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Malaysia has just seen a rise in petrol prices due to the decrease in subsidies recently. The increase in prices was by RM0.05 for petrol (RON95) and diesel. It would seem that further reduction in subsidies would only see the rise of petrol prices in the coming years or even months.

Thus fuel efficiency is ever more important not to mention the adoption of other fuel sources and one that springs to mind is diesel. Nissan which sells the Murano variant in Malaysia, recently announced the release of a new diesel engine for the SUV in the UK.

It uses a 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine which is capable of producing 187hp and 450Nm of torque at just 2,000rpm.

This produces an average fuel consumption for both city and highway driving of 6.6L/100km along with a CO2 figure of just 210g/km with the help of a revised 6 speed automatic transmission providing Adaptive Shift Control, improved aerodynamics and an electric power regeneration system.

Other improvements on the inside include the change from a chain to a belt drive for the power steering pump, extra engine mounts and extra sound absorbing material to reduce noise intrusion from the diesel engine. Providing more air to the new engine will be a redesigned front end with a new front grille and bumper, also giving it a refreshed look.

The only Murano available in Malaysia at the moment is the 3.5L petrol engine which consumes between 9 to 13 litres for every 100km travelled, 9L being the most fuel efficient it could ever be, a far cry from what diesel motors are able to achieve.

A switch to diesel would make sense for many Malaysian’s as diesel is still RM0.10 cheaper that the cheapest petrol. Many manufacturers already offer diesels here especially for their SUVs – the Santa Fe, Captiva, X3 and X5 are all available as diesels.

More pictures are available after the jump.

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Thu, 29 Jul 10 09:35:33 +0000.

Struggling Hispania Racing Team are set to collaborate with Toyota as team owner Jose Ramon Crabante confirmed the deal at Hockenheim this weekend. Toyota who pulled out of Formula 1 last year, is now outsourcing their services including the use of their wind tunnel, staff, design of the TF110 car and their headquarters which is based in Cologne.

This in turn has got Carabante reassuring his team that the outfit will not be moved from its Murcia base to Cologne. Speaking to a Spanish news agency, the team boss said that notwithstanding the arrangement with Toyota, the team will remain in Murcia “because the project was born here.”

Carabante went on to say that the deal which is worth 15 million Euros “will strengthen Hispania in the battle to be the best of the new teams, which is our first goal”. That title is currently unofficially held by Lotus Racing. According to the Spanish news agency, HRT’s contract with Toyota Motorsports will be for 2011 and 2012.

HRT have also recently underwent driver changes with Karun Chandok being replaced by Sakon Yamamoto. This was due to the fact that Yamamoto brought in about $5 million in sponsorship money. The Japanese driver originally replaced Bruno Senna at the British GP, but then pushed Chandok out of the hot seat for Germany.

Due to technical problems the 28 year old retired, while Bruno Senna finished in 19th position behind the whole pack. Yamamoto has also been confirmed a seat for the Hungarian GP and will race alongside Bruno Senna.

Source

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Thu, 29 Jul 10 09:35:33 +0000.

It’s official – Porsche has greenlighted the development of a production version of the Porsche 918 Spyder. It was a no brainer on the part of the Supervisory Board in Stuttgart, as the concept received overwhelming response from both customers and the public alike. Apparently they now have a total of 1,000 serious buyers for the car that was first previewed at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show as well as Auto China in Beijing.

“The production of the 918 Spyder in a limited series proves that we are taking the right approach with Porsche Intelligent Performance featuring the combination of supreme performance and efficient drivetrain concepts. We will develop the 918 Spyder in Weissach and assemble it in Zuffenhausen. This is also a very important commitment to Germany as a manufacturing base,” said Chairman of the Board of Management Michael Macht.

The 918 Spyder Hybrid supercar produces a total of 708hp from both its high revving V8 engine and its electric motor, which is channeled through the 7-speed PDK gearbox and a fixed transmission ratio for the electric motor. This enables a 0 to 100 acceleration figures of as low as 3.2 seconds, while maintaining an average fuel consumption figure of just 3 liters per 100km and pumping out 70g/km of CO2.

No official word on the pricing of the car, but rumour has it that it will be slightly more than Porsche’s previous showpiece, the Carrera GT, coming in at around 500,000 Euros. More information will be released in the coming months by Porsche.

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Thu, 29 Jul 10 09:35:33 +0000.

Naza World will be having an ‘Upgrade Promo’ during the weekend of August 6th to August 8th 2010 from 9am to 7pm at all Naza World branches throughout the country, with the biggest of all being of course the Naza PJ Automall by the Federal Highway.

No, Naza isn’t going into aftermarket upgrades in a big way – that’s not what Upgrade Promo means. It probably means it’s time to ‘upgrade’ your car in time for the Ramadhan balk kampung season with special discounts during the weekend. Last I heard that there’s the latest generation Ford Focus RS for sale at a price tag of over RM300,000.

Dato Hj SM Faisal will be donating RM500 out of his personal coffers to five charitable causes for each car sold during the Ramadhan month. As Naza expects to sell 500 cars during the Ramadhan month, this will hopefully amount to RM250,000 of donation.

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Thu, 29 Jul 10 09:35:33 +0000.

Lotus may be playing a bigger role in the premier level of American single seater racing which is the IndyCar series. This comes after the announcement that the race series will allow teams to design their own aero packages onto a standard Dallara chassis from 2012. Currently Lotus and Cosworth are partnered with IndyCar team KV Racing Technology which is driven by former F1 driver Takuma Sato. The series uses stock V8 engines and chassis from Honda and the aforementioned Dallara chassis respectively. This isn’t unusual in the racing game and is a cheaper form of racing which creates a level playing for all teams.

The arm of Lotus involved within IndyCars is Lotus Cars (Lotus Group) and has very little affiliation with the Lotus Racing team. It is headed by CEO Dany Bahar who was a former Ferrari man. It would be good to see what role they may play in the coming months of the race. Tony Fernandes had this to say about the matter, “Lotus Racing congratulates the IZOD IndyCar Series on this exciting news and supports the ICONIC Advisory Committee’s recommendation on the revolutionary concept of a standard safety cell with various manufacturers producing aero kits. We look forward to seeing more details on this future car strategy, and hopefully, allow our involvement in the IZOD IndyCar Series.”

© 2010 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Thu, 29 Jul 10 09:35:33 +0000.