Motor News

‘Awareness on environmental friendly cars at low level’

Anjana SAMARASINGHE

THOUGH other parts of the world now use environmental friendly motor cars to minimise the environmental impact caused by automobiles, awareness on environmental friendly cars in Sri Lanka is at a low level, President of the Classic Car Club of Ceylon (CCC) Clive de Silva told “Daily News Business”.
 

He said that industry has not done much to increase the awareness on environmental friendly cars. Local automobile importers could play a vital role in promoting environmental friendly cars in Sri Lanka.

In a bid to increase the awareness CCC has made arrangements to educate public on environmental friendly cars at the Formula Plus Sri Lanka Motor Show 2007 organized by CCC together with Sri Lanka Insurance (SLI). This show will showcase old cars and latest cars in the industry. It will exhibit history and the evolution of the car de Silva said.
 

The Show will be held from September 21 to 23 at BMICH. There will be classic cars as well as vintage cars at the Show. However over 200 old and latest cars will be in display at the Formula Plus Motor Show.

Plans are afoot to have special demonstrations by the members of the CCC and separate sessions will be organized for the school children during the first day of the show. “We have invited schools to participate for the show. Apart from cars motorbikes too will be displayed, he said.

Consultant (Motor) of SLI Suren Galagoda said that they have invited more than ten franchised car importers in Sri Lanka to display their latest cars at the show. Nearly 14 models will be exhibited at the motor show. Last year there were 45000 participants for the event.

SLI’s Formula world is equipped with the latest technology for repairing damage vehicles. There will be live demonstrations of formula world.

SLI has invited their Formula plus policyholders for the event. SLI is privileged to participate for a motor show like this he said.

Four Hyundai brands win top segment awards

THE Hyundai brand continues to win accolades in the United States as this week four Hyundai vehicles placed at the top of their segments in Auto Pacific’s 2007 Ideal Vehicle Award (IVA) while Automotive Lease Guide, for the first time ever, gave higher residual values to a Hyundai vehicle than to a Toyota equivalent.

In the Auto Pacific study, Hyundai topped the following four segments: Most Ideal Premium Mid-Sized Car: Hyundai Sonata. Most Ideal Compact Car: Hyundai Elantra. Most Ideal Compact Crossover SUV: Hyundai Tucson* and Most Ideal Minivan: Hyundai Entourage.

* Hyundai Tucson also took home the Vehicle Satisfaction Award.

Auto Pacific’s second annual IVA ranked auto manufacturers for how closely their 2007 model year cars or trucks came to matching owners’ expectations and criteria.

The vehicles that customers said they would change the least were considered the most ‘ideal’. Measurements for the award include consumer trust, anticipation, expectations and reality.

“Hyundai has done an outstanding job understanding their target buyer and is creating the product that is ‘ideal’ for its buyers,” Auto Pacific’s President, George Peterson said.

“These awards are a reflection of Hyundai’s continued commitment to our customers,” said Vice President, Product Development and Strategic Planning, Hyundai Motor America John Krafcik.

“The Hyundai brand stands for industry-leading quality, superior standard safety technology, and great value - with these values we’ll continue to work hard to meet the expectations of our customers.”

To determine the winners, Auto Pacific asked owners to rate their new car or truck on how close it come to ‘ideal’ in the following areas: exterior size; passenger roominess; cargo space; driver’s seat comfort; driver’s seat visibility; interior technology; power, ease of getting in and out; interior storage compartments; and tires and wheels.

The IVA ratings reflect input from buyers of new vehicles purchased from September 2006 through December 2006. Over 24,000 respondents provided input for these awards.

Earlier this week, Hyundai scored another first when Automotive Lease Guide of the United States awarded a higher residual value to the 2008 Hyundai Veracruz than to its direct competitor, the Toyota Highlander.

Driving pleasure scientifically measured for first time

STUTTGART - Scientists have scientifically analysed the driving pleasure experienced by motorists for the first time. Experts from the Fraunhofer Institute in Rostock, Munich Technical University and Mercedes Customer Research collaborated in the unique pilot study which involved testing various methods for measuring drivers’ emotions.
 

They were able to ascertain what drivers feel and which aspects affect driving pleasure by means of voice analysis, facial-expression recognition and psychological questioning.

In the driving pleasure study carried out by Mercedes-Benz, cameras inside the car recorded the drivers’ facial expressions.

When the pictures were subsequently analysed in the laboratory, 60,000 individual images were copied from the video recordings and then evaluated by computer for facial-expression recognition. A total of around one million images were analysed in this way.

To detect the muscle movements, the computer measures 140 features on each face, enabling it to “see” laughing, for example, during which the corners of the mouth move towards the ears.