Monthly Archives April 2015

Recently during an interview with Chinese media, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, said Tesla is going to set up a assembling plant in China within the next 3 years.

In the interview, Musk expressed Tesla’s strong intention to operate and compete in the Chinese EV market, and open design/manufacturing centers within China mainland. According to Musk, the reason why Tesla not doing this right now, is because Tesla’s Fremont, California factory has not reached its full production capacity yet.

At this moment we do not know how Tesla will proceed with this plan: forming a joint venture with the Chinese government, or cover all the expenses and fully own the Chinese factory? W...

The current generation of the Lexus ES has been around 3 years, therefore it is due for a mid-cycle refresh for the 2016 model year. Today Lexus has released the following teaser image, showing what the headlight/grille will be like on updated ES.

From the image we can see the updated headlight section will have the same styling as some recent new Lexus models, such as the IS, NX, RC, and also the 2016 RX.

The official unveil will be in the 2015 Shanghai auto show, starting from April 20.

If you have been following our articles, you may have already seen the newest V8 engine from Mercedes-Benz: the M177/178 with 4.0L displacement and twin-turbochargers, which currently is only available on the AMG models (the AMG GT and also the W205 C63 AMG). However, Mercedes-Benz has decided to gradually phase out the aging M278 4.7L turbo V8 with this new M177/178 V8, and the first non-AMG model that receives this treatment is the 2016 GLS500 (not sold in US).

According to Mercedes-Benz, the 2016 model year GLS500 (the previous GL500) will use a detuned version of the M177 engine, which output is rated at 421 ps and 443 lb-ft (600 Nm) of torque, mated to the 7-speed a...

Today Volvo announced that the S60L Plug-in Hybrid sedan will be officially on sale two weeks later (04/22). Currently this is for the Chinese market only, no plan for the US market at this moment.

The production version of this new S60 variant will be very similar (if not identical) to the previous S60L PPHEV Concept Car, first shown in the 2014 Beijing Auto Show. Below are highlights of the specification:

– 2.0L turbocharged 4-cylinder gasoline engine (front wheels), 238hp and 258 lb-ft of torque
– Electric motor (rear wheels): 68hp and 148 lb-ft of torque
– Gasoline engine mated to the Aisin-sourced 8-speed automatic transmission
– 0-100 km/h time: 5.5 seconds
– Charg...

While Tesla has been working on other new models such as the Model X, and the “upcoming” entry-level sedan which is said to be starting at the mid $30k range, it is constantly making enhancements to the existing Model S, to keep consumers exciting on the brand.

Today the bay area-based auto maker released a new variant of the Model S, named the “70D”, served as the entry-level trim as the product line. By its name, the Model S 70D has an AWD drivetrain. The total combined output of the front and rear electric motors reaches 513hp (383kW), and the battery capacity has been increased to 70 kWh too...