Aston Martin Rapide S

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Among all the car brands and models the current market offers, there are lots of very traditional ones and many others which have received much bigger changes through their history. Dealing with this tradition – or its lack – is one of the automakers’ several struggles when creating a new vehicle, because making right or wrong decisions imply receiving excellent or terrible acceptance. After studying press and public’s opinions for Rapide, Aston Martin now gives it the half-age facelift trying to hit the best possible formula.

There are very few brands like Ferrari or Lamborghini, which prefer to stabilish an identity among its cars by implicit items such as the colors, the engine sound or the overall shape of several external parts. On the other hand, the English automaker here referred is much more similar to Porsche, for example. Since Aston Martin maintains even some of the car names through decades, it’s not hard to expect its vehicles to have very little changes. The problem with that is these cars have started to look too much like versions of a single vehicle, even with their size and price differences. So the automaker decided to follow the path of applying small facelifts, in order to avoid the expenses of new projects too early and only give a different look to cars which, as a matter of fact, have already been approved by everyone when it comes to the other aspects. The four-door’s name received the “S” as standard, not as a new trim level. The biggest external update is at the front grille, which changed the two-part design for a bigger single element paired with a new hood. Besides, the aerodynamics was improved with a new rear spoiler. Aston Martin has managed to make its luxury sedan look young again, not as a whole new model but with an interesting renewed impression, pretty much like what Porsche Panamera will receive with its own facelift, planned to the next months.

But a luxury sports car isn’t made only of style. The sophisticated part is made with an improved acoustic treatment and lots of items such as the Carbon Exterior package, which brings rear diffuser, rearview mirror caps and tail light surrounds using the mentioned material. Not to mention the Piano Black package for the interior, sports perfored two-colored leather seats and all the custom options for colors and materials which are usually offered by the high-end automakers. Besides, the performance part is taken care by the V-12 5.9L engine, which is now mounted in a lower position to meet the current European safety regulations. It was improved to achieve 550 hp and 457 lb-ft, an 80-hp and 14 lb-ft increase from the last phase: Aston Martin states its 0-60 mph time became 0s4 better, with the top speed getting to 190 mph – the consumption rate stays at 14.3 l/100 km, though. The driving has borrowed the Adaptative Damping System from DB9 and Vanquish, allowing the driver to select between three modes: Normal, Sport and Track, but operates along with road condition detectors in order to always find the best possible combination of the driving settings.

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Mercedes-Benz CLA

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When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Like many other pieces of popular culture, this phrase has proven itself an excellent advice millions of times. Mercedes has already shown several cars which two decades ago would be seen as an apocalypse prediction, but most of them were experiments, to find out what the market would want for the near future. Only some turned successful, but the overall result was excellent. The car you’re about to meet is the best prove that these Germans did find the right track to follow, once again.

Like many specialized texts have already stated, if the Mercedes cars were people with some sort of family relations, CLA would surely be a son whose both parents were the current generations of A-Class and CLS – this last one, in turn, could even be thought as a result of E-Class with CL. But before thinking of very unusual ways to use the family concept, the Germans deserve the bigger applauses for obtaining that mentioned knowledge concerning the car market in nowadays. In other words, since CLS’s concept has proven itself successful in sales and harmless to E-Class, later they started to think of reducing this formula’s scale. On the other hand, it’s easy to see they’ve finally found how to make A-Class prosper, so it would be very nice to take more advantage of that. So the sedan showed at these pictures is another result of the very concept that in Renault has just generated Captur. Examples like these are highly unlikely to bring conceptual revolutions because they’re the mere merge of other concepts, but once again this doesn’t come as a complaint at all. The truly meaning here is that Mercedes realized that cars like CLA are the right track to follow, so from now on it’ll be very hard to see this automaker releasing another “experimental” car. It is true that they needed to forget some of the old rules, but the final result is the much wider propagation of the image they’ve built through all these years.

There’s no doubt that image includes their particular standards for comfort, design, quality and performance, but what would those forgotten rules be? One of them is the front-wheel-drive, so far only used by the hatchback CLA shares platform with. But these cars are much more related than that: the newcomer is its sedan version, which is confirmed by the very similar front and side sections. But their biggest difference is conceptual, rather than at the measures: the hatchback is clearly much more sporty, designed to attract younger buyers while CLA still seek this public but using a more elegant style, with a less obvious way of expressing A-Class casuality. The specifications list will lead to notice that this car isn’t bigger than North-American compact sedans – Dodge Dart, for example, is 0.6 inch longer and has a 0.1 inch longer wheelbase – but offers very much from Mercedes’ equipments portfolio, of course. However, there’s an optionals list including panoramic sunroof, aluminum or wood internal details and item packages: Sport, Premium and Multimedia. Other specs concern the engine options: 120-hp 1.6L for CLA 180, 150-hp 1.6L for CLA 200, 210-hp turbo 2.0L for CLA 250 and 170-hp diesel 2.1 for CLA 220 CDI, always with a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and the optional 4Matic all-wheel-drive. But while you wait for the AMG version, here’s an interesting tidbit: even the urban versions have a 0.23 drag coefficient. This is one of the best numbers of the current production cars.

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Infiniti Q50

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Have you ever noticed that some automakers can become really confusing with the alphanumeric codes used to name their cars? BMW and Mercedes-Benz at least stick to numbers no longer according to the car’s engines, but other strategies seem to be understood only by their own creators. A few days ago Infiniti has announced some changes to theirs in order to simplify it, but also showed some very interesting small teasers. So what could be a better way to release that new naming method than with a whole new car using it?

There are many cases of cars which couldn’t succeed marketwise mostly because of a bad name choice, even when they were good on everything else – you might want to check out what caused Alfa Romeo 164 to fail in China, Buick LaCrosse in Canada and even Mitsubishi Pajero in Spanish-speaking markets. But even though Infiniti’s nomenclature hasn’t such deep problems, the brand needed some struggle time before prospering. It was founded in 1989 with the exact same goal as Acura and Lexus: escape of dealing with Nissan’s lower-cost image to have better chances at the competition with the German luxury cars. Whether for the not-so-inspired design, bad publicity or neglecting some of the customers’ preferences, the 1990s ended with Infiniti very close to extinction, but they didn’t give up. There was adopted a whole new strategy, with several all-new vehicles focusing at sporty luxury including SUVs. At that moment there were FX35, G35 and a new Q45, not to mention the cars which have followed them. It were still the mid-2000s, but Infiniti was starting to discover what in nowadays is some sort of a “success recipe”: an automaker needs to give what the customers are used to expect from luxury cars, but treating this as a standard: it’s also important to combine that with any “extra features” that make it worth for them to give up other brands.

Q50 was chosen for this new turning point because it’ll fill a very important spot for this brand. After all, it’s intended to replace G37, which was an upgraded G35, which in turn was nothing but the very first Infiniti to become successful. They really wanted big changes once again, so Q50 presents a much more modern style. It’s very nice to see that the success of crossovers such as FX have made their influence at items such as the sedan’s long, round front section and the overall shape of all the items. This car carries the classic touch wanted by most of the luxury buyers but without looking old-fashioned at all. Besides these organic shapes could fit very well at most of the European cars, it’s nice to observe some very creative points such as the rear window cut – details like that denote a high-quality project, just like everyone wants to buy. The interior pictures show a huge level of sophistication wrapped in a very attractive design, crafted with high-quality materials and plenty of technology; the Infiniti InTouch system, for example, brings not one but two big touchscreens. This car will start with two V6 engines, a 3.7L with 328 hp and the hybrid 3.5L, which will be paired to the electric unit to result at 350 hp, but diesel options are expected for later. Besides, it’ll always use automatic seven-speed gearbox and rear-wheel-drive, with optional AWD.

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Volkswagen Gol e Voyage 1.6 2013

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Este tipo de notícia vai ser muito frequente no decorrer deste ano. Logo depois de a Volkswagen fazer a linha completa do Fox sair de fábrica com airbag duplo e freios ABS de série, é a vez de a linha de entrada receber os equipamentos de segurança em algumas de suas versões. Para atender as resoluções do Contran de ter 60% dos modelos atuais com os itens, agora sua oferta se estende de série a todas as versões de hatchback e sedã que contam com o motor 1.6 de potência de 101/104 cv e torque de 15,4/15,6 kgfm.

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Mercedes-Benz CLS 63 and E 63 AMG

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Sports car fans have been delighted with high-performance versions of conventional cars for decades. Audi S and RS, BMW M, Chevrolet SS, Dodge SRT and R/T, Fiat Abarth, Ford ST, Volkswagen GTI… There are lots of examples around the world, but they’re only different ways of achieving the always impressive balance between all the sportiness of coupes and convertibles and the particular features of each car which receives them. So how about meeting not one but four of the best sporty versions of the entire world?

Although there are lots of enthusiasts that cheer with each and every car release of nowadays because they know the quality level involved, there are lots of people that still ask themselves “Why do they have to create so many vehicles? Why can’t they only stick to improve what they already have?” and other similar questions. On the other side, this blog and the entire specialized press have written so many times about the increasing need to find new markets in order to keep offering competitive products that it won’t take too long for us to run out of different ways of rewriting the same information. Nevertheless, this blog doesn’t even think of stating that as criticism because it recognizes that it doesn’t take more than a moment spent thinking as a “car fan-but-not-freak” to realize that it is really hard to notice all of this conceptual information delivered at these texts. There are many pictures of the article’s car, but also many paragraphs referring to lots of other cars, turning it very difficult to only imagine all that. Since this blog always tries to go beyond one more plain repetition of each release’s features, these four cars have been referred in this single article in order to receive also a brief illustrative comparison. The first animated picture displays the new CLS 63 AMG at its Coupé and Shooting Brake versions, while the second one shows the facelifted E-Class Sedan and Estate now as E63 AMG.

If you were guessing the first mentioned aspect would be the external design, you’re right. There’s no way to avoid it, in fact. The main guideline that inspire these cars’ differences is the ability of each one taking a particular customer, reducing the internal competition to its minimum. E-Class has always gone after the more traditional public, which has preferred the same things for decades, while CLS receives who goes to a Mercedes dealer for the absolute quality but would really prefer something different, more casual. The shared platform enables those cars to share lots of internal parts, not to mention the engines, but stays far from being a barrier against their breathtaking conceptual differences. CLS’s four-door rear is only the first symbol of the opposition to E-Class’s three well-divided volumes. And since they both have SW versions, CLS’s interpretation resulted at the Shooting Brake body. E-Class’s sides use more horizontal creases, bringing a solid, classy impression while CLS makes a contrast between the narrow but long lines dying at the rear doors right where the very imponent fender starts, reminding the North-American muscle cars idea of movement. E-Class’s elements take most space of one only side of the car, probably to remind its several previous generations: most cars from the 1970s to the 1990s used a “folded-paper design”, where you couldn’t see much of the headlights, for example, if you were looking to the hood or the sides – CLS’s shapes are much more tridimensional. And since the lights were mentioned, it would be impossible to skip them.

E-Class can join them or split them at the front or redesign them at the back in any way, but they will always remind even the 1960s ancestor – so yes, you must’ve already guessed that right: at least until now, CLS preferred to make big changes from its previous generation. Fortunately, both cabins agree at delivering fascinating quantities of sophistication and safety, but this is one of the few truces here. CLS’s cabin is more fluidic, reducing the idea of a rectangular space while E-Class is much more likely to be driven by a chauffeur. The sedans even differ at the seating: E-Class sticks to five seats, but CLS dedicates itself to four. The wagons, in turn, diverge at the trunk: if E-Class is much more focused at the families, its sister’s space is bigger in length and smaller in height, privileging cargo such as golf clubs and hunting guns. Besides the bigger wheels and the more aggressive aerodynamic kit, the AMG version brings the same “heart” for these cars: the final (and most important) truce is the twin-turbo V8 5.5L, with that performance package from before the facelift now offered as a standard item. This means this engine now produces 550 hp of power and 531 lb-ft of torque, always using the AMG SpeedShift transmission: there are double clutch, seven speeds and four driving modes. Besides, these cars use rear-wheel drive or the 4Matic AWD system, but the (even more) special feature is the S package: this new performance kit uses 4Matic and boosts these cars to 577 hp and push the speed limit to 186 mph, with average 0-60 mph times of 3.6 seconds.

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Lexus IS 3

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Do you know what does “L-finesse” stand for? This is Lexus’ latest design language, like Ford’s Kinetic or Hyundai’s Fluidic Sculpture. Toyota’s luxury brand is starting to succeed at the long-term desire of creating a more inspired style for their cars, an initiative that has recently received great help from LFA’s production. They’ve already renewed the bigger brother GS and facelifted the even bigger LS, but the entry-level became much more different. This article will show a little more about this “entry-luxury” sedan.

As it has been mentioned several times by the specialized press, each automaker has created their own visual identity in order to distinguish their cars from the competitors. Besides, this came in handy for the Eastern brands because of their own design issues of that time: those cars were excessively alike until the 1990s, all of them with too classic lines and plain shapes. The Japanese started to change that around the early 2000s, but the Korean took some more years. Lexus’ problem, in turn, wasn’t creating good-looking designs but more appropriate ones. The bigger complaints went to the fact that they didn’t look like the upscale vehicles they are, which led many people to mistake them for cheaper cars. Acura and Infiniti faced the same problems at some time, too, but neither took too long to solve it: Honda’s brand decided to follow the North-American luxury cars, with smoother volumes and straighter lines, while Nissan’s division tries to follow the Europeans: the organic shapes contrast with stronger creases and very well divided volumes, which helps to give a high-performance impression. And now Lexus seems to have found the path to follow by looking at its own homeland. The new IS proves that Lexus is investing on acute angles and strong creases, which have all been the Japanese recipe for sportiness for decades.

That’s what explains this front design which will certainly turn each and every neck from which this car passes near. Whether for the tuning-like aggressive air intakes, the headlights with separate-but-visually-connected LED part or the most imponent spindle-shaped grille you’ve ever seen, taking inspiration from the LF-CC concept car has worked very well for what’s Lexus’ sports sedan now more than ever. The sides preserved the elegance of few creases and taller windows, but with a hint of sportiness that will be finished with the rear section: that elevated rear window cut without following the door handles line comes from the very first IS, taking the memory back to 1999. The second generation made it more visible and imponent, giving a very nice look with the chrome contour. Now there weren’t big changes to its shape, but it became paired to a very strong line born beneath the B column: it rises in the exact same proportion as the rear windows, creating the very nice impression that the car is always moving – it’s a complete change from the first IS, where all those horizontal lines made it too bulky. And the Grand Finale is made by these tail lights which seem to take more space from the sides than the rear. Paired to the absence of many lines, they give the last section a slim look which could easily be found at many current sporty coupes. This is definitely the right car for who doesn’t appreciate “limousine-like” sedans.

The first official pictures show only the F-Sport version, so the ones who didn’t like the scarlet seats shouldn’t worry. However, it’s hard not to notice the beautiful interior, with plenty of black and chrome as most of the sportier cars. But Lexus states there’s much more to observe: the bigger wheelbase improves the internal comfort, while the whole cabin became more ergonomic. The luxury extremes were restricted to IS’s bigger siblings, but the F-Sport version brings aluminum pedals, perforated leather steering wheels and even metal details with 3-D effects. This car will be officially presented at the upcoming Detroit Auto Show at all its versions: IS 250, IS 350 and IS 300h – the hybrid one being the first one to bring the Lexus Hybrid Drive. The respective engine options will be a V6 2.5L with 200 hp, a V6 3.5L with 300 hp and a four-cylinder 2.5.

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Honda Civic 2.0 16v

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Um ano em oito dias. A Honda já havia aproveitado o último Salão do Automóvel paulista para anunciar as novidades de seu sedã médio esperadas para o presente mês, mas ainda não se tinha idéia de que elas também fariam o novo ano/modelo do Civic chegar tão cedo. Se é difícil afastar o pensamento de que manter este ritmo levaria os japoneses a chegar ao próximo réveillon na metade de uma linha 2058, as melhorias aplicadas ao seu carro-chefe têm tudo para fazê-lo merecer a atenção (e a garagem) de muita gente.

Sedãs médios já foram o objeto de desejo de muito brasileiro. A reabertura das importações abriu os olhos do país às vitrines do exterior de um modo geral, mas aqueles anos 1990 ainda viam marcas como Nissan, Peugeot, Renault e Toyota lidar com uma presença de mercado deficiente e as consequências que isso trouxe. Por outro lado, as marcas de luxo começavam a tentar a sorte entre nós, mas enquanto elas ainda se restringiam aos sedãs, peruas e cupês de alto luxo os japoneses davam a volta por cima nos anos 2000. Fizeram suas fábricas brasileiras e nos contagiaram com sua fama mundial de qualidade e resistência, mas merecem elogios ainda maiores porque o fizeram com veículos médios. Claro que os escalados foram veteranos como Ciivic e Corolla pelo carisma que acumulam há décadas, mas começar a atuar no Brasil daqueles tempos sem um carro popular não deixava de ser uma jogada arriscada. Contudo, seja pelo estilo moderno, cabine luxuosa ou motores eficientes, os japoneses não só prosperaram como começaram a incomodar as nossas montadoras mais tradicionais, porque expuseram a defasagem de seus equivalentes – elas ainda produziam resquícios do que foram suas linhas de luxo de outrora, cujos argumentos de venda convenciam cada vez menos clientes a não olhar para aqueles novatos mais modernos e de preço bem parecido.

Tudo isso fez essa década chegar à segunda metade ostentando uma frota de sedãs médios com nível maior do que nunca. Câmbio automático, computador de bordo, teto solar... Vários desses itens começaram a se tornar frequentes no Brasil graças ao sucesso desses carros, que ofereciam o máximo de requinte antes de se fazer o enorme salto de preço à seara de BMW ou Mercedes-Benz - era uma época em que marcas como a Ford não se aventuravam a subir com carros como o Fusion, e as do nível da Audi não cogitavam brigar no segmento do A1. Ou seja, o “luxo acessível” do Brasil se formava com nomes como Bora, Focus, Marea, Vectra e as gerações contemporâneas dos japoneses mencionados. Isso lhes deu a adoração de uma clientela sóbria, feita por empresários de meia-idade e em geral de situação financeira confortável, dando aos tais sedãs a reputação de "carros de patrão" ou, como satirizava a antiga campanha do Nissan Sentra, "carros de tiozão". E como toda clientela fiel, agradá-lá demandou que as montadoras respeitassem certas preferências. Você lembra, por exemplo, de quando nossos carros só emplacavam no mercado usando duas portas? Situação parecida é o que começou com os motores há uns vinte anos.

A razão pode ser a excelente fama de exemplos como o AP-2000 da Volkswagen, o Família I da Chevrolet ou os multiválvulas com e sem turbo da Fiat, ou mesmo o desejo de contraposição à fama de “carro barato” associada aos 1.0, mas o fato é que os motores 2.0 viraram o perfeito complemento à imagem de luxo que os modelos médios têm no Brasil, especialmente os três-volumes. Os benefícios do downsizing hoje já conseguem estender a boa aceitação aos 1.8, mas abaixo disso somente se tiverem algo de muito especial - é o caso dos 165 cv do 1.6 THP usado por Citroën e Peugeot. A Honda aplicou seu novo motor em estratégia parecida à do Corolla, com o 1.8 16v de agora restrito à versão LXS (R$ 66.690). Já a novidade se destina às duas superiores, que trocaram de nome para LXR (R$ 74.290) e EXR (R$ 83.890). Trata-se de um 2.0 16v i-VTEC flex de 155 cv de potência e 19,5 kgfm de torque (com etanol) com sistema para aquecer a gasolina em dias frios, dispensando o tanque secundário e sua tampa ao lado do capô. Ele também traz o modo Econ e seu botão verde no painel, e sempre estará associado ao câmbio automático de cinco marchas, cuja opção de trocas sequenciais se fará por borboletas atrás do volante. Além disso, a versão LXS ganhou um novo câmbio manual com seis marchas e mantém a opção do automático (R$ 69.900).

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Qoros GQ3

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Regardless of quality matters, wouldn’t be weird to see a minivan projected by Ferrari? A big pick-up truck designed by Citroën? Or a compact sedan made by Land Rover? Although most automakers now place their bets at participating in more categories, no one could ever prosper in all of them because each one has built its name around a particular market share. The Chinese cars could only became famous outside their homeland due to cheaper prices, but now there’s one brand trying to revert this situation.

This blog has already mentioned the Chinese automakers’ current attempt to follow the Japanese and Korean’s path of expanding their sales into the Western countries, using JAC Heyue A30’s article. The basic idea consists not only of taking cars which are really capable of pleasing these customers but also of bringing something extra, an exclusive appeal that could make people abandon the traditional brands in order to give those Chinese newcomers a try. They’ve already started to sell specially in America and Europe, but their vehicles always use the low-cost appeal. They came in several categories, but most of them are suitable only for the customers whose only concern is precisely the cheaper price, even though it’s tied up to questionable quality standards. However, these brands must’ve started to dislike this deal because, as a matter of fact, not every brand would like to see their products indirectly tagged as worse than their competitors. Today it would be very hard to only “erase” this reputation among the Western customers, so the Chinese decided to follow the opposite path: in order to mingle better and expand its sales, Chery is creating a luxury division. Yes, exactly like Honda did with Acura, Nissan with Infiniti and Toyota with Lexus around thirty years ago. And also as all of them there’s a Latin-like name: Qoros.

Mentioning those examples doesn’t leave much more to explain. Like GQ3, Qoros’ cars will have fancier designs with much bigger Western inspiration, which means aggressive designs combined to organic shapes, without deeper creases like the Japanese or other odd shapes such as what QQ uses. GQ3 is one of the first three vehicles planned to hit the streets in the next few years and it really represents an evolution from what is seen at Chery’s cars, but it isn’t hard to notice that Qoros still has where to evolve: details such as the big tail lights and the even bigger chrome line above the front grille really could’ve received a more elegant design. But the German-Chinese design reveals a very big interior, with plenty of space for five occupants and lots of luxury: the two-colored coating uses wooden details to give a higher-quality impression, but also hides that GQ3 was projected to achieve the perfect grade at the EuroNCAP tests. Not to mention the trim levels will be very high. Qoros plans to start selling GQ3 in China late 2013, with the European sales beginning a few months later. Besides this sedan, they will also offer a station wagon and a crossover. There are no technical specifications for GQ3 so far.

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Mercedes-Benz E-Class 2014

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When it comes to selling cars, building traditions can be as tricky as not having them. Some brands decide to keep a successful concept over the years only performing updates, while others prefer fresh starts for each time they have to replace a vehicle. These strategies are equally capable of leading both to success or failure, so each case must be considered individually. Mercedes-Benz has decided to follow the first path decades ago, so each time it becomes more impressive to see how they manage to keep this success.

Creating an entire new idea for each generation of a given car allows the brand to adapt it with the current times much easier, such as what Fiat has done with their medium-sized hatchbacks: Tipo’s straight lines were very common at the late 1980s, but when the following decade’s trends became to appear they had to respond. This reaction came with not one, but two cars: using two names enabled Brava and Bravo to give much better interpretations of two-door and four-door hatchbacks separately, but both with very creative designs. Later, if the 2000s brought the straight lines back but with more imponent shapes, creating Stilo was much better than discharacterizing the previous cars. And when the car world associated organic lines to a nostalgic trend, Fiat showed a modern reinterpretation of Bravo. Meanwhile, one of the opposite examples can be given with Golf: straight lines, round lines, bigger shapes, organic shapes… Volkswagen did their best to follow each and every trend along with keeping traditions such as the overall shape and iconic details like the “C column”’s big width. Sometimes they did it better and sometimes worse, but it’s undeniable that those years built a very strong image to its customers. Like BMW, Mercedes-Benz follows the traditional path even more strictly – cars like CLS and B-Class are much more younger than E-Class, for example.

However, the last years have seen some conceptual changes even at this brand’s most classical cars. C-Class used to act as a miniature of the other Mercedes, but it was noticed that there were many possible buyers that didn’t take one because of the high prices and the “too classical” style. So the Germans decided to create cheaper versions, but along with a “cooler” design, much more casual than the previous generations. On the other side, S-Class now needs to fill the late Maybach’s gap at the very high luxury market, so what’s left for the middle brother? This facelift proves that the answer must be to stick to the tradition: apply the best current technologies to improve an already well-stabilished car. The new headlights could be a nice example of that: they’ve turned into an only piece for the first time in eighteen years in order to receive LEDs illumination, but with a two-parts shape that clearly reminds the previous design. There are several other elements which connect Mercedes’ current cars with the older ones, such as the big front grille with the SLS-like shape or the tail lights with horizontal components. This is only a half-age facelift, so the Germans wanted only to rejuvenate it. It’s easy to see that this mission was accomplished because both sedan and Touring versions now give a more dynamical impression, obtained with slightly bigger elements and less lines.

Nevertheless, a Mercedes would never be a Mercedes if there wasn’t the typical “limousine impression” that has earned so much admiration through the years. C-Class now follows a slightly different path, but E-Class doesn’t make any effort to hide that it is a typical “rich people’s car”. Not that this is a bad thing: there are no doubts that this is one of the most classy cars of its price range. This facelift came with a new dashboard and a new entertainment center which even includes Internet, and finishes to compose a really sophisticated interior, which will pamper its five occupants with lots of luxury items but also with an impressive safety system: there’s active cruise control, automatic lane-keeping, brake assistance and an optional stereoscopic camera on the windshield, that can recognize three-dimensional shapes and movements in order to improve collision preventions. As usual, Mercedes will offer a big variety of engines paired with an even bigger of versions, but no single market will have all of them. Using gasoline, there will be a 2.0 turbo for E200 and E250, a 3.5 V6 with direct injection for E300 and E350 and together with an electric one for E400 Hybrid and a 4.7 V8 twin-turbo for E550, not to mention the also double-turbined 5.5 V8 for E63 AMG – the diesel options must be E250 and E300 BlueTec. Some of those will offer the 4Matic all-wheel drive, but all of them will bring start/stop system.

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Škoda Octavia 4

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Now it’s no longer needed to wait until the Geneva event for this sedan. After lots of unofficial photos and a teaser, Škoda has released the first official pictures of the new-generation Octavia. If the exterior easily allows to deduce this car has some kind of relation with the Volkswagens, any quicker look at the technical specifications can finish blowing that cover. This article will use this sedan as an example of the good and the bad features that come with this strategy of designing cars so related with each other.

The original Octavia came after the Second World War, at first using the codename 440. The idea at that time was to create a resistant car without any other concerns but the lowest final price possible. However, this car came with a much more elegant design than what was seen at the other Soviet vehicles, which gave it a different status. This name was dropped in the 1970s with the end of that car’s production and came back to life only twenty-five years later. The automaker was already bought by Volkswagen, making Škoda their “pragmatic” division almost like what Renault does with Dacia. Describing this concept needs wider-meaning words than “low-cost” because they aren’t restricted to the cheaper categories – Octavia, for instance, is a mid-size sedan. Their public is much more rational, giving away design and performance extravagances in exchange of a reliable, non-expensive vehicle. Until the last decade this idea used to imply maintaining older projects or taking equipments away to reduce the price, but in nowadays these parameters have changed. Cost reduction is now considered since the car’s first sketches, which enables cleaner designs, simpler construction and specially sharing as many parts as possible with other cars, from the platform to visible items, in cases like Logan and Sandero’s new generation.

Even though this sedan does lead to think of some kind of Rapid’s bigger brother, this is just Škoda’s good designing. It still carries a very formal appearance, but this formality is now dissociated from being old-fashioned. Octavia now has an agressive interpretation of the brand’s typical design, characterized by two bigger ideas: the overall design is based mainly on straight lines, while each element has individually became a little irregularly-shaped. This means a proportion change, which still makes the car resemble the current Jetta or Exeo but with nice differences, such as the much more creative rear window cut. But if someone is already wondering where’s that mentioned parts' sharing, the answer isn’t hard to explain: MQB platform. Since its previous uses were at Seat León, VW Golf and Audi A3, this is the very first sedan to use Volkswagen’s modular platform. This allowed some dimension increases to Octavia, resulting at bigger cabin and trunk space. In fact, entering the car reveals an even bigger déjà vu if you have already driven any current VW car: there are simple lines which will certainly repeat the excellent construction quality, although Škoda seems to leave the other colors to the group’s other brands – even the touchscreen’s software seems to be restricted to black and gray. This car will offer four TDI engine options with diesel and four TSI with gasoline, these ones including a low-consumption 1.6 and a high-performance 1.8.

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Fiat Linea Sublime

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Séries especiais são um dos vários coringas que as montadoras automotivas aplicam em suas estratégias de vendas. O principal apelo é o toque de distinção que trazem em relação às versões comuns, feito com itens como rodas e cores exclusivas, mas o conjunto se torna sempre irresistível porque tudo isso sempre tem a companhia de pacotes de itens a preços bem menores que os convencionais. Agora a Fiat aproveita a época de fim de ano para oficializar a chegada da primeira edição especial de seu sedã médio no Brasil.

Este toque de distinção mencionado é uma constante entre esses carros, mas é interessante observar que ele pode vir das mais diferentes razões. O Chevrolet Monza 650 dos anos 1990, por exemplo, comemorava a produção de 650 mil unidades do modelo no país. Já a VW fez o Gol “bolinha” homenagear as Olimpíadas de Atlanta e até uma vinda dos Rolling Stones. Por outro lado, a Renault e a própria Fiat fizeram séries especiais de Clio Sedan e Palio apenas porque haviam feito parceria respectivamente com O Boticário e MTV. Nem sempre é necessário apostar em motores novos, exagero na diferenciação visual ou outras ideias similares porque grande parte dos clientes dá mais atenção à melhoria de custo/benefício, na verdade. São pessoas que precisavam apenas de algo que lhes resolvesse a indecisão entre as opções da faixa de preço considerada, ao passo que os que têm a diferenciação como prioridade são minoria. Algumas semanas antes a Peugeot trouxe proposta parecida à deste Linea com seu 408 Limited, mas ali o foco foi aumentar a tecnologia embarcada. O caso da Fiat é um tanto mais amargo porque por mais que seu sedã médio tenha linhas muito bem-resolvidas e conjunto fácil de agradar, sua aceitação pelo público sempre se viu atrapalhada por ter origem no Punto.

Enquanto ainda não se sabe se nosso modelo será sucedido pelo Viaggio ou apenas receberá o face-lift do equivalente turco, a série Sublime chega semanas depois da exposição no último Salão do Automóvel, começando em R$ 55.480. Sua base é a versão Essence, mas o maior destaque fica pelo exclusivo branco Kalahari, única opção da série. Vieram também as rodas diamantadas de 17” com parafusos antifurto e sensores de estacionamento traseiros, ao passo que a cabine surpreende com o bonito revestimento de couro Sabbia marrom para bancos, painel e portas. O modelo traz um pacote de itens que inclui apoia-braço central e saída de ar-condicionado adicional para o banco traseiro, mas de resto é o mesmo Linea de sempre, um sedã médio de dimensões um tanto menores que as dos líderes Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla e Chevrolet Cruze, mas com a vantagem de sua presença menos comum nas ruas preservar sua imagem sem se banalizar. Sem contar na exclusividade do acesso ao clube Fiat L’Unico, que dá uma extensa série de benefícios aos clientes. Com garantia de três anos, o Linea Sublime pode usar câmbio manual ou o recém-lançado automatizado Dualogic Plus, que faz seu preço passar a R$ 58.390 – o motor é sempre o 1.8 16v e.TorQ de até 132 cv.

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Acura RLX

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Twenty years ago, who could imagine that LEDs would become such an important component even at car illumination? These little devices have proven themselves resistant enough to bigger uses than at home appliances, while the massive production has taken care of reducing their cost. From a more decorative debut than actually working, their use in cars evolved into providing the daytime lights, and now there’s this Acura enabling them to give one more big step. This article will introduce you to the first car to use 100% LED illumination.

Planned to arrive in 2013, this sedan will replace RL as Acura’s flagship car. This means RLX will be the responsible of competing with Germans like Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Italians like Maserati Quattroporte, Koreans like Hyundai Equus and compatriots such as Lexus LS. Since there’s never enough luxury for these cars, each automaker needs to find other ways of taking the attentions, specially from the Europeans’ and North-Americans’ worldwide huge appeal. That’s why Nissan’s high-end division uses a much more refined interpretation of their design identity on Infiniti cars while Toyota has created an entirely different style for Lexus’ cars using aggressive sporty lines – on the other hand, Hyundai and Kia’s of also creating luxury divisions reveal they seem to have finally understood that it’s impossible to attract wealthier customers with the same brands that sell cheap vehicles. And Honda restrain their Japanese style to their own cars, letting Acura follow a more classic path, being elegant without seeming old-fashioned. And this is the reason you won’t see strong cuts and creases in RLX, for example. Instead of turning all the necks like a Cadillac, this sedan uses imponent volumes created with discreet lines, resulting in a very classy car. The more observant looks may find German inspirations, but the fact is this sedan has its own personality.

Have you seen how many cars are using big LCD touchscreens at the central console? Well, if using one of those has become common for you, RLX uses two: one of them allows you to control the entertainment system, while the other works exclusively for the GPS navigator. This anticipates this car’s trim level, which includes tri-zone air-conditioner, AcuraLink traffic monitor, 18” or 19” wheels and a sound system with up to fourteen speakers. When it comes to the safety, this car brings lane-changing alert, adaptative cruise control, panoramic reverse-gear camera and anti-collision systems. And opening the hood reveals a V6 3.5, which uses direct injection to produce 310 hp, and three-cylinders deactivation to achieve the 23.52 mpg consumption rate, always using a six-speed automatic transmission and four-wheel traction. These are Acura’s first information for RLX, but there was also announced a hybrid version for soon, which will bring a double-clutch seven-speed transmission to command three electric engines and even a rear steering axle. Always with the beautiful headlights which use ten very sophisticated LEDs each, being capable of emitting up to twenty light beams in four different angles… and giving the definitive dismiss to the lamp illumination.

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Honda Civic 9,5

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An unusual phase number for an unusual phase update. For someone who doesn’t live in the US this may sound odd, specially in countries that also sell Civic, but the North-Americans have criticized this car so hard that Honda needed to perform a last-second facelift in order to solve these problems before they affected the car’s solid reputation. After lots of media speculations of all kinds, the last Los Angeles Auto Show finally received the official version of the “new new Civic”, which you will meet reading this article.

Since the last generation, Honda decided to create different versions of their best-seller, in order to suit each market’s particular needs of body, engine and equipment options, along with minor visual differences. But nobody knows what Honda thought when configuring the North-American version, because this car was criticized by everyone. The design resembled too much the previous generation, the interior had bad coating and assembly quality, the handling became worse, there was too much internal noise… This car started to lose the awards it was used to receive every year, so Honda needed to act quickly to stop their compact sedan from losing sales to competitors like Chevrolet Cruze, Ford Focus, Hyundai Elantra, Mazda 3 and Toyota Corolla. The Japanese response came with facelifting the entire line only eighteen months after the current generation’s release, surprising everyone because they brought heavy changes: the pictures show the sedan has changed the front and rear style, with more chrome details whose inspiration was taken from the new Accord and bring a more sophisticated appearance to the car. The overall impression is a more mature car, which still haven’t abandoned the previous generation’s style but now uses a different interpretation of it: instead of that raw Japanese sportivity, Civic now follows a North-American elegance.

That facelift didn’t apply to the coupe version, though. What the entire line has received is the series of small-but-very-important updates to the interior. The peculiarly-shaped dashboard received better materials (including some leather parts), improved assembly and a new, more classy design for the air-conditioner’s outlets and buttons. Besides all that, Honda states that Civic received thicker windshield and bigger soundproofing in several areas, in order to reduce the internal noise. They also included some new technologies in this car, such as electronic systems for lane-departure and forward-collision warnings. When it comes to the trim levels list, the DX entry-version is no longer offered, leaving to LX the title of cheapest one available. Honda took this opportunity to maintain the previous LX’s equipment level, and allow itself to announce that every Civic now comes with more items – with all the optional ones, this list includes GPS navigation, Bluetooth connection and multi-view auxiliary cameras. This update is interesting because the deepness of those improvements is usually performed by other brands only at half-age facelifts, when the car has spent about three or four years in the current generation but it’s still too soon to invest in a complete new phase. Therefore, all this effort is a nice way for Honda to reconquer their customers’ approval.

However, as in almost every facelift of that kind there weren’t changes to the engine department. The standard option is the 140-hp four-cylinder 1.8 with a five-speed manual or automatic transmission, but Civic can also use the 2.4 with six manual speeds. These options also apply to the coupe version, which received only the interior updates. This means it still features a sporty design, with well-proportioned volumes to avoid a big-vehicle impression: it may not be the most powerful option of its category, but doesn’t seem visually heavy like a coupe Elantra would look like. Besides that, the Si version was also updated, adding the classic aerodynamical kit with side spoilers, more aggressive bumpers and that big rear spoiler – this area became a little confusing with this typical sports-car-item right above the chrome line which almost every sedan since the 1980s has used to join its tail lights. And at the top of Civic’s huge versions list, there are not one but two gasoline-opposers: the hybrid version pairs a 1.5 gasoline engine with the electric one to generate 110 hp and the excellent 44 mpg rate, using a CVT transmission. Besides that there’s the Natural Gas version, restricted to compressed natural gas, with 32,5 average consumption; the common versions achieve 32 mpg with manual and 33,5 mpg with automatic transmission, while Si stays at 26,5 mpg always with six-speed manual transmission.

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Ford Fiesta ST

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The hot hatches fans have received one more reason to celebrate. The Los Angeles Auto Show will have the first official appearance of the new sports version of Ford’s most successful compact hatchback, which will feature all the benefits of the modern technology in a new variation whose performance is comparable to many bigger vehicles’, not to mention some of the muscle cars from forty years ago. This version also brings the whole Fiesta family’s 2013 facelift, so how about to start with meeting its urban siblings?

Fiesta has been in the current generation for four years by now, but it became one of those really well-designed cars which age much slower. Until the last decade, Opel Corsa B and VW Golf 4 were very good examples of that, leading to believe that the “secret” for that was using clean, simple lines instead of more sculpted shapes like what was used by the 2000s Peugeot. However, the sixth Fiesta has the merit of being one of the first models to present what today is one of global car design trends. In other words, if in 2008 Fiesta was considered very futuristic, it’ll still up-to-date now and will be it for several more years. That’s why this half-age facelift had nothing but minor style changes, preferring to focus in other areas. Ford didn’t try to adapt Fiesta to anything or to make seem younger because this car actually doesn’t need that. They only gave it a cleaner front design, changing the two air intakes for a bigger-sized one, in order to resemble the latest releases such as the new Kuga and Fusion. As what was first seen in Paris and São Paulo, this phase received improvements such as parental control items and more safety items.

But the North-American version also brings very important news opening the hood. This car will repeat the European success of the 1.0 EcoBoost engine, Ford’s very famous propeller family that generates 125 hp in one of its versions and achieves a 40 mpg fuel consumption – this number gives it the title of less-consuming US car without hybrid or electric propulsion. Besides that, the interior received slight changes to improve the sophistication: the two-colored coating with light tones helps the cabin to seem bigger, while the younger customers will enjoy the items such as the Sync entertainment system: it features multimedia sound connectivity, smartphone interface and Bluetooth, among other functions. This is Ford’s answer in a car category which is receiving increasingly big attention even in the US because of the efficiency appeal, brought both by the reduced size and by the smaller engines. That’s why Chevrolet offers Spark, Fiat debuted with 500 and Hyundai and Nissan sell respectively Accent and Versa, these two also with hatchback and sedan versions, like Fiesta. And if that market is still starting to welcome this size of car, how about the emergent countries, who have always sold millions of them? Brazil, for example, has already confirmed to produce the hatchback Fiesta, adding the three-volumes version later.

Nevertheless, the EcoBoost family shows that its expertise doesn’t restrict itself only to the efficiency area. The bright orange car shown at these pictures deserves the ST badge by the high performance, but deserves an even bigger merit for many others. There are several spoilers and even a rear air diffuser to optimize the aerodynamic drag, but this car impresses also when stopped – there will be lots of other vibrant colors to match those beautiful 17” wheels. The cabin pleases every hot hatch fan with two-colored Recaro seats with excellent body support, while the dark colors used at the rest of the room give the typical sports car sensation. There will be the best trim level available for Fiesta, and the handling was improved with a more rigid suspension, which was also lowered in half an inch. All of that comes to suit what moves this car: the EcoBoost 1.6 comes in the 200-hp version, even more powerful than the European one. Since this engine brings the best of the downsizing technologies, the turbine is only one of the responsibles for all that power, which is controlled by a front-wheel traction and manual six-speed transmission. Not to mention that it also gives to Fiesta the title of most powerful car in its category.

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Chevrolet Impala 10

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Happy times for the automakers were the 1950s, and they didn’t realize it. There was plenty of space for newcomers, each brand had to please only their homeland and some neighbor countries, and since cars were a luxury item there wasn’t any concern of reducing the costs. However, today’s scenario is so competitive that it’s necessary even to “divide” a car’s release, from teasers to the sales start, to multiply its attention from the media. Here you will see why the new Impala deserves each and every one of these spotlights.

Impala is such an important car not only for the five decades of selling in the North-American market, but for what it represents for GM. While this group has always had Cadillac at the high-luxury market, the car initially sold as coupe and convertible could find its way to the success for being a halfway between what was already offered at that time, using the best quality Chevrolet could offer (it came above the very famous Bel-Air) but without a price overlap with the richer brothers that would stop Impala’s sales in favor of them. Besides that, it’s very nice to observe that this car was always up-to-date with each moment’s conceptual trends: the first generation, for example, offered lots of colors options, both inside and outside. The second one came already two years later and already completely restyled, using a very opulent design characterized by tailfins and huge sizes both in length and engine options. In 1961 there were some style containments which were followed by the fourth generation, making Impala finish this decade with a very classy and elegant style, including the famous Coke bottle trend. The 1970s began with much more straight lines and still lots of V8 engines, but the sixth generation suffered downsizing in order to meet the current demands. At that time, this car was starting to forget the coupe’s origins in favor of the sedan and station wagon’s sales.

However, since Chevrolet had been selling Caprice above Impala since the 1960s, it was needed a whole new strategy to keep both excellent sales. The two sedans received a huge restyling in the early 1990s, dropping the straight lines in favor of a more aerodynamical design. But since they would compete for almost the same public, it was decided to sell Impala only at the sporty version SS, as a high-performance option for Caprice. Both were discontinued after some years without successors, but the Impala badge was resurrected in 2000. There were more efficient engines, reduced sizes and even front-wheel traction, all because the car received a whole new platform. This modern idea was updated with the ninth-generation in 2006, including a new SS version, a 50th anniversary edition and even a Flex-Fuel version, prepared to use E85. But the times started to change very fast in the latest years, and Impala needed to follow them. The original idea was to go back to the rear-wheel-drive, but GM decided to use the very modern Epsilon II platform. This means Impala is able to bring all the cutting-edge technologies already developed by the group and to receive the future ones: this includes hybrid engines, comfort items such as the new MyLink entertainment system and all kinds of safety equipments.

The tenth generation is by far the best Impala ever produced. The new price list wants to reduce the overlapping with Malibu in order to separate each one’s public, giving the more classic customers to what is now the biggest Chevrolet sedan available. This car will start from US$ 27.535 at the LS version, US$ 30.760 at LT and US$ LTZ, initially only with the 3.6 V6 of 300-hp. Later, there will be a smaller 2.5 with 195 hp and even the eAssist version, using an 185-hp 2.4 option, but there isn’t much known about it so far. The pictures reveal a very spacious interior, with a very elegant interpretation of Chevrolet’s double-cockpit concept in two colors. Impala shows that even a classic car can take the advantages of the modern times, including the new MyLink version in a big touchscreen, a very beautiful dashboard and even the blue night internal lights, to give a more creative illumination than what’s usually seen. There are notable price differences between the trim levels, but even the cheapest one dazzles the customers with 18” alloy wheels, ten airbags and automatic six-speed transmission – the LTZ level is the red car seen at some of the pictures. Impala will wait until the next March to hit the streets in this new generation, and it’ll compete with other very traditional sedans: its main competitors are Dodge Charger and the also recently-restyled Ford Taurus and Toyota Avalon.

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Honda Brio Amaze

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The strategy of showing “teasers” few days before a car release is proving itself very successful for the automakers, when it comes to increase the media and public’s interest. The simple posting of a picture or a video on the Internet showing only a part of the about-to-arrive vehicle is enough to attract the world’s curiosity, no matter if it’s a super sports car or a low-cost hatchback. That’s what Honda used to attract the spotlights to their compact sedan, which will try to prosper in a very competitive market, at many countries.

In the past few years, the multi-category brands have understood that although the emergent markets’ car demands are very particular, these countries return their fulfillment with surprising sales, frequently comparable to what they get on their homelands with more expensive vehicles. Mazda already sells Mazda2, Mitsubishi created Mirage with big focus at the efficiency, Toyota released Etios, and now Honda follows this track with Brio. Their idea is to repeat their brands’ quality at construction, durability and technology, but with some concessions in order to offer the cheapest final price it’s possible. Competitive pricing really is a strong sales argument, but the average customer became each time more demanding, in all categories. In nowadays, the cheap cars have to keep low prices but without “seeming” it: they can’t have black bumpers and small wheels anymore, for example. Besides that, the interior needs to offer the biggest space it’s possible, and with big trim levels at the most expensive versions – those are the very particular demands that countries like Brazil, China and India present for their low-budget categories. But there’s one more aspect that these customers appreciate very much, and therefore makes a huge part of these cars’ success: the design.

If the buyers want their car to resemble more sophisticated ones, they expect it to start this by the exterior. Some take advantage of their brands’ visual identity, such as the latest Fiat Palio and Chevrolet Onix (both created in Brazil), with good proportions and no external parts shared with other cars, avoiding drawing freedom losses. These came precisely from two of the best-selling brands in one of the most experienced country when it comes to small cars, which denotes all the expertise they have. And here lies the Japanese problem, which was those other brands’ issue decades ago: as these cars are their very first incursions among the low-cost category, they still don’t have experience with them. So their first idea is to adapt what’s already done with the more expensive ones, but the problem is that it doesn’t work as the first impression may think. The size differences make some elements look good in some cars but not in others, not to mention the customer kind each car will have – try to imagine Hyundai Equus with Mini Cooper’s round headlights or Peugeot 107 with the first Land Rover Discovery’s roof windows, for example. When it comes to Brio, the original hatchback wasn’t already the best design example to remember, but what makes the sedan worse is the wrong choice of the elements.

The front needs to be short but keeping good space for the engine, so it’s a little tall. But using a very small central air intake with big headlights and big lower intake with large blank spaces between than gives the overall impression that these parts are “lost”, visually disconnected. The very strong creases at the side give a dynamism sensation at bigger cars, but in this sedan seem only too heavy. And the back would really deserve credit for the sophistication idea of the chrome details, if it wasn’t for the very, very small size seen at the pictures. The intention of projecting a small-scaled Civic or Accord is good, but this result seems like a squeezed version of those – at the side photo, have you seen how the roof falls to the trunk? Entering the car, its central console’s can’t be described without using “weird”, but the big internal space is a pleasant fact, along with the sophistication given by the three-colored coating and items such as the multimedia sound system. This car’s sales will begin with Thailand, going later to India, Indonesia and Malaysia. When it comes to the performance, it’ll maintain Brio’s 1.2 16v, with i-VTEC valve command and 90 hp with manual or CVT transmission options, but a very nice feature is the Econ mode: as in many other Honda vehicles, activating it changes several driving parameters to reduce fuel consumption.

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JAC Heyue A30

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The Japanese have already finished it, the Koreans are around halfway, and the Chinese are trying to start it. The last decades saw lots of Eastern automakers following what seems to be a “magical path”, that converts them from unknown, low-selling brands to worldwide hits. The simple concept of finding some way to stand out in the crowd, at any subject, is as easy to define as hard to accomplish: the car releases around the world are increasing so much that to the Chinese prosper in nowadays it’s almost a Herculean task.

If you haven’t lived in Japan, how old are your first memories of cars from Honda or Toyota? Those brands started to sell outside their side of the world only around the 1970s, focusing in United States and Europe to take advantage of the oil crisis: the North-Americans, specially, were forced to quit their “eight-cylinder engines and sixteen-feet length” in order to drive less-consuming cars. But the worldwide success came with the high-performance cars, starting in the 1980s. Cars like Honda NSX, Mazda RX-7, Mitsubishi Eclipse, Subaru Impreza and Toyota Supra dazzled the sports car enthusiasts with huge technology working to extract unimaginable power from small engines. The typical Eastern aggressive design also had big participation at spicing up those brands’ reputation, which until then came only from the urban efficiency of Civic, 323, Lancer, Legacy and Corolla, for example. After that, the 2000s were surprised with the Koreans, specially from Hyundai and Kia: Sonata and Soul presented a style boldness never seen at their showroom. Their technology was invested focusing at the sophistication, to gradually update the entire line using a very attractive visual identity outside and lots of technology inside, in order to make their cars step up among the public’s impression.

In nowadays those Japanese brands already have a solid reputation of high quality and excellence in both performance and mechanical resistance, while the Koreans have already finished their first wave of new cars, and now invest at the maintenance of this excellent phase. Now the surprise comes from China, because the unbelievable market growth is stimulate the local brands to also take part of this, instead of letting the Europeans and North-Americans take their homeland’s customers. However, these automakers are still defeating the first part of the “magical path”: since they haven’t found their “thing” yet, they still have to follow what the other brands present. That’s why those cars always try to deliver high trim levels at low prices, for example. And that’s why there were so many cases of style imitation in the last years, from small “inspirations” to ridiculous copies. In nowadays, some of the Chinese cars have effectively evolved from that phase, specially regional projects such as the new VW Bora, although others insist on the wrong way. JAC now wants to participate among the most recent compact sedans, whose focus goes to much bigger internal space, cutting-edge technology and an attractive design.

This category is very successful in the emergent markets, but it will be hard to hide the fact that Heyue A30’s rear is very, very similar to Ford Fiesta’s. Design questions apart, though, there’s no denial that JAC’s new sedan is an up-to-date project. It features the most recent design trends and a size that gives it the showroom spot between Tongyue and Heyue’s sedan versions. There aren’t many official pictures of this car, but it’s already possible to see that it’ll compensate the bigger price with many equipments: the stylish interior uses two colors combined with items such as digital air-conditioner, touchscreen to the entertainment center and multifunctional steering wheel. This car will be sold with a 118-hp 1.5 which uses manual transmission with five speeds or a CVT one. Besides that, the big trunk is only one more reason to have big expectations of seeing A30 in other countries, such as Brazil and India.

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Volkswagen Bora 2

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The biggest car market in the world is certainly also the hardest to comprehend. The strategy of creating regional projects to be sold only at certain markets is very common to many of the biggest automakers, but the Chinese case is unique. The brands seem to forget the mass-production savings and offer multiple options to a same category because they all sell unbelievably well. These features often generate curious situations, such as what will be explained about the latest sedan released by Volkswagen at that country.

That mentioned situation starts with the fact that Volkswagen is actually two brands in China. Since that government demands the automakers to operate there only in joint-ventures with national companies, the Germans have associated themselves both with FAW and Shangai. But instead of making them cooperate, joining production plants or another kind of partnership, they are rivals. Each one sells some of the VW’s European cars, and besides that each one offers their own regional cars, even though they compete with themselves. Once again, the first thought is that this strategy would be completely unproductive, but what is actually seen is that Volkswagen became the top seller in China, when counting both companies’ numbers. This Bora and Shangai’s Lavida today look very different, but their stories aren’t so different: after selling the original Bora, the following generation (Jetta 5) arrived at bigger prices due to much more sophistication. There was created a market gap which could be filled restyling Bora, and that was done by both brands separately. That means Lavida and this Bora could be called grown-apart twins: they use the exact same old platform, their new generation was received around 2008, and after Lavida received its first partial update this year, now it’s time to Bora do the same.

The only possible sales argument that someone who doesn’t live in China could craft to distinguish them is the external style. Lavida takes huge inspiration from the new Jetta, with straight lines and a more classic look which is also sold in that market as Sagitar. But the new Bora deserves more attention because it’s one of the very few Volkswagen cars to escape the heavy visual identity imposed to the worldwide showroom. This facelift has just applied the excessively repeated front style to this car, but the side design reveals a much more sporty interpretation, with smooth shapes and a very elegant third column. There aren’t too much creases or cuts, and the overall impression is much more casual and creative than all other VW sedans currently sold – although it could be better without taking “ big inspiration” from Passat to the front and Citroën C5 to the rear. Entering the car gives access to a beautiful cabin, with good materials variety and a nice combination of the modernity brought by the GPS navigator and the big touchscreen, and the classic look from the wooden line at the air outlets. This car will receive very generous trim levels, including the BlueMotion package: it brings start/stop system and regenerative brakes to reduce consumption. Opening the hood there’s always the 122-hp 1.4 TSI, with manual six-speed transmission or the double-clutch DSG option.

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