Industry gets connected

The Los Angeles Auto Show held its first Connected Car Expo as a precursor to the first press day, which attracted dozens of exhibits showcasing the latest automotive technologies.

Audi revealed more details about its first-ever 4G LTE-equipped vehicle, the Audi A3 and S3 sedans. Coming to U.S. showrooms this spring, the A3 and S3 sedans represent some of the most advanced connected car technology available in the entry-level luxury segment.

Among the features available through its Audi Connect suite of services are picture navigation, read-aloud Facebook and Twitter alerts, access to more than 3,000 Internet broadcast stations worldwide, personalised RSS news feeds and a new Audi Connect mobile app that allows advanced functionality between an Audi driver's smartphone and their car's MMI infotainment system.

Other exhibitors showing off their latest advancements in the connected car world included Airbiquity, Covisint, Hertz Never Lost, Hyundai, Nokia HERE, Onstar, QNX, Qualcomm, Sprint, Telenav, Verizon, Volkswagen, Livio, Parkopedia, Clip Interactive, and Productification.

BMW opens up the 4 Series for 2014

BMW gave a world premiere to the second model in its 4 Series range at Tokyo while offering a first show glimpse into a forthcoming third model.

The 4 Series Cabriolet follows the Coupe launched just a few months ago, while the high-performance M4 Coupe Concept, which made its debut at Pebble Beach recently, is appearing at an international exhibition for the first time.

The 4 Series Cabriolet will replace the former open-top 3 Series. BMW is rebranding the more glamorous versions of the 3 Series while continuing to offer the practical models under their current badging. It will do the same with the 1 Series, re-christening some versions as the 2 Series.

The 4 Cabrio is already in production and is set to go on sale in March, initially as the 435i, 428i and 420d. Further engines will be added soon afterwards.

Dr Ingo Lasslop, the head of product management for both the 2 and 4 Series, says the emphasis with the new car was greater acoustic comfort in the cabin and improved accessibility for loading.

The three-piece retractable hard top has a noise-absorbing roof liner which lowers sound levels in the rear of the cabin by 2dB and makes normal conversation possible at speeds of 160km/h, says Lasslop. There is also a new design of windbreak, which improves the comfort of occupants when the car is being driven top-down.

BMW's compact convertible now has a load assistance switch which raises the rear of the hard top when the car is closed to make it easier to through-load into the cabin.

The US will be by far the major market for the car, followed by Germany and the UK, but China is coming up fast. These four countries will account for 66% of production. 'The Chinese market is small but it is growing and the sheer size of the country puts it on the landscape,' said Lasslop.

The importance of the Far East, and particularly Japan, for high-performance cars was decisive in BMW choosing Tokyo for the first show airing of the virulent green M4 Coupe Concept. If BMW follows its usual chronology, we can expect to see a production version soon, at either Detroit or Geneva.

MINI makes its debut in Japan

The New MINI began its worldwide roll out at the Tokyo Motor Show.

The new model will be available in Japan with three and four cylinder petrol engines. It will be able to access Facebook and Twitter and will even get its own Japanese navigation and infotainment system.

The man in charge of exterior design, Christopher Weil said that despite its ‘New’ label, the MINI remains true to its roots, although the focus has been on the hexagonal grille rather than the famous headlamps.

'But much of the design is typical MINI,' he said. 'It has typical MINI landscaping which you can see from the bonnet and there is a little more sculpting along the sides to give the car a better stance on the road. You can also see the design cues from the original car with its short front and rear overhangs.'

The new MINI will go on sale in Japan this year.

New MINI moves on to the US

The New MINI road show moved to its third continent in as many days, making its US debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

North America is now MINI’s largest market. BMW board member, Peter Schwarzenbauer, said the US had become the iconic car’s second home since it was launched there in 2002.

He added: 'Many people said that a small car could not succeed in America but we have proved them wrong. We now have 500,000 customers in the US. We have also proved that small cars can embody premium.'

MINI sales in North America have already topped 55,000 this year and Schwarzenbauer said he was confident that 2013 will achieve a new record. 'We have nearly doubled the dealer network in the past three years from 65 to 120 and we are also having a lot of success in South and Central America.

'Mexico is currently MINI’s fastest growing market, and one in three BMW vehicles sold there is a MINI. Sales in Brazil are also up 20% this year.'

Heading north, he added that sales in Canada had grown 38% in the past three years.

'Worldwide sales in the first 10 months have already exceeded 250,000 despite the on-going economic problems in Europe. With MINI we created the small premium segment and have sold 2.5 million models since it was first launched. The new MINI will ensure that we stay at the leading edge of the segment because nothing can touch the emotional appeal of the car.'

Jaguar banks on aluminium

As well as taking the wraps off the new F-TYPE Coupe, Jaguar used the Los Angeles Show to present the latest iteration of the C-X17 SUV concept.

While the car looks stunning with its new paintwork called Liquid Aluminium, design chief Ian Callum said: 'The C-X17 demonstrates the potential of our new aluminium architecture. When we first showed it at the Frankfurt Show in September it was the most reviewed car there.

'The response to the concept has gone way beyond what we imagined it would be. These are certainly exciting times for Jaguar with the F-TYPE transforming the image of the brand worldwide.

'The new Coupe is a true sports car which, along with the Cabriolet, returns Jaguar to its spiritual roots. The F-TYPE is the most exciting car I have ever worked on.'

The new Coupe was launched almost simultaneously at the LA and Tokyo shows.

Range Rover at a stretch

The new long wheelbase Range Rover unveiled at the Los Angeles Show was always in the product plan when the latest version of the luxury off-roader was under development.

Head of design, Gerry McGovern, said: 'We had always planned for a long wheelbase for certain markets and the key to the look of the car is that it doesn’t look like a stretched version. If it passed you on the road you would think it was a normal Range Rover.'

In fact it is 200mm longer and offers 186mm additional legroom in the rear. It is primarily aimed at markets such as China and the Middle East where owners often use chauffeurs as well as North America, which has already placed an order for 100 of them.

The special Valloire White paintwork as revealed on the show car will retail at $199,000 in the US.

Engines come from the standard Range Rover model, the 5.0-litre supercharged petrol V8 and the 4.4-litre V8 diesel. There is also talk of a hybrid long wheelbase version later in 2014.

Race to unveil new F-TYPE Coupe

The big show-biz style event may have been happening in front of invited guests in Los Angeles, but the new Jaguar F-TYPE Coupe was given its first public airing, as it was simultaneously unwrapped at the Tokyo Motor Show.

Not to be outdone by Tinseltown, the Tokyo event had its own celebrity, Japanese TV personality Norico, who made the introductions.

The Coupe will be launched in the middle of next year and will share the same V8 and V6 engines as the Cabriolet, which took to the road earlier this year.

As well as a change of body style, the Coupe will also differ from the Cabriolet with the introduction of the higher performance R model powered by a 550hp version of the V8 with 0–60 acceleration in just four seconds.

Chief designer Al Whelan said that the R version will get an enhanced interior specification with more stitching detail and a carbon fibre effect centre console. Otherwise Coupe models share pretty much the same interior as the Cabriolet apart from the additional rear bulkhead and parcel tray.

Whelan added that the Coupe remains fairly close to the C-X16 concept seen at the Frankfurt Motor Show. 'There have obviously been a few changes to get the car production ready but what we have achieved is a car that's stiffer and faster.'

One thing that had to go, he said, was the sideways-opening rear hatch. “This came from the original E-Type but when we looked at the concept rationally, and at what customers want, we ended up with the conventional uplifting hatch door but I don't think this has reduced the impact. The car looks stunning from the rear.

'We have worked hard with the engineers to get as much space as possible in the load area and pocket out every millimetre of space. Officially there is 407-litres of space, certainly enough space to get in two sets of golf clubs.'

The Mann behind the return of Datsun

The reintroduction of the Datsun brand this year is being masterminded by a man who started his career with Nissan when the company’s UK Sunderland plant opened 25 years ago.

Trevor Mann was a line leader then. In January he takes over the brand new role within Nissan of chief operating officer.

'I will be the head of the Datsun business unit,' he said at the Tokyo Motor Show. 'We are currently at the introduction stage. We unveiled our first car, the Goal, in India in June-July and the Goal Plus in Indonesia in September–October. We will start production in India in early 2014.'

Datsun will initially be introduced in four markets – India, Russia, Indonesia and South Africa. 'These are cars suitable for specific markets,' said Mann, 'but I wouldn't be surprised if we got requests from other markets later.'

Mann describes his new role within Nissan as “the glue between the regions.” Nissan has split its operations up into six areas instead of the previous three to ensure greater local focus within a global conglomerate.

As part of his new job he will be responsible for helping Nissan to hit its Power 88 targets – 8% profitability on its operations and an 8% worldwide market share.

Volvo makes a return

Volvo made a return to the Tokyo Motor Show after pulling out, along with many other foreign brands, following the global financial crisis. It’s a comeback based on rising sales in Japan.

Sales in 2013 had risen more than 25% compared with 2012 and reached their highest since the late 1990s. Volvo Japan execs said that its best seller has been the V40 which was voted the 2013 Imported Car of The Year in the country.

Nothing new on the stand, but the company gave another airing to its Concept Coupe to give show-goers an insight into the design direction the Swedish company is taking. The concept sits on Volvo’s new modular SPA platform, which will be the base for models from the S60 up, the first will be the XC90 due at the end of next year.

The Concept Coupe also previews Volvo's new plug-in hybrid technology, which it says will give V8 performance but with the economy of a four-cylinder.

Suzuki’s view to hype next Grand Vitara

Suzuki’s iV-4 concept gives a strong clue as to what the new Grand Vitara will look like when it is launched in 2015.

It clearly has the likes of the Renault Captur and Nissan Qashqai in its sights.

The concept features Suzuki’s next generation ALLGRIP four-wheel drive system and alongside the iV-4 the company showed off the Crosshiker, a small crossover, and the X-Crawler which features a hybrid four-wheel drive system and a 1.3-litre engine with a new automated manual transmission.

Suzuki’s other concept, the HUSTLER is described by the company as a crossover for people who “love nature, love the outdoors, and love sports.”

Macan gives Porsche new entry model

Porsche’s much-anticipated new Macan compact SUV does not compromise the brand but it will make it more accessible.

Launching the car at the Los Angeles Auto Show, president and chief executive officer, Mattias Muller said; “We have been accused of being controversial in the past when we launched the Cayenne but when people got in the car they soon realised that it drove like a true Porsche and it brought new customers to the brand.

'Now we are bringing Porsche capabilities to the booming compact SUV segment and the Macan will make the marque accessible to many people who did not think they would one day own a Porsche.'

It comes with a choice of three high performance engines including two new twin turbo petrol units and a diesel turbo.

Based on the Audi Q5 platform, the Macan – which is the Indonesian word for tiger – will be built at Porsche’s Leipzig plant at a rate of 50,000 a year.

Sales and marketing chief, Bernhard Maier said the new model will become a mainstay of the Porsche range. He added; 'Demand for urban SUVs has been rising fast and we can now provide a competitor with all the power and performance of a Porsche, and it can go off road as well.

'The core of our brand is intelligent performance and we can now bring that to more people with our new entry level model.'

Panamera goes large with Turbo S

Porsche was one of several companies trying to juggle simultaneous international motor shows in Tokyo and Los Angeles as well as a third exhibition in Guangzhou, China.

While the Macan and 918 Spyder both appeared at two of those events, Tokyo has the exclusive introduction of the Panamera Turbo S. This is the most powerful version of Porsche's luxury sports saloon to date, and will be offered in the long-wheelbase format which became available when the Panamera was updated.

The stretched version of the car – 150mm longer than the standard model – is seen by Porsche as vital to the Chinese and Far Eastern markets, where a high percentage of customers prefer to be driven, while the standard-length model will be favoured by Europe and the US. Sales of the Turbo S are expected to be shared equally among the three regions.

The forced-induction V8 engine develops 565bhp, 50 more than any previous Panamera, largely through changes to the electronic control unit, injection system and engine air supply, Porsche says. The chassis is the same as in the Panamera Turbo, but Porsche says it spent a lot of time developing the car to ensure that the stretched model does not suffer dynamically because of its greater length.

New engine range for next Honda Jazz

Honda announced at Tokyo that it is developing a 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol unit and a 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine.

Honda has pledged to replace all current powertrains with new ones from its Earth Dreams family within the next few years.

There will also be a normally aspirated version of the 1.5-litre, which appears in Japanese and American versions of the car. It is already on sale in both countries.

Honda is targeting best-in-class torque outputs for its new small turbo engines – 200Nm for the 1.0-litre and 260Nm for the 1.5. Their respective power figures are around 120bhp and 205bhp, but both are still under development. The normally aspirated 1.5 develops 128bhp and 147Nm.

Honda's desire to launch the car in Europe with new engines is one reason why it will not be available until the second half of 2015.

But it has also not yet been decided where European versions will be built. Currently, Honda’s UK Swindon plant exclusively builds the car for the UK, while left-hand-drive versions come from an export-only factory in China. Swindon is switching its focus to the new Civic range – hatchback, Tourer and Type R – plus the CR-V crossover.

Earlier this year Honda opened a new factory at Yorii in Japan devoted exclusively to small cars, including the Jazz. The car will also eventually be made in China, Mexico, Brazil, India and Thailand, any one of which could be commissioned to produce for Europe.

New Civic Type R shows its aggressive streak

Honda has given the world a first look at the 2015 Civic Type R, which has an aggressive new look to go with its vastly more powerful engine.

The company has also revealed more details about the car, and announced that it is using it to try to set a new lap record for a front-wheel-drive model around the Nurburgring.

Although still in its development stage, the new Type R as currently configured has shed the sober appearance of old and sprouted vast front wheel arches, an elaborate rear wing, larger rear wheel arches which don’t fit neatly around the doors and 19-inch wheels. The early cars are finished in matt black.

At the Frankfurt Show in September, Honda announced that it will be switching from the familiar high-revving 2.0-litre engine to a direct-injection 2.0 turbo delivering around 40%more power – 'At least 280hp'. The company now says the new engine will more than double the Type R’s torque output from 195Nm to 400Nm, and at much lower revs.

All of this should lead to a significant performance upgrade with lower fuel consumption and emissions.

Initially the car will be offered only with a six-speed manual gearbox, but Honda engineers say they are investigating adding a double-clutch automatic transmission. One obstacle, they say, is getting a DCT to cope with the high torque output of the engine.