City traffic has become so bad these days that it has become impractical to drive a big SUV with boat-like handling characteristics. It’s much easier to zip around town in a subcompact or small hatchback, after all. The fact that fuel prices falling to record lows due to the drop in oil prices is just icing on the cake, especially if your daily commute to work involves inching through parking lot-like traffic jams.

For Hyundai, its small cars are the top sellers in Asian markets like India and the Philippines, where the Korean company’s Eon and i10 lines are common sights on the street. Even as the more formidable Starex, Sta. Fe, Tucson, Elantra and Accent are also popular, nothing beats a low price tag, especially in emerging markets.

But even then, small does not necessarily mean cheap. Our review model for this automotive feature is the 2015 Hyundai Grand i10, a subcompact hatchback directly competing with the Suzuki/Maruti Swift, and recent market entrants, the new Mitsubishi Mirage and Toyota Wigo. Price-wise, however, the Grand i10 is a bit on the steep side, which means the choice might come between this subcompact hatch or a bigger — although lower trim — subcompact sedan. Even Hyundai’s own Accent has a lower starting price than the top-spec Grand i10.

Hyundai often attaches the “Grand” moniker to significantly-upgraded models, and for the i10, this marks the car’s second generation, first launched in late 2013. The Grand i10 is 100 mm longer than its predecessor, and the top-spec variant also offers features and amenities that one might find more at home on more expensive and larger vehicles, such as safety and electronics packages.

Specifications

Our review model is the top-of-the-line L variant, powered by a 1.2 liter Kappa motor delivering a maximum power of 87 ps @ 6,000 RPM and torque of 12.2 nm @ 4,000 RPM, with 0-100 Kph acceleration rated at 15 seconds. Motor-driven power steering makes turning light, with a tight turning radius. LxWxH is 3,765 mm x 1,660 mm x 1,505 mm, with a wheelbase of 2,425 mm. Cargo space is measured at 1,202 liters.

The Grand i10’s Kappa motor comes in a mostly aluminum construction to minimize weight, resulting in the car’s having a curb weight of 941 to 998 Kg. In the Philippine market, the Grand i10’s starting price is PhP 538,000 (US$ 12,155) for the base model, climbing up to PhP 688,000 (US$ 15,544) for the top-spec model. The difference comes mainly in the following:

• 1.2 L vs. 1.0 L displacement
• Alloy wheels vs. Steel with full wheelcap
• Electrically-actuated folding side mirrors
• Rear parking assist (Camera- and radar-assistance)

Note that Hyundai actually had to reprice the Grand i10, perhaps to better compete against the 3-cylinder Toyota Wigo and Mitsubishi Mirage, which have taken over Manila streets of late.

Design, comfort and amenities

The Hyundai Grand i10 has more than the usual small-car amenities that you would wonder why these don’t already come standard even on bigger cars. The touchscreen LCD makes navigating the entertainment system a breeze. Shift to Reverse and you get a rear-view camera. You even get push-to-start ignition.

Inside the cabin, space is what you would expect from a subcompact hatch — it will surely feel a bit claustrophobic if you’re more used to bigger sedans or SUVs. However, the ride is comfortable enough, with adequate NVH insulation and a supple suspension. Comparing the Grand i10 with the Honda Jazz, which we reviewed a few months back, I can say that the Grand i10 is surprisingly more comfortable.

I’m not too fond of the resistive nature of the 7-inch touchscreen, however, as it is sometimes inaccurate and would require repeated presses to register a touch. With the popularity of capacitive displays even on cheap tablets today, I wonder why Hyundai has to settle with a resistive screen. The lack of audio controls on the steering wheel can also be concerning, especially since Hyundai has already put in this level of kit on the Grand i10.

Unlike the Honda Jazz, the Grand i10’s seating design is more conventional, with the fuel tank situated right below the rear passenger bench. The rear backrest folds in full (no split), but it doesn’t fold flat. This can be quite limiting in terms of carrying big cargo like boxes or furniture. Legroom is comparable to most subcompact sedans — it’s evident that Hyundai put in the extra length into extending the rear passenger space.

Audio quality is acceptable, and you can plug in your phone or USB thumbdrive for MP3 playback. The car’s head unit also supports Bluetooth audio, enabling music playback from your smartphone and handsfree communication while driving.

The Grand i10 also comes standard with a navigation system. While apps like Waze and Google Maps are already formidable alternatives to a car-bound GPS navigation system, it’s good to know that Hyundai has incorporated a feature once reserved for more premium models (even the Nissan Altima that VR World reviewed in November did not have this feature).

The post Hyundai Grand i10: The Little Car That Could appeared first on VR World.

LEDinside Research Manager Duff Lu (呂理舜) said on Dec. 22 that the total revenue for car-use LED may reach US$2.5 billion by 2018.

“The worldwide automotive-use LED market is projected to reach US$2.5 billion by 2018, with a compounded growth rate of 9% from the period between 2014 and 2018,” Lu said. “In particular the automotive LED market value in before market is projected to reach US$1.9 billion and the automotive LED market value in after market is also forecasted to reach US$620 million.”

Quoting the latest research, Lu said that LED automotive lighting has a relatively higher gross margin, compared with other traditional LED applications, that also attracted many Taiwanese LED makers to start planning to enter the field of manufacturing car-use LED equipment.

Also, with the growing demand for GPS, dashboard and other panels to be used on vehicles, LEDinside forecasted that the LED market for car-use equipment will also grow from US$71 million in 2014 to US$130 million by 2018.

“In 2014, worldwide new vehicles with standard equipment included car-use panels, have already reached 9%, and is expected to hit 14% by 2018,” Lu said.

The post Car-use LED Equipment Market Continues to Grow: Research appeared first on VR World.

Tesla is probably one of the most unique companies in the world, time and time again they’ve proven to us that they simply aren’t what we think they are. First, everyone believed that they were a car company, but they proved that they were a technology company first and a car company second. And now, they’ve once again changed what we believe to be a technology company by freeing their patents and making them available to anyone that wishes to use them, in good will.

In a blog post titled, All Our Patents Are Belong To You (a play on the geeky “All Your Bases Are Belong to Us” Meme) Elon Mus, Telsa’s Founder and CEO, basically talks about how the company once had a wall of patents hanging in the halls of Tesla’s Headquarters in Palo Alto and that they have since been removed. He talks about how the company is doing this for the sake of the open source movement and the advancement of the electric car, and ultimately, the environment. This move is sure to worry investors of Tesla’s stock, who put part of their value in the company’s stock in all of the patents that it currently holds (or held?). Currently, based on how the stock performed yesterday and how its performing in pre-trading hours, the stock does not appear to be affected, yet.

Why? Because this is part of Tesla’s grander vision. They know that they can design and manufacture cars better than any of their competitors and just because their competitors have free access to their patents doesn’t mean that they can build better cars than Tesla. Additionally, and even more importantly, it will spur demand for Tesla’s battery technologies and the need to have them manufactured, you know maybe in some sort of a battery Gigafab? If anything, this will enable more companies to utilize different Tesla technologies and to bring more partners onboard to work with Tesla on improving the electric car industry.

It could also work in Tesla’s favor to promote their own proprietary technologies as standards since they don’t require any licensing. This would mean that people could build Tesla ‘superchargers’ into their charging stations and it would not only widen the network of chargers across the world, but it would also improve the value of owning a Tesla.

There’s no denying that this move is a risky one, but I believe that ultimately it is a very smart one and it helps solve Tesla’s problem of not having enough demand to build a battery Gigafab and make it profitable. After all, Tesla sees themselves as a battery technology company first and foremost, not a car company. So, this is clearly in line with their long term strategy.

This could also encourage current or future partners to want to work with Tesla to build batteries since they won’t have to pay for licensing the technology. Maybe Toyota will rethink moving to hydrogen fuel cell and move back to using battery based electric vehicles. Some may worry about how Tesla’s current partnerships may suffer from these developments, but the truth is that most of them are buying batteries directly from Tesla, which means that there isn’t really much licensing revenue that Tesla has to worry about losing, which may also have been a factor in the decision.

The post Tesla Frees Patents, Challenges Competitors to Join appeared first on VR World.