BMW Active Concept – fully electric 1 Series Coupe

BMW will finally deliver the electric car everyone knew was coming at the NAIAS in January. The BMW ActiveE Concept is essentially an electric BMW 1 Series Coupe built using the knowledge gained from year-long MINI E fleet trials, and the resultant vehicle is bristling with ideas and well worth a look. The 125 kW motor is located in the rear axle, the lithium ion batteries recharge in three hours, offer a range of 160 km (100 miles) and an interesting variation on regenerative braking can add as much as 20% to the range. With an electronically limited top speed of …

Volkswagen links-up with Suzuki

Mach 18 has come nine years early as the VW Group adds Suzuki in its portfolio (as a strategic partner) to go top of the heap ahead of Toyota. Adil Jal Darukhanawala has the gen on the action plus the backgrounder on this unique new entity destined for global leadership.

Volkswagen AG has an all new reason to party and no, it is not just its successful agreement to form a new exciting partnership with Japanese small car maker Suzuki but the fact that this new deal will enable it to cut out nine years from its avowed Mach 18 programme for world domination! ZigWheels.com had, as far back as August 2008 informed about VW AG's Mach 18 programme which would, by 2018, see the German car maker top them all - in terms of cars produced and sold, in terms of outright profitability, in terms of market capitalization and also in terms of having the most comprehensive automotive solution across price points and geographical reach.

Today with Volkswagen AG picking up a 19.9 per cent stake in Suzuki, the group already has a cumulative sales figure to dethrone the present world no. 1 car maker Toyota. Japanese giant Toyota with sales of 6.4 million units in the first ten months of calendar 2009 would end up being dethroned by the VW Group which would add Suzuki's 1.9 million units to its 5.3 million units to end up top of the automotive standings. And, given the fact that among all the large automotive giants, only the VW Group made major profits in these tough economic times, the portents for growth from the expanded VW portfolio of brands will be even more encouraging. In fact, this new deal would clearly mean a very compelling reason from both to offer a range of small cars, especially in emerging markets which would marry Suzuki's small car expertise with the VW Group?s technological strengths in lowering emissions.

Ever since we heard the buzz about an impending Suzuki-Volkswagen tie-up on the eve of this year's Frankfurt Motor Show, it was clear that this match could be a dynamic game changer in the automotive world. Today the buzz has turned into fact when the two firms signed an MoU to establish a long-term partnership which can not only help both OEMs in their avowed pursuit but also have major repercussions in the way the global automotive pecking order is concerned.

As regard the two partners themselves, there is quite optimism underlining this move. For one, Suzuki needed to have a large partner to take care of development costs towards new technology as ever tightening legislation demanded that aspect. Having lost GM as a stake holding partner also helped Suzuki scour the globe for a technologically proficient and financially sound partner who could help give it the right impetus to focus on its core small car technology. Further Osamu Suzuki who yet runs his eponymous family firm needed to firm up its future and the tie-up with Volkswagen should be the best move he has ever made in such trying times.

Honda CR-V: Modest Modifications

Honda Siel Cars India Ltd has launched a new version of the CR-V. The upgraded version is set to bring in higher levels of quality and offer customers more bang for their buck. Vikram Gour checks out the 'new' CR-V to see what's new...

The Honda CR-V is essentially a CBU import that enjoys a strong fan following globally. Its heritage lies in the essence that most people rarely take their SUV's off the tarmac, so why build something that will never be used in the manner that it is designed for. This gave birth to the idea of a soft roader, or an SUV-looking passenger vehicle that had the street presence and commanding driving position of an SUV, yet was designed essentially to stay on the road. A bit of 'light' off roading was still possible thanks to gizmos like the Real Time four wheel drive system, but the vehicle essentially remained a 'car' that looks like an SUV. No doubt the formula was a success and the CR-V has grown in popularity worldwide. Here in India the CR-V has dominated segment of petrol soft roaders and its comfort and drivability is legendary.

Coming to the new or rather refurbished CR-V that Honda Siel recently unveiled, one realizes that the company has not tinkered with the vehicle too much. After all why change a good thing right! Anyways, the latest CR-V happens to be a minor makeover job to possibly give it a very subtle change yet bring out an element of sophistication, which it manages with elan.

Subtle changes seem to be the theme of this particular makeover for at first instance you might be hard-pressed to tell the difference between the outgoing model and the new one from the outside. A closer look reveals a new hood and two step front grille as well as a slightly redesigned front bumper that houses neat oval fog lights. The rear only boasts of a new bumper as well and the result of these changes in the bumpers has lead to a 45mm length extension on the vehicle. The only other exterior change are the new alloys-gone are the 7 spoke and in come in these neat 10 spoke rims that add a sporty touch to the vehicle now

Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4 Driven: Taming the Bull

What happens when you get the opportunity to drive a Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4 at a race track? Muntaser Mirkar was in Chennai to look for the answer...

Five Hundred and Sixty PS of power at the disposal of your right foot. What do you do - sit around and admire the interiors, step out and drool over the low slung slippery wedge of its body or simply walk away? No. You thumb the starter and listen in awe as the deep gurgle of the 90-degree V10 roars to life in a high pitch and settles into the constant rumble of thunder on the horizon. Your heart beats faster and faster as you realize what you're about to do next. Your brain sends distraught signals to every part of your body as your spine tingles with excitement - a cold shiver running down your back in anticipation of things to come. Your eyes dance around scanning the view ahead from the raked windscreen. Your hands grip its chunky steering wheel as you get set to take your first drive on this maddening conclusion of science, technology and metal all supervised by that purest of human emotions - passion. You engage first gear with a quick flick of the slender lever mounted on the steering stalk and you wait. You take a deep breath, close your eyes and revel in every event in your life that has led you to exist in this very moment that you are in - sitting at the driver's seat of not just any car, but the insane Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4

The Gallardo has been Lamborghini's smallest and most produced model ever since it first debuted in 2003. In all these years, time has failed to ravage the simplistic beauty of this most desired of sports cars and it yet remains a gorgeous vehicle - even if that is an understatement to its timeless demeanour. All the way from 2003 the Gallardo has undergone a range of concepts and upgrades including the Special Edition 'SE', Nera, Superleggera, Super Trofeo, LP 550-2 Valentino Balboni and the car that you see on this page - the LP 560-4. The baby Lambo may look timid but quite aptly lives up to the breed of fighting bull where it borrows its name from. But the secret behind the speciality of the LP 560-4 lies in that suffix where LP stands for 'Longitudinale Posteiore' which signifies the longitudinal mid-ship layout of the engine while the 560-4 stand for numbers that are mind blowing in nature. The 5.2 litre V10 in the Gallardo's bay puts out all of 560 PS of power at 8000rpm and directs all of those horses to all four wheels in a 70:30 split favouring the rear end.

With all that in perspective, there's only one place in India where you can truly enjoy the true characteristics of the Gallardo LP 560-4's existence - on a race track like the Madras Motor Sports Club's circuit in Chennai, and that?s exactly where we tamed this bull. Dabbing the right foot to hear the massive V10 work its grand opera is enough to intimidate you into respecting the car. And if that's not enough, the slow rocking of the car under the influence of 540 Nm of torque will surely have your hair standing on the back of your neck - and that's even before you let go of the brakes and start rolling forward. Rolling slowly out of the narrow pitlane onto the track just after Turn 1 has never been a better experience as you get pinned all the way to the back of your seat when you floor the LP 560-4s throttle, all the way to the stop if you have the courage to! With a 0-100 km/h time of 3.7 seconds, the car accelerates hard and crosses double that figure in just 11.8 seconds - from standstill! It will keep accelerating and touch a top whack of a whopping 325 km/h!