Articles by Paul Gover

It's just been cleared for take-off in Korea and will land at the Geneva Motor Show at the start of March.  The car has a much bolder look than the current Rio, with the new Kia 'face' already seen on the flagship Optima, and seems more substantial than the model it will replace. But the downside is a price that is likely to jump over $15,500.  The Kia pictures only show the five-door hatch but this car will be followed by a four-door sedan and a baby three-door. Kia's follow-up cars are also expected to be displayed at major motor shows, most likely including the headline Frankfurt show in September. Kia is expecting big things for the new Rio in Australia and also admits the car opens the way for the smaller-and-cheaper Picanto, which would become a $13,000 price fighter. The Rio is built over the same mechanical package as the Hyundai i20 but, like the company's Sportage and Optima, is substantially difference in visuals. "It's in character with all the cars that Kia is rolling forward. They are not going to go backwards," says Kia spokesman, Kevin Hepworth.  Kia Australia currently only has the bare basics on the new Rio but is expecting more concrete information following the Geneva show.

James May is sharp, focussed, intelligent and full of dry wit. "Gooday Mate," he says to begin our exclusive Carsguide interview ahead of an Australian tour with Top Gear Live in March. It's a predictable but welcome greeting from a bloke who delivers exactly what you expect after watching him for years alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond. He's not opinionated or pompous, instead coating almost everything in a smooth layer of humour. "It's extremely well developed, our sense of humour. Call you Bruce, yeah. It's worked for the last 50 years," he says. "I actually spend quite a lot of money on clothes, but I still manage to get it wrong," he says.  "I like it like that. Much as I admire you Australians for your rippling manhood, and all that." So what about the outrageous hairstyles of the Top Gear presenters?  "Hammond and I were watching some old shows last week and talking about that. I don't know if you have to have strange hair to be on it, or get strange hair from being on it.  Jeremy? He's just grey pubes." May might be known best as one of Clarkson's offsiders but he says it's nothing like a Batman-and-Robin superhero partnership. "It's like being a sidekick to an appalling old queen," says May.  "It's pretty much what you see. Television is not really real life, it's a bit exaggerated. Jeremy is extremely egotistical and makes a lot of noise, and I can't be bothered. I'm just quiet, I suppose, so it's broadly true." May has a large collection of classic cars and motorcycles but has arrived for our telephone hook-up in something completely modern.  "I came in the Porsche. It's a new 911 Carrera 2S. I'm driving to Devon afterwards. It's like you going to your next-door neighbour's for a barbecue," he says. So, why a Porsche and why now when an all-new 911 is coming in 2012?  "People said to me 'Oh, you've bought the old one' but I don't want to wait another year." May also confesses that he paid heavily for the Porsche privilege "They don't do us any favours and I work for the BBC anyway so we're not allowed to take any. But I got some tasty extras and did a good deal on the part exchange with my old 911. It was obviously in immaculate condition, like all my cars." Which brings us round to his London home, which had been described as a man cave with very little personality.  "Everyone likes to pretend I'm old fashioned, but I'm not. My house is very clean. "It's improved a bit in the last few years because Sarah (his girlfriend, a dance critic) has enough bits and pieces lying around.  It's fairly civilised now. She just dances around while I play the piano." May is already preparing for the world tour but worries that his new Triumph motorcycle will arrive the day after he leaves.  "If you go to Australia, it's as far as I can be from home without going to the moon. I quite like that. I find that exciting.  It is quite nice to go on the tour and have a laugh. Although the company is terrible." May says he is not demanding anything outrageous, unlike rock bands and divas who expect special treatment when they're on tour.  "I have my own tin of ginger beer and my own chair. I think it's just become a bit of competitiveness, to see who can have the most ridiculous rider. Like mine will be that we must have a Tetleys teabag hanging in full view at all times." May knows he will be kept busy in Australia, but there are a couple of cars he would like to drive."I quite like the idea of driving a ute with a stupid big V8. Like the Maloo.  There is a 1960s Falcon that looks like a big Cortina. I'd love to have a go in one of those. I'd like to cruise the Nullabor in one of those." And he has some other activities on the list.  "I'd quite like to go snorkeling. Presumably you have some pretty good snorkeling.  I've never held a koala. I'm quite soppy about small furry animals.  Wildlife and fish are good.  I wouldn't mind doing a bit of light aviation. I'd like to search for the Inland Sea and the bodies of Bourke and Wills." May has his own aircraft, a Luscombe 8 monoplane from the USA, and suggests checking it on Google. "But if you get to the bit on Google that says I'm descended from Armenians, I don't know where that came from. Actually, I quite like it because it is a bit exotic. I seem to be descended from West Country (British) peasantry" Turning back to cars, May talks enthusiastically about jazzing around London in something small and fun like his Fiat Panda.  "That's why I'm quite interested in small cars. The things that make supercar driving so exciting you can have around town, especially if it's been raining." And finally, as our 15 minutes wind down, May talks a little about the future "Strictly speaking there are another two series of Top Gear after this one. We're transmitting 16 at the moment. I was being a little old- fashioned there, not saying broadcasting. "I suppose it will go for as long as we can tolerate each other and are still alive. And that might not be until the end of the contract."James May has very firm opinions on the best and worst of world motoring in 2011.  His top choice is fairly predictable but not for any predictable reasons. "The Ferrari 458. It's spectacular," May says.  "It's a bit of a boring choice. Perhaps I should say a small Citroen? "I've got a 430 and the 458 is so much better it makes me angry. It's the connectivity and the immediacy.  "My 430 is more gritty and granular but, in functionality, the 458 could possibly be the best car in the world." And what about the worst?  "The worst car in the world of all time is still probably the VW Beetle or a Triumph Mayflower. The Beetle is a very important car ... and fascinating, but I don't like them very much. "The worst car I've driven that's currently in production? I'm going to go for the Hyundai Accent diesel. You are very lucky you don't get that one."James May and Jeremy Clarkson hit Brisbane from March 4-6 and Melbourne from 11-14 as part of Top Gear Live.  The Prototype Tour is a worldwide event that re-creates many of the elements of the top rating television show, including spectacular stunts and banter between the presenters. It will be the second time in Australia for Clarkson, who was joined by Richard Hammond on the first tour last year.  The Top Gear visit to Melbourne has just been expanded with a motoring festival at the Melbourne Showgrounds, including a 1.5-kilometre track that will host a time trial involving more than 100 race and road cars. The four-day motoring festival will also include a paddock full of car displays as well as the latest motoring gadgets and accessories.

Switching from Holden to Opel badges from early 2012 also means there will be more emphasis on cars with pace and panache. So the upcoming Opel Astra GSI, caught by Carparazzi during pre-launched trials in Europe, is likely to be a pacemaker and a hero car for the start-up brand. The GSI is developed from the Astra hatch already previewed in Europe as the Opel response to the latest Volkswagen Golf, Ford Focus and Alfa Romeo Giulietta. The Astra is promised as a benchmark small car and the GSI will be the headliner for the badge, taking up the slack from the current car not sold in Australia. Carparazzi shots reveal a GSI, even with camouflage, that trumpets a bolder front end with a different bumper, air intakes and daytime   running lamps. At the rear there is an extra exhaust pipe and a massive rear bumper,   and the pictures also show the car rides up to 10 millimetres lower than the regular Astra. Carparazzi says the new GSI will be powered by a 2.0-litre four-cylinder bi-turbo motor delivering 141 kiloWatts, be good enough to top the current model's speed of 230 km/h and its sprint of 8.2 seconds from standstill to 100 km/h.

The two-seater funmobile that brought the folding clamshell roof right up to date in 1996 now has a sunroof that leads the world. Tapping the same technology that provides instant privacy in bathrooms around the world, Benz now has a flick-a-switch glass sunroof that instantly goes from full sun to full shade. It's the visual treat in a car that has been comprehensively re-invented for 2011 and beyond, as well as a likely selling point that will migrate quickly across the Mercedes-Benz range. "It's a little bit of magic. It's an exclusive novelty," says Uwe Zaiser of Daimler, sitting inside the SLK at the press preview in Stuttgart. Benz says the objective with the third-generation SLK is to provide more driving enjoyment, as well as more emotion.  It got things right with the original SLK but admits it lost a little focus with the car that leaves showrooms later this year. "We love convertibles. We love open-air driving," says Michael Schumacher, Benz's newest salesman through the Mercedes F1 team, after pulling the wraps off the SLK.  The design of the new car is obviously bigger, chunkier in the nose, but with more strength and character. "It's a very cool, self-confident vehicle," says Gordon Wagener, head of design. The mechanical package is fairly predictable, with three engine choices from a basic four to a V6 and three trim levels. In Australia, prices are likely to hover close to the current model, which starts at $91,450. There will also be an AMG hotrod. Benz trumpets front guards and a bonnet made from aluminium, seven airbags and safety systems including Attention Assist and Pre-Safe Brake, which automatically applies maximum braking if it detects an imminent crash.  There is a seven-speed automatic gearbox and claims of engines as efficient as 6.1 litres/100km, with stop-start as standard. But it's the roof that makes the most impact, providing what Benz describes as a 'wellness atmosphere' and cutting heat intensity by up to 80 per cent and lowering dashboard temperatures by as much as 10 per cent.  It uses a special polymer lining inside a laminated two-plate glass roof, which is normally opaque. But apply a small current and molecules jump into lines, opening the roof like clear glass with a slight blue tint. It's an impressive piece of trickery with a bunch of positives that is going to work well for Mercedes-Benz and, inevitably, bring a herd of imitators as quickly as rival brands can get similar technology into their glass roofs.

CRAIG Lowndes went within a second of clinching his sixth title at Mt Panorama in the Bathurst 12-Hour race at the weekend. The V8 Supercar driver had a 30-second lead in his Team Joest Audi R8 LMS GT3 when was forced to make an unexpected pitstop in the last half hour of the endurance race. The late stop handed victory to teammates, Germans Marc Basseng, Christopher Mies and Chinese driver Darryl O'Young. It was an Audi 1-2 finish with Lowndes, Mark Eddy and Warren Luff less than a second behind. As a consolation, Lowndes broke the GT lap record. The Audis completed 292 laps or 1814.19km which is also a record for the event. Queenslanders Tony Quinn, Klark Quinn and Craig Baird finished third in their Porsche GT3 R, one lap behind.FOUR-time Asia Pacific and three-time Australian rally champion Cody Crocker will return to the International Rally of Queensland in May as the star of a three-car team from Japan. Crocker, with champion co-driver Ben Atkinson, will drive a Subaru Impreza WRX for Cusco Racing after spending the past year out of regular competition. They will race against Atkinson's brother and former WRC competitor, Chris, in a factory-backed Proton Satria Neo S2000.RECENT floods have prevented Queensland Raceway from having vital re-surfacing work done this year, but the V8 Supercar round in August will still go ahead. Resurfacing the track was one of the conditions for the return of the V8 series to Ipswich. However, V8 Supercar spokesman Cole Hitchcock said the delay on the work was "totally understandable". QR owner John Tetley said resurfacing had been delayed four times over summer because of weather and the priority need for bitumen to fix flood-damaged roads. "With the track booked for 90 per cent of the year, resurfacing has been rescheduled for December 18," Tetley said.YOUNG drivers will get a chance to mix it with the pros in the Junior Australia Rally Challenge run across four rounds of the 2011 Australian Rally Championship. The Rallyschool.com.au series is for drivers under 28 years in two wheel drive and four wheel drive cars. They will compete in the opening ARC round in WA on April 16-17, the International Rally of Queensland in May and the Rally of South Australia in July. A final shootout will be run in the ARC category of this year's World Championship Rally Australia event in September at Coffs Harbour.CHAD Reed has scored back-to-back podiums in the American Supercross series. The Australian star's third position in LA at the weekend behind Americans James Stewart and Ryan Villopoto has hurtled Reed from fifth in the standings to third behind the same two riders. The sixth round of the 17-round series is in Texas this weekend.FIVE Aussies will line up on the World Superbike starting grid in the opening round of the series at Philip Island on February 27. Mark Aitchison, of Gosford, has scored a last-minute series ride with Team Pedercini Kawasaki. He joins countrymen Troy Corser (BMW), Chris Vermeulen (Kawasaki) and Josh Waters (Suzuki) in the series. Meanwhile, Bryan Staring, of Perth, has gained a wild card entry for the Australian event before heading overseas to race in the World Superstock 1000cc FIM Cup for the same Italian-based team as Aitchison.  

He has to defend Ford, and do it at a time when there are far more questions than answers at the blue oval brand. Ford Australia has plenty of international development work, and is recruiting a big batch of new engineers for Broadmeadows, but there is plenty of bad news and worrying rumours clouding the future.Ford's showroom result in January was miserable. No-one is sure if the locally-made Falcon will continue beyond 2015. There is talk of a re-badged American Taurus, a failure once before in Australia, to carry the Falcon forward into a front-wheel drive future.Ford has a lot of update work coming this year, mostly on the efficiency and showroom appeal of the Falcon, and is revealing the updated Territory for the first time this week. The Falcon will be good, because that's what Ford Australia does, and the Territory work seems impressive.But the flagship Falcon is spiralling down in showrooms and will need more than just an ecoboost four-cylinder engine to reverse the long-term trend. And the Territory has been overtaken by Korean and Japanese rivals while Ford has dithered on everything from a diesel engine to quality and design improvements.Graziano is the newest president of Ford Australia - a job that's been a revolving door in recent years - and promising a lot of good things, without going into much detail. He comes from China with an impressive track record at overseas postings including Mazda in Japan, but he is not giving enough detail."This country is very special, as we're beginning to find out," he tells Carsguide this week. "If you look at our total business, and what the team has done over the last several years in restructing the business, based on demand, they have done a tremendous job on building a sustainable business going forward. We are going to focus on that. And that each area contributes going forward."So that's the broad-brush stuff, but what is really happening on Falcon?"It's tough to speculate on what the future has to hold. What I'm focussed on now is to add new technologies to this outstanding platform. The freshen and the technology will be well accepted," he says, without addressing the underlying problems. "It's a very important namplate for us. My desire is to continue to build that brand as we go forward."Graziano ducks all the tough questions, answers none of the speculation, and generally tries to give the impression that everything is fine in Broadmeadows. But it's not. He's even wearing rose-colour classes on the sales disaster in January, when the Falcon was only 13th on the list of Australia's favourite cars."If we deconstruct January, year on year, we saw very encouraging signs. It was a best-ever month on Fiesta, a good month on Focus, Territory same, and the private buyer was very strong on Falcon."It's not easy being blue at the moment, as Graziano will discover. But what really matters is rebuilding confidence in the blue oval and the future of Ford in Australia.

General Motors says its iconic V8 is part of the core DNA of the company and critical to Chevrolet. It's also still in use - with 21st century tweaking and a Gen IV badge - in the Holden Commodore. "We're working on the next generation of small block," says Jamie Hresko, GM's vice-president of global power train engineering. He admits GM is changing its engine focus but still sees a place for V8s. "Is the V8 still alive? Yeah," Hresko says. "You will see, clearly, a lot less V8s. You will still have performance vehicles and these kinds of things, so I don't think V8s are going to totally dry up. (But) the volumes will continue to shift to four cylinders, the smartest place for engines, and technology." He forecasts a technology boost in V8s, without going into specifics. "I think you will see engines getting smaller, even in the eight- cylinder set. I think what you will see ... is continued mapping towards smaller engines in general. You have downsizing with boost, you have turbocharging." Development of the small block is likely to go in different directions to improve fuel economy and emissions. "We have, in each new architecture and engine family we come up with we'll have different displacements. So we'll move away. You'll see different displacement engines. "(But) we haven't announced the displacement of the next generation. Hresko says GM is flat-out on new technologies in both engines and transmissions, spending money as the company emerges from bankruptcy in the USA. "We have a lot of work to do. We are investing on the people side," he says. "We plan on winning. We realise the shortcomings today and we're pushing to address those issues." In Australia, he sees a continued place for the V8 but also talks up the four-cylinder work on other cars. "In your market for example . . . you will get a 1.4-litre turbo on your Cruze and it will perform much better than the 1.8-litre vehicle you see today. The 1.4 turbo at a very low cost will give you more performance than the 1.8. In the US it's going over very well."

The Ford Ranger pickup, designed and developed in Melbourne, will be one of the headliners for the blue oval at the first major European show of 2011.It will be rolled out following a major world preview by Ford and alongside the Vertreck concept that is set to become the SUV replacement for the compact Ford Escape.  The Ranger model for Geneva is the top-line Wildtrak.It is expected to be displayed in the same package as the 4x4 dual-cab model used for the Ranger's world debut last year at the Australian International Motor Show in Sydney.The Range will also star in March at the Bangkok motor show in Thailand, one of the countries where it will be built. Ford also intends to make it in Argentina and South Africa.The Geneva appearance comes as Ford confirms Ranger sales in the UK towards the end of the year, similar timing to the rollout in Australia.

The British super-luxury brand confirms the Ghost, which arrived last year as a four-door limousine, will be stretched into both a coupe and convertible to copy the lineup of the flagship Phantom.  There are no details yet, but Rolls-Royce chairman Ian Robertson hints to Carsguide that a drophead coupe based on the Ghost could be seen later this year. "There is likely to be an entry to the model line-up. I think you will see some Rolls-Royce derivates this year that move in that direction. A derivative," Robertson says. Rolls-Royce brought the convertible first when it stretched the Phantom line, before going on to the drophead coupe, but Robertson refuses to be drawn on the way the Ghost will be stretched.  "You'll have to wait and see," he says. The smaller, less-expensive Ghost - priced from $645,000 in Australia - has been a huge hit for Rolls-Royce and helped the company to sales of 2711 cars in 2010. This was a new record and more than double the previous record of  1212 cars in 2009. "Ghost is doing phenominally well. The Ghost has done the job it was supposed to," says Robertson.  "The interesting thing is that Phantom is holding up as well."  The top selling models in the Phantom range are the four-door cars, including the extended-wheelbase limousine that lists from $1.25 million without the bespoke customising done by almost all owners. Rolls-Royce says almost every Phantom had some sort of custom work in 2011, from something as simple as a special paint colour to kick panels inside the doors to full custom wood interiors with major entertainment packages. "The bespoke operation requires non-normal processes. If you use the normal process it does not happen," says Robertson, who predicts the bespoke business to grown considerable in 2011 with the Ghost.

CRAIG Lowndes started the 2011 V8 Supercar season with an emphatic lap record at the Eastern Creek test day at the weekend. The five-time Bathurst winner and three-time series champion set a lap of 1m30.1877s on fresh, soft tyres, beating Mark Skaife's 1999 pole position lap by half a second. Commodores took the top seven positions, while current champion James Courtney was 16th in his HRT Holden. The series begins next weekend in Abu Dhabi.THE Daytona 24-Hour came down to a one-lap sprint to the flag after a late restart at the weekend. Defending Grand-Am Series champion Scott Pruett held off his teammate, Kiwi Scott Dixon, by 2.42 seconds in the one-lap dash to take out the title at Daytona International Speedway in Florida. It was team owner Chip Ganassi's fourth win.GT vehicles will join with production cars for the first time in the Bathurst 12-Hour this weekend. There are entries from Audi, BMW, Corvette, Ferrari, Ford, Holden, Lotus, Mitsubishi, Mosler, Nissan, Porsche and Subaru. However, outright honours are expected to be fought out between Porsche teams and the 11-time Le Mans winners, Audi Sport Team Joest, with Craig Lowndes as the lead driver in an R8.FORMER F1 champion Kimi Raikkonen and World Rally Champion Petter Solberg have been confirmed to contest Rally Australia at Coffs Coast, New South Wales, in September. They will drive works-built Citroen DS3 WRC rally cars. Raikkonen's ICE1 Racing team will contest 10 of the 13 WRC rounds this year, while Solberg finished third last year and will compete in the full season.TASMANIAN Jason White has moved to the top of the Australian Targa Championship points table with a dominant performance at the second round of the series, Targa Wrest Point, out of Hobart. The reigning Wrest Point champion drove his Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera to a 29-second lead from South Australian Steve Glenney in a Mazda RX8 SP and Queenslander Tony Quinn third in his Nissan GT-R. The final round is the Targa Tasmania from April 5 to 10.EASTERN Creek International Raceway in Sydney will get a $9 million circuit upgrade. Work will include increasing the circuit's capacity and track configurations to four layouts with two circuits able to operate independently. The upgrade follows the recent closure of Oran Park.CHAD Reed has claimed his first podium with his own team, TwoTwo Motorsports, at in the fourth round of the AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, at the weekend in Oakland, California. The Australian finished second n the slick surface behind James Stewart and remains in fifth position in the titles while Stewart moves to the top. The next event is in LA this weekend.FLOOD damage has forced the third and fourth rounds of the Australian Off Road Championship to be moved from Queensland to Victoria. The March round at Goomburra will now be held on May 28-29 at Hedley in Victoria. Motorcycling Queensland has cancelled the Queensland 2 Day Enduro to the floods, but the national CIK Stars of Karting Series will go ahead as scheduled on February 26/27 in Ipswich. The International Karting Committee decision has come after consultation with the local council. The five-round series is conducted in four states up to September.TWO-time World Superbike champion Troy Corser has admitted he doesn't have many years left at the top level. The 39-year-old BMW rider from Wollongong missed the first test day in Portugal to test on his own at Eastern Creek and start his physical training earlier than usual. "I know I haven't got too many seasons left at the highest level, so I am really motivated to make the most of the next few years," he said. The season starts at Philip island on February 27.