Skoda Octavia spy

May 30, 2013 by Alastair Sloane

Skoda Octavia

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Volkswagen Group officials have announced a November world debut for the all-new Skoda Octavia, ahead of the start of global sales early next year. The new model will be appreciably larger and more upmarket than the current model, this time competing in the medium-car segment.

The Octavia will no longer have to straddle the small and mid-sized passenger segment, thanks to the arrival of the new Rapid small car in the first half of 2013. The latest iteration of the Czech company’s global best-seller will be the fourth model (and the first Skoda) based on Volkswagen’s flexible new MQB modular platform, after the Audi A3, Seat Leon and the forthcoming seventh-generation Volkswagen Golf.

The switch to lightweight MQB underpinnings should also see the new model shed some weight over the current generation, despite stretching to around 4800 mm in length (around 250 mm longer than current version, which is based on the previous Golf).

The top end of the new range will be pushed further upmarket to match more established European brands, meaning higher prices than before, but expect entry versions to continue to offer more space for less money than key rivals.

If you are in a position to shell out upwards of NZ$600,000 for the 60^thanniversary Porsche 911 S/T or optional Porsche 911 S/T Heritage, you’ll no doubt want the signature titanium watch that goes with it. That’s how Porsche figures it anyway. Or, if you want the watch you’ll need to get the car. Both the car and the watch are limited to 1963 units, the year the original 911 model broke cover. The watch – Chronograph 1 911 S/T and Chronograph 1 911 S/T Heritage – and the car carry matching edition numbers. The watch is priced at $US13,500, or around $NZ22,200. The car, says Porsche NZ, starts at $NZ608,000. A “strictly limited number” will go into production for NZ early next year.

Eight European Union countries are pushing to weaken new EU emissions limits for cars, saying they are overly ambitious and unrealistic for carmakers to hit. The eight countries – France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia – said in a joint paper that parts of the proposed Euro 7 regulation, including curbs on exhaust pipe emissions, should be scrapped entirely. They said the limits would force carmakers to invest in improving exhaust emissions performance, money which would be better spent on developing zero-emission vehicles. Taken together, the countries would have enough votes to block the proposal.

A go-anywhere EV concept for the US military uses an onboard 12kW diesel generator to top up the batteries on the move. The all-wheel-drive has 800-volt technology and a 200kWh battery pack to power three electric motors, two in the rear and one up front. Claimed output is 745kW/15,590Nm, or 1000hp and 11,500 ft-lb of torque. The four-seater was developed by the defence division of General Motors and is based on the platform of the Hummer SUV. It rides on Fox performance shock absorbers and 37-inch tyres and comes with “exceptional” approach and departure angles for off-road mobility. Maximum range using the generator to keep things ticking over is said to be around 500km.

The outside temperature in Midland, Texas, was 40.5C when staff at the local office of the US National Weather Service set out to show the cabin of a closed car can literally get baking hot in summer. They mixed up a batch of chocolate chip cookies and laid them on the car’s dashboard – the surface of which showed a temperature of 87.7C. A little over four hours later the cookies were ready to eat. “Even though ours weren’t golden brown, we can confirm that they are done and delicious,” the staff wrote on Facebook.