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Official Aston Martin showroom in Malaysia

January 23, 2009 at 12:04 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Aston Martin, Cars, Local News

Aston Martin Rapide

We are in the midst of a financial depression but apparently the rich are still thriving, perhaps enjoying the freed-up money that they have from laying off extra workers. Earlier this month we heard news of Maserati making a come-back to Malaysia. Next up is Aston Martin, another maker of sexy high-end sports cars.

There’s apparently an Aston Martin showroom being built on Jalan Genting Kelang near Berjaya’s Sri Pelangi condos. A quick check with Bursa Malaysia filings (page 160) shows that a unit of Berjaya Land Berhad had actually purchased a 49.9% share of Singaporean company Aston Martin Lagonda (S.E.A.) Pte Ltd for RM8.47 million back in 2006. AML SEA is the dealer for Aston Martin in Malaysia and Singapore.

Looks like Berjaya’s making a big re-entry into the automotive market. It now deals with Mazda, Skoda, Changan, Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles and soon Aston Martin. Berjaya has also secured rights to sell Changan cars in Vietnam. Pretty soon we’ll be able to see more of the DBS, DB9 and in the future the Rapide on the road, I hope!
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SEAT Leon Twin Drive Ecomotive hybrid

January 23, 2009 at 11:06 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, SEAT

SEAT Leon Twin Drive Ecomotive

VW-owned Spanish automaker SEAT unveiled a prototype SEAT Leon that runs on a hybrid powertrain with a fully electric mode. The SEAT Leon Twin Drive Ecomotive has plug-in charging support, and is intended to go on full electric mode in cities and switch to the combustion engine on highways. The combustion engine can either be petrol or diesel powered. SEAT did not reveal any specifications on this car in the press release, but stated the first Twin Drive cars will appear in showrooms by 2014.

Look after the jump for 3 more photos.
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AC Schnitzer mechanical LSD for BMW and MINI

January 23, 2009 at 9:59 am By Paul Tan Filed Under BMW, Cars, International News

AC Schnitzer has announced it will be selling a mechanical LSD kit for the BMW 1-Series, the 3-Series and the BMW MINI. This mechanical LSD will transfer up to 75% of driving power when one wheel slips to the opposite wheel. AC Schnitzer says for the front wheel drive MINI, this helps control steering behaviour.

The MINI Cooper S actually already has an LSD from factory option. If you don’t want that, you can opt for this. The MINI JCW however, does not have any factory LSD option. That’s because BMW considers it to have an LSD. The JCW actually comes with an “electronic LSD”. This is actually an extension of the DSC system.

It essentially uses an open diff, but DSC brakes the slipping wheel, which in a normal open diff causes the power to transfer to the other side. Now the reason why BMW used this new E-Diff is because they found with with a mechanical differential, the MINI JCW experienced “anti-torque steer”.

The JCW has quite a substantial amount of torque, and on full power the mechanical differential tends to kick in too early. This has a side effect – the steering tends to want to center itself on full power. While on a straight road this is fine, but it’s a problem when you want to go full power on a corner and the car keeps wanting to go straight, hence the term “anti-torque steer”. So please just bear this in mind before you decide to equip your MINI JCW with this AC Schnitzer mechanical LSD.

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Alfa Romeo Mito GTA set for Geneva debut

January 23, 2009 at 9:24 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Alfa Romeo, Cars, International News

Alfa Romeo Mito

The MINI John Cooper Works will have a new rival come the Geneva show this March in the form of this hot little Italian number, the Alfa Romeo Mito. The Mito will receive a new top of the line variant called the Alfa Romeo Mito GTA and it will be powered by the 1.8 litre T-JET engine from the Fiat Bravo. Autocar claims the engine will be tuned to put out 240 horsepower, which looks likely as a nice and punchy 180 has been demonstrated by a smaller 1.4 litre engine used in the Fiat Grande Punto Abarth Essesse. Even the 1.4 litre in the Marangoni M430 Mito has 220hp. The Mito will get a Q2 differential at the front to reign all the torque in, since it is a front wheel drive vehicle. Power to weight ratio will also be helped by lightweight materials exclusive to the GTA like carbon fiber and aluminium.
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New dry-clutch Ford Powershift twin clutch transmission complements wet-clutch version

January 23, 2009 at 9:12 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Ford, International News

Ford Powershift

Just months after the wet-clutch 6-speed Powershift dual clutch transmission was released by Ford (and available in Thailand on the Ford Focus TDCi), Ford has announced a new dry clutch version, which will be installed in small cars in North America. The dry clutch transmission is lighter as it does not require hydraulic pumps and fluids, cooling lines and external cooling, unlike its wet clutch counterpart which has clutches bathed in oil.

The Powershift transmission is essentially a manual transmission with two clutches, but has the following algorithms to help it perform as smoothly as a real automatic:

  • Neutral coasting – The clutches will automatically disengage during coasting when the brakes are applied to reduce parasitic losses, helping with fuel economy.
  • Precise clutch slip control – this improves NVH and smoothness at low engine speeds.
  • Creep mode – Some twin clutch transmission do not creep. Creeping is when your automatic transmission car moves forward automatically without having to press the accelerator as long as you let go of the brakes.
  • Hill assist – Automatically maintains brake pressure on slopes to prevent the vehicle from rolling back on a gradient surface.

Ford says it wants its vehicles to go nearly 100% 6-speed by the year 2013, and a large number of this will be twin clutch applications. The trucks will probably stick with a torque converter automatic, but with 6 ratios.

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Chrysler to sponsor Terminator Salvation movie

January 22, 2009 at 2:22 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Chrysler, Videos

Terminator SalvationNot wanting to lose out on the latest fad of automobile manufacturers sponsoring movie franchises, Chrysler has announced it will be sponsoring the new Terminator 4: Salvation movie, which will see Chrysler cars being product placed in the movie. Chrysler did not say how much money it would be spending on this though.

The other big Detroit automakers also have/had movie deals. Notice the many Ford cars in the last two James Bond movies and the new Knight Rider, and the GM placements in the Transformers movie.

I checked out the trailer and didn’t notice any Chrysler cars. You can watch it yourself after the jump.
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New AMG Sports Package for W212 E-Class

January 22, 2009 at 1:43 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Mercedes Benz

W212 AMG Sports Package

Mercedes-Benz has officially announced details of the new W212′s AMG Sports Package, sort of a mid-way between a regular E and an E AMG, much like BMW’s M Sport packages. The W212′s AMG bodykit includes an AMG bumper with large cooling air intakes, AMG side skirts and an AMG rear bumper.

Read more about the new W212 AMG package after the jump.
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Honda Icon 110cc scooter launched in Malaysia

January 22, 2009 at 12:29 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Bikes, Local News

Honda IconBoon Siew Honda Sdn Bhd has launched the new Honda icon in Malaysia, which is what Honda calls an “A.T. Motorcycle”, but of course the rest of us refer to it as a scooter. This new model joins Honda’s other Malaysian scooter offering, the Honda Click. The transmission system is Honda’s V-Matic belt CVT with a gear ratio of between 2.68 to 0.85. It’s engine is a 110cc 4-stroke air cooled unit (the Honda Click is liquid cooled).

Honda hopes the new model will help boost its scooter market share from the current 1% to 2% level up to 46%, which is a huge difference! The Icon is 100% assembled in Malaysia and will sell for RM4,688 OTR, which is cheaper than the Honda Click. It comes in five colours – pink, blue, red, white and black.

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2,918 Protons on Thai roads so far

January 22, 2009 at 3:33 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Malaysian Makes, Proton

ProtonProton has been in the Thai market for just over 1 year now, and its market share is currently 1.4% or 2,918 cars. Total industry volume for 2008 in the Thai market was 615,270 units.

Japanese automakers currently conquer the Thai market with 92.1 percent total share. Toyota alone commands 42.6% market share. Proton currently sells the Savvy, the GEN2, the Satria Neo and the Persona CNG in Thailand. That’s one supermini, two compact sedans and one 3-door hatchback.

Proton’s distributor Phranakorn Auto Sales targets 4,000 units for the year 2009, with the Proton Savvy (priced at between 399k to 460k Thai baht) being the main driver of sales. 2009 Thai TIV is expected to drop further to 520,000 units.

In other Thai-related Proton news – Proton’s presence in Thailand will get a new Country Manager from February 2009 onwards, a Mr Philipe Cheng.

Source

UPDATED: Corrected some misinterpretation of figures.

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GM is no longer world’s largest automaker

January 22, 2009 at 2:31 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Chevrolet, International News

gm logoGM is no longer than world’s largest automaker in terms of sales, ending its 77-year claim to that title. GM only sold 8.36 million units in 2008, which is slightly less than Toyota’s 8.97 million units. Who knows what will happen in 2009 though, GM may overtake Toyota again, Toyota may leave GM even further behind, or GM may just cease to exist. Now is not the time to be bothered about such titles, especially since GM has not posted a profit since 2004. More profit per car is what needs to be achieved, not more cars sold.

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