Kia Optima
Kia has revealed the first details of the all-new Kia Optima, which will top the Korean car maker's Australian range when it is launched here in early 2001. With an overall length of 4.7 metres and a width of 1.8 metres, the Kia Optima is a large sedan that is luxuriously well equipped. Performance is provided with a choice of a 2.0 litre 101kW twin cam or a quad cam 2.5 litre 120kW V6 engine matched to a four speed automatic gearbox with Tiptronic-style manual gear selection. Full details of the Australian specification of the Kia Optima will be announced when it goes on sale in Australia in early 2001.
Subaru Tour to Telstra Rally Australia
Subaru Australia has launched travel packages to Telstra Rally Australia, with the opportunity to win one of ten rides in a Subaru World Rally Car, driven by either Richard Burns or Juha Kankkunen. Subaru has joined with Telstra Rally Australia, Events Corp and Events World Wide to offer packages from 8-13 November. The rally runs from 9-12 November.
Two packages, Gold and Premium, and two levels of rally passes are available. Premium VIP Package buyers will go into the draw for a ride in one of Subaru's World Rally Cars. The Gold Subaru package includes five nights' accommodation, airport transfers, on-site assistance from tour managers at rally stages, private bus transfers to country stages and an official Subaru merchandise pack. Premium VIP packages add an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of Rally Headquarters, an official VIP dinner (with the opportunity to meet Subaru's Australian and World Rally Team drivers), the official Telstra Rally Australia prize presentation and 10 chances to win a ride with a Subaru World Rally Team driver.
Bookings are limited to 100 people. They can be made with Events World Wide. Phone 03 5989 7666 or freecall 1800 813 588, Australia wide.
Waste as a Raw Material
Working with 26 supplier companies, DaimlerChrysler engineers are developing new concepts and manufacturing methods to increase the amount of recycled materials in the company's vehicles. Under the CARE Car project, the group has now developed two vehicles that optimize the use of recycled materials, including waste such as plastic bottles, glass, foamed material, carpet and used tyres. Ideas developed in the two CARE Car project vehicles - both Dodge Stratus models - will be assessed for wider use in DaimlerChrysler.
With these test vehicles, DaimlerChrysler is investigating a number of concepts for the introduction of products that are 85 percent recyclable by the year 2002. By 2005, every vehicle manufactured by DaimlerChrysler is to be recyclable to no less than 95 percent by weight.
Until now, the recycling of many materials was too expensive or not practical. The CARE Car project demonstrates where advancements are possible. The two Dodge Stratus test vehicles already contain a higher portion of recycled plastic than is required by DaimlerChrysler corporate criteria for the year 2005.
In the United States, 26 suppliers under the leadership of DaimlerChrysler have set out to devise new concepts and manufacturing methods for the two CARE automobiles, using recycled materials ("Concept for Advanced Recycling and Environment"). The principle objective is to uphold the company's high safety, comfort and quality standards while at the same time maintaining or even reducing the low level of costs. In one of the CARE Cars, the supplier developed a roof lining consisting entirely of PET, replacing a material mix that was used previously. The roof lining can now be removed and entirely recycled.
The CARE automobiles are being subjected to a series of performance and load tests that will continue into the year 2000. The engineers are investigating to what extent the materials comply with corporate quality requirements. The test results will show which of these new developments can then actually be incorporated into the manufacturing process.
The ideas presented in the CARE automobile are not restricted to the Dodge Stratus. The concepts are also destined to be implemented in further vehicle models of the Dodge, Jeep, Chrysler and Plymouth trademarks.
Subaru Outback Six
Subaru Australia has confirmed it will launch a six-cylinder version of its Outback All-Terrain Wagon by November. It will feature several technical innovations, including an all-new horizontally opposed 3.0-litre boxer engine and Subaru's new Vehicle Dynamics Control safety system, which activates to give drivers more control in potentially hazardous situations, such as when swerving. The car will also have a luxury interior, underlining its status as the range-topping Outback model.
Subaru Australia general manager Mr Nick Senior said: "Our research shows huge interest in a six cylinder Outback and its release will broaden the appeal of Outback to a new set of customers." Mr Senior said strong overseas demand for the six-cylinder engine meant limited access to the model in Australia into 2001
The Alfa Romeo Version of the Future
Alfa Romeo has been looking into its crystal ball to see what sort of car we could be driving in the next 20 years and it has coming up with some surprising ideas, including front wheels that steer completely independently of each other, driving via a computer mouse or even a touch screen, cars that sense the mood of the driver and change accordingly and, perhaps the most surprising of all, the return of cars with a separate chassis.
Alfa Romeo believes that within the next few years - probably as soon as 2005 - it will be producing prototype cars that use a complete "fly-by-wire" control system.
Moving forward from today's Alfa Romeo 156 Selespeed that uses a "fly-by-wire" throttle which is connected to the engine's computer which, in turn, controls the fuel flow to engine, these new cars will use a computer to control all vehicle systems. The engine would, in addition to the throttle, have computer controlled valve actuation; the gearbox would use either a next generation Selespeed system with complete computer control or a computer controlled continuously variable transmission (CVT); shock absorbers that can change their damping control thanks to fluids become thicker or thinner depending on computer-controlled levels of magnetism applied to them; steering that does away with the conventional steering rack and replaces it with electro hydraulic rams that can steer each front wheel independently; today's brakes and traction control systems - ABS and EBD - will be complimented by systems that change braking force as gears are changed, active computer programmes that will help the driver cope with emergencies and electric motors on each wheel that can brake the car and generate electricity.
Smart car keys that contain each driver's profile and preferences on how they like to have the car set up from seat positions to suspension settings will complement all these systems. Being fully adaptive, they will change for time of the day or week, for example a driver might like sporting responses on the way to work, quiet and comfortable on the way home and load carrying settings at the weekend, or just change as the driver's moods change.
By 2010, predicts the carmaker, all these system will have been melded together into a single, seamless control system for production cars and we will start to see the disappearance of conventional drivetrains. For example, the entire suspension, drive and steering system will be combined into a single unit for each wheel.
The driver, meanwhile could continue to control the car by entirely conventional controls such as the steering wheel, pedals, brakes and gear stick, with computers providing artificial, but entirely lifelike, feedback. And, because it is computer controlled, it can be changed as quickly and easily as a computer game, from a car that, for example, feels like a racing car to a softly sprung boulevard cruiser, in seconds.
Alternatively, just as pilots flying the Airbus 320, 330 and 340 aircraft have had the conventional aircraft 'yoke' replaced by a games console style joystick, the same method could be employed to drive a car. Plans are even underway to see if motorists would prefer to drive their cars with keypads, computer mice or voice controls. Research into these new control systems is already underway with the development of virtual reality driving simulators because the technology is not the issue; it is whether motorists want to control their cars as they would a computer.
Other than in four wheel drive cars, the separate chassis has disappeared from car design as manufacturers have striven to build cars more quickly and cheaply. The adoption of the monocoque body, where the panels are all joined together to provide the strength required, has made this possible. But it also means that the initial costs of setting up a new car for production are very high and means cars either have to be made in large volumes or have long production lives. This is further exacerbated by the desire for quality improvements that have seen very large single pressings, such as the entire side of a car, that boost quality but significantly increase production set up costs.
With the Fiat Multipla, the Fiat Group demonstrated an alternative. Instead of a few large pressings to make this unique people mover, it is made up from hundreds of small pressings. These are cheap to make because of their size and because techniques such as hydro forming - using water to shape the metal, not hydraulically controlled dies - are used. This means that the car is profitable after a very short production run, the design is not restricted by the suspension and engine hard points on which the car is based, and it can be changed quickly and easily to meet new market demands. Strict computer control of the production process ensures that quality is maintained. Indeed, in some ways, quality is actually improved as micro-adjustment to production processes is easy, quick and cheap.
For the next generation of Alfa Romeo cars, this process is being taken a stage further. The small panel production system will be used to produce a lower modular chassis and an upper, outer set of panels that would provide the style and character. The lower chassis would, as in the past, carry all the drivetrain components, but by being modular it can be changed in length, width, height, wheelbase and track to meet the needs of each model that uses it. On this sits a frame that holds all the counter panels. However, unlike old chassis designs, these two sections will not be rigidly attached to each other. They will be joined by sound and vibration absorbing blocks which, in turn, may be computer controlled to absorb different frequencies generated by different driving conditions. This system also frees the car stylist from many restrictions imposed by monocoque construction. With rigidity imposed by the lower chassis, convertibles, pillarless coupes and convertible bodies become easier, lighter and cheaper, for example.
Quickies
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