All posts by Francis Mitterrand

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New Škoda cars will be equipped with ChatGPT

Since its appearance, artificial intelligence is expanding its use especially in the automotive industry. Thus, more and more car manufacturers are integrating artificial intelligence into their multimedia system. One of them, Škoda, announced that starting this year all their new models will have the integration of a digital assistant with artificial intelligence ChatGPT.

Digital assistant Laura will be equipped with artificial intelligence and will be able to talk to users. This new feature is powered by Cerence Chat Pro from technology partner Cerence Inc., offering a unique automotive integration of ChatGPT. Of course, ChatGPT will also have certain restrictions when it comes to car data or user personal data. All interaction with the digital assistant will be deleted immediately after processing, and if the system cannot answer the question, it will be forwarded to AI ChatGPT.

The first models to be equipped with this option will be the Enyaq, the new Kodiaq and Superb, as well as the Octavia facelift that was announced a few days ago.

The car was announced with a short video that doesn’t reveal much, but some changes can be seen compared to the current model, such as the new design of the front daytime running lights, a slightly redesigned grille and a new bumper design. A small redesign of the rear part is also expected, which was announced in the previously published spy photos.

There will be changes in the car’s interior as well, and this primarily refers to the new infotainment screen that will be integrated in all Volkswagen Group cars.

Source: Škoda

News

Last Bugatti Chiron with 1,500 PS

At the 2016 Geneva Motor Show Bugatti revealed a mid-engine two-seater sports car, the Bugatti Chiron. The intention was to produce only 500 examples of this model, and now the last example with 1500 PS has left the production line in Molsheim.

The car is finished in Nocturno and Copper, and was delivered to its owner, Bilal Hydrie. Hydrie is the founder, CEO, and President of Inclusive Energy. He ordered his car back in November 2021, and at that time he paid about 3 million dollars for it. You could say cheap, given that at the beginning of 2023, the Bugatti Chiron Profilee was sold for $9.79 million.

Bugatti Chiron Profilee is powered by an 8.0-liter quad-turbo W16 engine with 1,480 hp (1,103 kW) and 1,180 lb-ft (1,600 Nm) of torque. The same engine powers the Bugatti Mistral. It reaches 62 mph in 2.3 seconds with a top speed of 380 km/h, which is 30 km/h more than the Chiron Pur Sport (350 km/h).

The Bugatti Chiron was produced in several versions, and it is still unknown how many copies of the Chiron Pur Sport model, as well as the Mistral and Bolide models with W16 engines are left. All of them should reach their owners by the middle of this year.

Bugatti’s plan is to replace the existing W16 engine with a hybrid V8 in the near future, which should arrive with the successor to the Chiron.

Source: Bugatti

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Last Bugatti Chiron with 1,500 PS
News

Kia set a new sales record

The year 2023 has ended and companies report their sales results. Thus, KIA announced that last year it achieved a historical sales record with more than 3 million vehicles sold.

Although December was not so successful (-9.2%), taking into account the whole year, Kia recorded a sales growth of 6.3 percent (3,085,771 vehicles) compared to 2022. It was the best result since 2014, when 3,038,552 vehicles were sold. Also, sales records were achieved in almost all major markets such as Europe, the United States and India.

The new Kia EV9 electric SUV, the Sorento, the K5 sedan and the Carnival minivan had a big impact on increasing sales. Also, higher production and reduction of problems in the supply of semiconductors contributed to the historical result.

When it comes to individual models, the highest demand was for the Sportage SUV with 523,502 deliveries, followed by the Seltos SUV with 344,013 deliveries and the Sorento SUV with 242,892 deliveries.

This year too, Kia plans to introduce new fully electric models and attract the attention of a larger number of potential buyers in order to continue sales growth. It is expected that the total number of vehicles delivered this year will exceed 3.2 million, of which the plan is to sell 530,000 vehicles on the domestic market.

Source: KIA