Automotive News Canada - February 2017 - 19

* FEBRUARY 2017

NISSAN VMOTION 2.0 CONCEPT: At January's Detroit auto show,
this sleek sedan won the 2017 EyesOn Design Award for Best
Concept Vehicle. It's said to be a precursor of the next
generation Nissan Altima, although the reverse-opening
doors are unlikely to make production.

TOYOTA CAMRY: It has long been a faithful,
but unremarkable friend to buyers, loyal and
dependable, but lacking panache. The 2018
Camry maintains Toyota's core values and adds
flair and sophistication, making it a much more
inviting proposition against the Honda Accord
and Ford Fusion.

2018 FORD F-150: Along with new

front-end styling, the updated
2018 Ford F-150 will be available
with a quartet of engine choices,
including a new base 3.3-litre V-6
(replacing the 3.5-litre V-6) and
a new 3.0-litre V-6 turbo-diesel.
The updated F-150 goes on sale
this fall.

KIA STINGER

The new sedan, arriving in 2017, is a bold offering from the Koreabased automaker. Two turbocharged engines
are available, the top one being a V-6 that produces more than 360 horsepower. Kia
says the Stinger is the fastest
and best-handling car the
company has ever
built.

LEXUS LS 500: The flagship

luxury sedan from Lexus is
new for 2018 and boldly styled
inside and out. It won the 2017
EyesOn Design Award for
Design Excellence - Interior
Design, at the recent Detroit
auto show. Key features
include a new turbocharged
V-6 that produces 415 horsepower, and a 10-speed automatic transmission.

Device plugs in to nearly-new Fords to add connectivity
By KELLY TAYLOR
WINNIPEG CORRESPONDENT

FORD WILL LAUNCH SMARTLINK,
a device that plugs into any car's OBD
II diagnostic port and upgrades it to
include: smartphone-based remote
start, lock and unlock; a 4G WiFi
hotspot with capacity for eight devices;
vehicle-health-and-security alerts and
vehicle-location assistance.
"Ford SmartLink will surprise and
delight owners of recent model-year
vehicles by adding some of today's
most popular connectivity features,"
said Stephen Odell, Ford's
executive vice-president,
global marketing and
sales.
Ford has worked with
Delphi Automotive and
Verizon Telematics to
try to ensure the device,
available this summer,
integrates seamlessly
with 2010-2016 Ford and Lincoln vehicles.

STUDS CHANGE GAME FOR NOKIAN
THE NEW NOKIAN HAKKEPELIITTA
9 winter tire is designed for a new level
of grip while reducing road noise and
rolling resistance, the Finnish tire company said in a press release.
Calling the new design a "functional
stud concept," Nokian said the new tire

uses two different types of studs: one
type down the middle maximizes grip
on straight-line
acceleration and
braking; while the
other on the shoulders provides grip
in corners. Nokian
also said the stud
bodies are beveled
to give greater penetration into ice
(PHOTO: NOKIAN)
and that the studs'
shape - and an air pocket in the lower
flange - minimizes road wear.
The tread compound combines silica, canola oil, natural
rubber and what Nokian
calls "Green Elasto Proof"
biomaterial to maintain
low-temperature elasticity. The company says canola oil improves the tear
strength of the compound.
The new tires, available
for cars and utility vehicles,
will be on sale in Canada in late 2017.

GM SHARES TECH WITH DEVELOPERS
GENERAL MOTORS IS OPENsourcing its infotainment systems,
offering the NGI SDK software development kit to allow global developers
to program and test in-vehicle applications.
With the software, apps can be
designed to work using HTML5 and

JavaScript. The kit also includes GM's
application program interfaces, giving developers access to 400 data points
available on a vehicle's network.
What it means is that innovative
designers could find new ways to use
such data as instrument-panel measurements such as speed, odometer
or engine speed; information showing
whether windows are open or closed;
features
such as
the backup camera
or radio
and maintenance
data such
as oil life,
GM's software-developtire presment kit gives developsure or
ers access to 400 points burned-out
of data from the car's
bulbs or
computer infrastructure.
low wash(PHOTO: GM CANADA)
er fluid.
GM
says data usage by customers rose 200
per cent from 2015 to 2016, and application use hit an all-time high in 2016
with more than 225 million interactions.

PEOPLE, THE FORGOTTEN TECHNOLOGY
LOST IN THE RUSH TO DEVELOP
autonomous cars, Volvo says, are the
people who will use them.
The carmaker recently introduced

Alex, Filippa, Smilla and Paula Hain
are the test subjects for Volvo's
autonomous-vehicle program.
( P H O T O : V O LV O C A R S C A N A D A )

something it thinks will put its autonomous-car program ahead of the others;
a family.
The Hain family lives in
Gothenburg, Sweden, and is said to be
the first to take part in a real-life autonomous-car research program. Volvo
intends to put a fleet of 100 self-driving cars on the streets of Gothenburg
this year to study how the cars interact
with traffic and people.
The program will expand to other
cities around the world.
"We want to learn more around how
people feel when they engage and disengage autonomous drive, what the
handover should be like, and what
sorts of things they would do in the
car when it's driving them to the destination," said Henrik Green, senior
vice-president, research and development at Volvo Car Group. - ANC

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Canada - February 2017