Southeast Motor to Unveil V3 Lingyue in Shanghai

One of the lesser -if at all- known Chinese automakers, Southeast Motor, has announced that it will reveal the V3 Lingyue hatchback at 2009 Shanghai auto show next week. Like the sedan variant of the V3 Lingyue that was introduced in China in late 2008, the hatchback model is based on a platform of a previous generation Mitsubishi Lancer with power provided by a 1.5-liter MIVEC four-cylinder engine that was fine-tuned for the Chinese market by the firm's partner, Mitsubishi Motors.

EuroNCAP's Revised Safety Ratings for Six New Cars Including Mazda6, Avensis and Impreza

The European organization for the assessment of vehicle safety has published the first results under its updated rating system. Up until now, Euro NCAP made three separate ratings available for each vehicle, but with the new system there's an overall rating for every car covering Adult Occupant Protection, Child Occupant Protection, Pedestrian Protection and a new area of assessment, Safety Assist which takes into account systems such as electronic stability control (ESC) and seat belt reminders.

Of the six cars tested under the new ratings system, four managed to achieve Euro NCAP's maximum award of five stars: the Mazda 6, Mitsubishi Lancer, Toyota Avensis and Toyota iQ. Citroen's C3 Picasso minivan and the Subaru Impreza were both awarded four stars.

According to Euro NCAP, with the exception of the Subaru Impreza, all the other cars failed to impress on pedestrian protection.

After the announcement of the results, Mitsubishi and Subaru both said that they would change their ESC (electronic stability control) fitment policies for the Lancer and Impreza, as variants of these models without optional ESC were offered in some Euroepan countries.

Euro NCAP's new rating scheme requires all safety equipment, including ESC, to be standard on 85% of volume sales and at least optionally available on every variant.