As we come to the end of another week we look at some of the Motoring news which you may have missed starting with the New Hyundai Kona Electric
Hyundai Motor has made a series of updates to its successful all-electric sub-compact SUV, the Hyundai Kona Electric. In order to make the new Kona Electric an even better product for its customers, the upgrades revolve around design, technology, and practicality.
The new Kona Electric has undergone a series of bold exterior design updates. By combining a clean and sleek appearance with the protective and bold B-SUV body type of the Kona, it expresses its exceptional electric technology while being even more recognisable on the road.
The front with the new-look closed grille features a pure and clean design. This modern look is further enhanced by the new LED Daytime Running Lights, which emphasise the car’s wide stance. The front is complemented by an asymmetric charging port, a feature unique to the Kona Electric which makes a strong statement about driving electric.
New, sharper headlamps stretch around the side of the car. The high-tech headlamp inner bezel now incorporates multifaceted reflector (MFR) technology. The headlamps are connected to the painted wheel arch claddings, giving the new Kona Electric a distinctive and sophisticated look. Vertical air inlets in front of the wheel arch claddings enhance its aerodynamics, substantially reducing turbulence in the front wheelhouse area. Meanwhile, a functional air intake in the lower bumper is visually enhanced by horizontal satin accent bars, which give it a pronounced stance.
The rear bumper retains the accent bars to add value to the overall look of the car, while new horizontally-stretched rear lamps complement the pure appearance of the front.
The new Kona Electric is 25 millimetres longer than the previous version. This ensures it has a dynamic appearance combined with a strong visual stance.
For the first time, the new Kona Electric is equipped with a 10.25-inch digital cluster, while an optional 10.25-inch AVN screen is carried over from the last update. The AVN unit incorporates multimedia and convenience features including Bluelink, Hyundai LIVE Services and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, further democratising advanced connectivity for Hyundai drivers. Customers who select the eight-inch Display Audio system can wirelessly connect their smartphones to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
New Kona Electric customers can enjoy the new Bluelink upgrade, which allows them to control their car with their smartphone or voice to make their drive more convenient and enjoyable. The app displays the vehicle’s range and battery state, as well as charging times, when plugged into different public or private charging points. Users can access an advanced battery management system in order to select charging times that best fit their schedule or their budget by making the most of off-peak electricity rates.
Thanks to Remote Charging, new Kona Electric drivers can start and stop charging at the push of a button on their smartphone via the Bluelink app. During colder months, Remote Climate Control allows users to schedule a time that they would like to pre-heat their car electrically when connected to an external power source. As well as providing additional comfort to occupants, this also saves battery power that would otherwise be needed to heat the vehicle on the road.
The latest Bluelink upgrade includes a range of new and advanced connectivity features for increased convenience. User Profile offers increased personalisation, and can be transferred to other Hyundai vehicles providing the same feature. Last Mile Navigation helps customers continue the journey to their final destination via the Bluelink app even after their car has been parked, using either Augmented Reality or Google Maps. Connected Routing harnesses real-life and historical speed information through GPS, which is stored in the server and updated every month, to predict upcoming traffic every five minutes. This ensures more accurate traffic forecasting, more precise times of arrival, and more reliable route recalculations. Live Parking Information gives users real-time information on the location and price of nearby available parking spaces. In addition, the latest Bluelink upgrade features Free Text Search for users to enter addresses or points of interest.
Meanwhile, new ambient light technology illuminates the passenger and driver side footwell, emphasising the lifestyle character of the vehicle.
Customers can select from two interior colour packages for further customisation. The one-tone Black package is available with cloth, or leather materials. Alternatively, the two-tone Grey interior package is available with leather materials.
SEAT using recycled rice husks to reduce plastics in new Leon
SEAT is testing the use of rice husks, an unrecyclable bi-product of harvesting the grain, as a substitute material to plastic in the new Leon.
The new material is being tested within the liner of the boot lid, the boot floor and the cabin headliner.
The current tests on the boot floor are substituting up to 20 per cent of the plastic usually used for recycled rice husks instead, a material which is lighter than the polyurethanes and polypropylenes it replaces.
Unwanted rice husks are usually incinerated by their processor. SEAT is forecasting to recycle 12,000 tonnes of rice husk per year, which reduces the amount of global husk waste by eight per cent while creating a more circular economy.
The current testing is analysing how much husk can be used so that technical and quality requirements are of the same standard as the original. The boot floor undergoes load tests in which it must withstand up to 100kg concentrated on one small area to check its rigidity and strength. Thermal tests are also carried out in a climatic chamber to confirm its resistance to heat, cold and humidity.
SEAT is firmly committed to caring for the environment and to reduce the use of plastics in its future vehicles and achieve a zero carbon footprint by 2050. Within the framework of its sustainability strategy and its corporate mission MOVEtoZERØ, the company aims to minimise the environmental impact of all products and mobility solutions throughout their entire life cycle, from raw material procurement and production to end of life.
New VW California 6.1 Beach priced
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has reintroduced the Beach model to the California 6.1 range, following a surge in demand for the campervan this year.
The Beach will feature two variants, the Camper and Tour, making the California 6.1 line-up more accessible for larger families and to those who need a more flexible MPV to accommodate their hobbies or occasional rest stops.
Prices for the California 6.1 Beach Tour will start from £52,062*. The Tour features five seats as standard, with the option to increase to six or seven, making it the only manufacturer-produced camper on the market flexible enough to seat this many people.
Prices for the California 6.1 Beach Camper will start from £52,302*. The Camper offers four seats as standard with an option to increase to five, as well as a pull-out mini kitchen with a single gas hob, and pull-out awning.
Polaris RZR Factory Racing unveils RZR Pro XP race vehicle for Dakar
Polaris RZR, the winningest brand in UTV racing, have debuted the RZR Pro XP that its three factory team drivers will race in their conquest of the SSV class at the 2021 Dakar Rally—one of the world’s most grueling and historic desert races. Utilizing the industry-leading RZR Pro XP platform, the proven RZR Factory Racing team is well-armed to battle the unrelenting terrain of Dakar and demonstrate their racing prowess in Polaris’ first trip to the Dakar Rally.
As the most successful brand in side-by-side racing, Polaris and the RZR Factory Racing team are poised to continue innovating and raising the bar of performance race vehicles. The knowledge acquired from racing is crucial to the future design of production vehicles. Countless hours of research, development and testing on the race course has led to the current RZR Pro XP Platform. The RZR Pro XP is proven, winning the Baja 1000, Baja 500, short course races, WORCS races, East Coast XC races, and the UTV World Championships all in the last year.
The team will tackle the world’s toughest race beginning January 3, 2021 through January 15, 2021 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
