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| Hyundai Accent |
Hyundai Accent 2006
The company also unveiled the 2006 Accent, a sister model to the new Kia Rio: smoothed-off styling, an upgraded cabin and revised suspension and powertrains, including a new 110 bhp 1.6. It's two inches longer than the outgoing model, an inch wider and three inches taller; US buyers will be offered just the one 1.6 version when it goes on sale this autumn, but more engines, including a diesel, will be offered in Europe next year. Standard kit for the US includes twin front, side and roof-mounted curtain airbags, and the car will be priced very competitively in the compact budget sector.
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| Hyundai Azera |
Hyundai Azera
The US-market version of the Grandeur unveiled a few weeks back in Geneva and replacement model for the XG-series. Bigger than the Sonata we're offered in the UK, its styling is similar, but it will come with a new 3.8-litre V6 giving around 265 bhp and five-speed automatic transmission. Hyundai is claiming more interior space than a BMW 7-Series or Mercedes S-Class, apparently. As it will be very well-equipped and very competitively priced, American commentators are saying that it's likely to give the domestic manufacturers a bit of a scare: it will take on the likes of the slow-selling Ford Five Hundred and Buick LaCrosse. Hyundai has already got off to a strong start in the USA this year, with January sales 10 percent up on those of 2004 and February sales up a further 19 percent.
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| Jaguar XJ Super V8 Portfolio |
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Jaguar XJ Super V8 Portfolio
The production version of the Concept Eight show car seen in NY last year: a long-wheelbase XJ with top-spec wood and leather interior, "executed with typical Jaguar design flare (sic) but with a thoroughly contemporary twist", apparently. Finishing touches include sculpted aluminum power vents in the front wings, a mesh grille, larger chrome exhaust tailpipes, polished 20-inch alloy wheels and two new colours, Black Cherry and Winter Gold. Its cabin has two power-adjustable armchair-like seats with a central console in the rear rather than a three-person bench, a DVD system with twin rear screens, four-zone air conditioning, full Bluetooth telecomms kit, laminated windows, and an Alpine Dolby Prologic-II surround-sound hi-fi. To haul all this lot along, power from the supercharged 4.2 V8 has been boosted by 10 bhp to 400 bhp. It will go on sale in the USA and Canada in August.
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