Nissan to present sports sedan concept in Detroit

At the North American International Auto Show, opening its doors Saturday, Jan. 18, the Japanese manufacturer plans to debut a new concept car in the form of a sports sedan. The model is designed to exhibit Nissan’s shift towards a new visual identity.

A few weeks ahead of the show, Nissan is teasing this mysterious model with a single snapshot, revealing a curvaceous hood and slender headlights.

In addition to this newly announced sedan concept, Nissan will present the IDx Freeflow (road) and IDx Nismo (race track), two notchback coupe concepts, in their North American premiere at the show.

The North American International Auto Show takes place from January 18 to 26, 2014 in Detroit. Website: naias.com

Kia teases 'Stinger' sportscar concept ahead of Detroit

The GT4 Stinger has something called a Tiger Nose grille and promises striking looks and serious performance.

Not characteristics usually associated with the carmaker, but in recent years it has been making serious strides in terms of design and build quality.

So much so that in November, Peter Schreye, Chief Design Officer of the Hyundai-Kia Motor Group, became only the second designer to be awarded the Honorary Golden Steering Wheel award, one of Europe’s most prestigious automobile prizes.

Golden Steering Wheel award winners are voted for by German publications Bild am Sonntag and AutoBild and were created to recognize the best new cars of each year and, in the case of the Honorary award, to celebrate outstanding achievement in the automotive industry.

As a result, there’s more than a little bit of a buzz around Kia’s latest concept.

The first car from the company to boast rear-wheel drive the first prerequisite of any vehicle hoping to obtain true sportscar credentials it will also have a 315hp 2-liter turbocharged engine and mere inches of ground clearance for greater road-holding and downforce.

Other hints as to its potential performance are 20-inch alloy wheels and dedicated front vents for cooling the brakes.

However, we’ll have to wait until the Detroit Motor Show gets underway on January 13 to see the car in the flesh.

Traffic deaths drop to 1940s levels in some states

The number of Americans killed in traffic accidents has declined to the lowest point since the 1940s in several states, according to early estimates reported by state officials across the country, and automotive experts are giving credit to new safety measures and education campaigns.

In Iowa, there were 317 fatalities in 2013, the state Department of Transportation said; it was the lowest number of traffic deaths since 1944. Preliminary estimates show 982 motorists and pedestrians died in Ohio in 2013, the lowest number since the state began keeping records in 1936. In New Jersey, state police reported 542 traffic deaths on highways and main streets in 2013, another all-time low.

Eighty-five people were killed in Wyoming traffic accidents last year, the state Highway Patrol said Monday. The last time there were fewer than 100 deaths in Wyoming was in 1945. The South Carolina Highway Patrol said traffic deaths dropped by 125 compared with 2012, a decrease of 17 percent.

National statistics, compiled by the federal Transportation Department, will be released this year. But the early numbers are encouraging: In October, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the number of fatalities for the first half of the year had declined 4.2 percent from the same period in 2012.

We’ve been trending below [2012's fatality numbers] since the very beginning of 2013, said Lt. Anne Ralston, a spokeswoman for the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Our alcohol-related fatal crashes are down significantly, [and] our safety-belt voluntary compliance is increasing.

The falling fatality numbers are part of a national trend that experts attribute to higher safety standards in new cars, and the increased use of seat belts among both drivers and passengers.

Traffic fatalities increased between 2011 and 2012, to 33,561 nationally, but that was the first increase since 2005, when there were 39,252 fatal crashes. The number of crashes has steadily dropped every year since.

At the same time, the number of vehicles in the United States has increased significantly. The Transportation Department’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported that there were 253 million registered vehicles in the United States in 2011, compared with just 161 million in 1980, and 225 million in 2000.

Sharon Gilmartin, a research analyst at AAA, said younger drivers and passengers are less likely to be involved in fatal accidents than in years past. The number of fatalities among adolescents between ages 10 and 15 fell by almost 4 percent between 2011 and 2012, the last year for which federal statistics are available, while the number of teens who died in accidents fell by 5.7 percent.

Compared with the 2005 spike, deaths are down dramatically across the board, including among pedestrians, bicyclists, drivers and passengers. Only among motorcyclists have traffic fatalities increased.

The long-term declines, Gilmartin said in an email, can be attributed to a combination of safer cars, safer roads, and more educated drivers.

AAA believes that a comprehensive approach including strong laws, visible enforcement, smart use of technology and effective public education is the best strategy for saving lives, Gilmartin said.

Not every state saw its traffic fatalities fall. In Illinois, there were 973 traffic fatalities last year, a 2 percent increase over the 2012 numbers; still, it was the fifth year in a row that fewer than 1,000 people were killed on Illinois roadways.

In Texas, early indications suggest the number of fatalities are on the rise, too. There hasn’t been a day without a fatal traffic accident since Nov. 7, 2000, according to the state Department of Transportation.

Part of Ohio’s success in cutting down traffic accidents, Ralston said, lies in deploying limited police resources intelligently. In Ohio, that means focusing on metropolitan counties such as Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton, home to the state’s three largest cities, Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. Traffic fatalities were down 32 percent in Hamilton County, Ralston said.

Government report forecasts dull future for electric cars

A US federal government report forecasts that the overwhelming majority of cars on American roads will still be powered by gasoline for some time to come.

The US Energy Information Administration Annual Energy Outlook report for 2014 isn’t all bad news. Though it forecasts that only 1% of all new cars sold will be of the plug-in electric variety, other fuel efficient or alternatively powered vehicles will become progressively more popular in coming years.

Chief among these will be hybrid vehicles that combine a small petrol or diesel engine with an electric motor to cut emissions and optimize fuel economy cars such as the Volkswagen XL1, the only car currently capable of traveling 100km on 0.9 liters of fuel, launched earlier this year. Hybrids could account for 5% of all new cars on the road by 2040 and already have a 3% market share.

Thanks to the kudos associated with Audi, Mercedes and BMW, US consumers are also starting to change their opinion about diesel engines. They’re no longer the noisy, dirty and slow motors they once were and this image rehabilitation will help to drive sales. In 2012, only 2% of new cars sold in the US were diesels but they are expected to account for 4% of all new vehicle sales by 2040.

Currently, 18% of all new cars on US roads are powered by something other than gasoline and by 2040 they are predicted to represent 22% of all new cars. However, that means that even two and a half decades into the future, 78% of cars will be powered solely by fossil fuels.

Still, the nature of traditionally powered cars is also changing, even in the US. Car makers are slowly moving away from big-block V8s to smaller four-cylinder engines and companies such as Ford are using turbochargers to squeeze both power and efficiency out of low-capacity engines. The report also estimates that 42% of gasoline-fueled cars will use some form of battery-powered stop start or energy regeneration technology to boost power further while continuing to cut emission and increase fuel efficiency.

The new Chevy Malibu comes with a start-stop engine

The 2014 Chevrolet Malibu packs a surprise: It’s the first mainstream mid-size sedan sold in the United States with standard automatic engine stop-start that saves gasoline.

The system turns off the car’s engine in certain conditions when the vehicle is stopped and automatically turns it back on as a driver lets up on the brake pedal. And every Malibu including the base Malibu LS that has a starting retail price of $22,965 with six-speed automatic has it.

With a new-for-2014 four-cylinder engine and the standard stop-start system, the roomy, four-door Malibu can deliver 14 percent better mileage in city driving than last year’s Malibu, according to Chevrolet.

The federal government rates this Malibu model at 25 miles per gallon in city driving and 36 mpg on the highway, for a combined 29 mpg. These numbers edge the 2014, non-hybrid Toyota Camry rating of 25/35 mpg.

They also make the 2014 Malibu the sixth-best nameplate in fuel economy among 2014 U.S. mainstream family sedans.

That’s not all. For 2014 Chevrolet freshened the Malibu’s styling, inside and out, improved the ride and back-seat legroom and added more safety features and connectivity items.

This is an unusually quick redo of a Chevrolet sedan that debuted as a new-generation model in calendar 2012.

But the Malibu is Chevrolet’s second best-selling car, after the smaller Cruze, and Malibu sales through November this calendar year are down 7 percent from year-earlier levels.

Competitors in the family sedan segment include the 2014 Camry, which has a starting manufacturer’s suggested retail price, including destination charge, of $23,235 with six-speed automatic, and the 2014 Hyundai Elantra mid-size sedan, which has a starting retail price of $19,010 with six-speed automatic.

For consumers who worry that the starting and stopping of the Malibu’s four-cylinder engine is a nuisance or somehow harms the car’s starter, Chevrolet says it has gone to great lengths to prevent such pitfalls.

For example, a tandem-solenoid starter helps the engine start quicker and more smoothly, and engine mounts that respond to engine torque work well to minimize the shaking that sometimes accompanies engine restarting.

This attention to detail was evident in the test Malibu LTZ where, at times, the only clue of the workings of the start-stop system was when the driver heard the engine restart while departing the Starbucks drive-through. There was no engine hesitation or shaking.

Chevrolet engineers also made sure to install a durable primary battery that has up to four times the life of a conventional car battery.

Meanwhile, the new standard Malibu engine a 2.5-liter, double overhead cam, direct gasoline injection Ecotec four cylinder generates a healthy 196 horsepower and 186 foot-pounds of torque at 4,400 rpm.

This is more power than the Camry’s base four cylinder with 178 horses and 170 foot-pounds of torque at 4,100 rpm.

The base Malibu four cylinder also bests the power of the Elantra’s 145-horsepower and 173-horsepower four cylinders.

The test Malibu had the uplevel, turbocharged, four-cylinder. This powerplant, with a full 295 foot-pounds of torque coming on at a rather mid-range 3,000 rpm, makes the Malibu seem like it has more than four cylinders under the hood.

This turbo version of Chevrolet’s Ecotec four also delivers 63 more horsepower for 259 horses.

The six-speed automatic shifted comfortably, no matter if the driver was demanding or in a more sedate driving mood.

But fuel mileage, even with stop-start, was a low 19.6 mpg in city travel, with highway driving pulling up the average during the test drive to above 21 mpg.

While premium gasoline is recommended for the turbo, it’s not required. This helps at the gas pump; the test Malibu’s 18.5-gallon tank was good for 388 miles.

It’s easy to drive the Malibu as if it’s a smaller car than it is. In fact, the 16-foot-long Malibu is a bit longer and wider than the Camry and Elantra sedans, and the Malibu’s flat, spacious, 16.3-cubic-foot trunk is bigger than those of the Camry and Elantra sedans. Rear seatbacks also fold down.

The test Malibu managed most road bumps well. Steering had a mainstream feel. Brakes worked well, with good, progressive response to pedal pressure.

Front door entryways were comfortably sized, but the back seat doorways were pinched a bit by the rear wheel wells.

Chevrolet added 1.25 inches to rear-seat legroom for a total of 36.8 inches by shaping front seatbacks and redoing rear seat cushions. But the middle-seat back passenger has to contend with a sizable hump in the floor.

And a front-seat passenger with a history of back problems did not sit comfortably in the test Malibu’s seat.

Buttons and knobs in the Malibu were good sized, as were the large icons on the center-of-the-dashboard display screen.

All Malibus come standard with 10 air bags, and two side impact air bags for outboard back-seat passengers are optional. The 2014 Malibu earned five out of five stars in federal government frontal crash tests. Side crash test results were not yet reported.

Also standard are antilock brakes and electronic stability control. Too bad, though, that a rearview camera is not standard on all Malibus.

According to the federal government, nearly 43,000 of the 2014 Malibus were the subject of a safety recall in November because front windshield defrosters may not work on occasion after the vehicles are started.

Ford to unveil solar hybrid concept car at CES

Ford plans to unveil at this month’s International CES gadget show a solar-powered concept car that offers the same performance as a plug-in hybrid but without the need for a plug.

The C-MAX Solar Energi Concept car uses a gasoline engine combined with a gizmo that acts like a magnifying glass to concentrate the sun’s rays on the vehicle’s roof-mounted solar panels. The automaker says the vehicle’s estimated combined city-highway mileage is 100 mpg.

Ford says that by using solar power instead of an electric plug, a typical owner will reduce their annual greenhouse gas emissions by four metric tons.

The company says it sold about 85,000 hybrid or electric vehicles in 2013, including 6,300 units of its C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid.

The sun-ray concentrator was developed by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and uses what is known as a Fresnel lens, which concentrates light but can be made thinner than a conventional lens. A full day of sunshine is equivalent to a four-hour battery charge, or 8 kilowatts, Ford says.

On a full charge, it should have a range of 620 miles, including 21 electric-only miles, the same as the C-MAX Energi. The concept car also comes with a plug-in port for standard electric charging.

Ford says that 75 percent of all trips made by an average driver could be powered by the sun.

After showing off the concept car at the convention in Las Vegas Jan. 7-10, Ford Motor Co. says that it will test the vehicle with institute researchers to determine if it’s feasible for mass production.

Audi to light up CES with lasers

German car company Audi  is showcasing its latest concept, the Sport Quatrro Laserlight, at the upcoming International Consumer Electronics Show.

As such, it will be the second year running that Audi has chosen the International CES, rather than a traditional auto show, to showcase its latest technological breakthrough.

In 2013, Audi’s autonomous driving and parking technologies were the highlights of the show and in 2014 the company is clearly planning to wow the crowds again.

On the surface, the Audi Sport Quattro Laserlight Concept is almost identical in appearance to the Sport Quattro Concept that made its debut in Frankfurt in September it’s even powered by the same electric motor/V8 hybrid engine capable of pumping out 700hp.

However, it is markedly different in two respects. Firstly, as its name suggests, it users laser technology rather than boring old lights for illuminating the road ahead.

The use of lasers doesn’t mean that drivers will be able to slice up slow-moving traffic ahead of them, a la James Bond. Lasers are more accurate and are three times brighter than the best LED headlamps and, even when used on full beam, are less distracting to other road users. They also have an effective range of 500 meters. That’s why BMW’s new i8 hybrid supercar is already using them.

But secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the car boasts what Audi is describing as a new 3D display powered by a Nvidia Tegra 30 processor. That’s the sort of hi-tech hardware usually found in top of the range gaming PCs, rather than in sporty German coupes.

As well as taking the wraps off the car, Audi is also widely expected to announce a partnership with Google and the aforementioned Nvidia, which will see the companies working together to develop in-car infotainment and other driver applications that run on a car’s hardware rather than via a smartphone.

Although there has been no official announcement yet as to exactly what will be revealed, many automotive and tech experts are already dubbing the partnership ‘Android for the Car’ in reference to Apple’s new ‘iOS in the Car’ technology that transplants an iPhone’s functionality to a car dashboard.

Though exciting consumers want smartphone functionality in their cars, whether it be access to navigation apps, music playlists or hands-free voice calls, and car makers have a responsibility for providing infotainment functionality that is safe to use while driving the possibility that car companies could be forced into supporting either Android or Apple, rather than both, is potentially worrying.