SPEEDOMETER

• GM North America President Mark Reuss said in a recent interview “You make a statement with a coupe. You don’t make a statement with a sedan.” He was referring to the possibility of GM producing a large coupe based on Elmiraj concept. GM has already confirmed that it is considering a sedan larger than the XTS, which would compete with the Mercedes-Benz S Class and BMW 7 series. The Elmiraj concept suggests GM is also working on a coupe version. The Elmiraj concept was revealed at the 2013 Frankfurt motor show. Cadillac designers’ team is led by Ed Welburn.

• Mazda CEO Masamichi Kogai denied that the rotary engine, used in the RX8, would make a comeback. He said at a press conference that the rotary engine has to be a “viable commercial proposition.” This would mean a sales figure of at least 100,000 units. Mazda discontinued the engine last year when the last RX8 rolled off the line. In the US, Mazda sold 759 RX8 cars in 2011 compared to 23,690 units sold in 2004. However, Kogai said Mazda engineers continue to research the technology.

• Saab new owners, National Electric Vehicle Sweden, announced that they have started production of the 9-3 model. The last time a Saab car was produced from the same plant was back in April 2011. Saab was under the control of Spyker and filed for bankruptcy in December 2011. Officials confirmed that production would proceed “at a humble rate.” The new vehicle will initially sell in Europe and China. It is possible that the car will reach some markets in the Middle East.

• Toyota should be able to reduce their vehicles’ weight by 20 percent, based on their so called Toyota New Global Architecture (TINGA). The company’s global R&D VP Mitsuhisa Kato said Toyota targets large weight reduction and fuel economy gains with new technology coming on stream in 2015. He confirmed that a new generation of TINGA hybrid engines would get efficiency rates of 42 percent compared to 28.5 percent for the most efficient engines now used in the Prius and Crown hybrids.

• French manufacturer Renault is preparing to resume exports of car parts to Iran pending clarification on easing trade sanctions against the country. Gilles Normand, chairman of the automaker’s Asia Pacific region said that preparatory work is ongoing while waiting for the go-ahead to supply parts to Iran. Clarifications on dealing with Iran after the Geneva agreement with the 5+1 group are expected in January 2014.

• New German research by independent vehicle researchers TUEV Nord highlighted findings that new Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) engines emit 1000 times more harmful particles than previous generation engines. In order to comply with CO2 limits, car makers have downsized engines in order to cut emissions. But research revealed that new engines also emit 10 times more particles than new diesels. The harmful emissions are caused by GDI engines operating at higher cylinder pressure. Yet, these emissions, including carcinogens, can be eliminated by cheap filters costing about 50 euros per car. Despite this some car makers are delaying fitting these filters and manipulate tests instead.