Honda Pilot Prototype

The prototype conveys the design features of the more boldly-styled 2009 Pilot, which emphasizes authentic SUV styling, clever and more accommodating interior packaging and advanced technologies for safety, fuel efficiency and convenience.
The functional eight-passenger seating, a hallmark of the Pilot, becomes even easier to access in the third row as key dimensions for legroom, cargo and occupant space increase in all seating positions. A redesigned platform allows even more refined handling and ride comfort to exist seamlessly with all-weather and medium-duty off-road capabilities.
The Pilot will feature the Honda-exclusive Advanced Compatibility Engineering™ (ACE) body structure and the most extensive use of high-strength steel in any Honda product to date.

The ACE body structure enhances frontal collision compatibility with vehicles of different sizes and bumper heights. A pedestrian injury mitigation design in the front of the vehicle is designed to help absorb energy in the event of a collision.
A crossover SUV platform underpins the Pilot to provide the best of the car and truck worlds by integrating the refined traits and packaging advantages of a unit body car design with the utility and capability of an SUV design. A V-6 engine introduces the latest generation of Honda fuel-saving Variable Cylinder Management™ (VCM®) technology that operates in 6-cylinder mode for power and 4- and 3-cylinder modes for efficiency, an improvement compared to the existing Pilot's available VCM system that works exclusively in 6- and 3-cylinder modes.

The three rows of seats provide a high degree of adaptability for people and large cargo loads. The first row provides a commanding view of the road from two captains' chairs. A wide center stack and center console form the styling anchor for the interior with a design that emphasizes spaciousness and power, while allowing for convenient access to navigation, entertainment and climate-control systems.
The 60/40 split second row, more spacious, slides further forward for increased ease of access to the third row. The 60/40 split third row, now supplies enough knee room for an above-average-sized adult male to fit comfortably, making the Pilot's third row among the most practical in the industry. Each side of the second and third row independently folds down for cargo. A flat floor is created when the second and third rows are folded down.
Among its numerous accolades, the Honda Pilot has earned Car and Driver Magazine's prestigious "5Best Truck" award on six consecutive occasions (2002-2007). The current-generation 2008 Pilot is also among an elite group of vehicles to receive both a "Top Safety Pick 2008" from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and a 5-star crash safety rating for frontal and side collisions from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Hyundai Veloster Concept

The Style Hyundai's Design and Technical Center at Namyang, the Veloster (codenamed HND-3) coupe is the third in a series of daring concept cars to be developed by the central styling studio in Korea. The Veloster name, a compound of velocity and roadster evokes the sporty characteristics of a classic two-plus-two. A panoramic glass roof and other futuristic styling cues help project a high-tech image.

Designed to cater to the tastes of the Y-generation, Veloster combines simple, iconic design with good value and robust construction.

* Length: 4,100
* Width: 1,790
* Height: 1,450
* Wheelbase: 2,600
* Tires: 245/35 R 20
* Powertrain: FWD 2.0-liter DOHC Theta inline 4-cylinder, 5-speed automatic

Kia Sorento

The Kia Sorento


The new Kia Sorento brings sleek styling and a futuristic touch to the world of the urban CUV, Longer and lower. With its longer front overhang, wedge profile, crisply defined greenhouse and accentuated wheelarch volumes, Kia's new CUV looks thoroughly modern and sporty.
The 4.7-metre long new Kia Sorento moves vehicle design in this segment up to a new level of sophistication.
As part of Kia's drive to expand market coverage with its latest CUV, the new Kia Sorento will be manufactured with a total of four engines - with different engines being available in various regions around the world in order to best suit local requirements and with CO2 emissions from just 173 g/km.

Bold frontal styling incorporates Kia's new 'signature grille' that blends seamlessly into the new Kia Sorento's four-light, black bezel wrap-around headlamps. The profile's rising upper belt-line and the dynamic bevel treatment beneath the greenhouse plus the unique trapezoid C-Pillar adds tension and endows new Sorento with a unique appearance. Extending the rear window to the outer edges of the simply styled tailgate hints at the spacious cabin and the large tail lamps enhance the sporty appearance.

During the development of the new Sorento, Kia engineers ditched the body-on-frame structure and designed an all-new unitary (monocoque) bodyshell with room for up to seven occupants. Building on those new foundations, they concentrated on eight key areas - class-leading performance, increased fuel economy, reduced emissions, improved on-road handling, more fun-to-drive responsiveness, greater cabin space and comfort, enhanced overall safety and the introduction of new technologies.

The new, longer bodyshell created for the new Kia Sorento, with its repositioned A-pillars and dashboard (moved forwards) and extended tailgate (moved rearwards), ensures that the cabin is much more spacious than the current model. The real and perceived quality of the cabin is greatly enhanced and available high-tech features will include: keyless entry, engine start button, reversing safety camera, built-in sat-nav and panoramic glass sunroof.

The new Kia Sorento's interior styling echoes the sense of power and dynamism created by the exterior appearance. Kia is confident that existing Sorento owners and new customers will be equally impressed by the cabin's generous proportions, sweeping dashboard design, high-quality fit, discreet trim accents and the availability of numerous high-tech features.

The thick-rimmed three-spoke steering wheel is becoming a Kia trademark feature and through it the driver can view another element of Kia's developing design DNA - the 'three-cylinder' instrument cluster. Similar to the cluster fitted to the latest version of Magentis and the recently-launched Kia Soul, the new Kia Sorento's cluster has clear and precise graphics.
Depending on the model, new Kia Sorento will be equipped with a six, eight or 10-speaker audio system, with MP3 and iPod connectivity, plus built-in or external amplifier and a new sat-nav system with a 6.5-inch screen. Remote controls for the audio system are mounted on the steering wheel.
The longer bodyshell created for new Kia Sorento ensures that the stretched cabin is much more spacious than the current model, with seating for up to seven people. Interior headroom is increased by 64 mm (to 906 mm) and legroom by 102 mm (to 795 mm). Luggage space in the new Sorento is amongst the best-in-class as cargo capacity is increased by 15per cent, thanks to moving the tailgate back by almost 70 mm.

During the design and engineering process to create the new Sorento, Kia's research and development team prioritized achieving a major improvement in the vehicle's refinement and minimizing its noise, vibration and harshness (NVH). An excellent foundation for creating a vehicle with good NVH qualities is a stiff bodyshell structure and the new Kia Sorento features a much higher percentage (70.4per cent) of high-tensile strength steel compared to the previous model (40.0per cent).
Kia's all-new Sorento will be manufactured with up to four different engines to meet the needs of motorists in every region of the globe.
For the Korean market, Kia is offering the new Kia Sorento with three engines, including a version of its 2.7-litre V6 engine running on low-cost LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) called the 'Mu LPI'. This unit delivers 165 ps and 244 Nm - the reduced outputs are a consequence of using LPG which contains 25% less 'stored energy'. New Kia Sorento will also be available in the Korean market with the four-cylinder 2.4-litre Theta II petrol engine that delivers 175 ps and 225 Nm, as well as the new four-cylinder R2.2 diesel engine.
The all-new 'R' family of turbo-diesel engines proves that Kia's engineering capabilities are indeed world-class. The 2.2-litre engine comfortably out-performs most four-cylinder and many V6 units from rival brands, while complying with Euro 5 emissions standards thanks to their third-generation common-rail fuel system. The R2.2 generates a maximum of 197 ps and 435 Nm.

New Kia Sorento buyers will be offered a wide choice of transmissions and drivetrains - depending on model. Five-speed and six-speed manual and automatic transmissions will be offered. Both six-speed transmissions are new or upgraded.

Kia's all-new six-speed automatic transmission is a regular 'torque converter' automatic, but it incorporates a unique 'flat' torque converter, which allows the unit to be 54 mm shorter, has 62 fewer parts (than a five-speed unit), weighs 12 kgs less and boosts fuel economy by up to 12per cent over a traditional automatic transmission.
Traction is also boosted by the available HAC (Hill-start Assist Control) which prevents the vehicle slipping backwards, and DBC (Down-hill Brake Control) that limits vehicle speed to just 5 mph on steep declines.

For the new Kia Sorento, the suspension engineers' brief was to shift the handling bias a little to improve the on-road driving experience, in terms of ride quality and steering 'feel' - whilst retaining the vast majority of the previous model's off-road abilities. The suspension has been lowered by 10 mm and thanks to the new unitary (monocoque) bodyshell construction the centre of gravity has been lowered by 54 mm.

The MacPherson strut front and multi-link rear suspension is 'carried over' from the previous model, but with significant improvements. The steering is now more direct, requiring fewer turns of the wheel lock-to-lock.
For maximum stopping power, all new Kia Sorento models are equipped with an all-disc braking system. Either as standard or an option, ABS anti-lock and EBD brake force distribution systems are available.
Reversing is made even safer by a new Kia Reversing Safety Camera mounted on the tailgate. This camera is fitted with a 130 degree wide-angle lens and transmits images to a 3.5-inch LCD display panel set within the cabin's rear view mirror whenever reverse gear is selected.
New Kia Sorento's robust all-new bodyshell structure delivers increased impact resistance. Using a much higher percentage (70.4per cent) of high-tensile strength steel the new vehicle achieves excellent rigidity and strength.

Mazda 3 i-stop

The one way Mazda achieved this is to develop unique idle-stop technology that shuts down the engine when stopped in traffic jams and similar situations as a way to reduce fuel consumption.

The Mazda 3 will be powered by the MZR 2.0L DISI engine with green idle-stop technology - Mazda's unique i-stop system. Developed solely by Mazda, it is the world's only idle-stop system that restarts the engine using the remaining energy in the pistons (with a quick help of the starter motor) by injecting fuel directly into the cylinder and igniting it to force the piston down. The benefit of combining a DISI engine with i-stop (originally called SISS: Smart Idle Stop System) is that the system restarts the engine about twice as fast, and quieter, than conventional idle-stop systems.

Combining these two Mazda proprietary technologies and further measures like aerodynamic modifications, help the new Mazda 3 achieve approximately 14 percent lower fuel consumption (combined) than the previous Mazda 3.

When the driver stops the vehicle (red light, traffic jam) the engine stops automatically and sets itself to be ready for a prompt restart. As soon as the driver presses the clutch, the engine initiates the restart procedure automatically. This is a totally neutral operation for the driver.

The Mazda 3 i-stop Green Technology
When stopped at a traffic light or in a traffic jam, shutting off the idling engine can reduce fuel consumption by approximately 5 percent according to European city driving-mode tests. However, the drawback with conventional idle-stop systems is that they rely solely on the use of an electric motor to restart the engine. As such, they require a relatively long amount of time to achieve combustion in the engine when it restarts. In real-world driving, this means a lag between the moment the accelerator pedal is pressed down and the car begins to move, as well as vibration and noise.

The i-stop system for the new Mazda 3 leverages the DISI engine's direct-injection potential for improving fuel economy, restarting the engine quickly and quietly by injecting fuel directly into the cylinder and igniting it to force the piston down and set the crank in motion. The engine is controlled with precision to make this happen:

The Special engine requirements
In order to use combustion energy from the initial stage of restarting the engine, and to start the engine quickly, the following three conditions must be satisfied while the engine is stopped. (1) The engine must be able to inject fuel directly into the combustion chamber and ignite it; (2) an adequate amount of clean air must exist in the combustion chamber of the cylinder where the fuel is to be ignited; and (3) the computer control system must be able to determine which cylinder to fire immediately after starting the engine. The i-stop system, therefore, must use a direct-injection engine that can deliver fuel to the combustion chamber at high pressure, and that can easily ignite that fuel. Mazda's MZR 2.0-litre DISI petrol is the ideal engine to achieve this.

The Controlling piston position
The pistons are stopped in the appropriate position when the engine is stopped, an adequate amount of air is held within the combustion chamber, and the combustion chamber is properly scavenged to reduce the amount of unburned petrol. To this end, piston position is controlled by applying current to the engine's generator while the engine is being shut down. In doing so, it operates much like an electric motor, while using the signal from the crank angle sensor that monitors piston position as control feedback to stop the piston in the appointed position within its expansion stroke.

Special valve and crankshaft balance control
To scavenge the combustion chamber, the new Mazda 3 i-stop system momentarily opens the throttle valve slightly during the shut down process. (The throttle valve is normally closed when shutting off the engine.) Regular crank angle sensors are only able to determine forward rotation, which leaves them unable to monitor reverse rotation or to determine the correct piston position. Mazda's i-stop employs a crank angle sensor that is able to monitor crank rotation in both directions, enabling it to accurately determine the correct piston position. To maintain the proper crankshaft balance when the engine is stopped, it is rotated slightly in the reverse direction.

Faster restart + lower fuel consumption
These measures make it possible to properly inject fuel when the engine is restarted and control ignition advance, thereby allowing combustion energy to be used while the engine is stopped and to restart the engine in 0.35 seconds, roughly half the time required by conventional idle-stop systems. While Mazda's new i-stop system employs combustion energy to restart the engine, it is assisted by the starter for only the first few turns of the crank. This achieves the optimum balance between maximizing fuel savings while minimizing the amount of time required to restart the engine. As a result, it allows i-stop to reduce fuel consumption beyond what would be possible using combustion energy alone to restart the engine.

Driver support communication system
On the new Mazda 3 powered by the MZR 2.0 DISI engine, the i-stop system supports the driver by allowing visual confirmation of engine operation in relation to driving style. There is an i-stop on/off switch on the dashboard, and the driver cluster contains a light that displays "i-stop" when the system shuts down the engine in front traffic lights, for instance. When deactivated, an amber light shows that the i-stop system is not on.

Ensuring reliable operation
The new Mazda 3 i-stop system (only available with the MZR 2.0-litre DISI petrol) is equipped with an auxiliary battery that powers the system in the event that the main battery isn't properly charged or some similar problem occurs. This added control measure ensures that the driver can use the system naturally, without giving it a second thought. In addition, the system does not shut off the engine if the car is stopped on a road with an extremely steep grade, (greater than 14 percent incline).

Mitsubishi Outlander GT Concept

The Mitsubishi Outlander GT Concept. Building on the success of the current Outlander, this sporty compact CUV.
Dressed in a premium Diamond white hue, the Mitsubishi Outlander GT Concept showcases a host of new technologies, such as Idle Neutral Logic that automatically shifts the transmission into neutral during vehicle standstill, improved performance and fuel economy from its more powerful 3.0-liter SOHC MIVEC V6 engine, and a Super-All-Wheel-Control System offering superior handling and control.