Automotive News Canada - July 2016 - 28

* JULY 2016

2017 MAZDA CX-4
Mazda's upcoming hatchback uses
the same platform as the Mazda3, but
is much taller and has added ground
clearance. A 2.0-litre four-cylinder
engine will be standard on frontwheel-drive versions, while all-wheeldrive CX-4s get a more robust 2.5-litre
four-cylinder. The CX-4 will launch in
China later this year, but likely won't
arrive in North America until 2018.

ROLLS-ROYCE VISION NEXT 100 CONCEPT
2017 SUBARU IMPREZA

2017 KIA CADENZA
Kia's near-luxury sedan receives new front-end
sheetmetal featuring two different grilles (depending on the model) and an updated interior. The car
now rests on a slightly lengthened platform that
cradles a returning 3.3-litre V6 and all-new eightspeed automatic transmission.

The volume model for
the brand gets a new look
(including revised interior
styling) and is built on a new
platform. Impreza sedans
and hatchbacks also receive
a revised 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine with more power
(152 versus 148 horses) that
connect to a five-speed manual transmission, or optional
continuously variable transmissions.

To celebrate BMW group's centennial, the automaker has created forward-looking designs of its primary brand as well as for its Mini and
Rolls-Royce divisions. The latter's Vision Next 100 is evocative, with
its "Grand Arrival" styling and "Grand Sanctuary" interior. RollsRoyce's anticipates that most vehicles will operate autonomously, but
shuns the idea that they must appear boring.

ASTON MARTIN AM-RB 001

This supercar is a collaboration
between the British automaker and
Red Bull's Formula One race team, specifically their respective designers,
Adrian Newey of Red Bull and Aston
Martin's Marek Reichman. Aston
Martin is supplying the naturally
aspirated V-12 engine that connects
to Red Bull's dual-clutch transmission. Up to 150 AM-RB models will
be built, beginning in 2018.

New engine is touted as stronger, more efficient than diesel
By KELLY TAYLOR
WINNIPEG CORRESPONDENT

OUTDOING THE OLD DIESEL
While the world awaits Volkswagen's
fix for its diesel-cheating scandal, researchers at the University of
Wisconsin Madison have developed an
engine considerably more efficient than
diesel and without diesel's significant
emissions problems.
The reactivity controlled compression ignition
engine, according
to Prof. Rolf Reitz,
achieves efficiency within one per
cent of the theoretical maximum
of 60 per cent for
internal combustions engines,
compared with diesel's approximate 40
per cent efficiency.
The engine uses both diesel and gasoline: a typical gasoline-air mixture is
injected into the cylinder, and near the
top of the compression stroke, a small
amount of diesel, which aerates to fill the
available space, is injected. The remaining compression stroke ignites the diesel,
which completely ignites the gasoline.
The prototype runs like a locomotive
in a modified Ford Escape: the engine

powers a generator that powers an electric motor.
The challenge now is to make it operate over a wide range of engine conditions so it can run like a conventional
engine.

THE NUTS AND VOLTS OF 48
Mercedes-Benz expects to introduce
48-volt electrical systems on some of its
high-end vehicles as early as next year,
while Delphi is promising a 10 per cent
boost in fuel economy from the 48-volt
system it is developing.
Math doesn't lie: electrical power is
a function of voltage and current, and
today's 12-volt systems just won't stand
up to tomorrow's electrical requirements,
or today's for that matter. At 48 volts
(12x4), a carmaker can either get four
times the power with the same amount
of current, or get the same power at
one-quarter the current. Either way, efficiency is improved.
In Mercedes'
case, the 48-volt
system will
allow it to power
a mild-hybrid
inline six-cylinder engine
expected in
some 2018 models, while avoiding the major safety issues of the 400- to
600-volt systems on today's gas-electric
hybrids.

ARMANI, HUGO BOSS, CANALI...TESLA?

MAZDAS AUTOMATE WEIGHT TRANSFER

Will you find your next car as you're
browsing for a new suit? Tesla Motors
and Nordstrom's hope so, with an experiment in automotive retailing certain to
make other
luxury carmakers take
notice.
Nestled
among the
high-end men's
wear in select
Nordstrom
stores in the
United States
are Tesla
kiosks, complete with a Tesla Model X,
ordering information and colour samples. The store-within-a-store concept
might be more about brand awareness
than actual sales, but the two brands
align well, according to analysts on
an online discussion recently
(http://www.retailwire.com/discussion/will-luxury-shoppersbuy-electric-cars-at-nordstrom/).
There's no word on whether the partnership will come to
Canada in its three Canadian
stores and three stories arriving
this fall, but could the idea take
off? Volvos at Ikea? Jaguars at
Holt and Renfrew? Fords at WalMart?

Take any advanced-driving course and
one of the first things you'll be taught is
weight transfer, particularly the benefit
of transferring weight (kinetic energy)
to the front wheels when you're about to
enter a corner.
That transfer plants weight on the
front wheels and improves their grip to
help steer you around the corner. It's usually something you have to do yourself,
by letting off the throttle slightly or even
dusting the brakes.
Now, new Mazdas will do it for you.
The new G-Vectoring Control detects the
start of a corner and retards valve timing just a bit; the resulting deceleration
offers up to 0.5-g of weight transfer forward, depending on how much the wheel
is turned. It's not enough to upset the car
and cause a spin, and most drivers likely
won't even feel it, according to Mazda.
The tech will appear first on the 2017
Mazda6 and then on the 2018 Mazda3.

http://www.retailwire.com/discussion/will-luxury-shoppers-buy-electric-cars-at-nordstrom/

Automotive News Canada - July 2016

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