Bentley Officially Announces Arnage Replacement, Teaser Campaign Begins

THE REPLACEMENT for Bentley’s stately Arnage has been a long time coming, but the British luxury carmaker has today announced that its replacement is just around the corner.

Bentley says the new range-topper will be, ” an all-new Bentley, positioned at the very pinnacle of the market”.

That’s a pretty clear indication that instead of playing second fiddle to the Rolls Royce Phantom (as the Arnage has since the Phantom’s launch), the company from Crewe will be bumping things up a notch and wheeling out a car that surpasses all existing uber-luxury saloons.

It will, as Bentley says, be “The epitome of Bentley”.

That much is certain, but what isn’t known is what the car looks like, what powers it and indeed, what it will be named. Over the next few weeks Bentley will slowly leak out information on the all-new Bentley (referred to by the company as the “Grand Bentley”), before revealing it in its entirety.

The teaser shot above is the only image released thus far, and aside from telling us that the new car will flaunt some unmistakeably Bentley-ish design cues, there’s not a whole lot else that we can discern from it. What we can say though, is that we can expect to see something completely different under the bonnet.

While the current Arnage isn’t terribly long in the tooth, the engine that powers it certainly is. Bentley’s V8 is 50 years old this year, and thanks to ever-more-stringent emissions regulations (and atrocious fuel economy), it’ll be put out to pasture along with the Arnage.

With the new car, an all-new engine will feature. Bentley hinted at it last month, and it will be flex-fuel capable and use up to 40 percent less fuel than the Arnage’s 6.75 litre twin-turbocharged V8.

As to what architecture it will be built on, how many cylinders it will deploy and whether it will use forced-induction or be naturally aspirated, all that will be revealed in due course.

Until then, you can check out Bentley’s teaser site here. Stay tuned, we’ll be bringing you more shortly.

2011 BMW 3 Series GT To Join 5 Series GT

WITH THE RECENTLY REVEALED 2010 BMW 5 Series GT set to hit showrooms early next year, BMW has turned its attention to pulling the same trick on the 3 Series, aiming for a 2011 launch of the BMW 3 Series GT.

As with its 5 Series sibling, the 3 Series GT, with styling based on the upcoming 2011 3 Series sedan, will adopt a raised ride height and seating position, with a two-tier rear hatch design likely to feature as well.

To capitalise on the GT image, BMW’s designers will focus on creating a genuine coupe appearance, with short overhangs, pumped guards and alloy rims upwards of 19-inch in size.

The 2010 5 Series GT, due in Australia early next year.

The 2011 3 Series GT is expected to be offered with a range of six and four-cylinder engines, sending power to a choice of rear-wheel-drive and xDrive all-wheel-drive formats.

Speaking with British auto magazine AutoExpress, BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer said that the German manufacturer considers the upcoming 3 Series GT a “volume builder with which BMW can earn good money.”

With the 5 Series GT likely to land in Australia early next year, the odds of the 3 Series GT joining its 5 Series sibling downunder would seem strong.

2010 Volvo C30 DRIVe In Showrooms By September, Gets 3.9l/100km

COME SEPTEMBER, Volvo will be offering one of the most fuel efficient cars on the Australian market, thanks to the upcoming C30 DRIVe (pronounced “drive-e”).

Featuring stop-start technology that switches off the engine when the car is idle, the C30 DRIVe will offer a fuel consumption figure of just 3.9 l/100km, putting it in line with the 2009 MINI Cooper D and even the upcoming next-gen Toyota Prius, due in Australia in July.

Powered by a 1.6 litre turbo-diesel engine, the C30 DRIVe will offer not only one of the best fuel economy ratings in the country, but it will also return an emissions figure of just 104g/km, making the C30 DRIVe the best in its class for CO2 emissions.

To assist its fuel-saving mission, the C30 DRIVe sits on lowered suspension and wears low-rolling-resistance tyres, while a gear-shift indicator advises the driver of when best to change gears.

While Volvo Australia has yet to announce pricing for the C30 DRIVe, Public Affairs Manager Laurissa Mirabelli confirmed to TMR that all will be revealed soon.

“We can’t confirm pricing at this stage, but as the launch [of the C30 DRIVe] draws closer, more technical details and pricing information will be available, likely around August.”

Following the launch of the C30 DRIVe, Volvo expects to expand the DRIVe range in Australia, with seven models already available in Europe, including the XC70 DRIVe which offers a fuel consumption figure of 7.2 l/100km from its 2.4 litre five-cylinder turbo-diesel engine.

The DRIVe lineup isn’t Volvo’s only foray into exceptional fuel efficiency, either. Only last week, Volvo announced its partnership with Swedish energy company Vattenfall to develop a plug-in hybrid that would hit the road in 2012.

“The Plug-in hybrid is a very exciting project. Volvo has partnered with energy company Vattenfall in a joint venture to develop the technology and to ensure we get the plug-in hybrid to market by 2012. It should launch in Australia very soon thereafter,” Laurissa Mirabelli said.

When asked if Volvo Australia had discussed infrastructure with third-party battery companies such as Better Place, she said: “Not at this stage, as we need a better indication of how soon we can get it here.

“When we know that, we will engage other parties as well as the Australian government to see what can be done to make plug-in hybrids more appealing to buyers, such as the tax incentives and free parking programs offered in Europe.”

Volvo is aiming at a fuel economy of just 1.9 l/100km for the plug-in hybrid, with a range of 50km when running on the electric motor.

2010 Chevrolet Camaro Australia Bound After All

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WE WEPT WHEN GM announced that a right-hook version of the 2010 Chevy Camaro would not be built, but now there’s reason for Australian pony car fans to smile again.

Queensland-based car importers Performax International has announced that it will be bringing in left-hand-drive Camaros, converting them to right-hand-drive and offering them for sale to Australian motorists.

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Performax will take delivery of its first car in the next few weeks, which will be used by the company to set up all the tooling and parts needed to convert the Camaro to RHD and comply it for road use.

Once the converted Camaro is approved, Performax expects to start selling them to private buyers by Christmas this year.

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Why the delay? In order to satisfy Australian design rules and import requirements, the LHD-RHD conversion process is a lengthy one.

Performax will be spending coming months taking the test car apart, studying it and figuring out how best to do the swap, as well as manufacturing their own OEM-quality replacement parts.

“The whole process will take time,” said Performax General Manager, Nicholas Vandenberg.

“Tooling up for the conversion process which will involve digitally scanning and reverse engineering of the OEM dash to suit RHD then moulding the dash for our plastic injection machine.

“Every aspect of the retooling process will take time to reverse engineer the components that need to be remanufactured. This also extends to brackets, clips, mounts, and all of the steel components will have to be CAD drawn then laser cut and folded.

“We are very fortunate to have the technology in house such as the laser scanner, 3 dimensional printer and plastic injection machine to assist with the process giving unprecedented quality for RHD vehicles. We are very experienced in this process and don’t expect any unusual difficulties.”

Under the Federal Government’s Registered Accredited Workshop scheme, Performax will be allowed to bring in 100 Camaros per year once approval is granted; and initial interest is already high. The order books aren’t open just yet, but Mr Vandenberg says it has received a large number of inquiries from interested parties.

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Performax will be focusing its efforts on getting approval for its LS3-powered Camaro SS manual, but the company plans on eventually offering other Camaro variants in the near future.

“The intention is that we will offer various models such as the V6,” said Mr Vandenberg.

“However this will be subject to change depending on some ADR test determinations that may rule out some of those vehicles.”

It’s still far too early to talk about pricing, but don’t think the Camaro SS will be anywhere near as cheap as its mechanical cousin, the HSV GTS.

Current estimates place the cost for an imported and converted Camaro to be in excess of $100,000. Considering the car’s rare-bird status and iconic looks, we’d wager there’d be at least 100 people out there who reckon that’s money well spent.