William Maley

Ford isn't being too discrete with the upcoming Police Interceptor Utility as these new set of spy shots reveal. It confirms some of the key details we reported on a couple months back such as the evolutionary design, rear-wheel drive proportions, and a tapered roofline. The picture also brings out some new details such as a new front end with a trapezoidal grille, slightly more squared rear end, and new taillights. We still don't know any concrete details on the hybrid system that will be used on the Police Interceptor Utility aside from it returning a combined figure of 24 mpg. Expect the Police Interceptor Utility and its sister model, the Explorer to debut sometime later this year. Source: Autoblog, Motor1 View full article

Opel has unveiled their first concept car since coming under the ownership of PSA Group. Called the GT X Experimental, the concept gives us an idea of what direction Opel/Vauxhall's styling will take. The compact crossover shares an obvious similarity to a previous Opel concept, the GT Coupe in terms of overall shape and the colorful line running the length of the roof. A key trait to the concept's design is the "Vizor" up front. Resembling the visor on a motorcycle helmet, the area houses the headlights, running lights, and the various hardware needed for the driver assistance features. A large windshield extends all the way to the second-row to provide an open-air feeling. The concept features a set of suicide doors to provide an unobstructed view through the cabin. The dash is very minimalistic with a massive screen and a simple-looking steering wheel. The GT X Experimental uses an electric powertrain. No power figures or range were given, but Opel did say the concept has a 50-kWh battery and can be charged wirelessly. The concept also features Level 3 Autonomous capability where it can handle all aspects of driving, but the driver needs to ready to intervene at a moment's notice. “The Opel GT X Experimental embodies the spirit of our core brand values – German, approachable, exciting. It’s an “approachable” concept that people can identify with. It confidently combines a pure and bold design execution with progressive technology that makes life easier. Clearly, this vehicle signals a very exciting future for the brand,” said Mark Adams, Opel's Vice President of Design. Source: Opel Opel GT X Experimental: Bold Vision of Opel’s Future The next PACE! milestone: Brand Concept vehicle previews future of Opel models Expressing Opel values: German, approachable, exciting Opel Vizor: Hallmark design for the new face of all future models Visual and digital detox: “Pure Panel” redefines interior design Electric Power: GT X Experimental stands for electrification of all Opel models by 2024 Opel concept vehicles: Designing the future for over 50 years Rüsselsheim. Opel is giving a preview of the exciting future of the brand with a new Brand Concept. Its name: the Opel GT X Experimental – a bold, 4.06-metre, 5-door, all-electric compact SUV with coupé appeal and brimming with innovative ideas. The GT X Experimental embodies Opel’s values and vision along with providing a glimpse of what the future holds for Opel models. The company had already announced that it would further sharpen its profile during the presentation of the strategic PACE! plan last November. The GT X Experimental is the first tangible result of this process. “With our PACE! plan, we have a very clear vision of how we want to create a successful future for Opel. Focus on a strong brand identity defined by our values – German, approachable, exciting – plays an integral role in our return to sustainable success. Our Brand Concept shows how these values will come to life in our products in the future. Our engineering and design teams have put this into effect brilliantly in the Opel GT X Experimental. It gives a clear idea of how we at Opel see the mobility of the future,” said Opel CEO Michael Lohscheller. Passion for democratising technical innovations fuels Opel’s pioneering spirit During the concept phase, Opel started a wide-ranging and intense process of reflection about itself and its values. Opel can look back on 156 years of industrial existence starting with precision mechanics and almost 120 years of automobile engineering fuelled by the constant commitment to make exciting and relevant innovative technologies accessible to all. Throughout its history, the specific “Opel way” can be summarised with these three values: German, approachable and exciting. As for its future, the brand wants to remain anchored in the most modern and positive expression of its German roots: Opel’s “New Germanness” takes the best of Germany’s traditional values – engineering excellence, a genuine fascination for well-executed machines, an intense focus on functionality, quality and reliability – and enriches them with warmth and open-mindedness. Inspired by Opel’s innovative spirit, the new GT X Experimental captures the essence of the company’s rich heritage and promises an exciting future. It blends German engineering, precision and quality with visionary innovations to give a preview of what Opel cars will be in the mid-2020s: bold, pure in appearance yet extremely approachable and customer-centric. Opel decided to embody its vision for its future automobiles in a compact SUV of just 4,063 millimetres in length (wheelbase: 2,625 mm; width: 1,830 mm; height including antenna: 1,528 mm): SUVs are currently the most popular vehicles on the market and Opel is driven by the desire to make such even more attractive for a wide public. But to do so, SUVs must also become more efficient than ever before. This is why the Opel GT X Experimental is built on a lightweight architecture, has a reduced footprint and drives on 17-inch wheels that visually look much larger, so as to maximise road comfort but also look stunning. True to the PACE! plan promise of offering an electrified version of each Opel model by 2024, the GT X Experimental is a fully electric car with power delivered by a 50 kWh, compact next-generation lithium-ion battery with inductive charging. The GT X Experimental does not pretend to offer full autonomous driving. However, it does have Level 3 autonomous driving functions – meaning it can handle all aspects of driving but the driver must be able to respond to a request to intervene. Pure and bold: This is future Opel design The GT X Experimental presents innovative technology with sophisticated simplicity. Vice President Design Mark Adams and his team have developed a whole philosophy for Opel’s specific, German design, blending purity with emotional boldness. In the GT X Experimental, each usual function, each module of an automobile has been questioned with the aim of achieving purity of design by removing all unnecessary design elements. This is something the design team calls “visual detox”. The Opel GT X Experimental body shows bold proportions coupled with beautifully structured, pure flowing surfaces. Its strong silhouette is accentuated by the bold graphic identity separating the upper and lower areas. The lower section is painted in a luminous light grey, and the whole upper part including the bonnet, glass and roof are in an almost black, night blue. Between these is a bold Opel yellow signature accent that flows through the car to give it structure and dynamism. This colour scheme re-visits Opel’s traditional grey/black/yellow colour but reconfigures it to create a fresh modern feel. The GT X Experimental welcomes passengers with spacious, unobstructed access thanks to rear-hinged rear doors and all four doors opening wide to 90 degrees to give the concept an approachable character. The sweeping panoramic windscreen/roof reaches far back to the rear seats, enhancing the SUV’s light and open sense of spaciousness. Opel designers have also reduced the traditional, so-called “cut lines” in the bodywork – made necessary by the different openings such as doors and bonnet – to an absolute minimum. The upper cutline of all doors is hidden in the yellow accent and the one of the rear doors coincides with the opening of the boot. Forgoing conventional elements such as door handles and exterior mirrors, the body is a smooth canvas that wraps around surprising details such as small cameras embedded in the yellow graphic lining the sides of the bonnet pop out, replacing the exterior mirrors. To counterbalance this visual detox, rare graphical details energise the appearance of the GT X Experimental. Cropped triangles are engraved along the sill under the driver’s side rear door: one of them contains a small, hexagonal LED screen that shows the electric charge level of the battery. The 17-inch wheels look much bigger thanks to robust rubber covers that flow over the rim to visually enlarge the size of the dark blue tyres. Yellow graphic lines on the rim echo the yellow signature accent of the body and surround the electronic Blitz emblem that stands still as the wheels rotate. And to underline the SUV character of the car, protective cladding wraps around the lower body, giving the GT X Experimental’s solid, robust stance a rugged look. “The Opel GT X Experimental embodies the spirit of our core brand values – German, approachable, exciting. It’s an “approachable” concept that people can identify with. It confidently combines a pure and bold design execution with progressive technology that makes life easier. Clearly, this vehicle signals a very exciting future for the brand,” said Mark Adams. Opel Compass and Opel Vizor give new visual identity to future Opel models The GT X Experimental also reveals the new theme for the front and the rear fascia of future models for the first time. The “Opel Compass” organises the design elements along two strong axes that intersect the Blitz. The legendary brand emblem is now the focus point more than ever before. In a crisper and purer execution, the centre-crease line on the bonnet represents the vertical axis, which is prolonged under the Blitz. The horizontal axis is symbolised by the Opel-typical wing-shaped daytime running light signature, which will continue to feature on all future Opel vehicles. The rear echoes the front fascia and shows the Opel Compass in its purity, with the Blitz solidly anchoring the horizontal line of the wing-shaped rear lights and the vertical line from the roof fin antenna to the accentuated crease in the bumper. Following the theme of the Opel Compass and in line with the approach of creating the purest possible design, Opel designers have also created a new Opel face that expresses the company’s pioneering spirit: the “Opel Vizor”. The Opel Vizor is a full, single module that frames all of the high-tech and brand elements such as the LED Blitz emblem that shows the car’s operation state by lighting up in different colours, the LED matrix headlights, the wing-shaped daytime running lights as well as all cameras and sensors of the assistance systems and autonomous driving functions under darkly tinted Plexiglas. The elegant module boldly stretches across the front of the car right under the bonnet. The new, distinctive Opel Vizor is set to be a hallmark design element for all Opel models later in the 2020s. Interior around Pure Panel: Visual and digital detox for a relaxing oasis The airy interior of the Opel GT X Experimental follows the same principles and opts for visual and digital detox. Surrounded by the panoramic windscreen/roof and uninterrupted side-window, the cabin’s sleekness masks the innovations it holds in store. The interior’s standout feature is the instrument panel encased in a module that mimics the Opel Vizor – the Opel “Pure Panel”. One wide, single screen welcomes drivers and shows that the multitude of screens, buttons and controls often seen in current-day production vehicles could become obsolete. The Pure Panel enables drivers to have access to the latest technology and get the information they need while eliminating all visually distracting elements. The purity of the interior design can also be seen in the clever positioning of the air vents. They have been hidden behind the screens, allowing all-round pure, clean surfaces. The Pure Panel also shows how Opel allows technology to simplify customers’ lives. Two screens on the far left and right of the front panel display the side views captured by the small pop-out cameras. Elsewhere, the design of the steering wheel has been simplified while its centre module repeats the shape of the Opel Vizor. And, like its counterparts on the wheels, the LED Opel Blitz on its centre remains upright whatever the steering position. This clean high-tech approach flows throughout the interior. For example, the four seats look like they are floating while removable speakers nestled under the headrests also allow an out-of-car sound experience. Graphic details also highlight the strict purity of the design in the interior: the cropped triangle theme is repeated on the seat backs and the accelerator and brake pedals. View full article

Hyundai had a bit of surprise last night for journalists at the first drive event for the 2019 Santa Fe. They unveiled a refreshed 2019 Elantra sedan. The company's designers really had a thing for triangles since there are a lot on the Elantra's front end. The headlights and cutouts in the front bumper are of the three-sided variety. The large grille appears to be borrowed from the Nexo hydrogen crossover. Around back, the Elantra takes the idea of a smoothed-out trunk lid from the Sonata. Inside, Hyundai only makes some minor changes with a new center stack design and updated trim pieces. SEL models and above will get a number of active safety features such as blind spot monitoring, forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning, and lane keep assist as standard. The engine lineup is unchanged, 2.0L Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder with 147 horsepower - SE, SEL, Value Edition, and Limited Turbocharged 1.4L four-cylinder with 129 horsepower - Eco Turbocharged 1.6L four-cylinder with 201 horsepower - Sport No word on pricing, but the 2019 Elantra will be arriving at Hyundai dealers later this fall. Source: Hyundai Safety Comes First in the Redesigned 2019 Elantra Hyundai SmartSense safety and convenience technologies enhance driver assurance PARK CITY, Utah, Aug. 22, 2018 – The redesigned 2019 Elantra sedan conveys emotion with a new intense design, while delivering a sophisticated driving experience through Hyundai SmartSense safety and convenience technologies. Hyundai SmartSense offers a variety of advanced active safety and convenience features. SmartSense technologies available as options on the 2019 Elantra include: Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist, Lane Keep Assist, Driver Attention Assist and Safe Exit Assist. The newly designed 2019 Elantra will be available later this fall. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) data shows that Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) and Forward Collision Warning (FCW), which are both integrated into Hyundai’s Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist, are associated with a 50-percent reduction in rear-end collisions. In addition, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 94 percent of serious vehicle crashes involve human error, which is why advanced safety technologies like Lane Keep Assist have the potential to save lives. 2019 Elantra Sedan Updates Exterior Design Changes New hood, front fenders, front fascia, grille and headlights New trunk, taillights and rear fascia New 16- and 17-inch wheel designs New 15-inch alloy wheel design on Eco trim LED headlights applied to Limited and Sport trims Interior Design Changes New center cluster Air vents AVN/Audio/Temperature controls Storage tray New instrument cluster and housing Hyundai SmartSense Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist (FCA) applied to SEL trim and above Lane Keep Assist (LKA) applied to SEL trim and above Driver Attention Alert (DAA) applied to SEL trim and above Safe Exit Assist (SEA) added to Limited with Ultimate Package Interior Features Standard: 5-inch color audio system Bluetooth and steering wheel audio controls applied to SE manual Blue Link® Connected Car System with three years of complimentary Blue Link services applied to Value Edition Qi wireless charging applied to Limited Available AVN 5.0 with faster processor, Android Auto™ and Apple CarPlay™ and HERE HD Traffic 8-inch Multimedia Navigation System offered with higher level trims Infinity premium audio with 8 speakers including a center channel and subwoofer applied to Limited Smart Shift Drive Mode applied to SEL and above Standard: Rear view camera with dynamic guidelines Now in its sixth generation, the Elantra has sold more than 3 million units since its launch in the U.S. in 1991. Elantra has received numerous accolades including the most recent IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus for model year 2018. In addition to quality, reliability and being backed by America’s Best Warranty, the JD Power IQS recently awarded Hyundai third place overall in the highly regarded industry quality study. The Elantra is built in Hyundai’s Montgomery, Alabama plant and its Ulsan, South Korea facility. “Refinements to both the interior and exterior were initiated on the 2019 Elantra to maintain its emotional design character and include affordable and desired features,” said Scott Margason, director, product planning, Hyundai. “The hood, front fenders, fascia, grille and headlights as well as the rear fascia, trunk and taillights each have been redesigned to convey a catchy and confident image. On the rear of the vehicle, the license plate has been relocated to the lower fascia to further enhance the new body sculpture.” Safety Cutting-edge SmartSense safety features have been added to the 2019 Elantra. Most of these features have been added to the SEL trim level and above meaning they are now available on 75 percent of the Elantra lineup. SmartSense safety features have been added to the SEL, Value Edition, Eco, Limited and Sport (SEL and above) trims and include the following: Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist (camera-only type) that is designed to help detect and monitor the vehicle ahead and warn the driver if a collision may be imminent. The system also initiates automatic braking when it detects a slower or stopped vehicle ahead. Lane Keep Assist that detects the lane on the road and may apply steering wheel control if the vehicle leaves the lane when the vehicle speed is over 40 mph. Driver Attention Alert that warns the driver of tired driving patterns with an audible alert and visual warning displayed on the instrument cluster. SmartSense features included on the Elantra Limited with Ultimate Package include: Safe Exit Assist that may sound an alert when a vehicle approaches from behind letting passengers know it may not be safe to open the door to exit the vehicle. Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist with Pedestrian Detection is a technology that utilizes both the front forward-facing radar and camera through sensor fusion to help detect a vehicle or pedestrian, and warn the driver of a potential collision. If the driver does not react to avoid the impact, the system may apply emergency braking in certain circumstances. Additional Smart Sense Safety features include: Blind-Spot Collision Warning with Rear Cross-Traffic Alert and Lane Change Assist. Next Generation Infotainment: Audio/Video/Navigation (AVN) 5.0 with HD Traffic The 2019 Elantra also debuts with Hyundai’s next generation AVN 5.0 infotainment system. This system features an upgraded processor for greater responsiveness, as well as an 8-inch screen vs. the 7-inch screen in the last generation Elantra. Using presets with AVN 5.0 is a snap because AM, FM and SiriusXM channels are now combined on one screen and also feature HERE HD Traffic (without a subscription). A bird’s eye view has also been added to navigation maps and drivers can now get traffic flow and incident data without ever paying for a subscription via HD Radio. The Elantra is available with conveniences like Infinity Premium Audio with Clari-Fi™, Apple CarPlay™, Android Auto™ and wireless smartphone charging. Engine Performance The Elantra features two engine options that provide fuel efficiency and a third engine option in the Elantra Sport model. The SE, SEL and Limited offer the Nu 2.0L MPI Atkinson Cycle engine with 147 hp @6200 RPM and Eco offers the Kappa 1.4L Turbo-GDI with 128 hp @5500 RPM. The Eco model achieves an EPA estimated 35 mpg combined fuel economy rating thanks to a 7-speed dual clutch transmission. Elantra Sport Trim The redesigned 2019 Elantra Sport will debut later in 2018 and have similar design changes to the other models. Hyundai will release more details in the fall. Mechanically, it will have the same level of differentiation as the 2018 model. The Elantra Sport trim features a 1.6L Turbo-GDI engine, 6-speed manual transmission or available seven-speed dual clutch transmission, a sporty interior and revised trim headliner, advanced technology and connectivity, paddle shifters, sport front seats with leather, flat-bottom, leather-wrapped steering wheel, a sport instrument cluster and door trim garnish. The Elantra Sport features multi-link independent rear suspension which improves the dynamic performance and allows for greater flexibility in tuning. Trim Levels The 2019 Hyundai Elantra offers 6 trim levels—SE, SEL, Value Edition, Limited and Eco or Sport. View full article