Automobile News

Alpine, the company which is famously known for its car audio equipment has signed agreements with General Motors, BMW, and Mercedes Benz. However, they will be supplying three different types of products to these companies. It all started with the Alpine announcing its collaboration for supplying head units to the globally famous car manufacturers, Mercedes Benz. Their head equipment is now available in all classes of cars produced by Mercedes Benz around the world.

One of the amazing features of the head unit produced for the Mercedes-Benz is the 40GB hard drive. Users can effectively utilize this space to download songs in MP3 format. The songs can be transferred using the SD card reader or you can even connect it with an iPod to a six-disc DVD changer. Indeed the Alpine head unit for Mercedes appears more impressive than many of Alpine’s other high-end commerical products, like the Alpine IVA-W202R in-car entertainment device. Other features of the Mercedes Benz headset include traffic updates with the help of Sirius Satellite Radio, Bluetooth facility, voice recognition for system control and text-to-speech facility. These features ensure safe driving besides adding luxury to the car.

For the general motors, they will be producing the all-new 2010 Buick LaCrosse, 2010 Chevrolet Equinox and 2010 Cadillac SRX. These devices come with a 2GB memory, USB 2.0 for iPod, flash memory connectivity, DVD/CD player and the FM/AM/XM satellite tuner. Their creation, for the BMW, is a massive surprise package. The center stack comes with a resolution of 1280 x 480 pixels and a display of 8.8 inch, which is the largest center stack available in the market. This stack opens and closes on its own, when not in use. The large display enables easy viewing of the maps and thus is safe for the eyes. In short, the Alpine is riding high, despite recession.

The BMW 3 Series is getting updated with new engine combinations, as well as a slightly different interior and exterior design. The revamped limousine and estate car are starting in September, while the coupe and cabriolet remain unchanged.

The facelift is immediately recognisable with the larger ventilators on the front grill, new headlights, an expanded wheel alignment on the rear axle, and two new indents on the front engine bonnet. The interior gets remade with new colours and materials, while the iDrive interface has received additional buttons and its menu has also been restructured.

The six cylinder diesel motor from the BMW 330d has been redeveloped. Compared to its predecessor, the engine offers 14 additional horse power with a total of 180 kW/ 245 HP, while the fuel consumption has dropped by 0.4 litres to 5.7 litres per 100 kilometres. Nine other engines are also available: five petrol engines with a performance range of 105 kW/ 143 HP to 225 kW/306 HP, as well as four additional diesels with 105 kW/ 143 HP to 180 kW/ 245 HP.

There are more available transmission options than before. The entry level petrol model is also available with a six gear automatic starting September. The otherwise unchanged coupe and cabriolet variants can be ordered with a seven gear double-clutch transmission. Furthermore, the BMW 320d four cylinder diesel engine can now be combined with all wheel drive for the first time. Prices have yet to be released, but will probably start at around £21,700.