Motoring: Korea’s chic crossover,
NEVER mind John Prescott’s ‘Two Jags’. Thrifty motorists whose budgets won’t stretch to the favourite luxury car of the Labour peer might consider ‘two dragons’ instead.
For Korea’s SsangYong is launching a new sports utility vehicle from under £13,000 that promises value for money motoring for drivers who believe in watching their pennies.
But SsangYong (Korean for ‘two dragons’) has given its new sporty five-door family runaround a very European name — Tivoli — after the stylish Italian town near Rome, home to the Villa d’Este, a Unesco world heritage site famed for its Renaissance architecture and garden.
Pitched to take on the pumpedup Nissan Juke, the Tivoli SUV is powered by 1.6 litre Euro 6 petrol and diesel engines with six speed manual and automatic transmissions.
It arrives in the UK this summer in three trim levels — SE, EX, ELX – with a choice of front-wheel drive or ‘intelligent’ 4x4 and seven airbags across the range. There’s also a five-year unlimited mileage warranty.
The entry level SE, from £12,950, is finished in grey cloth trim and includes 16-in alloys, cruise control, a petrol stop/go system, seven airbags and ‘smart’ steering with normal, comfort and sport modes.
The top-of-the-range ELX, from £16,000 to £19,000, comes fully loaded with a choice of the full range of engines and gearboxes plus diamond cut alloy wheels, smart keyless starting, front and rear parking sensors, privacy glass, rear spoiler, automatic headlamps, rain sensing wipers, Tom Tom navigation system with 7 in touch screen and a rear-view camera.
There is a choice of six exterior colours, and even a ‘My Tivoli’ personalisation programme which allows customers to create their own distinctive car. This includes the styling pack (£400) which gives a choice of five two-tone roof combinations, plus further engine and drivetrain options.
As well as offering lots of interior seating and storage space, it aims to offer driver and passengers easy connectivity to their IT devices.
SssangYong’s UK sales and marketing director Steve Gray expects it to double the firm’s annual UK sales from 2,000 to 4,000 a year.
UK chief executive Paul Williams says: ‘This is a car that will really put Ssang Yong on the map and change perceptions.’ IT IS almost time for the next Goodwood Festival of Speed. Tickets have now gone on sale for the event which runs from June 25 to 28. The theme of ‘Flat-Out and Fearless: Racing on the Edge’ pays tribute to the drivers and constructors throughout history who ‘threw caution to the wind in pursuit of victory’.
The festival, billed as ‘ the world’s largest automotive garden party’ is held in the grounds of Lord March’s Goodwood House and estate near Chichester, West Sussex.
It attracts the A-list of the world motor manufacturing chiefs, motor sport legends — from Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton to Sir Stirling Moss and Sir Jackie Stewart — as well as showbiz celebrities in a way the original British Motor Show never could.
More than 600 cars and motorcycles spanning the phenomenal history of motoring and motor sport take part alongside a ‘ Moving Motor Show’ presented by the AA.
The traditional central feature — a vast automotive-themed sculpture — will this year honour Japanese car giant Mazda’s contribution to motoring and motor sport in the year that the latest incarnation of its best-selling MX-5 sports car is launched.
Details and tickets: goodwood.com. RACE and road car designer Professor Gordon Murray — who produced the legendary McLaren F1 supercar — is to collaborate with engine specialist Osamu Goto to create an ultracompact fuel-efficient vehicle for city use. But it has to run on conventional fuels such as petrol. The car, being sponsored by Shell under the code-name ‘Project M’ is to be unveiled in November.