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While President Bush jets home from the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, some of the folks sticking around for tennis, gymnastics and the pervasive sense of being watched are being ferried around town in a special form of transport--a MINI-themed rickshaw.
MINI says the rear end of the Cooper, strapped to a human, "perfectly captures Beijing's dynamic combination of tradition and progress, coupled with a touch of fantasy and individuality - as only
MINI can do." We cautiously note its literal connection to a sort of indentured servitude the People's Republic has turned into performance art, too.
The zero-emission
hybrid MINI is actually derived from a Clubman, and it's patrolling the hotspots in Beijing during the Games, which run through August 18th. About 2200
MINIs have been sold thus far in China in 2008, giving the little Cooper a bigger presence than ever before.
Posted in : 2008, China, MINI
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Everyone's getting in on the April Fools' Day jokes, including, we think, the funsters and wagsters at Carscoop. Witness this image here: according to the copy, it's a
Jaguar XF-C concept due at the Beijing
auto show on April 20.
Carscoop says the four-seat coupe is based on the new XF, and powered by a 5.0-liter supercharged V-8 engine that develops more than 500 hp. While they're at it, why not throw in amphibious capability and standard assault rifles -- the full Bond treatment?
Anyone with Photoshop and a few hours of free time could have made this image. The only problem is it sounds and looks totally plausible. We love the XF sedan and with all the takeover machinations from
Ford and Tata,
Jaguar needs a good, hot product story to swerve attention back to the cars. So what do you think -- is it the real thing? Should
Jaguar spin off a two-door from the lovely XF?
Stay tuned later today, as all the Fools unmask themselves -- or at the latest in Beijing, if this thing takes off.
Posted in : 2008, China, Concept Cars, Jaguar, Just for Fun, Shoppers
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Audi and
Volkswagen have had great success with their own version of BorgWarner's dual-clutch transmission. And now, with the appearance of
BMW’s new seven-speed double-clutch transmission in the U.S. later this year,
Audi's upping its gear count to stay competitive.
Autocar magazine reports that
Audi is set to introduce a seven-speed S-tronic gearbox, intended for use with the quattro four-wheel-drive system. The high-performance gearbox is capable of handling torque output as high as 406 lb-ft. It's essentially the same idea as
Audi's current box (and
BMW's new one): two clutches acting continuously, with alternating gears being pre-selected so the transmission shifts within a few hundredths of a second.
Audi is set to introduce this gearbox next month at the Beijing
auto show, installed in its
new Q5 crossover.
Posted in : 2008, Audi, China, Crossover Vehicles, Shoppers, Technology, Volkswagen
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Mark your calendar for August 2-8, Olympic fans and hopefuls. The
2008 Olympic games are, for the first time, being held in China. And
Volkswagen is getting in on the fun as the official automotive sponsor of the Games.
As a sponsor,
Volkswagen will be donating 6,000 cars to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Organization Committee (BOCOG). Some 4,350 of those cars will be
Volkswagens, while 650 will consist of Skodas, and the remaining 1000 will be
Audis.
Volkswagen will also have a pavilion at the Games.
Volkswagen, Skoda, and
Audi will each have two cars there in a 2,000 square-meter facility. The
Volkswagen models will bear the phrase “Present and Future,” while
Audi has “Past and Present.” Skoda’s motto will be “Past and Future.”
Volkswagen will also be supporting the international torch relay with a fleet of vehicles in both the China and Greece parts of the relay. They are also involved with other countries as a sponsor of the National Olympic Committees.
The Beijing organizing committee expects a crowd topping 4 million at the Games; 10,708 athletes from over 200 countries; and a worldwide television audience of more than a billion people for the August spectacle.
Automotive News says that in 2007,
Volkswagen,
Audi and Skoda sold 910,491 cars in China, which was up 28 percent from 2006, when it only sold 711,360 units. This brought Volkswagen’s total share of the market in China to 18 percent.
Posted in : 2008, Audi, China, Shoppers, Volkswagen
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It won't be displayed in the clay until the Beijing
auto show on April 19, but Buick's letting more than a few whispers out about its new Invicta concept.
While we're amassing for the
New York auto show, Buick's eye ahead to Beijing will include a fully realized concept version of this sketch, which General Motors released today along with some brief information on the new Invicta.
That name -- which is Latin-speak for "invincible" -- was last seen in the
Buick lineup 45 years ago. It's now applied to what GM says is a "premium" car with global appeal. To that end, the Invicta's been a shared effort -- with GM design studios in North America and China getting in on the action.
GM design president Ed Welburn says the new car is a milestone for GM's upscale, not-quite-Caddy brand. “The result will set a new design standard for
Buick," he's quoted in a release.
Though much of it is rendered in this hazy sketch, the Invicta is said to be inspired by the
Riviera concept shown last year. A sumptuous interior is enveloped in a shape that draws on
Buick lines from the 1940s through the 1970s. And since it's said to share some of the
Riviera concept's lighting and interior elements, we're guessing that maybe the Invicta is a four-door version of
the Riviera concept from last year's show circuit - perhaps a forerunner of the
rear-drive Buick sedan we told you about last month.
We'll have more on the Invicta as we report from the
New York auto show throughout the week. Stay tuned.
Posted in : 2008, Buick, China, Concept Cars, New York Auto Show, Shoppers
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While President Bush jets home from the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, some of the folks sticking around for tennis, gymnastics and the pervasive sense of being watched are being ferried around town in a special form of transport--a MINI-themed rickshaw.;)
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