Side to side

Kyoji Takenaka, the president and CEO of Subaru parent Fuji Heavy Industries, said in Auckland on Monday that a diesel engine could boost annual Subaru sales in Europe from the current 60,000 units to 100,000. Subaru is developing the world's first "boxer" diesel, a two-litre, four-cylinder unit, to respond to demand for diesel in Europe, where the oil-burners mostly outsell petrol units. Takenaka said the compact design had posed problems, like finding room for special diesel-emission filters. As a result, development costs were high. "We have yet to decide if it will go into production. But we have got very good performance from the engine on the test bed," he said. On most engines, the pistons move up and down. But on Porsche and Subaru engines, because of their horizontal design, the pistons move side-to-side, like two boxers punching at each other.

Increasing dynamics

German transmission specialist Getrag plans to launch its Twinster all-wheel-drive system within three years. The system permanently drives the rear wheels but uses two independent, electronically controlled multi-disc wet clutches to transmit power to the front wheels. That means that the differential on the front axle and the centre differential in conventional electronic all-wheel-drive systems no longer applies. "Our aim is to increase the dynamics through calculated distribution of propulsion torques," said Werner Hoffmann, managing director of Driveline Systems, the Getrag subsidiary that developed Twinster. The system works differently to electronic stability programmes. Those programmes stabilise a car through calculated brake intervention. Twinster, says Hoffmann, stabilises it through torque distribution. "ESP is for people who like using the brakes; Twinster is for active drivers." Driveline Systems used the Mini Cooper as the test vehicle. It said it built the 80kg system into the car without raising clearance height or modifying the body platform.

Movie lifts brand image

Audi's product placement in the Hollywood movie I, Robot has improved the brand's image in the United States, according to a survey of moviegoers in six US cities. The Audi RSQ sportscar prototype was on screen for almost nine minutes in the science-fiction thriller starring Will Smith. As well as Audi, other product placements included JVC, Converse and FedEx. I, Robot deals with the relationship between man and machine. Smith is a troubled cop whose issues with the ever-increasing robot population are seemingly vindicated when one of them becomes a murder suspect.

GM talks diesel with BMW

General Motors is in talks with German carmaker BMW about using BMW's diesel engines in its Cadillac luxury cars in Europe, the Financial Times reports. The paper said GM was also considering using engines made by its joint venture with Italy's Fiat, which are already used in its Saab cars. It said it was also possible that an Isuzu V6 diesel engine used in the Opel/Vauxhall/Holden Vectra could be improved for the Cadillac. Though both GM Europe and BMW declined to comment on the report, BMW has supplied GM Europe with six-cylinder diesel engines for the Opel Omega, and the German firm still delivers diesel motors to its former units Rover and Land Rover. Cadillac has doubled its sales forecast for Europe to 20,000 cars by 2010.

We are the world

In Bloomington, Illinois, Donald R. Hilger was arrested and charged with robbing 11 local businesses after police nabbed him getting into his getaway car and confronted him with two witnesses. "It was an easy collar," said the Bloomington Pantagraph. "Hilger pointed to one of the witnesses and blurted out: 'That's the one I robbed."' Meanwhile, police in Butler, Pennsylvania, charged 63-year-old Joel Crytzer with possession of marijuana after they found the drug on the floor of his car. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said the cops had stopped Crytzer because he was "driving down the road, oblivious that his car had only three tyres".