Toyota Avalon 4

After debuting its new generation at the last New York Auto Show, Avalon now receives its new price list. This means Toyota is about to start selling one of their most important vehicles of the latest times, considering the changes that were applied and the market category in which this car competes. While some competitors focus at their tradition, like Chevrolet Impala, this sedan wants to prove that it’s possible to please the wealthier families offering the luxury they’re used to have with a style that never had followed it before.

Avalon could achieve all that mentioned boldness without big limitations only because it was time to receive a whole new generation. This comes from the fact that even though the brand decides do change their style rules at some time, those updates will always take some time to be effectively seen. They can start them by releasing one new model as a symbol of what to expect from the next years, but there’s always the fact that a big automaker’s cars are always each one at a particular moment of its lifecycle. This means that some already need a new project, but others can have only a half-life face-lift and others don’t even need to change at all, and all those conditions need to be respected not only to avoid the financial losses from making big investments without the previous ones being satisfactorily recovered, but also to avoid a massive customer complaint, since they would see their cars becoming outdated in much less time than what’s expected. That’s the reason why the North-American Toyota’s showroom (to restrict this text to the market where Avalon is sold) has received Camry’s current generation one year ago while the Prius family (started in 2010) will remain unchanged for some years and Corolla will receive its new generation soon, since the current one arrived in 2009.

In fact, the biggest Toyota sedan of that market was so acclaimed that it was said it’ll be the visual inspiration for the next Corolla, planned to be revealed in 2013. This approval starts with the stylish exterior, composed of modern lines who follow Toyota’s nice idea of applying the most recent trends in car design without forgetting the typical Japanese cars’ ones. This explains why Avalon brings European ideas such as a much shorter third volume to remind the coupe rear (like Mercedes-Benz does with CLS) but also the design of the lights and air intakes, with visually aggressive cuts like most of the Eastern cars of the past few years. This “recipe” is common among the latest Honda, Hyundai, Kia or Mitsubishi cars, for example, but usually at compacts, crossover or sports cars because those categories tend to attract young customers, and because of that focus at emotional appeals. However, a family sedan, specially at the US, deals with the strong traditions built around them. Their main public are older couples, who twenty years ago used to drive Chevrolet Impala, Chrysler Concorde and Ford Taurus, therefore used to much more classical cars.

As its compatriot Honda Accord, Avalon’s previous generations actually followed those rules because of the Japanese automakers’ decision of starting North America’s operations with more neutral cars in order to achieve better sales at that first time. Today they all are much more than popular around there, but if the eighth Accord still offers a classical style, Toyota’s sedan seems to want to revolutionize this category. Sharing platform with its “richer cousin” Lexus ES, it not only has a sophisticated construction as brings lots of comfort and technology items: the interior’s wooden details come with three-zone air-conditioner, heated leather seats, GPS navigation, sunroof and the multimedia system with a 7” touchscreen at the central console. The basic Avalon had a 6,6% price reduction from the previous generation and now starts at US$ 30.990. Its trim levels will be XLE, XLE Premium, XLE Touring and Limited, but the engine options will be the V6 3.5 with 268 hp with automatic six-speed transmission and the hybrid one, an Atkinson 2.5 along with the electric engine and a 244 volt battery, to achieve the final 200 hp using a CVT transmission. With the last option and the most expensive trim level, Avalon reaches US$ 41.400.

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Spesifikasi HP Folio 13-1001TU Ultrabook

Harga Review Spesifikasi Specifications Laptop Tipis HP Folio 13-1001TU Ultrabook
Core i5-2467M, 4GB DDR3, 128GB SSD, GbE NIC, WiFi, Bluetooth, VGA Intel® HD Graphics 3000, Camera, 13.3" WXGA, Win7 Home Premium

Price

:

Rp 10,970,300

HP Folio 13-1001TU

Spesifikasi HP Folio 13-1001TU 

Platform Notebook PC  Processor Type Intel Core i5 Processor  Processor Onboard Intel® Core™ i5-2467M Processor (1.60 GHz, Cache 3MB)  Chipset Intel® HM65  Standard Memory 4 GB DDR3 PC-10600  Max. Memory 4 GB (1 DIMM)  Video Type Intel® HD Graphics 3000  Display Size 13.3" WXGA LED  Display Max. Resolution 1366 x 768  Display Technology BrightView LED  Audio Type Integrated  Speakers Type Integrated Altec Lansing - Dolby Advanced Audio   Hard Drive Type 128 GB SSD  Networking Gigabit NIC  Network Speed 10 / 100 / 1000 Mbps  Wireless Network Type Integrated  Wireless Network Protocol IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n  Wireless Bluetooth Integrated  Keyboard Type Full size  Input Device Type Touch Pad  Card Reader Provided SD, MMC Multi-Format Digital Media Card Reader   Interface Provided 1x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0, HDMI, LAN, Audio  O/S Provided Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium  Battery Type Rechargeable Lithium-ion Battery 6-cell   Power Supply External AC Adapter  Dimension (WHD) 31.85 x 1.8 x 22.02 cm  Weight 1.49 kg  Standard Warranty 1-year Limited Warranty by Authorized Distributor  Bundled Peripherals Optional  Package Contents Contents may vary

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Renault Symbol 3

Emergent markets are really fond of sedan cars, specially between compact and medium sizes. Most of the current three-volumes of those categories come from countries like Brazil, China, Turkey and Iran even if the automakers need to build them from nothing more than their global platforms. Therefore, when Europe and US release a car only with hatchback and station wagon options, it doesn’t take long to those markets develop their own sedan variation. The car at this article is one of the best examples of this strategy ever seen.

This is the third generation of the car originally named Renault Symbol, whose story became so confusing through the years that it’s worth to be explained step by step. This name originally came in 1999, with the first sedan adapted from Clio already following its second generation, which arrived in the previous year. Symbol was a Turkish version whose sales also started at that country, but it was easy to notice its concern with the cost reductions: sharing the hatchback’s parts until the rear doors did avoid producing too many extra pieces, but its design became unbalanced. That Clio had a wide third column to give a solidity impression, but the sedan demanded it to increase even more due to the connection with the bigger trunk volume, which in turn needed to deliver the biggest space it was possible. These were two strong reasons to draw a long third volume, but not to do it forgetting the style harmony. However, nothing of that stopped this car’s success specially among the families. Symbol was sold at other countries as Clio Sedan and face-lifted in 2002, but the half-decade witnessed some changes. The Romanian Dacia Logan soon became the Renault Group’s cheaper sedan worldwide, while the third European Clio became more sophisticated than the emergent markets could afford at its category, leaving this position to Sandero, Logan’s hatchback.

Renault replaced the Clio family with much more modern entry-level cars, but it wasn’t Symbol’s end. Once again the Turkish department projected a three-volumes using that name, but now focusing at the next higher category to attract a more mature public. The prices were kept under a reasonable level because they also kept the older Clio’s platform, but with a different strategy: the design was completely new, sharing no body panels with the previous sedan in order to show much more elegant lines. The interior gave the appropriate answer with fluidic lines and great trim levels still with a big trunk, but not every country gave the best acceptance to this aging project, even with the interesting prices which in fact were the brand’s main intention. But the final situation was that Renault ended with both a low-budget and a “premium” sedan, as the emergent markets call cars like Symbol. The following changes received by these cars came with the second-generation Dacia Logan because of the contradiction highlighted by it: Renault’s cheaper sedan was already a younger project than the more expensive Symbol. But now the fourth Clio came again with no intentions of leaving Europe (and therefore not generating any “emergent sedans”) and Logan improved completely, but nothing was mentioned about Symbol… so far.

The French automaker’s strategy deserves applauses for being a nice example of solving big problems with small acts. Logan and Sandero are expected to be sold under Renault’s badge outside Dacia’s markets due to the reasons listed at their own article in this blog, so their second generation was projected already considering that. So instead of having a new Symbol as one more car, they took the opportunity to replace it rebadging the new Logan. So the new Symbol will have the same advantages of its Romanian brother, also because the pictures here show the lack of deep changes: this project was intended to meet both brands’ style rules with nothing more than a front restyling: the front air intake resembles the new Clio or even Symbol’s fancy brother Fluence, while the rear received only the new badges. But the pictures also show that Renault will reveal the sedan’s interior in another opportunity. It’s expected that Symbol comes with better trim levels, including items such as digital air-conditioner and multimedia entertainment device with GPS. But these news will surely be confirmed at its first official presentation, scheduled to tomorrow at nothing less than… the Turkey Auto Show.

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