Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/643092
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 21 FEBRUARY 2016 VIII Motoring Marlin sub-brand launches with the Avatar Roadster, a track-ready sports car KIT-CAR makers Marlin have launched a sub-brand, Avatar. And under that brand comes the Roadster. One key point is that it comes ready-assembled, so you can just drive it rather than spend months in your shed putting it to- gether. The idea is that you'll want to drive it on the track, but you'll also be able to drive it to the track and back as well. At heart it is a tubular spaceframe chassis with the engine mounted longitudinally. The seating position is as near the centre as possible, and the fuel tank is carefully positioned so that weight distribution is, according to Avatar, near perfect. Helping with that weight distribu- tion, and indeed making it go, is a Ford Ecoboost engine mated to the transmission from a Porsche Boxster. The engine can be either the 2.0-litre or 2.3-litre option, with the larger engine produc- ing 350bhp. That's pretty useful power, and it's aided further by a light kerb weight of 700kg. This is possible thanks to the lightweight construction, clothed in fibreglass body panels. At present, production is just one a month but Avatar are hoping to up this to around two or three a month. Prices are £29,450 for the 2.0-litre version and £34,450 for the 2.3-litre car. If this sells well, there are plans for a longer version housing a Chevrolet V8 engine. VW rejects call to compensate EU drivers EUROPEAN carmakers have pleaded for time and under- standing after the European Parliament announced a special inquiry into the Volkswagen emissions scandal that erupted last year. A cross-party committee of 45 MEPs will spend 12 months examining how VW was able to rig emissions tests with so-called "defeat devices" – software that cosmetically cut nitrogen oxide (NOx) exhaust emissions during regulators' examinations. It will also look at whether the German car company was given political cover by the European Commis- sion and national governments in the EU. But Dieter Zetsche, the chair- man of Daimler and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, said that the industry was committed to cleaner cars. "Let me be clear: we fully accept our responsibil- ity to bring down emissions," he said in Brussels. "But rushing new measures will fail to bring the intended results." Zetsche – who is also the pres- ident of the European Automo- bile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) – blamed the scandal on the vague testing requirements. "We recognise what has gone wrong," he added. "By definition, by physics, you get more emis- sions by full acceleration and a full load, at low temperatures and climbing a hill, than on a flat autobahn." Up to 11 million VW diesel vehicles worldwide are thought to have been fitted with software to mask NOx emissions. The European Parliament's inquiry will also look into whether governments knew about the de- feat devices before the scandal emerged and why there were no defined penalties in place to deter such cheating. "Something has gone badly wrong and I hope this commit- tee will find out why EU law has not been upheld," said Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian prime minister, who heads the parliament's Liberal group. The French centre-right MEP Françoise Grossetête was more conciliatory, saying: "This inquiry should not turn into an inquisition court, but instead come up with ideas for solutions." The inquiry is part of the parliament's wider response to the scandal. This week, MEPs postponed until next month a planned vote on a controver- sial deal hammered out by EU governments to set looser "real driving emissions" (RDE) test limits. The vote was delayed amid accusations of industry pressure on Europe's big car-producing nations: MEPs say the deal would allow diesel cars to emit more than double the 80mg/km NOx standard, and some ex- perts say it would even be illegal under EU law. NOx, common in diesel ex- haust, is carcinogenic compo- nent of smog and contributes to climate change. While the US Department of Justice is suing VW for up to $46bn for alleg- edly violating environmental laws, there are currently no legal initiatives in Europe against the German firm. However, the EU's Industry Commissioner, Elzbieta Bienkowska, wrote last week to VW's chief executive, Matthias Müller, saying that European car owners also had a right to compensation. VW rejected her demand, argu- ing that there were no grounds to replicate its US compensation programme in Europe. "We are concentrating in Europe on the repair and service process," the company said after a meeting between Müller and Bienkowska in Brussels. "The situation in the US and Canada is not automatically comparable with other markets in the world. Therefore, this ac- tion [the compensation scheme] cannot simply be rolled out in other markets."