Keema News

The Nissan Motor Co. today unveiled its all-new, global small sedan in Beijing. The sedan goes on sale in Australia next summer wearing the Pulsar badge. Pulsar sedan will be joined later, in the local small car market, by a hatch variant. Details, including technical specifications for Australia, will be available at a later date.

Nissan Australia CEO, Bill Peffer, said the new Pulsar will add a powerful dimension to Nissans rapidly improving passenger car portfolio. He said Pulsar sedan has the looks, packaging and expected value to make it the leading choice in the booming small car segment.

A special edition of the award winning Hyundai Santa Fe range will be available in showrooms from early April. As well a high levels of performance and efficiency, seven-seat Santa Fe Trail benefits from a raft of new features including new entertainment and safety equipment.

When it comes to safety technology, the Santa Fe Trail ups the ante with the addition of a rear-view camera featuring electro-chromatic mirror display. Operating with a rear tail mounted system, the camera tracks the path of the vehicle when reverse gear is engaged and relays the image to the rear-view mirror for instant driver vision.

For rear seat passengers a roof-mounted entertainment system will provide endless hours of entertainment playing DVD movies, audio CDs and MP3 compilations. This versatile unit is also Sony Playstation and Nintendo Gameboy compatible, and comes complete with two sets of headphones and a handy remote control.

Adding extra appeal for discerning customers, the Santa Fe Trail features leather / leatherette seating, complimented with leather wrapped steering wheel and transmission shift knob. Assisting to reduce heat ingress and providing a more restful cabin-space, privacy glass becomes standard on all rear windows.

The refined exterior of Santa Fe Trail, with streamlined front and rear skid plates, and chrome tailgate garnish, features 18 alloy wheels to complete its upmarket look. A signature badge adorns the rear tailgate.

The Santa Fe Trail comes standard with a full suite of active and passive safety features, earning it the maximum crash performance 5-star ANCAP rating. Standard across the range are Electronic Stability Control (ESC) which incorporates a Traction Control System (TCS), driver and front passenger airbags, dual side front (thorax) airbags and front and rear passenger side curtain airbags (which extend to the third row). Rollover sensors are also standard, whilst further safety features include rear park assist, front & rear fog lamps, and cruise control with steering mounted fingertip controls.

The Santa Fe Trail is available only in All-Wheel Drive (AWD) matched a powerful and economical R-series 2.2-litre CRDi diesel engine, and is available in six-speed manual and six-speed automatic transmissions.

The limited edition Santa Fe Trail colour palette includes; ever-popular Vanilla White and Phantom Black plus Stone Grey, Titanium Silver and striking Blue Spirit.

As Kia navigates towards its target of becoming the fastest growing mainstream brand in Australia, Sportage, Sorento and Optima buyers will have no trouble finding their way around with the arrival of Kia Motors Australias first satellite navigation system.

The sophisticated LG touch-screen system has been developed and customised over the past 12 months to provide optimum performance for Australian users. It will come standard in Platinum grade vehicles in the three models, and is available as an option in SLi Sorento and Sportage.

We have promised Australian buyers the best in design, engineering and technology and this exciting new step is again proof that we make good on our promises, Kia Motors Australia Chief Operating Officer, Tony Barlow, said.

With the support of head office in Korea we can now deliver better supply of the cars Australian buyers are demanding, and with some exceptional new technology.

The LG head unit features a 6.5-inch full-colour touch screen in the Sorento and a 7-inch version in both Sportage and Optima.

Mapping is from Navteq and the system will feature the outstanding SUNA live traffic notification software which will not only identify any traffic delays on the entered route but also offer the option of directing the driver around the traffic jam, accident or roadworks before putting them back on track to their destination.

The SUNA live traffic system gives a new relevance to satellite navigation for daily commuters who will obviously know their way to and from their regular destinations but now have the added peace of mind that there will be no unexpected surprises on the way, Mr Barlow said.

For the first time from any manufacturer in Australia Kia will also offer a service, branded Mapcare, which delivers a free map update at the 12- and 24-month anniversary of purchase. This will ensure that Kia owners are always on the pace in fast-changing urban environments.

The system will also feature full integration with MP3 music streaming, Bluetooth phone connection including the ability to retain phonebooks for up to eight separate users and large-screen format display of the reversing camera.

Sorento and Sportage satellite navigation will be in showrooms from March 17 while Optima is expected to be available from mid-year.

Nissan 4WD owners from around Australia are being invited to a unique Outback Party in Birdsville in late July this year the 50th Anniversary Celebrations of the first crossing of the forbidding Simpson Desert by a motor vehicle. But like any well-organised party, the number of participants is limited. More than 200 Nissan vehicles, dating from the 1960s to the soon-to-be released V8-engined next-generation Patrol and around 600 Nissan enthusiasts, will converge on the iconic Central Australian township over the weekend of July 21-22 for the party, which will be the highlight of a week-long re-enactment of the pioneering event of half a century ago.

Geogologist Reg Sprigg, his wife Griselda and their two young children Marg (then 10) and Doug (aged seven) made their historic Simpson crossing in their short-wheelbase Nissan Patrol G60 in 1962 as part of Spriggs search for oil. His successful crossing of the remote desert that contains the worlds longest parallel sand dunes took place just 26 years after Captain Ted Colson with a team of camels became the first non-indigenous person to cross the wilderness. The success of the trip and Spriggs later north to south crossing opened up the Simpson to legions of Outback adventurers. The 50th Anniversary Simpson Desert Crossing in July this year will see Marg and Doug Sprigg retrace their childhood wheeltracks from west to east driving a similar first-generation Nissan Patrol G60 in company with other current Patrol models.

Well-known Outback adventurer Pat Callinan is making a film of the historic event, while a next-generation V8-engined Nissan Patrol Y62 model will be amongst the vehicles in the welcoming party in Birdsville. For the Nissan enthusiasts present, the arrival of the Spriggs will be the culmination of a weeklong party. Convoys of Nissan owners will depart from numerous locations around Australia in the week leading up to the culmination of the crossing, arriving and camping in Birdsville by Saturday July 21. The arrival in Birdsville of the Spriggs and their small vehicle entourage on the Saturday evening will be the trigger for the main celebrations, with nationally-famous entertainers performing a memorable Outback concert staged at the Birdsville Racecourse.

The 50th Anniversary Simpson Desert Crossing is a not-for-profit event that is being heavily subsidised by Nissan, with net proceeds donated to Frontier Services, an organisation established by Royal Flying Doctor Service founder John Flynn 100 years ago to support people living in remote areas of Australia. Because of limited resources in Birdsville, the Simpson Anniversary event is being limited to the first 200 Nissan vehicles. Those interested in being part of this once-in-a-lifetime celebration should pre-register their interest at www.patrol50.com.au ahead of the formal opening of registrations in April.

Hyundai has released the first images of the updated i20, ahead of its world premiere at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show.

The updated model features refreshed styling, enhanced equipment.

Among the four powertrain options available in Europe for the updated i20 will be the new 1.1-litre, 3-cylinder U-II diesel engine that generates 55kW and amongst the lowest CO2 emissions of any conventional powertrain car on sale today. When mated to Hyundais Blue Drive technologies, this derivative emits just 84 g/km of CO2.

The engine was developed at Hyundais Diesel Centre of Excellence part of the European R&D set-up in Rsselsheim, Germany and showcases Hyundais development and expertise in clean diesel technology.

This ground-breaking new engine will be offered alongside another sub-100 g/km diesel. When combined with Blue Drive technologies, the upgraded 1.4-litre U-II 66kW engine emits 96 g/km.

The debut of the updated i20 sees the introduction of Hyundais fluidic sculpture form language. The revised exterior design carries the hallmarks of Hyundai styling, including the companys signature hexagonal grille and new headlamp units. Updating their own design from the original i20, the stylists at Hyundais European design studio have further modernised the updated i20 with a more contemporary profile for the front and rear bumpers, a new sculpted bonnet and new wheel designs.

In terms of dimensions, the width (1710 mm), height (1490 mm) and wheelbase (2525 mm) of updated i20 remain the same, while the length has increased by just 55 mm (front 30 mm, rear 25 mm) over its predecessor to 3995 mm.

The updated i20 is expected to arrive in Australian showrooms mid 2012.