excellent fuel efficiency as well as a smooth and exhilarating ride.

In addition to this new, highly efficient powertrain, the all-new Demio has been made approximately 100 kg lighter than its predecessor through weight reduction techniques, which have resulted in nimble handling and significantly improved fuel economy.

The Demio model with the naturally aspirated MZR 1.3L Miller-cycle engine combined with the CVT transmission achieves a fuel economy that is rated as 20 percent or better than the level specified by Japan’s 2010 fuel economy standards. Exhaust emissions are also at least 75 percent lower than 2005 standards, which conforms to Japan’s Super Ultra-Low Emissions Vehicle (SU-LEV) standard and qualifies the Demio for Green Tax exemptions.

Through its Sustainable Zoom-Zoom plan that was announced in March 2007, Mazda declared its intention to pursue the harmony felt between driving pleasure and environmental and safety features, and its quest for an advanced Zoom-Zoom world. This includes the ongoing desire to create captivating design, to provide our customers with continual driving pleasure and to develop improved safety and environmental technologies.

Ford Focus Coupe 2009

Here’s an interesting proposition for the next generation Ford Focus; a coupe look for the 3door version. But wait, hasn’t Ford already done this? Well, maybe in the US with the redesigned 2008 US Focus, but not in Europe. US Focus similarities aside, we kinda dig Infomotori’s idea (but not the execution), for a coupe-like replacement for the third generation Focus 3d hatch. Although Infomotori suggests that the new Focus is due for a 2008 presentation, we doubt that Ford will change a model four years after its initial debut (2004 Paris Show). Keep in mind that the previous Focus stayed in production for 6 years, so a 2009/2010 date sounds more reasonable to us. Via: Infomotori

Technorati: Ford, Ford+Focus, Carscoop, blogs, automotive, vehicles

VW Golf "Night Driving": VW's Darkly Beautiful TV Spot

Without doubt, one of the best TV ads we’ve seen. Amazing how ad agency DBB London, managed to create a car advert that stimulated our “driving emotions” without actually showing much of the VW Golf. The dark city scenery is combined with Richard Burton's ominous radio delivery of Dylan Thomas’s play, “Under Milk Wood” which perfectly accentuates directors Noam Murro's breathtaking VW Golf spot. Just makes you want to stay awake till “all the people of the lulled and dumbfound town are sleeping” and take your car for a ride, doesn’t it… Via: Autoblog.com

"And all the people of the lulled and dumbfound town are sleeping now.

Hush, the babies are sleeping, the farmers, the fishers, the tradesmen and pensioners, cobbler, schoolteacher, postman and publican, the undertaker and the fancy woman, drunkard, dressmaker, preacher, policeman, the webfoot cocklewomen and the tidy wives.

Young girls lie bedded soft or glide in their dreams, with rings and trousseaux, bridesmaided by glow-worms down the aisles of the organplaying wood.... You can hear the dew falling, and the hushed town breathing.

Only your eyes are unclosed to see the black and folded town fast, and slow, asleep..."

"Under Milk Wood", 1954 by Dylan Thomas

Technorati: VW, VW+Golf, Ad, Carscoop, blogs, automotive, vehicles

2008 Renault Laguna III Scooped

Approximately five days (June 4, 2007) before Renault lifts the cover off its 2008 Laguna Sedan (5door) and Station Wagon and we discovered the first unmasked pictures of both versions. As expected, no surprises in terms of the Laguna’s exterior design, which isn’t much of a departure from the current version’s appearance. The only completely new thing we’re seeing here is the Laguna’s front end that’s inspired from the 2006 Paris Show Nepta Concept. Judging from these photos, we’d say Renault had better have some aces hidden under that lacklustre appearance if it seriously wants to lure customers away from rival models like the VW Passat and Ford Mondeo. For the interior pics along with the initial press release click here -Continued: Click "Read More.." for the 2008 Laguna Sedan image

Technorati: Renault+Laguna, Carscoop, blogs, automotive, vehicles

Ford X-MAX -or- How Ford’s Getting Ready To Mess Up Its Iosis-X Concept

Wow, check out that cool concept”. How many times have you said those words? Obviously as many times as, “how did the hell did they manage to …uck it up”, once you saw the production version. And from the looks of things, that’s going to be the case with the production version of Ford’s 2006 Paris Show study, the Iosis-X that’ll aim at rivals like the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V. Before you say that’s just a rendering from Autoexpress (left pic)), check out the camouflaged image of Ford’s upcoming compact crossover caught by Autozeitung (right pic). Compare the CGI with the actual spy pic and you’ll discover that Autoexpress folks did an impressively accurate job. Compare both with the Iosis-X concept and you’ll see a lost chance from Ford’s behalf. -Continued: Click "Read More..." below

Key phrase here is “retaining the Iosis-X’s design cues”. Remember that cause you’re definitely going be hearing a lot of it when the X-MAX or whatever its name’s is, goes on sale in 2008. Letdown aesthetics aside, the X-MAX (well call it X-MAX for the sake of the conversation) will be loosely based on the Ford Focus/ Volvo S40-V50/ Mazda3 platform and it will be most probably be offered in 2WD and 4WD versions. The latter will use Volvo’s simpler 4wheel-drive system rather than the complex 4WD system from the more expensive Freelander 2. While Autoexpress claims that it’ll be fitted with the same engine range as the current Focus, inside tipsters have told us it’ll feature a new array of motors that’ll also equip the facelifted Focus (premier in Frankfurt this September).

Pics Via: Autoexpress & Autozeitung

Technorati: Ford+X-MAX, Ford+Iosis-X, Ford, SUV, Carscoop, blogs, automotive, vehicles

Mazda MX-5 /Miata Based BMW Z9 Convertible Replica!

Long time, no see… Of course we’re referring to the absence of replicas from Carscoop the past few days but we guess the "Miata Z9" more than compensates. Found on eBay, this “one of a kind vehicle” as its seller describes it, is an 1994 Mazda MX-5 / Miata cross dressed (with a bit of imagination) as a BMW Z9 Convertible; a concept first seen at the 2000 Paris Show… and quickly forgotten by BMW fans.

Despite the bimmer engine cover, the Miata Z9 retains the factory 1.8-litre motor. Talking about fake parts, the Side exhausts are also just for looks. The seller’s original plan though was to connect the side exhausts but this has not been completed. The current asking price on eBay is $1.500. Since this is an unfinished project, if by chance, anyone of our readers acquires the “Bangled-up” Miata X9 car and completes it, please, please send us some pics! -Click "Read More…" for a detailed Image-gallery along with the vehicle's description

Technorati: Mazda, Mazda+MX-5, Miata, BMW, ebay, Replica, BMW+Z9, cars, Carscoop, cars, autos, vehicles

Vehicle Description

TITLE: Z9 Replica Kit Car Concept

This is a rare opportunity to get a one of a kind vehicle. Bid now before it’s gone!

You are looking at a one of a kind vehicle. This is a replica of a “2000 Convertible Concept Car” GERMAN inspired vehicle that never made it to production. This car gets compliments every time someone sees it.

Construction: The car is constructed out of fiberglass and aluminum, but mainly fiberglass. This unique car is built on a 1994 Mazda Miata Chassis with a CLEAR TITLE. The kit was purchased from ExoticRebodies in 2001.

Drive Train: The engine is the factory 1.8 Liter 16 valve Dual Over Head Cam. The engine runs good and uses Mobile 1 synthetic oil. There is a custom engine cover that is mounted on the motor. The 5 speed manual transmission shifts smoothly. This car has about 155,000 miles on the chassis and drive train. There is has a custom Engine cover mounted on the motor.

This vehicle comes with the 18" Konig rims. Functionality: This car has power windows Cold A/C All lights are working. The trunk works and opens wide. Both doors open. The hood opens wide for easy maintenance. 4 wheel disk brakes.

A lot of work was done to make sure that all the body lines were straight. Check out the door, hood and trunk gaps.

All pictures are recent and were taken a few days ago.

WORK THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE: Body work needs to be completed. (Some parts on the car are still rough.) The car needs a paint job. Convertible top needs to be repaired. Power windows need to be greased. (They work, but move a little slow). All emblems. Needs Side Mirrors. Door window moldings need replacement. Glove box handle needs to be replaced.

What you see in the pictures is what you get. We are not trying to scam anyone, this is a project car. We encourage you to come and take a look at this vehicle before bidding. This vehicle is located in Jacksonville, FLORIDA.

Via: ebay