New arrival

China Daily | Updated: 2015-07-27 07:57

Lotus Exige S AT

British sports and racing car manufacturer, Lotus Cars, added the Exige S AT to its "track monster" series in Beijing on Thursday. The latest automatic model is now available in both roadster and coupe versions.

The 1,182-kilogram Lotus Exige S AT accelerates from zero to 100 km/h in 3.9 seconds, 0.1 seconds faster than the earlier manual version. The model's carbon dioxide emissions have been lowered to 222 grams/km from 240. Its paddles shift gears in 0.24 seconds.

Thanks to the car's lightweight body, the 350-horsepower rear-mounted engine consumes on average only 9.6-liters of fuel for every 100 km.

Lotus China CEO Chen Fei said, "The Exige S AT model demonstrates equally outstanding performance as its manual mode counterpart. In an Exige S AT, our customers will enjoy a simpler, more pleasant and more exciting driving experience."

The new model operates an ejection start function through its Dynamic Performance Management system, which assists in standard or sport mode. The sports car's unique electronic stability control system can be switched off to disable all assistance. An optional race pack allows drivers to safely explore the car's limits further.

The new model's chassis, weighing 65 kg, is built with extruded aluminum chassis-tub and has a torsional rigidity up to 11,000 Nm/degree. The chassis' solid handling base enables the car to maintain racing-evel performance.

The carmaker said it continuously tries to meet its customers' growing demands and further improve their driving experience. The Lotus Exige S AT fully embodies Lotus' design principle of a balance between light weight and strong power, achieving a dazzling unity of elegance and simplicity.

The Exige S AT features a taut and poised exterior, putting an emphasis on its racing car traits. Its advanced aerodynamics components include a front spoiler, rear diffuser and rear wing. It also boasts composite body panel, and Lotus' unique fully independent double wishbone suspension system.

Shanghai Volkswagen's new Lavida family

Shanghai Volkswagen launched the new Lavida and Gran Lavida in the compact car market on July 20 with 19 variants and unveiled the new Cross Lavida in Guangzhou.

With the new models, the carmaker brings customers the EA211 engine series. Although new to the Lavida family, the four-cylinder engines are also used in Volkswagen's seventh generation Golf.

The new Lavida family offers three all-aluminum alloy engines: the 1.6-liter natural aspiration or turbocharged 230TSI for the new Lavida and new Gran Lavida; and the new Lavida BlueMotion is powered by a 1.2-liter TSI engine. The transmissions have three alternatives: manual, 6-speed automatic and a 7-speed Direct Shift Gearbox.

The cars' exteriors and interiors have been upgraded with new color choices.

The newly added tech configuration includes a Clean Air PM2.5 filter and MirrorLink mobile phone connectivity function.

The six-dimension adjustable seats, air conditioning in the glovebox and eight front and rear sensors offers the driver and passengers more convenience.

LED daytime running lights, automatic lights, tire pressure monitoring, electronic stability program, multi-collision brake system and other equipment and technologies help improve safety performance.

The new Lavida BlueMotion's TSI and DSG powertrain lowers its fuel consumption to 5.1 liters per 100 km. The 1.2-liter TSI engine is small in size but has 81 kW top output and peak torque of 200 Nm, close to the performance of a 1.6-liter natural aspiration engine, according to the company.

In total, 233,000 cars in the Lavida family were sold in the first half of this year. The carmaker expects to consolidate its leading position with the new Lavida models.

New Cross Lavida, and new Lavida Sport are set to launch by the end of the year.