SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2008 Life C7

Edited by William Wadsworth Wirewheels MOTORING [email protected]

Chinese marques quiet in Paris One very noticeable feature of the Paris Motor Show this month was the almost complete absence of Chinese marques. Whereas the 2006 Paris show featured major displays from several mainland manufacturers – notably sports utility vehicle manufacturers Great Wall and Landwind – this year’s event, which closes tomorrow, included just two low- Investors pile into precious metal key displays from Brilliance and China London-based car auctioneer Coys Automobile France. reports unprecedented sales, with It seems the combination of tough millions of pounds’ worth of cars being European conditions, a focus on serving sold in the days following the collapse the fast-growing mainland market and of Lehman Brothers. difficulties in adequately meeting “We are reporting very strong sales European emissions and crash-test – US$8.5 million since mid September,” standards have dissuaded the Chinese says the company’s managing director, from making a major play for Europe at Chris Routledge. “It would appear that the moment. people would rather buy an historic car Great Wall drew praise for some of and put it in the garage than brave the its designs and Brilliance is already current highs and lows of the stock selling cars on the continent, rolling out market.” a range of models in a number of Recent sales have included a 1996 markets. But progress has been slow Ferrari F50 – the only right-hand drive and a poor Euro NCAP score has done example produced, custom-made by the marque’s image no good. the marque for the Sultan of Brunei – A much-publicised independent for £350,000 (HK$4.7 million), the crash test seems to have sent Landwind auctioneer says. A private collector also back to the drawing board. The offloaded an excellent example of a company now plans to wait until it has 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing for more suitable models before making a £385,000, and “the last remaining pitch in Europe. original, unrestored example of a 1955 The other mainland exhibitor is the Aston Martin DB3S [below] anywhere in French division of China Automobile Deutschland, the German outfit that caused a major hoo-ha at last year’s Frankfurt Show, when it upset a number of manufacturers by showing cars that critics said bore more than a passing resemblance to established models such as the BMW X5 and Toyota RAV4. One of those cars – the Shuanghuan CEO – was on show, and is about to go Straight expectations on sale with a ¤25,990 (HK$273,882) price tag. But the RAV4-lookalike Jonway UFO wasn’t on show – it’s “being restyled”, which will cause some delays to its launch, the company says. The Hyundai Elantra Yuedong is a competent commuter, but it won’t Instead, China Automobile France showed two new original models – the Kiff, a leisure-oriented lightweight 4x4 set your heart racing, writes Mark Andrews made by Shanghai Xingyue Power Machinery and powered by an 812cc three-cylinder Chery petrol engine. It’s ail a taxi in Beijing and generation, the new model sports an trim surrounds the chrome on sale now, priced at about ¤10,240. you have a one in three undulating curve flowing down the door handles – another nod The other was the prototype Chika the world sold for over £2 million”. A chance it will be a body to a squat rear end. The most to local tastes. An effort city car (top right). It looks sweet, but rare right-hand-drive Lancia Aurelia Hyundai Elantra. Last obvious external difference between has also been made with website Popsci.com put it in its place. B24 Spyder (above) with one owner for year sales hit the half- China’s Yuedong model and the one details such as a cup “This droplet of a car won’t win any the past 35 years changed hands for Hmillion mark 40 months after the available elsewhere is the front grille, holder in the central awards for swiftness,” the site says. “It’s £145,000. Newspress car’s introduction to the Chinese which has more chrome flash and console and a rear a limited-use electric [model] that tops market. Since April, the fourth presents a more aggressive visage. armrest. out at 31mph [50km/h]. And with a five- Aldridge reprises arty Mini generation has been on sale as the It’s carried through to the bumper, The range-topping horsepower motor and a range of 93 A Mini One with a unique exterior Elantra Yuedong. In true China “old housing redesigned fog lights. Small GLS version boasts miles [150km], it’s best kept safely designed by British artist and graphic cars never die” style, the third changes have also been made to the electric windows, inside the walls of a planned designer Alan Aldridge is now on show generation will continue to be built front and rear light clusters and the mirrors, a sunroof and air AT A GLANCE: Hyundai Elantra Yuedong community.” at the Design Museum in London until for fleet users such as taxi number plate mount. conditioning. Connections are Perhaps it’s really an escapee January 25. “The Mini Aldridge Special companies and the police, and the Externally, the build quality is provided for MP3 players and What drives it? There’s a choice of a How thirsty is it? It’s said to sip 7.5 litres from Discovery Bay. Newspress [below] is an exhibit in a retrospective new car is aimed at young good, with panels fitting nicely Bluetooth mobile phones. 1.6-litre or a 130-horsepower 1.8-litre of fuel per 100km. and Pixie Zheng display of Alan’s work, entitled The Man managers. together, and the interior is also But the car’s safety features are petrol engine with either a five-speed How clean is it? No CO2 figures are with Kaleidoscope Eyes, Mini says. The fourth generation is quite a quite satisfactory. Materials are of a quite a let-down. The Australian manual or four-speed automatic gearbox. quoted – an inexcusable omission in this Toyota unveils iQ tiddler Dubbed “The Graphic Entertainer”, departure from the old model, reasonable quality and the overall version, which received just three How fast is it? No sprint figures are day and age. Toyota says it’s out to prove a tiny car Aldridge illustrated lyrics books for the which, although solid, was – let’s look is pleasing to the eye. A two- stars in ANCAP tests, boasts six quoted but the 1.8 tops out at 185km/h. Available: Prices start at 99,800 yuan can be top-notch with its new iQ “ultra- Beatles, album covers for The Rolling face it – boring. Beijing Hyundai has tone dash consists of a dark grey airbags – but the Yuedong has only How safe is it? Safety is questionable as (HK$113,494) for the manual 1.6 GL and go compact” that’s less than 3 metres long Stones, The Who and Elton John, and taken the car sold in the rest of the upper layer giving way to a light grey two. And the middle passenger in there are only two airbags in the version up to 129,800 yuan for the automatic but which offers quality safety features, the book The Butterfly Ball. world and modified it for the lower down, complementing the the rear seat only has a lap restraint. offered to the mainland. 1.8 GLS version. mileage and handling. In his exhibit, Aldridge recreates a Chinese market. grey leather seats. The CD/radio Rear legroom is generous, but tall cover of the Sunday Times Magazine, In a world of cars that all look the controls on the steering wheel are adults may have a problem with the with a 1.6-litre engine and a five- to the car’s high back end, but rear which in 1965 featured a classic Mini same, the overall look of the Elantra framed in chrome, as are the air low ceiling. The boot volume is a speed manual transmission in both radar sensors help. painted in his own, inimitable style. The is different. Replacing the boxy third conditioning controls. Fake wood respectable 475 litres, which should versions. The gearbox choices reveal The Elantra’s competence and updated interpretation of this image, be big enough for most families. the car’s budget roots, as class composure partially offset what it using a new Mini One as the canvas for After missing the turning onto leaders such as the Volkswagen Golf lacks in excitement, and it seems his design, featured on the front cover the Badaling Expressway and then come with six-speed manuals and Hyundai has made its cosmetic of last Sunday’s edition of the exiting too early, the lack of a DSG automatics. changes to try to appeal to young navigation system starts to grate, All the controls are handy and the execs. Yet whether that will help sell even though the car proves equally driving position is comfortable, with a saloon that elsewhere is regarded at home on the motorway as in buttons for the entertainment as a car for older folk who don’t care central Beijing. It also manages to system mounted on the steering much for driving remains to be seen. swallow the bumps on the road wheel. When passing under bridges, Gone are the days where China And it’s asking a bit more for the iQ around the Shisanling Reservoir. the blue glow from instrument was treated by European carmakers (above), which seats three adults and Steering is electronically assisted, backlighting is obvious and the dials as a dumping ground for old one child or luggage in the fourth seat. feels very light, and there’s generally are easy to read. Below the designs. It seems increasing From November 20 the iQ will sell from no feedback. But the car goes where entertainment system on the central numbers of manufacturers are 1.4 million yen (HK$107,121) – more than you point it and its roadholding is console is a display showing climate modifying cars specially for the Toyota’s Vitz, which goes for about 1 quite good. The 1.8-litre engine control information; it’s a hot market, and some – such as million yen. Toyota wants to sell 2,500 paired with the four-speed autumn day, but the air- Volkswagen with its Lavida – are iQs a month in Japan and introduce the automatic gearbox seems to have conditioning system does a good job even making China-only models. tiddler to Europe early next year. magazine. “Mini will be celebrating its sufficient power without straining of cooling the car. However, the Elantra Yuedong The 1-litre iQ is trying to be in a class 50th birthday in 2009, so this is the the engine, and gear changes are Although general visibility is suggests Chinese drivers shouldn’t of its own, like the Mini Cooper, and it’s perfect way to begin celebrating 50 Hyundai has added some shine to the Elantra’s interior for the China market smooth. The car is also available good, reversing isn’t so easy, thanks expect too much. not a two-seater like Daimler AG’s years of the car in Britain,” the marque Mercedes-Benz Smart, Toyota says, says. Newspress adding that it hopes to woo fashionable drivers who are willing to pay more for BMW Motorrad updates K series Edited by William Wadsworth a small car, not the typical frugal BMW Motorrad has updated three K- Footdown [email protected] compact owner. series models that share the same The iQ comes with nine airbags in chassis and upgraded drivetrain, but the standard model, including a curtain which appeal to different markets, with shield airbag that deploys from the roof design makeovers, a new exhaust and a VW sale in Tsuen Wan The Latham 2CV also had a habit been damaged in the fire! It was just lining about the rear window to protect sportier sound. The bikes are: the K Volkswagen Hong of brake failure, he says, recalling a a stroke of luck that the man saw us back-seat passengers heads in a rear- 1300 S – the fastest motorcycle BMW Kong’s service centre at scary descent in the mountains of and threw himself to safety as our end collision. Motorrad has ever produced; the high- 204-210 Texaco Road, North Wales. Latham’s worst 2CV silent 2CV shot past.” It goes 23km on a litre of fuel under performance K 1300 R “naked” bike Tsuen Wan (tel: 3698 moment was “when a bunch of us The Latham CV coasted to a stop Japanese standards, the best mileage that the marque says is “the most 9733) tomorrow offers went to Rome in two 2CVs”, he and the shaken crew learned during for a Toyota that’s not a gas-electric technically advanced machine in its up to 20 per cent off 22 says. “My friend’s caught fire as we local repairs that the elderly hybrid, Toyota says. class”; and the K 1300 GT (below), which display and company cars, were descending a mountain in predestrian was British. The car’s turning radius is just 3.9 the marque describes as “quite simply “while stocks last”, says My 2CV hit 90mph, says reader northern Italy. My brother in front “He had fought in the war and metres, and the marque says it has the best sports tourer BMW Motorrad spokeswoman Vicki Ho. Sha Tin reader Hugo Latham didn’t notice we were on fire and stayed behind in Italy,” Latham says. tattoos for cars and bikes on the made design innovations for a more has ever made”. Most of the Volkswagen range is responded to our toast last week to merrily drove on! We put out the fire “We drank red wine to settle our internet. The designs (above) might efficient placement of the engine, fuel The heart of these three models is represented, but our pick of the test- the 60th anniversary to the Citroen and decided it would be best to nerves and laughed about the whole not win many points at the Classic tank and other parts, and made seat the second-generation of BMW drive cars would be the Golf GT 1.4, 2CV. “My mother bought [a V reg, coast down the hill to the village thing. We thought about the irony of Car Club concours on October 26, backs thinner while not compromising Motorrad’s four-cylinder power unit, reduced from HK$249,000 to below right] for my older brother below. We rolled off and started it … this veteran fought for England but they could give your Wagon R a on comfort for more legroom. which has been increased from 1,157cc HK$224,100 or a two-litre Beetle and me when we were learning to down the hill with my friend steering and liberated France but was almost few extra waahs at weekends. The iQ’s “i” stands for to 1,293cc and which promises more Cabriolet (above), reduced from drive,” says Latham, an English and me in the front. killed by a bunch of British lads in a The company says it expects “to “individuality,” “innovation” and power and 10Nm more torque, at HK$250,000 to HK$225,000. teacher who has been in Hong Kong “The first and second bends were French car! Such is life.” see a great demand for our dragon “intelligence,” and “q” for “quality,” and 140Nm. The block gets new The dealer also offers big for 13 years. “I passed my test on the fine but the third seemed to come If you have any 2CV memories or tattoos from the boys and the girls the “q” hints at “cubic” and “cue,” pistons, discounts on larger-engined cars, first attempt in it. My mother very quickly. I looked at my friend if you’d like to relive your most going wild for some stunning Toyota says. Associated Press connecting rods with a “manager’s” million-dollar thought it was an excellent choice as who was driving and noticed he frightening motoring moment, flowers graphics”. and crankshaft 4.2-litre Phaeton offered at she said, ‘we couldn’t kill ourselves looked very pale. e-mail [email protected]. “The original car and bike art and maximum HK$800,000 alongside three display in it!’ “We all went into emergency tattoos come in A3 and A4 kits,” the power output is 3.6-litre Touaregs at HK$487,350, “Little did she know. We found mode. This included grabbing the Tattoo your ride company says. “They’re simple to achieved at HK$25,650 off list price. A manager’s that driving down the M40 near dashboard and screaming! The 2CV We hear British brand Cruzeink sells apply and remove, cause no damage 9,250rpm, which Touareg is also going for High Wycombe there was a long, took each corner like a F1 sports car to paintwork, are weatherproof [and is 1,000rpm HK$461,000. steep hill. If we built up enough – unfortunately the passengers were cost] from £14.99 [HK$202]. lower than the Lovely – but you might want to speed before this incline we could go not as cool as an F1 driver! The road Inquiries: cruzeink.com previous model. push the dealer harder on price. We off the speed clock! The clock read levelled out into a village and we Newspress reckon more local dealers could 80mph [128k/h] but we are sure we were slowing down when we Chater Road Show reminder slash prices on larger cars as Hong hit 90mph!” Latham says he will noticed an old man stepping onto Finally, the Classic Car Club reminds Kong families realise the folly of always remember the faces of the the road ahead. us that it will hold its Chater Road driving big 3.6-litre gas-guzzlers in a passengers in the cars his 2CV “We watched in horror as he Show between 10am and 4pm on compact town on the brink of overtook. “We even had to flash our shuffled across the road while we October 26. If you are displaying recession. Engines over two litres lights to ask the car in front to get out bore down on him, we tried to your car at this splendid event, tell can feel wasted in our traffic. of the way!” he says. sound the horn but the electrics had us about it on [email protected].