Articles by Neil Dowling

Sombre sales have taken the humour out of Peugeot's face but the struggling company is confident a new SUV will put it back on track. In Beijing this week, Peugeot unveiled a concept that will - within two years - become its new company face and with hopes it will bring new fortunes to the world's third-oldest carmaker. The car shown at the Beijing motor show - called Urban Crossover Concept - is intended to be Peugeot's smallest SUV, siting beneath the new Mitsubishi ASX-based 4008 and the bigger, outgoing 4007. But the UCC is the SUV version of the 208 hatchback, only just released to the press in Europe. Peugeot executive office for marketing - and with a surname that traces unbroken lineage back to the company founders - is Xavier Peugeot. "This is as close as we have ever been to a concept ready for production.'' he tells Carsguide in Beijing. "We won't say  when, but it will be soon. '' Mr Peugeot, who say the company's shaky financial position at the moment is "one of those cycles of the automobile industry'', points to the UCC as having a new look for Peugeot. "Yes, it's different,'' he says. "But the market is led by design. Buyers want style - look at (Range Rover) Evoque.'' Peugeot's director of design, Gilles Vidal, says the concept shown at Beijing was not based on a 208 platform. "It's bigger,'' he says, "but that's because it is a design c oncept.'' "I will not say that the UCC is to be based on the 208. But that is an ideal market.'' The concept has a much smaller, more technical grille and face than the outgoing 4007 or even the latest 4008. "The 4008 was designed three, maybe four, years ago,'' Vidal says. "Styling has changed since then. The era of the big-grille Peugeots, with the wide mouths, was when customers wanted a sporty, bolder look to their cars. "This is a very different era. There is more emphasis on environmental issues, more on cars being functional, of being lighter. "The grille should be the translation of what is behind it. Of the engine. A big grille may mean a big V8, while a smaller grille may be a more environmentally-friendly engine.'' The UCC - or 2008 as it is likely to be tagged - is expected to be shown at the Paris motor show as a pre-production model in September this year.

Promoted as being the car to place Nissan once again at the top of the imported car brand, the Pulsar will in December drive in as the Tiida drives out. But on show at this week's Beijing motor show, the "Sylph'' - the sedan version of the new Pulsar - was just another small car on China's huge portfolio. The Sylph will be called the Pulsar when it arrives first as a sedan in December. It will be followed within five months by a hatchback version.  Nissan Australia spokesman Jeff Fisher says Australia becomes the only world market to put the Pulsar name back in the market. The Pulsar was replaced in Australia by Tiida - then Nissan's international name for the small car - in 2007. Critics blame the small car's sales fall from favour on the name change from the long-established Pulsar badge. But now Pulsar is coming back. Mr Fisher says the sedan and hatch will have a common 1.8-litre four-cylinder engine and choice of six-speed manual or a CVT auto. "The sedan version is badged as the Sylph in China,'' he says.  "But we get it as the Pulsar.'' Mr Fisher says the origin of the car is yet to be confirmed. "We can source it from Japan, Thailand and other factories,'' he says. "But we haven't yet made a decisi on because there are a lot of factors involved.'' Nissan Australia's managing director, Bill Peffer, expects the Pulsar to do big things on the Australian market. "It has the looks, packaging and expected value to make it the leading choice in the booming small car segment,'' he says.  

The shock news comes as Fiat looks at making the Fiat Freemont a niche model in Australia after its successful launch into Europe.In Beijing this week, Fiat's global boss Olivier Francois says the death of Dodge was "likely''. Dodge remains in Australia with only one model, the Journey people mover. Its clone, the Freemont,  is intended to become Fiat's second model here, but there could be a time delay as Fiat allocates time to first establish the 500 as its volume seller. But it is believed Dodge will remain a brand name in one market - the US - purely for historic reasons. Mr Francois says Freemont was a "surprise'' seller in Europe. The car is a seven-seat copy of the Dodge Journey - still sold in Australia - that hit the spot with European buyers because of its simplicity and functionality. But Mr Francois has made it clear that Dodge doesn't have a place in the new Fiat-Chrysler alliance. "To us, the Freemont was an opportunistic car,'' he says. "It was never born a Fiat and we knew it was an American product, so how could it fit into Europe? "Well we have sold 35,000 Freemonts in Europe, built in our plant in Mexico, in less than 12 months. "It is so successful that we now have to lift production.''The Freemont could be in  Australia before the end of 2013, depending on its demand in other markets and the progress  of a roll-out of new cars based on the Fiat 500. 

The luxury carmaker has a big push into the more affordable end of the market. It has announced the A-Class hatch for Australia from 2013 with prices around $30,000 and this week unveils a pre-production four-door sedan version, called Concept Style Coupe by Mercedes but simply dubbed the CLA. But Mercedes Australia says we won't see the new sedan until 2014. Based on the A-Class platform, the CLA is a mini-CLS with a low-roof profile, tapered roofline and long overhangs.  Mercedes plans the CLA to share drivetrains with the A-Class but has dropped a clanger by announcing the possibility of an all-wheel drive version with a 156kW four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine.  The head of Mercedes-Benz Cars and chairman of parent company Daimler AG, Dr Dieter Zetsche, says the CLA will become "the model against which sporty vehicles in the executive segment will have to measure themselves in future''.  The CLA has its official world premiere on April 23 at Auto China in Beijing. The show car wears 21-inch wheels with perforated pins on the spokes to follow the diamond-theme of the radiator grille.  It has frameless side windows and no B-pillar. It also has four individual seats with integrated head restraints that are shared with the sports version of the A-Class.  

The Exiga, the quietest Subaru with sales of about 150 this year - by comparison, 462 Tribecas have been sold - gets seven seats from July, up from the current model's six. Subaru Australia managing director Nick Senior says the extra seat was added in response to demand from Australian customers. "Ever since we launched Exiga we've had feedback that people loved the size and flexibility of the cabin, but some felt a seventh seat would be the icing on the cake," he says. "So that's exactly what Fuji Heavy Industries (Subaru's parent company) have now delivered." The Exiga, part of the Liberty model line-up, was first announced at the 2007 Japan motor show with its seating arranged as two rows of two individual seats plus a third-row bench seat. The wagon's unusual seating was partially in response to the six-seat, three-row concept cars from companies including Mercedes-Benz that aimed to find a market niche away from the people-mover category. At its launch in 2009, Subaru Australia expected 50 to 75 sales a month. Subaru says it's now selling about 50 a month but sales accuracy is difficult because the Exiga is combined with Liberty sales. Subaru will also add a new 17-inch alloy wheel design and door mirrors for the Premium edition of the seven-seater. "It was only in January that we announced that entry-level Liberty Exiga  2.5i was adding a reversing camera plus dusk sensing headlights and steering wheel Bluetooth controls, voice command, audio streaming, USB connectivity and an auxiliary jack," Senior says. The 2.5i has a 110mm LCD screen display for the audio and the reverse-camera image. Subaru also upgraded the Premium model in January with dusk-sensing headlights. "So it's fair to say that the Liberty Exiga range is undergoing considerable change that makes it an even better value proposition for families. ''Subaru has yet to announce prices for the seven-seat model. The 2.5i now sells for $37,990 and the Premium for $42,490, up $500 each on their November 2009 launch pricing despite the subsequent lift in features. Pricing is expected to remain similar to current levels.  

Australians are embarking on a car-buying spree that researcher Roy Morgan says is the highest level in a decade. More than 2.3 million Aussies are getting ready to buy a new car in the next four years, said the researcher in its latest market report."This is the highest level reached in the last 10 years and is up on the January result of 2.295 million, remaining well above the long-term average of 2.072 million,'' it said.In the short term - one year - Roy Morgan said an estimated 684,000 people aim to buy a new car, well above the average of 613,000.Roy Morgan communications director Norman Morris said long-term new car buying intentions had improved for the sixth consecutive month."This strong result bodes well for the automotive industry, which still managed to hit one million sales in 2011 in spite of all the well-public ised global issues,'' he said. "With 2012 starting the year so strongly, it will great to see where the market ends up in 2012.'' He said most winners are the major importers because the strong Australian dollar is beneficial to imported goods. "It certainly helps the Japanese, Korean and European brands offer their vehicles at competitive prices,'' he said."Combined with the interest rate cuts in late 2011 and consumer confidence sitting at around 115 in February 2012, these are all factors  impacting consumers decisions to enter the new car market.'' Roy Morgan said that of the main brands, Australians who proposed to buy a new car in the future had picked Ford, Honda, Hyundai and Volkswagen products as being the most popular. "Mercedes-Benz and BMW continue their struggle for top luxury brand honours, with both brands up over this same period and Lexus also showed good gains,'' he said.  

But careful selection of your next vehicle can save thousands of dollars within the first three years.  The advent of fixed or capped service programs has sliced the cost of your next service by up to one-third. The good news is that since Toyota started its program, many others have followed and more - notably Kia - are expected to be added to the list this year.  Saving money at the service department can be as important as choosing one vehicle purely because it is more economical. But a fixed service fee isn't - and shouldn't - be the only factor in selecting a new car. One of the biggest surprises for owners is the service schedule.  Cars from Volkswagen, Ford, Holden and Mitsubishi only require a service visit once a year but Mazda, Subaru and Toyota, for example, require two services a year - potentially doubling the service bill and doubling the owner's time spent dropping off and picking up the car.  It can turn the tables on the perceived high costs of European vehicles. For example, a Volkswagen Tiguan petrol SUV needs one service a year that costs about $420. A Subaru XV petrol SUV has a service cost of about $320. But the Subaru needs two services for an annual cost of about $640 - $220 more expensive than the Volkswagen's average. Watch out also for diesel cars. They are regarded as being substantially more fuel efficient than their petrol-fuelled counterparts and appear to have a simpler engine - with no engine spark system, for example - so service costs should be cheaper. Not so. In the case of the Nissan X-Trail, the service schedule over three years for the 2.5-litre petrol AWD is $1725 (averaging $575 a year) while the diesel-engined equivalent will cost $2362 (annually $787) for the same period. Nissan has a capped-price service program. The Holden Captiva 7 diesel is $1580 (for three years, or averaging $527 a year) under Holden's fixed price service scheme but the petrol version will cost its owner $980 for the same three-year service period, equalting to $327 a year.  Though this may not apply in all cases of diesel-engined models, it remains something owners need to consider. Take this a step further. The Nissan Patrol 3-litre turbo-diesel needs six services over 36 months to total $3134 under Nissan's fixed price service scheme.  The Patrol's 4.8-litre petrol equivalent will cost $2547 over the same period. So the petrol model will save you $587 over three years of standard servicing. Also on the plus side, the petrol model - at $57,990 versus the equivalent diesel's $59,990 - costs $2000 less to buy.  On the downside, it uses an average (claimed by Nissan) of 17.2 L/100km while the diesel has a claimed average of 11.8 L/100km. Over 15,000km a year and at $1.50 for petrol and $1.60 for diesel, the 3-litre diesel will drink $8496 of fuel over three years while the petrol will use $11,610.  Ultimately, excusing other road costs, the three years of servicing and fuelling the petrol is $14,157. The diesel is $11,630. Factor in the $2000 saving by buying the petrol model and the difference over three years is a mere $527. So though buyers may baulk at buying a petrol vehicle, other costs such as servicing must be included to make a better judgement. COSTS TO SERVICE OVER 3 YEARS: Compact SUVs Large SUVs * Fixed or capped price service program FUEL COSTS OVER 3 YEARS: Compact AWD SUVs Large AWD SUVs  * 15,000km/year; $1.50/litre petrol; $1.60/litre diesel automatic transmission  CHEAPEST TO FUEL AND SERVICE (3YR): VERDICT When it comes to opening your wallet, big 4WDs may not be as expensive to run as you may think. But thanks to their sheer size, they attract bigger insurance and registration costs and are expensive on consumables - tyres for example - more regularly.  The list also shows that European cars like the Volkswagen can be cost effective to own. But it also shows that the combination of size and a petrol engine can, in the Kluger's case, be an expensive mix.  

A long 85 years of fashion, fads and colour photography separates the historic drive through the factory gates of Volvo's first car. Celebrating Volvo's birthday this week is a recreation of the first car's first metres from obscurity and onto a Swedish icon that now sells almost 500,000 cars a year. Volvo, Latin for "I roll'', sold 280 cars in its first year. The effort is more remarkable given the company founders, Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson, had no direct experience of cars or the automotive industry. The company was initially funded by Swedish ball-bearing maker SKF who sold its share in 1935. Volvo's first mass-produced car, the 6V4 - but dubbed "Jakob" - rolled off the production line at the Lundby factory in Gothenburg, Sweden on April 14, 1927. It was driven by then Volvo sales manager Hilmer Johansson and 85 years later, the same car was piloted by Volvo Car president and CEO, Stefan Jacoby with Volvo Group president Olof Persson as passenger. The Volvo Group - which sold its car business to Ford in 1999 for about $6.5 billion - is the world's second-biggest manufacturer of heavy trucks and is Sweden's biggest company. It produces trucks under the Volvo, Renault Trucks, Mack and UD Trucks brands, and makes buses, construction equipment, drive systems for marine and industrial applications and components for aircraft engines. Ford sold Volvo in 2010 to Chinese group Geely for $1.8 billion.

Will this car, Honda's second hybrid coupe, enrich your life or is the car doomed to be labelled a laboratory experiment?The answer may lie in the now obsolete Honda Insight of 2002 - an aerodynamic shell stretched over a hybrid powertrain with spartan trim and only two seats. It was too much for Australians - still rooted in big, airy cars with thumping engines - and died quietly a few years later.If we are now mature enough to accept a hybrid coupe "sports car'' then the CR-Z is a winner. If not, then it follows the original Insight into the nation's automotive gutter.Regardless, the CR-Z is a commendable effort. Honda did it where Toyota would never be so bold. It shows that sports and hybrid can live in the same sentence. For that reason alone, it's a car worthy of attention, perhaps even purchase.Not really value-for-money but it's difficult to compare apples with oranges, so the CR-Z faces potential rivals on price and - like a 1970s Citroen - quirkiness. As a hybrid it's a bit of a failure because today the colour green has more than three doors.Buy the sober, family-trained Civic Hybrid instead. As a "sports car'' it should have lots of grunt, especially given this faces off against the similarly-priced Golf GTI. It doesn't. But as a package, it's very well equipped with a host of features.The $40,790 Luxury tester is an automatic but you can save almost $6000 with the manual-gearbox Sport version that has a bit less kit.Love the front but as the walk-around progresses, the smile diminishes. Again, it has the flavour of the decade-old Insight coupe but messes up the old car's clean tail and aircraft-look side profile.Inside it's a scattergun of switches and a disagreeable collaboration of analogue and digital readouts. The dashtop is made of bits of hard plastic. But it's different.There are two seats in the back which are useless. The boot is smallish but typifies the coupe market. No, not a family car.Honda's hybrid drivetrain is unlike the Toyota system because there is no split between the 1.5-litre petrol engine and the electric motor. Both run together at all times. That makes life simple for the owner and ostensibly improves fuel economy because the motor assists a relatively small-bore engine.Reality is a bit different. Some ancillary services are electrically-drive - the steering assist for example - but that's about the limit of the car's unconventionality. The car's big batteries that power the electric motor are charged automatically by the engine and when the car is coasting or braking.Honda are pretty hot on safety and the CR-Z doesn't miss the bus. It's a five-star crash rated car and has - surprisingly - six airbags including head bags for whoever can fit in the back seat.There's also all the electronic safety aids, four-wheel disc brakes, a reverse camera and heated side mirrors. The spare is a space-saver.The driving position is certainly sporty. The leather seats wrap the body, the small-diameter steering wheel is perfectly placed and forward and side vision is adequate. But any desire to accelerate quickly is met by a noisy engine.Even tyre roar is noticeable. But it's quick-ish and feels firm on the road, so meets the basic sports-car parameters. Even corners show the handling is accurate, even if the electric steering takes some time to adjust.There are paddle shifters on the steering wheel to "manualise'' the CVT auto. The pre-emptive stop-start system works before you even stop at the red traffic light - weird - but even that didn't improve my average of 6.5 l/100km - a bit high given its technology - against the claimed 4.7 l/100km.Nice drive but two-person cabin, high price and stiff opposition with more conventional cars don't help its case. But a big elephant stamp to Honda for doing it.

Riding on the back of self-proclaimed fame is a most dangerous journey that often ends in copious tears or global ridicule. Witness previously unknown Selena Gomez who remains newsworthy (apparently) only up to the minute she parts ways with boyfriend Justin Bieber (he's a singer) and then she may be confined to a social vacuum.Kia's smartly-dressed and Australian-tuned Rio small car won Carsguide's Car of the Year for 2011 but the car you see here, today, isn't the same as that winner. It's important to recognise and acknowledge notoriety and cast caution to hangers-on, don't you think?This is probably the first time you'll hear me say that a Korean car is a bit overpriced. There's a lot of goodness in the Rio and it has a high level of appeal but it marks a turning point where the Koreans are demanding more cash for their cars.The "S'' model has a 1.4-litre engine (compared with the 1.3-litre Yaris and 1.6-litre Fiesta - see below) and costs $18,990 including the $2000 auto gearbox option. That's $2700 less than the 1.6-litre COTY version which is a better drive. But I admit the 1.4 is well equipped with top-end safety, all the latest audio features and even a full-size spare wheel.Cute. It's subjectively the best looking in the light-car segment and that exterior neatness carries over to a German-influenced cabin. The dash screams Volkswagen Golf while the seats are broad and very comfortable.There's a lot of black plastic but, like Golf, shows purpose. The boot is big, the rear seat room fits two adults and the seats fold down. I don't like the big gaps in the front seats' rake adjustment. But I like the fact it has a fold-up key and an ignition barrel on the steering column without any fussy push-button starter.The test car is Kia's entry-level version of the 1.6-litre COTY winner. It has a smaller, technically-deprived version of the 1.6 engine. The 79kW/135Nm engine misses out on the direct-injection (read: responsive and fuel efficient) of the 1.6 but chugs along without much fuss or fire.The four-speed auto spends most of its time throwing cold water over any whiff of performance from the engine. Pleasing is the more efficient and simpler four-wheel disc brakes. Most rivals have antique rear drum brakes. Australian engineers have worked hard on the steering and suspension and has made this one of the best handlers on the market.The picture is pretty much the same across Australia's new car market - a five-star crash rating, six airbags and electronic stability control. Rio adds a hill-holder system. There are four disc brakes, a proper spare tyre and heated side mirrors. It's certainly on par, and sometimes betters, its rivals.Unlike the peppy direct-injection 1.6-litre, the 1.4 is dull.  It's made for the city and suburbs. The four-speed auto chokes the little engine and diminishes its appeal to motorists who are confined to the suburbs.There are times when, notably when exiting a corner, there is almost no communication between the accelerator pedal and the engine - and that's scary. Acceleration is reasonable but any sign of driver enthusiasm is met by a wall of noise.