Kudos to Team-BHP.com for bringing up the spied shots of the 2014 Tata Vista facelift. We may very well be seeing the first glimpse of the updated car. Though the front fascia is different, you will not mistake the 2014 Vista for anything else thanks to its familiar headlight design. We notice that the lights have been shortened and the layout of the grille reminds us of the Tata Manza hybrid that was shown at the 2012 Auto Expo.
New Indica spied
The front bumper sports triangular airdams on either ends and this looks tastefully done. We don’t notice any other changes and the design of the wing mirrors and the surfacing of the doors seem to be the same as well.
Here's the current image for comparison.
The 2014 Vista is expected to continue with the same 1.3-liter Fiat sourced MultiJet engine available in two states of tune – 75PS and 90PS. The petrol engine, which is also sourced from Fiat, is the 1.2-liter FIRE outputting 65PS. The BS3 TDI could be upgraded to the BS4 CR4 thus enabling the company a wide range of variants across India.
Commercial vehicle major Ashok Leyland has launched a new family of heavy duty engines called Neptune.
Engines have power outputs ranging from 160-380 bhp.
Designed and developed completely in-house from a clean sheet, the engine family starts its journey with the company’s new multi-axle truck, the Sankagiri Express 3120. The Sankagiri Express is so named to pay tribute to the long standing bond the company shares with the lorry operators of Sankagiri, Tamil Nadu. According to the company, the Neptune family of engines are globally benchmarked for greater fuel efficiency, durability, lower maintenance, greater reliability and superior NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness) characteristics. The new engines will be available in BS3 and BS4 configurations and are ready to adopt BS5 and BS6 standards as well. The Neptune engines have power outputs ranging from 160bhp to 380bhp and will be deployed in a range of trucks and buses in a phased manner.
The Neptune engine family made its debut in the new Sankagiri Express 3120 truck.
Mr. Vinod K Dasari, Managing Director, Ashok Leyland -
We are proud to offer a truly world-class engine platform that has come through over 2 million kms of trials in the most demanding of operating conditions with flying colours. With NEPTUNE, we are confident of strengthening our position in the medium and heavy commercial vehicle space.
After much of suspense and drama the newest version of Hyundai's popular hatchback was finally revealed in the new avatar Grand i10. After having referred to it by the codename, BA, we finally get to know the actual name and see how the car would look like. And this is it! The new avatar have certain the Fluidic design principle of Hyundai and looks dapper and gives you a B-segment hatchback feel like its bigger sibling i20. Hyundai has left no stones unturned while revamping the i10, starting with completely new front fascia and rear end, newer bodylines and the Korean carmaker has also increased the overall dimensions of the car.
i10 Rear End
Hyundai will introduce this model in between the existing i10 and i20 thus challenging the big fishes in this segment like Maruti Suzuki Swift and Ford Figo. Powering the Grand i10 will be a petrol and a diesel engine. The petrol will be the familiar 1.2-liter Kappa2 engine that we already see on the i10 and the i20. The talking point is the 1.1-liter three cylinder diesel engine. This is a three cylinder version of the 1.4-liter CRDi on the i20. Though Hyundai has not released the specifications of this engine, we expect a power output of about 70-75bhp. So all you buyers looking to buy a good hatchback just hold on to your guns because this car could turn the market upside down given the car is launched in a delicious price, this car certainly broaden the reach of Hyundai among Indian customers which is the second most fav brand among Indians after you know who!!
ABS, or the Anti-Lock Braking System, is a word we get to hear on an almost daily basis, but there are rather many fellows out there who don't know exactly what this system does and why they should mind it. The purpose of this short guide is to put some light on how the ABS works in motorcycles. Apparently, being invented by Gabriel Voisin in the late 20s to solve some braking problems for airplanes, the anti-lock brakes have been used in the automotive industry first. Almost 50 years have passed from the invention of the most primitive designs to the first fully-operational modern-era ABS brakes. What does ABS do? The necessity for a safety system such as the ABS became obvious under hard braking conditions and when having to slow down on slippery surfaces, say wet asphalt. One of the biggest problems of braking hard when riding a motorcycle is the wheel or wheels lock-up. The role of the ABS is to detect the wheel slip fractions of a second before it would normally occur because of the braking force and adjust or modulate the said force, allowing the wheel to keep turning back within the limits of grip.
ABS pulsar ring in the front wheel helps in detecting wheel speed
So what the ABS does is actually limiting the braking force the rider exerts by either squeezing the lever or pressing the foot pedal and keep the wheel spinning. Once the imminence of the locking (and therefore skidding) is avoided, the system re-applies the maximum braking force until the next skid is anticipated. By limiting the max force of the braking maneuver, the ABS systems practically allow riders to use the greatest stopping force possible without locking the wheels. How does the ABS know wheels would lock? While the first ABS brakes relied on purely mechanical components and were terribly imprecise and often showed a very big lag, modern-day electronic technology has made things simpler.
Basically, ABS includes 4 major components: the sensor array, the control unit, the pump and the valves which physically regulate the braking force.
Sensors. While the early ABS technology proved to be unreliable due to a plethora of reading and interpretation errors, the modern systems are equipped with extremely precise sensors, redundant architecture and more safety/ failsafe systems.
Hybrid cars seems to be the mantra of the automobile industry to garner fuel efficiency. While other car companies are relying on the conventional battery to save fossil fuel, Peugout-Citroen has rather opted an unconventional fuel 'Air'. You see, Citroen has always been the sort of car company that has a strong fascination with fluids and gasses, long before Toyota made its first Prius. And so, when they decided to invent the new hybrid engine, they replaced the hardy donkey, the electric motor, with a puffer fish, an air compressor. We'd call it the "Puffahorse" (like a Pokemon), but Citroen call it simply "Hybrid Air".
Air Hybrid System explained
But first, let’s talk physics. In simplified terms, combustion engines transform fuel into power, which is then used to propel the cars up to speed. But all the energy used to get you up to speed is then wasted when you have to brake again, as calipers bite into your disk rotors and slow you down using friction force. The fact that your brakes are really hot to the touch is the most obvious indication that, from a kinetic point of view, you are wasting energy. Conventional hybrids get around this problem using electric motors and generators. Instead of slamming on the brakes, they convert the braking energy into electricity which is then stored into a battery. The distance a car travels while braking looks very small because modern disk brakes are very strong, so it might seem like an insignificant problem, but in theory hybrids recapture the energy used to get you up to speed in the first place.
Hybrid Air Setup in the car
Hybrid Operating System explained
The Hybrid Air system uses much the same principle to run. It still uses a conventional but very efficient 3-cylinder combustion engine for highway cruising, but also has a motor that runs on air around town. This is stored in a pressurized tank situated in a tunnel under the middle of the car is compressed using a regenerative braking pump.
Just like a hybrid can run on petrol or electricity, or a combination of the two, so too will Citroen’s system run on gasoline or air, or both. Air power would be used only during city driving, automatically activated below 43mph (70 km/h) and available for ‘“60 to 80 percent of the time in city driving,” according to the French. The air tank has enough pressure for a daily commute of up to 50 minutes under ideal conditions, a lot better than the 15 or so km range some hybrids of today offer. Currently the concept is under research and the feasibility study is still going on and the system may only be introduced by 2016 as of nowHybrid Air is only the stuff of prototypes and dreams. But the automotive world will definitely welcome a cheaper, simpler to service hybrid with few compromises.
Here's a video below for better explanation of the concept.
