Sunday, April 10, 2011

2012 hyunadi accent

For North America, Accent is expected to debut in sedan form (reportedly at the Montreal International Auto Show in January 2011) and follow up with a two-door hatchback/coupe by the time it arrives in showrooms in summer 2011 (following its U.S. introduction at the 2011 New York show).The new car adopts the “Fluidic Sculpture” design direction which debuted on the 2011 Sonata and Tucson, and will continue in the new generation Elantra introduced at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show. On Accent, that means retaining the split trapezoidal grille of Tucson and Elantra, an upswept belt line to impress a couple like profile, and a character crease through the door handles.

2012 hyundai accent


No interior shots are yet available, but it reportedly follows the look of Sonata and Elantra, with a Y-shaped centre stack to split the driver and passenger areas, and a similar T-spoke treatment on the steering wheel.
Accent comes with a couple engine choices elsewhere, but for North America it is expected to derive power from a 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine (part of the gamma line, in Hyundai engine speak) that makes 138 hp and 123 lb.-ft. of torque. Continuously variable valve timing will also aid in maintaining a level of economy expected in the sub-compact market.
2012 hyundai accent
2012 hyundai accent



Power will be distributed to the front wheels by a choice of six-speed transmissions – a standard manual or an optional new six-speed dual clutch automatic (meaning there are no hydraulics). The sophisticated automatic will feature two shafts (one for the even gears; one for the odd ones) that will select the adjacent gears for smoother transitions in driving conditions.
On the safety front, six airbags are expected to be standard, with features such as electronic stability control available on higher end trims.For Canada, we can probably expect standards along the line of the Russian Solaris, which gets standard higher-amperage battery, wiper de-icer zone, front seat heaters and heated outside mirrors.
Sources : Autonet.ca

Ford Focus Electric 2013

2013 Ford Focus Electric
2013 Ford Focus Electric
My initial reaction wasn’t, “Hey! Electric Ford Focus.” My initial reaction was, “Aston Martin wants its grille back.” The 2013 Focus Electric looks like a larger, better-designed version of the Aston Martin Cygnet, the little Toyota-built dinghy for Aston owners who live in or regularly visit London.Of course, Ford Motor Company still owned Aston Martin when Martin Smith’s European studio began designing this car. In fact, the wide maw Aston-like grille first appeared on a Ford when the Verve concept foreshadowed the current Fiesta subcompact at the 2007 Frankfurt motor show.
2013 Ford Focus Electric 
2013 Ford Focus Electric


It’s the kind of design detail the ever more style-conscious Ford can more easily pull off when the grille doesn’t need to suck in any air. The company is making some big claims about the first “fuel-free, rechargeable passenger car from Ford” (the electric Transit Connect is its first such truck), but isn’t revealing much about the nature of the powerpack. It’s an all-electric powertrain with a single-speed transmission. Battery system is an advanced lithium-ion unit Ford has developed with supplier LG Chem that uses heated and cooled liquid to maximize battery life and driving range. Ford handles thermal management with liquid heating in cold weather, liquid cooling when it’s hot.
2013 Ford Focus Electric
2013 Ford Focus Electric


Ford claims a 100-mile range. It fully recharges in three to four hours at 240 volts, half the charging time of the Nissan Leaf and with twice the mpg equivalent of the Chevrolet Volt. Its dedicated charging system will cost consumers $500 to $700 less than Nissan’s or Chevy’s, Ford claims. Top speed is 84 mph.
The charge port, between the driver’s door and front wheel well, activates a light ring that loops around the port two times to let the owner know the car is connected. There’s the usual gee-whiz recharging and battery-draining bar graph drama going on in the instrument panel, as well.
In going with the theory that both the environmentally correct and the anti-import oil crowd also make up the exclusive group of Americans who like hatchbacks (Chevy Volt, Toyota Prius, Nissan Leaf), the Focus Electric will be available only in the four-door hatchback bodystyle, not the four-door sedan.
Sources : Motortrend.com