Commodore Chev V8 here!
The Series II VT Commodore and Calais are now on sale, featuring the optional 5.7 litre, all-alloy Chev-derived V8. With more than 100,000 VT Commodores now on the road, the Series II builds on the acceptance by the Australian market of the big Holden. The Series II VT Commodore and Calais are distinguished by a series of minor exterior styling changes and new interior treatments. The big news is the introduction of an advanced and fuel efficient Generation III (GENIII) 5.7 litre alloy V8 engine, which is standard on the Commodore SS, along with an all-new 6-speed manual transmission.
Although it produces 23 per cent more power (220kW) and 11.5 per cent more torque (446Nm) than the 5.0 litre V8 it replaces, the more lightweight and compact GENIII V8 is significantly more fuel efficient. Figures indicate that when tested to the AS2877 procedure, the Series II V8 Commodore returns 13.0 litres/100 km on the city cycle and 8.5 litres/100 km on highway cycle for the automatic; and 13.0 litres/100 km and 7.4 litres/100 km respectively for the manual. The Calais also now features Holden's smooth and sophisticated Supercharged V6 engine as standard.
We hope to bring you a full tech story on the engine and a road test of the car in a forthcoming issue of AutoSpeed.
A Kia for the Track!
Kia's Jupiter is a single-seat racing car, but it's unlike just about every other racing car in the world in that it's being mass produced, sold through dealerships and targeted at anyone who wants to go racing but who comes up a little short in the multi-million dollar sponsorship stakes. It is Korea's first production single-seat sports car. The Jupiter is built with fibre-reinforced plastic body panels, with replacement panels bought easily (and inexpensively) through Kia's existing channels. The same is true of other Jupiter parts, meaning that motor racing on a tight budget has never been easier or more financially attractive.
The vehicle is powered by a rear-mounted, double overhead camshaft, 16-valve 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine which, in factory trim, develops 80 kilowatts of power at 6000 rpm and 233 Newton metres of torque at 5500 rpm. If that sounds a little mild, bear in mind firstly that the engine can be worked, and secondly that the car's weight is just 500 kg. Transmission is five-speed manual and the suspension is by double wishbones at all four corners.
Kia has already announced plans to export the Jupiter to a number of Asian countries.
Alfa 166 in August
The all-new Alfa Romeo 166 will have its Australian launch in August, with pricing expected to be in the A$85,000 to A$90,000 bracket. The Alfa Romeo 166 is a spacious executive sedan, featuring a 166kW 3 litre V6 engine and Sportronic transmission. Equipment levels for the Australian version of the Alfa Romeo 166 will be high, with everything from a high performance engine and gearbox to satellite navigation, by way of hand-stitched Italian Momo leather standard.
100 Years of Fiat
On July 12, 1999, the Fiat group, one of the most successful companies of the 20th century, celebrates its 100th anniversary with lavish celebrations in its Italian home city of Turin, marking its success in areas as diverse as car production, road building, farm equipment, telecommunications, spacecraft, aircraft and media.
Best known for its automotive business - the Fiat Group produces cars under its own name as well as Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Lancia and Maserati - the Group dominates the Italian economy and successfully competes in a very diverse range of business activities in every major market in the world.
Fiat was founded on 12 July 1899 in Turin by Ludovico Scarfiotti and Giovanni Agnelli, whose determination and strategic vision led him to become Managing Director in 1902. Although the company's first products were cars, under Agnelli the company quickly diversified. By 1903 it was producing commercial vehicles, marine engines, trucks, trams, taxis and ball bearings alongside its successful car range.The company started exporting in 1908 with car sales starting in the USA, France, Australia and the UK and a decade after it was founded, Fiat employed more than 2500 people with a stock capital of 12 million lire.
After the First World War, Fiat expanded into steel, railways and electrical industries and it entered the public transportation market with its first buses. It was at this time, at its new Lingotto factory, that Fiat introduced Italy to mass production and production lines for a whole range of products. And, to enable its customers to be able to afford its new products, Fiat moved into banking with the launch of SAVA, a consumer credit company. Using the new media, Fiat was one of the first car companies in the world to target women as potential customers. During the 1930s Fiat launched its first diesel and electric trains and it started developing its first aircraft.
In 1936 Fiat launched one its most famous cars, the Fiat 500 Topolino, the car that was to Italy what the Model T was to the USA and the Volkswagen Beetle was to Germany, putting hundreds of thousands of Italians behind the wheel of a car for the first time.
With American help under the Marshall plan, Fiat recovered quickly from World War Two and it played a significant role in the post-war economic consumer boom in the 1950s. Again, another Fiat product, the new Fiat 500 symbolised the time and became highly successful across Europe, as well as in Italy. In 1951 Fiat produced the country's first jet-powered aircraft, the G80 and its successor, the G91 was chosen as a tactical fighter for use
across Europe by NATO.
Outside Italy, Fiat opened production plants in South Africa, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Argentina and Mexico. It also undertook major construction projects, such as the Kariba Dam and hydroelectric project on the Zambesi River, another project on the Blue Nile and it tunnelled under the Alps to build the Grand San Bernard tunnel.
As one of the first companies to launch mass production in Europe, Fiat was first with production line automation, with robots joining the production line in 1972. Today Fiat is a dominant producer of automotive robots with most of the world's carmakers using or licensing Fiat robots for their own production lines. Fiat's automation company, Comau, also produced the first robo-gate production lines that enabled the first flexible production lines to be built.
Ferrari joined the company in 1969 and it was followed by Lancia in 1978, joining Autobianchi, Abarth and the Fiat brand in the automotive division. Alfa Romeo joined the Fiat Group in 1984 and in 1993 Maserati completed the Fiat automotive portfolio. Fiat's electrical component division, Magneti Marelli has now become a company that controls and supervises more than 60 subsidiaries around the world and, with the rapidly growing importance of electronics in vehicles, has become a very significant part of the Fiat Group's growth.
Today, Fiat is one of the world's biggest industrial groups, operating in 62 countries via 888 companies, which employ about 242,000 people, over 95,000 of them outside Italy. The Group operates 211 production facilities (94 of which are outside Italy) and 126 research and development centres (41 outside Italy). Almost 40 per cent of output is manufactured outside Italy, while exports account for 62 per cent of sales: in fact 5.7 cars, 7.2 commercial vehicles and 9.1 tractors out of 10 manufactured are sold outside Italy.
Quickies
- Ford Australia has announced a safety campaign to check a front suspension bolt on all new model Falcons and Fairlanes built before March 24, 1999.
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