The imperative to lower emissions on California’s inter-city freight routes is being addressed by the Siemens and South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) project to complete a grid of overhead electric tracks on Interstate 710. With overhanging electric runners (much like those used for electric commuter trains) running along the route between the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, heavy to medium trucks plying the route can now have zero-emissions electric powertrains. To complete the system with a similar drayage solution (short freight carrying segments at the start or end of the delivery run), the SCAQMD now taps another company, BYD, for a demonstrator project that will utilize electrics for initial freight gathering or subsequent distribution in cities.
Press Statement by Solar Transport & Automotive Resources (STAR) Corp., “US taps first pure EV trucks from BYD,” 2016:
BYD, the global leader in cutting-edge rechargeable battery technology as well as traditional fuel-powered and new energy vehicles, has been tapped to participate in the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) zero-emission drayage truck development and demonstration project.
The State of California will award $23.6 million to the SCAQMD for the project in the hope of reducing key criteria pollutants and accelerating the commercialization of heavy-duty advanced, zero-emission technologies, in line with SCAQMD’s clean air plan.
The project will also serve as a statewide demonstration of 43 zero-emission battery electric and plug-in hybrid drayage trucks serving major California ports in the Bay Area, Sacramento, San Diego and San Joaquin Valley.
This is the first large-scale demonstration of zero-emission Class 8 trucks from manufacturers led by BYD. The companies selected for the undertaking have the engineering resources, manufacturing capabilities and distribution networks to support commercialization of advanced technologies related to moving freight to and from the ports. The project is also expected to provide emission reduction benefits in key areas of California with drayage truck activity.
“BYD is proud to work with the California Air Resources Board, South Coast Air Quality Management District and our fleet partners to advance clean, battery-electric transportation solutions in communities where it is needed most,” said Stella Li, president of BYD Motors. “BYD is a worldwide leader in battery technology and as the OEM providing the most battery electric trucks under this solicitation, I believe other fleets will take notice and recognize that battery-powered drayage trucks are reliable and available for wider deployment today. We look forward to celebrating the delivery of our first battery-electric drayage truck in the fall of this year.”
“This project will help put the very cleanest short-haul trucks to work where they are needed most, moving cargo from the state’s biggest ports to distribution centers and rail yards,” said ARB Chair Mary D. Nichols. “This is good news. It means cleaner air for all Californians, but especially those who live in neighborhoods next to these industrial facilities or along some of our state’s busiest trade corridors.”
“This unique collaborative effort will accelerate the commercialization of advanced zero emission truck technologies that are vital to improving air quality in communities near our busy freight corridors,” said Joe Buscaino, Los Angeles City Councilman and SCAQMD Board Member. “Cleaner truck fleets on our roadways are important for air quality and climate goals, and essential to protecting public health.”
In the Philippines, BYD vehicles are distributed by Solar Transport & Automotive Resources (STAR) Corp. For more information, visit www.byd.com.ph.
The larger Super Ace light-truck offerings featured passenger rear bodies built by Centro to Tata Motors specifications. There was the passenger van, a high-riding, dual AC transport with jeepney-style side-facing seats that could accommodate 14 people in the rear, and the Ace in school bus configuration with a rear body featuring mandated front-facing seats and a curb-side door. The Super Ace light-truck is more of a mainstream inter-town transport with a rugged 1.4L turbodiesel with conventional yet also more reliable indirect fuel injection.
For several years now, the Maruti-Suzuki partnership has held onto its huge share (46% in 2015) of India’s 2.6M-vehicles passenger car market. They’ve been unassailable, although mainly just in the small passenger car segments. When the Ciaz was introduced there first, the response was so good that it picked up some windfall demand from the long waiting lists of buyers grown impatient with slow delivery of other, already popular sedans. If not for anything else, the Ciaz’s entry did benefit the Indian market by forcing competitors to ramp up production and get their cars to market faster—free-market competition at its best.
Things underneath have gotten bigger, all the better for handling distressed and distressing road conditions. Ground clearance numbers have gone back up to 1950’s levels; the Ciaz’s minimum ground clearance of 160mm appears to subscribe to hard earned doctrine (particularly from India) that specifies this as the minimum number for clearing rough-road hazards.
The Ciaz has wheel options, depending on variant, for either 195/55R16 or 185/65R15 tires, yielding overall diameters of 621 and 622mm, respectively. This gives it wheel diameters second only to the 622 or 628mm available on the Mazda 2.
What really takes the cake is that the Ciaz has the longest wheelbase among them all with 2.65m between front and rear axle centers (5cm longer than on its closest rival, 10cm longer than on the market leading Toyota Vios). That long span between front and rear axles means generous people space between intruding wheel shrouds. So, even with front seats slid back fully, legroom in back is generous enough to swallow up both grown ups and overgrown adults. Its turning radius, although enlarged by the long wheelbase, remains within city tolerances at 5.4m … sedan-like and still smaller than on minivans and SUVs.
All told, this would simplify the replacement parts inventories that Suzuki or third party vendors would be investing in, and would actually leverage the technical skills that Suzuki or other service providers already have to provide essential maintenance for the new sedan’s powertrain. This brings Suzuki closer to the long game of the big brands in the Philippine market, closer to marques like Toyota, Mitsubishi and Nissan.
After popping the selector from D to N whenever I stop in inchworm traffic, I always step on the brake before putting it back into D in order to catch and dampen that trademark jerk of the torque converter engaging. On a whim, though, I tried the sequence on the Ciaz without stepping on the brakes and, well, there was no jerk. There was this gentle tug that quickly built up only after the sedan started to roll. It’s the kind of drive onset I’d credit to an auto-clutch set up, like with an AMT or on a DCT gearbox.
And the upshifts or kickdowns? Real smooth. The powertrain is demonstrably well matched to the Ciaz’s mass (this, even with a 4-speed automatic gearbox that any old-school stick guy would think a concession for convenience). She isn’t a sport anything, nope, but she’s a right smart mover. First and second gears on the AT gearbox felt conventional, not too short at all but rather, if anything, a little tall. Third and fourth? Yes, most definitely tall. The top gear has a seriously tall overdrive ratio that requires and triggers a kickdown if you stomp on the gas at speeds below 100km/h.
About styling, I’d say the Ciaz is handsome, and elegant. She isn’t overwrought with flourishes that have no apparent function, but instead has the lightest of touches to soften its edges, yet also has fun with false vents that give it a sporty air, making its business ends, both of them, edgy. It’s like being asked what the weather is like, on air, on Good Morning Vietnam: open a window and see for yourself, why dontcha. Just take a look at her in the pics. She’s a proper looking sedan, svelte and smooth on the necessary angles, no pointless features that’ll make her cloying and insipid after a few months, simple enough to eventually become a classic. And that alone could spell success in terms of resale value.
So, ironically, while the new Pilot comes loaded with an impressive array of engineering innovations, what is immediately notable about this third generation model is something that, on hindsight, was a long time in coming. For this iteration, this time around, the Pilot finally brandishes a design language that reveals its affinity with other things sporty, utile, and Honda … particularly in the Philippine setting.
A three-row 8-seat mid-size SUV, the Pilot (badged the MR-V in the Middle East) is big brother to Honda’s popular two-row 5-seater compact CR-V. And yet, all this time, there’s been this disconnect between the two SUV models.
The Pilot and Ridgeline SUV/SUT tandem would’ve projected a powerful message—hitting well-known and closely-knit categories while pushing innovations in unibody engineering and application. No surprise that the models that ended up referencing each other’s designs were the Pilot and the Ridgeline, through the Pilot’s first and second generations and the Ridgeline’s several first-gen facelifts.
To simplify, there are:
And there’s a big price spread ranging from $30,145 for the base LX FWD, up to $46,570 for the top-spec Elite.
Road Departure Mitigation (RDM) – for specific lane keeping scenarios where there is risk of drifting off the road entirely, this system alerts the driver with rapid steering wheel vibrations and could trigger steering and brake inputs to avert
the bigger but lighter body on larger 18” wheel rims
With the conventional looking, two-camera F1, they’ve morphed their best camera tech into a mid-range slab phone that makes things solidly monolithic again, no more fragile sub-assemblies to swivel a single camera, back to looking understated and keenly sharp with the excellent build quality OPPO has become known for. The screen is protected behind hard 2.5D Gorilla Glass 4, while the mirror finish on the caseback of OPPO’s Neo and Mirror models gives way to the F1’s satin metal that’s now de-rigeur on anything premium. You’ll want to find a protective case pronto—if you want hassle-free tosses into pockets and purses—but OPPO has got you covered. Says so in the specs, you’ll find a case in there when you unbox the F1.
In the Philippine tax environment, it was Suzuki that pioneered a niche for India-market notchbacks that, at the very least, minimizes excise tax. What Suzuki Philippines broke into was a pricing niche for small hatchbacks and sedans that tops off just above that recurring P600K mark. The Swift hatchback 1.2L and Swift DZire 1.2L notchback they brought in (both with engines curiously downsized from the original 1.4L with which the popular Swift was first launched and is still retained in an up-range variant) are obviously like the Volkswagen Ameo—specially configured to fit India’s small car category.
Subsequently, in 2014, Honda Philippines brought over the Brio Amaze, although with a larger 1.3L i-VTEC engine, focusing on performance despite causing a departure from the 1.2L engine that had gotten it a tax break in India. Nevertheless, volumes on the components common to the India- and Philippine-spec models appear to let Honda hit that pricing sweetspot with an SRP of just P629K for the basic E variant with manual gearbox. And if they choose to bring in the 1.2L variant later, like Suzuki did, this could introduce another, significantly lower price-point, like it had for Suzuki.
Philippine-spec vehicles are typically priced at around 150% of the Indian counterpart models, whether sourced from India or off-shore suppliers. This means that if the opportunities prove compelling enough both for Volkswagen global and Volkswagen Philippines alike, they could bring in the Ameo at an offer price starting at P633K.
The Vios, Toyota Philippines’ best-selling model showcased for its track-ready handling in much publicized one-make races, with its near single-minded focus on a ground-hugging ride having committed it to the low, 147mm of ground clearance that causes the occasional underbody scrapes even with just two on board. And lastly, the slightly larger, sub-compact Vios sedan with its less finely trimmed 1.3L J M/T base variant selling for a near-equivalent P630K.
Having spotlighted the India-market notchbacks already in the Philippines and their unique draw amongst region-wide third-world sensibilities, the Ameo should be coming to Volkswagen Philippines showrooms, and coming soon. This is too good an opportunity, even for Volkswagen global, to pass up.
Now, Tata adds two passenger van variants with side-seating in the rear, and a school service variant with front-facing seats and a curb-side door. The Super Ace line now includes six variants—a base chassis, two for cargo and three for passengers. Notably, Super Ace offerings are not limited to these six variants. Tata accepts orders for the light truck chassis fitted out with custom-built rear bodies.