Skids from Transformers - Leaked Shots Of The Real Car Chevy Spark

It seems that the product placement arrangement by GM in the record breaking blockbuster movie Transfomers Revenge of the Fallen have been generating some very positive hype, especially for Skids (or is it Skidz?). Already I have been asked a number of times by friends asking what's the name of the cute little green car? I know of people who previously couldn't care less about car brands or never even heard / knew Chevrolet existed on this side of the world suddenly noticing so many "Chevy bowtie" badged cars on the road.

Unfortunately despite the obvious interest from the public on the Chevy brand, there was very little follow-up from the local Chevy offices or regional GM-Asia Pacific offices. The only marketing effort done by the local Chevy JV HICOM-Chevrolet, is a chance to win tickets to Transformers movie by test driving a Chevrolet model. The ad was only played on radio, and there is no mention of this in the company website. Obviously there is a disconnect in the marketing channels used. Common sense will tell you that a movie ticket alone will not motivate one to drop by a Chevrolet showroom, which is not that many around anyway. People that do drop by the showroom for a test drive have already set their mind to visit it, with or without the free ticket. I would guess that a giving out Chevy branded memorabilia or even holding a blog entry contest would generate more buzz and cost less than a radio ad. Or even giving out Chevy Beat Concept T-shirts that people can wear to catch the movie. And since GM owns the design, there should not be any royalty fees to be paid to Hasbro or United Pictures right? 


As mentioned in an earlier post here, the Chevy Beat Concept was first unveiled in 2007 as a trio of minicar design concepts. Internet votes were held and feedback from the public were gauged. The Chevy Beat was finally selected to be transferred into series production, as the new Chevy Spark, to be launched by 2010 in Europe, followed by China, India and other markets in Asia Pacific.

The Chevy Spark will also be sold in South Korea as the Daewoo Matiz. Daewoo Auto Technology is a South Korean domestic automaker that was acquired by General Motors in 2001, forming GM-DAT (General Motors Daewoo Auto Technology). The first photos for the production Spark were recently leaked out on to the Internet. The set of photos below suggest that this was taken during a press preview (which suggests South Korea domestic market launch is less than 1 month away) and some unethical journalist have broken the press embargo and leaked the images out. Or it could be one of Daewoo's own staff. Either way it is obvious they have a security breach.

Compared to the official photos released by GM during the 2009 Geneva Motor Show, the final production model seems to have the lines smoothed out further, or is it just the illusion given from the milder front fascia on this Daewoo badged version?

Wheel caps suggest that this is a cheaper base model.





Like the upcoming Chevy Cruze, a two-tone interior is featured.






More Transformers mania stories here.

Aston Martin to Collaborate with Toyota - Cygnet Luxury City Commuter

Last year, the European Union parliament passed a new law requiring car makers to meet a fleet wide average C02 emission of no more than 130g CO2/km. Under the European Union directive Regulation (EC) No 715/2007, the average CO2 emission of all the new passenger cars from each manufacturer registered in Europe in one calendar year must not exceed 130g CO2/km. The new regulation will come into for force by 2012 and manufacturers who fail to meet the target will be charged "excess emissions premium" penalty.

Manufacturers of supercars and luxury cars are of course finding it difficult to meet this target, since all their models are of the large polluting variety. Independent manufacturers producing less than 10,000 cars a year can apply for exemption but their case is evaluated on a case by case basis. Even so, these manufacturers are required to provide a target to reduce their emission.

The CEO of Aston Martin Dr. Ulrich Bez have been a very vocal critic of this new rule, arguing that the new rules are politically motivated and it is not fair to supercar makers like Aston Martin. While he acknowledges that supercars release a lot more CO2, but realistically they are driven a lot less than ordinary cars and their actual exhaust emission a lot lower and the environmental impact is negligible. Plus, handcrafted supercars are a dying art that needs to be preserved. Although Aston Martin is now an independent manufacturer (no longer part of Ford's Premier Automotive Group), it still produces a lot more than 10,000 cars a year and thus not be eligible for exemption. Aston Martin produces 10,000 DB9s alone in one year, which is still 3 times more exclusive than Porsche 911's annual run of 30,000 units. So in any case, Aston Martin is in a tight spot. And now you understand why Porsche, Ferrari and even Lamborghini have started talking about hybrids?

Vehicular emission only constitute 12% of all CO2 emission in Europe and the car industry is just an easy target to EU bureaucrats. The airline, power generation and other heavy manufacturing industry need to shoulder their share of the cost as well.





More pictures at AutoCar UK.
Bitching aside, Dr. Ulrich Bez knows very well that it is futile to fight the EU parliament. His team at Aston Martin have got down to business immediately and the Aston Martin Cygnet "luxury city commuter car" is the result (picture above). The car is still in concept stage but production plans have been confirmed. The Cygnet is essentially a restyled Toyota iQ with a bespoke front sheet metal. All internal mechanical bits are carried over from the Toyota iQ. Sales will begin next year at an estimated 23,000 Euros (Toyota's iQ sells starts from 12,700 Euros in Germany). Planned annual production volume for the Cygnet is 2,000 units per year. The Cygnet will be first offered to those who are ordering a new Aston Martin or existing owners of Aston Martin cars. Look's like it's a way of saying
a) If you love Astons and want to continue buying them, please help us by buying this small minicar.
b) We are charging the emission cost to you by selling you this minicar along with your DB9.

The Cygnet is the result of a collaboration between Aston Martin and Toyota Motor Co. Without a small minicar to lower it's average emission, Aston Martin will have no chance of surviving beyond the next decade, not because it can't sell enough of DB9s and V8 Vantage, but because it cannot appease those EU bureaucrats who travel in their Bentley limousines. So much for C02 emission reduction eh...

Aston Martin builts a Toyota...what is the world coming to? Fanboys and adolescent forum posters will have field day with this. But at the end of the day, the opinions of these people don't really matter. What's important is whether can potential buyers of Aston Martin see the reason behind this "additional cost" for their DB9 or V8 Vantage. Watch this space, Aston Martin will not be alone. There will be many more "blasphemous" cars coming out within the next few years, electric / hybrid Ferraris, Porsches, Lamborghinis etc. It's a simple matter of progress with the current time and climate. So grow up, adapt and stop looking at the world with nostalgic rosy tinted lenses and bitch about how things were. Companies that survive well will be those who are able to seize this chance to upset the establish automotive hierarchy. Tesla is one such good example.



Under the agreement with Toyota Motor Co., TMC's subsidiary Toyota Motor Europe NV/SA in Belgium will manufacture the Cygnet under contract for Aston Martin and the unfinished car will be sent to Aston Martin's plant in Gaydon, UK for final assembly and customisation for each individual customer.

What I find interesting is that this piece of news came not long after Akio Toyoda, the new maverick semi-pro racer cum President of Toyota spoke very highly of Dr. Ulrich Bez after the duo's recent participation in the ADAC-Nurburgring 24-Hours race in their respective company racers - the Lexus LF-A protype and Aston Martin V8 Vantage N24. Bez and Toyoda have been regular participants in the race since 2007 and they are the only 2 car company Presidents / CEO in the world who are also race car drivers of their own company racers. Maybe the two did more than just racing in Nurburgring...



As I was typing this a thought came to my mind - which do you respect more? A car company CEO who strikes business deals in dinky little karaoke bars served by women of questionable repute, fat cats who spend more time chasing their small white balls across the green in their electric golf carts. Or someone who chases something else in a different sort of green - the green hell, as the Nurburgring is known (according to ex-Formula One world champion Sir Jackie Stewart) and then starts a business relationship there. No wonder Akio Toyoda is nicknamed by the Japanese press as the "Prince" (as in Prince of the Toyoda empire). He is the new darling of the Japanese automotive business media, after Carlos Ghosn jetted in and turned around Nissan nearly 10 years ago. Carlos Ghosn is so popular that he has his own comic manga character. But I doubt if Akio Toyoda is interested in that. Still, seems like an interesting story is unfolding.

Nissan Asian-Sentra / Sunny replacement (well...sort of) - Renault Samsung New SM3

Renault-Samsung motors, another subsidiary in the greater Renault-Nissan alliance empire has just launched its "New SM3" model. The new model however will not replace the existing SM3 but will be sold alongside it. The new SM3 is powered by a 1.6-liter petrol H4M engine mated to a Xtronic CVT transmission. Rated fuel economy is 15km / litre. The New SM3 is built of Renault-Nissan's C-platform which also underpins the Qashqai SUV (Renault-Samsung QM5). The model is developed at the cost of 20 billion Korean Won in 31 months. It's main competition in the South Korean domestic market is the Hyundai Avante, which most of us outside of South Korea will know as the Hyundai Elantra, which the South Korea's best selling model in the segment.

Jean Marie Hurtiger, CEO of Renault-Samsung Motors at the launch of the New SM3. Yes he doesn't look too happy. Maybe someone pissed at his breakfast in the morning.

Unveiling at the 2009 Seoul Motor Show



As some of you might know, the outgoing SM3 is what most of us outside South Korea will know as the Nissan Sentra / Sunny. The SM3 is sold under the Nissan badge with a different front fascia and rear section in many parts of Asia Pacific.

Sometimes the many different names can be rather confusing. The outgoing N16 is sold as the Sentra in Malaysia, Sunny in Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong, Almera classic in Russia and Middle East. The model has since been discontinued in Thailand, Indonesia and Hong Kong. In Japan, the Sunny nameplate have long been discontinued. There was also another Nissan model bearing the Sentra nameplate in USA but this model has little in common with the Asian Sentra due to the vastly different product positioning, requirements and crash safety legislation for the North American Sentra (in the same way the US Ford Focus has almost nothing to do with the European Focus).
The outgoing SM3
Earlier model SM3

Asian Sentra (Singapore,Hong Kong)
Asian Sentra (Malaysia)

For the new SM3, Renault-Samsung mentioned that the vehicle will also be exported under the Renault badge, but stopped short of saying any particular export destinations. But it is believed that these will be all left hand drive markets. In other words, the Sentra / Sunny nameplate under Nissan will be retired when local market production ends. It's position in the market have already been filled by the Tiida / Latio / Versa model.

Which is a bit of a pity, because the Sunny nameplate have a very long history behind them. Older readers will remember that at one time, everyone took their driving lessons in a Datsun Sunny B110. In fact until today I am not sure why some of the local Nissan distributors in many Asian countries decided to replace the Sunny nameplate with the Sentra name. Singapore continued to use the Sunny name but Malaysia adopted the Sentra badge, and what's more confusing is that Nissan cars in both countries were distributed by the same Tan Chong Motors Group. This might not mean much to most automotive savvy readers but you will be surprise how important is badge familiarity to the average consumer (who probably makes up 90% of the car buying public). After all, didn't Toyota and Honda maintained their Corolla and Civic nameplate until today after so many decades of market presence? When the Altis was launched, Toyota did not drop the Corolla name but merely added the "Altis" suffix to it, as a way of saying this is a newer version of the Corolla you grew up with / you had before. The same old peace of mind pleasant ownership, updated with 21st century technology.

At one time, the Sentra models (B13 and B14 generation Sentra) made up almost the entire fleet of the "legendary" Genting Highlands taxis. Their class leading fuel economy, mechanical reliability and forgiving handling made it a favourite by our local "touge" masters - the infamous Genting Highland taxi drivers who know every single corner, kink and cambers of this mountain road at the back of their head. So reliable are the B13 Sentra / Sunny models that the car is still in production until today in Mexico, as the Nissan Tsuru.

Let's pay a tribute to the Sentra / Sunny.

Others Renault-Samsung developed models, sold in overseas market under the Nissan / Renault badge.

Renault-Samsung SM7 - Nissan Teana and rumoured to replacement for Renault Laguna.

Renault-Samsung QM5 - Nissan Qashqai / Dualis and Renault Koleos


A new entry level compact sedan is also in the plans, codenamed L02B - based on the Nissan March hatch. More here. Some say that this may actually be the new "Sunny / Sentra" for developing markets.

Transfomers Mania in China

It all started with this car, some Bumble Bee / Transformers fan in China decided to repaint his Chevrolet Cruze in the yellow Bumble Bee Camaro livery.


And then things got a little out of hand...in Shanghai, supposedly an implied location of the movie's opening scene.




Note the black Cadillac on the right. Caddies are uber-cool among affluent Chinese.



Bumble Bee is now a Honda...


This is the Nissan Livina X-Gear - currently on sale in China and Indonesia. It is a 5-seater "crossover" variant of the 7-seater Grand Livina (sold as Jun-yi in China) MPV.

Not sure what was the background behind this. But one has to wonder what kind of obsession drives one to paint his car yellow with black stripes?!

All images and story from China Car Times.

Related post :
Cars of Transfomers Revenge of the Fallen

Akio Toyoda - Toyota president who doubles as a race car driver

Akio Toyoda, the newly elected President of Toyota Motor Co. is a bit of a maverick within the extremely hierarchal and conservative Japan giant carmaker. Like many traditional Japanese organizations, age and seniority goes hand in hand. Thus, many were doubtful and even resisted the election of Akio Toyoda, who at 53 years old puts him as the youngest President ever to head Toyota. Of course, having the Toyoda name and being the descendent of the highly respected founding Toyoda family does help.

The young Toyoda is an avid racer and has participated in 3 of the last ADAC Nurburgring 24-Hour races. He was also instrumental in pushing for the approval of high performance emotional models like Lexus IS-F and Lexus LF-A by the company management. In the both IS-F project and gazoo.com Toyota lifestyle web portal project, it was said that the company did not approve any funding for it as the company's top management did not believe there was any business case in the two. Refused to be bullied into submission nor believe that his work has no commercial value, Toyoda launched gazoo.com with his own self-sourced funding and it is now one of Japan's most popular web portals. For the IS-F, Toyoda recruited his own "skunkworks" team of volunteer engineers who put the car together in their after office hours. Though still not in the same league as a M3 or RS4 or C63 AMG, it does say a lot about this maverick's dislike towards blind obedience, a very rare trait in Japanese corporate culture. But then again, having Toyoda name does provide him some form of insurance to go against the established hierarchy.

In the 2009 Nurburgring 24-Hours race, Akio Toyoda raced the No.14 Lexus LF-A prototype under a pseudonym "Morizo." His team finished fourth in class, 87th overall. Not bad for a suit and tie guy. But Akio Toyoda is again running foul with the Toyota's top management. Members of the board are not too happy with what they see as a too high risk antics for a company leader.

In a report by the Automotive News, he was quoted saying :
"The folks here are pleading with me to stop," Toyoda said, motioning towards his deputies who were at a news conference on Thursday where he sketched out plans for Toyota to become a leaner and more focused carmaker.

"But there's a reason why I participate in these races. First, it's because it's Nurburgring. Second, it's 24 hours. And third, it has a lot to do with the development of cars."

"Put another way, you can say that I'm staking my life to come up with a better product," he said.

Toyoda, who has said he wants to be a president "closest to the front lines," went on to describe the smooth tracks he's driven on in Japan and the demanding surface of Nurburgring.


The No.14 Lexus LF-A driven by Morizo aka Akio Toyoda. A VERY not typical image of a Japanese company president who will normally rather be chauffered in his Toyota Crown / Lexus LS 460L.


How is that for the new image of Toyota - commonly perceived to be the richest car company in the world making uninspiring boring products? It can't get any better than this. Hats off to Toyoda-san, he has my respect.

In his blog at Gazoo Racing, "Morizo" also talks about running into Aston Martin CEO Dr. Ulrich Bez, who also races at Nurburgring despite strong objections from his company.

"It's because there's someone like this at the top that the company can come up with an emotional sports car like the Vantage. That was the feeling I got as an employee at a carmaker," Morizo wrote on the Japanese-language blog.

The boss of Aston Martin is the only other car company CEO / President who participates in motor racing with their own cars. Aston Martin is another miracle turn-around story under the guidance of Dr. Ulrich Bez, who was formerly from BMW and Porsche, managed to turn around the ailing British supercar maker with a series of mind blowing products like the Vanquish, DB9 and V8 Vantage. Together with the famous Chris Porritt (vehicle dynamics manager) and Wolfgang Schuhbauer (development engineer) they regularly compete in the Nurburgring 24-Hours in their Aston Martin V8 Vantage N24. The fourth driver is reserved for an automotive publication journalist (with significant driving skills of course)

A British marque that flies 3 out of 4 German flags...Aston Martin's "Ringmeister" and vehicle dynamics manager Chris Porritt flies the Union Jack solo.

Dr. Ulrich Bez - not your average pot-bellied, high risk for cardiac disease company CEO. This is a CEO with the focus and balls to commit a car to tackle the Nurburgring's infamous Flugplatz jump and the high g-force carousel corner. Not your average BS-king CEO with no clue or direction to lead the team.

Chris Porritt - "Ringmeister" and Aston Martin's chassis guru.

Akio Toyoda's father Shoichiro Toyoda still serves as an honorary chairman in Toyota's senior board. Though Akio did reveal that his relationship with his father is a complicated yet difficult one, but he does draw much advice and direction from his father. The position of an honorary chairman is a typical Japanese way of showing gratitude to retiring senior members of the company who have contributed much. They still enjoy various perks from the company though they no longer have any active duty. Carlos Ghosn, the head of the Renault-Nissan alliance have previously mentioned that he frowns at such practices as he considers it a waste of resources and complicates decision making processes. Honorary positions were one of the first things Carlos Ghosn culled when he came onboard the then ailing Nissan Motor Co.

Outgoing President Katsuaki Watanabe has been blamed within Toyota's board for the company's current financial predicament, with record losses in the company's history. Senior members of the board view Watanabe's adoption of Western style expansionist policies have made the company veered away from the true Toyota Way and Kaizen guiding philosophies that forms much of the Toyota's foundation as a company. Watanabe has since been promoted to Vice-Chairman, another Japanese style of providing a senior manager with an honorable "face-saving" exit, but it is a position with very little active management duty.

Akio Toyoda might win many fans, especially enthusiasts to the brand. But his senior managers that work for him might have a difficult time adapting to his style. He has the character and personality one of those bigger than life CEO figures - like Steve Jobs, Carlos Ghosn, Bill Gates and Richard Branson. Personalities like these sometimes are the leaders needed to carry a company out of very trying times, as in the case of Apple and Nissan. But there needs to be a proper succession plan else investors and the public might perceive the company will not be able to run on its own without the charismatic CEO. Steve Jobs was very aware of this when he decided to, for the first time, not to attend MacWorld because he had to go for surgery for his pancreatic cancer relapse.

Akio is walking on a very tight rope because Japanese society and corporate culture is one that values conformity over individual creativity. There is a Japanese saying that the nail that stands out will get hammered down. The main reason why the young Toyoda scion was elected is not so much because of his achievement, but because investors and the board is delusioned with the tried and tested, old guard of Katsuaki Watanabae and his senior team. Couple that with record losses, they are desperate to give the young blood a try. He needs to do a very difficult balancing job of pleasing the established old guard which still wields considerable influence in the company with his unconventional style.

Cars of Transformers 2 Revenge of the Fallen

Everybody is of course well aware that Bumble Bee is a Chevrolet Camaro. There were however some other lesser known models.


At the opening scene in Shanghai, China, viewers with a sharp eye will notice that there were some Chevrolet Cruze police cars in black and white but the camera merely made a passing scene to it. But of course the Cruze was never part of any autobot, there were merely placed there as props for the shooting due to the product placement agreement between GM and Paramount Pictures.


Mudflap and Skidz were based on two of GM's trio of concept minicars. They were first unveiled in the 2007 New York International Auto Show as a design concept study to gauge American consumer's acceptance towards minicars. Skidz's character in vehicle mode is the Chevy Beat (green) while Mudflap's character is the Chevy Traxx. The other model of the trio (not used in the movie) is the black Chevy Groove. Of the three models, the Chevy Beat was selected to be transfered from a design concept into a real production model. The production Beat will be launched as the Chevy Spark in early 2010 in Europe. Introduction in China, India and the rest of Asia Pacific and Europe is also in the plan. There were no confirm plans for introduction in USA, the land of supersize everything, due to American's weird aversion towards small hatchbacks that the rest of the world uses. Surprisingly, the production Chevy Spark (below) retained most of the design elements in the Beat concept. The most obvious change is the adoption of a 5-door body instead of the concept form's 3-door. But even so, the rear door handles are blacked out and is hidden inside the rear window frame. 


Did you know that the first rolling prototype of the Chevy Spark was actually built in India? The three concept minicars however were designed in GM's Design Studio in Inchon , South Korea by Korea's GM-Daewoo Auto Technology subsidiary but with engineering inputs from GM's engineers in Europe. Pre-production models of the Chevy Spark are now in final stages of testing and real-world driving evaluation in India, China and Germany.

There was also an Audi R8 used in the movie, supposedly for a character named Sideways. Audi fans don't bother hoping to see any good chase scenes with the R8, as the car was prematurely cut into half and destroyed almost as soon as it appeared on screen. I wonder why did Michael Bay even bothered with the character. Of course, Audi never had any sponsorship role in the movie. I also noticed in the movie that the Audi badge looks like it has been blacked out, in matt colour instead of the original chrome. Not sure if this was intentional or was it due to the lighting.


Sideswipe is based on a Chevrolet Stingray Concept. This is not an actual production car and GM has confirmed that there will not be any plan to bring this car into production. The Corvette Stingray Concept was built solely to celebrate GM's 100th year anniversary. 


The Corvette Stingray Concept however, was inspired by a real classic Corvette of a similar name - the 1963 Corvette Stingray "Split Window" coupe. The Corvette Stingray is the second generation iteration of the famous Corvette nameplate. As you can see from the image below, the Corvette Stingray Concept is a 21st century interpretation of the original 1963 classic.


There was also a Chevy Volt in the movie, supposedly for an autobot name Jolt. But again there was hardly any character building nor did it had any significant screen time. The Chevy Volt is one of GM's most anticipated new model - it is a petrol-electric "range-extender" hybrid vehicle. Unlike conventional hybrids like the Prius, the Volt is primarily an electric vehicle but is equipped with a tiny petrol engine that kicks in when the battery charge is low, to maintain the battery at a certain level of sustained charge (unlike the Prius the petrol engine will not fully charge the battery). It is however expected to be a lot more economical than the conventional hybrids like Prius. The Volt is expected to be available for lease by late 2010 and public sales will begin by 2011.

Other characters carried over from the first Transformers movie.

Ratchet - Hummer H2, converted into a rescue vehicle.


Ironhide - GM Topkick truck, converted to off-road use specs with off-road tires.


Optimus Prime - Peterbilt 379 rig truck.

There is however one little point that has been bugging me ever since I watched the movie. What model of car is the ice cream van that Skidz and Mudflap was before their "upgrade?" I can't think of any model from the front fascia since obviously this is the only part of the car that is recognisable. The rest of the car has been converted into an ice cream van.