2011 Hyundai Accent/Verna

Hyundai has got all its bases covered as far as its new range of saloon/sedans for 2011 model year is concerned - from the entry-level B-segment Verna/Accent right up to the D-segment Sonata. With of course, the newly unveiled C-segment Elantra/Avante being the most balanced of the lot - at least aesthetically and proportion wise. Boasting Hyundai's latest "fluidic design", the Accent is very much akin to a junior Sonata.

The 2011 Accent/Verna measures 4,340mm in length, 1,700mm in width, 1,460mm in height, and has a relatively generous wheelbase of 2,570mm - for a B-segment budget sedan.






The base Verna/Accent will beat with a 1.4-litre 4-pot capable of 106 hp and 135 Nm of torque - with the choice of a five-speed manual gearbox or four-speed automatic.
However, the larger displacement 1.6-litre that pushes out 121 hp and 155Nm of peak torque will be paired only with a four-speed automatic transmission.

2009 Honda City: September unveiling in Thailand...mid-December 2008 launch in Malaysia?

This is the latest spy-picture of the all-new 2009 Honda City found to be circulating in cyberspace, courtesy of pantip.com
Although sharing the same mechanicals and underpinnings as the soon-to-be-launched new Jazz 1.5i-VTEC (due 20th August in Malaysia), the 3rd generation City Sedan will wear a different set of metal sheets with of course, the all-important boot for our ASEAN market generally. The external door handles seem to be the more 'premium' and ergonomic tug-pull type, unlike its hatchback cousin.




Will Malaysians get to to see the real thing before the year runs out?


Related posts:
Is this the all-new Honda City?
Honda's all-new City coming in December 2008?

All New 2007 Toyota Vios

NEWBIE CARS correspondent in Thailand, Mr. Peter Lee, has reported that the all new 3rd generation Toyota Vios will be officially unveiled in Bangkok next week.
To be launched well ahead of the upcoming Bangkok International Motor Show 2007 (from March 30 � April 8, 2007), the new sub-compact sedan based on the Yaris, is actually a rebadged and tropicalised version of the JDM Toyota Belta.

In a departure from the usual Soluna/Soluna-Vios lineage, this popular sedan is no longer based on a cost-cutting ASEAN market platform. For instance, the 1st generation Soluna was based on the 80�s Toyota Tercel underpinnings. The second generation Soluna-Vios meanwhile, is pretty much an ASEAN only model which was not available in Japan. Both models obviously had no DNA linkages to the previous Yaris/Echo/Vitz hatchback.

On the other hand � and ironically - Toyota Vios� main competitor, the upcoming all-new 3rd generation Honda City is rumoured to have a bargain-basement ASEAN platform, unrelated to the all-new Jazz/Fit design and structure.

A reversal of roles in the cards for both these highly anticipated replacement models? In Malaysia, the all-new 2nd generation Toyota Vios (we never had the sub-standard 1st gen Soluna anyway) is rumoured due as early as Q4 2007.

Watch this space for more updates as the new Belta�oops! I mean all-new Vios comes unwrapped in Thailand�.