RUMOUR HAS IT...
NOT SO TOP SECRET
Occasionally a car manufacturer will host a preview event for a new model ahead of its official reveal. We have been to a few. Normally men in black suits take away your cellphone and camera.
So the fact that McLaren allowed everyone to keep their cellphones and even take pictures at the preview event for its 650S replacement can only mean that it was expecting pictures to be leaked. All pics and info were technically embargoed until the car is officially revealed at the Geneva motor show in March, but there was always going to be someone.
That someone leaked this picture of the 650S replacement on the internet.
Unfortunately, it came with little information so you just get to look at this slightly low-rent picture. We are expecting McLaren to release information soon.
Unlike the 650S replacement, a number of models out there are undergoing testing wearing their typical camouflage. One is the next-generation Hyundai Veloster, due in 2018. Don’t expect radical changes though, with the designers likely to give it a more aggressive front and increase the size of the window at the back. The single passenger door looks set to remain, while under the bonnet there will again be normally aspirated and turbocharged options, as well as a new N-Performance derivative.
FUEL CELL FUTURE
General Motors and Honda are aiming to take on Toyota together, with the establishment of the auto industry’s first manufacturing joint venture to mass produce an advanced hydrogen fuel cell system to be used in future products from each company.
Fuel Cell System Manufacturing will operate within GM’s battery-pack manufacturing facility site in Michigan, US. Mass production of fuel cell systems is expected to begin around 2020. The companies are making equal investments totalling $85m in the joint venture.
Honda and GM have been working together through a master collaboration agreement announced in July 2013. The companies last collaborated in a powertrain cross-supply arrangement in 1999 under which Honda manufactured 50,000 V6 engines for the Saturn VUE and Honda received diesel engines from GM’s Isuzu affiliate for use in Europe.
“Over the past three years, engineers from Honda and GM have been working as one team with each company providing know-how from its unique expertise to create a compact and low-cost nextgen fuel cell system,” said Toshiaki Mikoshiba, chief operating officer of the North American Region for Honda and president of Honda North America. “This foundation of outstanding teamwork will take us to the stage of joint mass production of a fuel cell system that will help each company create new value for our customers in fuel cell vehicles Toyota has officially announced that it will close its manufacturing facilities in Australia on October 3 2017. It will gradually stop producing certain models from August before the full closure of its Altona plant in October. It says it is still expecting to produce 61,000 vehicles in 2017. The closure will reduce Toyota’s workforce in the country from 3,900 to 1,300.
NOT SO EVO-LUTIONARY
A driver in Bristol, UK, has been convicted after testing out the performance credentials of his Mitsubishi Evo.
Norbert Kiss had just bought his dream car and decided to put foot on the highway.
According to the Bristol Evening Post, his attorney stated in court that: “He bought a car, a highperformance car. It was always something he wanted to do. In a moment of stupidity he tested the capability of that vehicle, which exceeded his understanding.”
Kiss crashed into another vehicle at high speed with witnesses saying he showed no sign of trying to slow down prior to the impact. Kiss was given a one-year community order, ordered to do 200 hours of community service, pay nearly R23,000 in costs and a R1,600 victim surcharge. He was also banned from driving for a year.
URGENT RECALL
Everyone is aware of recall campaigns at the moment so when an urgent recall notice arrived in our inbox we immediately took notice. It came from truck maker Scania, which announced that 7,531 products are affected globally. Such is the concern the company advised in a statement the product should be returned to the dealer “immediately” for a full refund.
However, it is not a safety recall for a truck, but something more cuddly — a teddy bear. The Scania teddy bear with a blue vest has a zip that could come loose and pose a risk of choking. So while Scania fans can keep on trucking, it seems they can’t keep on cuddling.