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Proton Exora chassis structure teaser

March 31, 2009 at 5:21 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Local News, Malaysian Makes, Proton, Proton Exora - Proton MPV 2009

Proton Exora Chassis
Click to enlarge

This is the latest and probably one of the most final in a series of teaser images released by Proton of the Proton Exora 7-seater MPV. If you visited the Proton Technology Week they held sometime back you would have already seen this in real life, but this version shows some of the different metals used in the structure.

The single-piece front end module is made of plastic (but reinforced by metal in some areas) and the front subframe uses a hydroformed sub-frame technology that contributes to helping the Exora lose a few KGs, which means the CamPro CPS will have less to lug around. Being a single piece, it will be easier for the assembly line workers to install the front end module.

This is how part design can affect quality – other than the actual quality of the component itself, if a component is easier to install there is a higher chance for the assembly line works to always get it right the first time around.

UPDATE: To learn more about the benefits of a hydroformed front subframe, check out this link by Subaru. Thanks to reader Fridz.

Read our previous detailed coverage on the Exora:

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Proton Exora MPV meter panel and dashboard textures in high resolution
Proton Exora MPV teaser scans: flat-folding seats
Proton Exora 7-seater MPV interior details revealed

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Detroit Electric e63 and e46 Initial Specifications

March 31, 2009 at 3:06 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Detroit Electric

Detroit Electric Persona
Detroit Electric

What you see above is a gist of what Detroit Electric claims its debut duo based on the GEN2 and Persona will be able to achieve. You will also be able to choose between two battery packs of different capacities, for a total of 4 models.

The batteries use Lithium Polymer, which makes Detroit Electric the 2nd manufacturer to announce the use of the battery technology in a production vehicle. The first was the Hyundai-Kia Group. Two different capacities are given – one with 25kWh and another with 40kWh. The 25kWh is referred to as the city model while the latter is called the long range model. Maximum range per charge was given as 180km and 320km respectively, but of course if you whack the car during a weekend drive to Genting Sempah and back I doubt it’s going to last that long, just like the quoted mileage figures for a petrol car.

Detroit Electric claims over 2,000 charge cycles but what also has to be considered is the life of the batteries. Batteries also lose their capacity over time, not just how many times it is charged. I know Wikipedia is not a completely reliable source but they give the lifetime of Li-Po batteries as 24 to 36 months, so that’s about 2-3 years. Hopefully DE’s batteries last longer.

Detroit Electric

The battery is not developed in-house but it will be licensed from a major manufacturer, which has yet to be decided although discussions with a few are already in progress. DE intends to be able to source the batteries here if possible.

The electric motor, which is their very own patented design that they call “Axial Magnetic Flux” is said to have a nominal power of 75kW continuous power which is the equivalent to 100 horsepower, and a peak power of 150Kw, or 200 horsepower. Torque figures are very nice – 350Nm to 380Nm.

As for charging, the 40kWh battery is said to take 10 hours to get from a 0% to a 80% charge on a regular 13A 240V household socket.

Detroit Electric says an estimated price tag for the cars in the US market would be US$23,000 for the city model and US$33,000 for the long range model – that’s a whole US$10 grand more for the extended battery capacity, which means the most expensive thing in the car is the battery! Converting these amounts to ringgit would put them out of reach for most people here really. The 40kWh model figures are quite far from the RM80k that Detroit Electric first mentioned during their test drive session last year.

Look after the jump for a full list of the specs.

Related Posts:
Detroit Electric to sell electric Persona and GEN2
Detroit Electric FAQ: A background on electric cars
Detroit Electric’s emissions-free Lotus Elise driven!
Detroit Electric to base electric cars on Proton cars?
[Read more...]

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New Mitsubishi 3S Centre in Miri, Sarawak

March 31, 2009 at 1:50 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Local News, Mitsubishi

Mitsubishi Motors Sarawak

Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia now has its first 3S center in Sarawak, located at Lot 2527, Boulevard Commercial Centre, 98000 Miri, Sarawak. The new 3S center by Auto Pacifica spans over 20,000 square feet and was built at an investment of over RM 1 million. The 3S center will house a sales showroom, discussion area, customer lounge, meeting rooms, delivery bay, service reception area and a service workshop with seven dedicated working bays.

A dedicated service center is important for the Mitsubishi Triton to increase its popularity in East Malaysia, especially Sarawak. The Triton holds a market share of 19.1% in the segment, making it the second most popular pick-up in Malaysia, but alot of that is in West Malaysia.

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Prodis-T Sdn Bhd to spearhead electric car charging infrastructure setup in Malaysia

March 31, 2009 at 11:02 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Detroit Electric, Local News

Detroit Electric LogoDetroit Electric signed two agreements yesterday actually – we already know of the one with Proton. The other was a Memorandum of Understanding with a local company – Prodis-T Sdn Bhd.

Prodis-T is said to be entrusted with leading the implementation of electric car charging infrastructure in Malaysia. Detroit Electric will provide technical expertise to support R&D activities. They aim to raise USD 50 million in capital through both private investments and financial loans over the next 2 to 5 years.

But who is Prodis-T exactly? While Prodis-T calls itself a homegrown automotive technology supplier, it is quite young looking at their SSM registration number and a quick check on the net reveals another Prodis-T Sdn Bhd which is a distributor for IBM and Lenovo products for SIs that do work for the government and GLCs. That website was dated 2008. They must have changed direction sometime this year.

Anyway, the quicker Prodis-T and Detroit Electric sort this out the faster we will be able to enjoy the electric cars that are going to be assembled here and exported!

29 Comments      

Nissan could roll out electric vehicles in 2010

March 31, 2009 at 12:33 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, Nissan

small_logo_nissan.jpgNissan is bringing forward its electric vehicle debut for the US market by 2 years, which means the first Nissan EVs could hit American streets by 2010. Its original plan was to start utility and commercial sales of EVs in 2010 and begin consumer retail sales in 2012, but according to Nissan director of product planning and strategy Mark Perry, some consumer US markets could be ready for the EVs sooner than 2012. Nissan says as long as the market is ready, they will go in earlier. And by ready, this includes charging infrastructure.

Nissan’s electric vehicles will be powered by NEC lithium ion batteries. It will have a range of about 100 miles or 160km between charges. Nissan and NEC are planning to build an EV battery plant in Smyrna, Tennessee, and have requested to take out a low-interest loan from the feds to do so.

8 Comments      

Detroit Electric FAQ: a background on electric cars

March 30, 2009 at 10:51 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Detroit Electric, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, International News

Detroit Electric LogoDetroit Electric issued this FAQ at the signing ceremony today aimed at clearing some doubts about the feasibility of electric cars, or at the very least why they think electric cars are feasible. Their product and marketing roadmap is also unveiled.

Sales will begin with the e46 GEN2 and e63 Persona in the first year with 40,000 units. By the third year they hope to hit 210,000 cars with 3 models, but of course this third model might not be a Proton. They are flexible to source vehicle platforms from any manufacturer and prefer working with that model but it so happens that their first two cars are Protons. By the 5th year of sales operation, they hope to be selling 315,000 vehicles from a total of 5 models.

Look after the jump for the FAQ document.
[Read more...]

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Detroit Electric to sell electric Persona and GEN2

March 30, 2009 at 9:29 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Detroit Electric, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, International News, Local News, Malaysian Makes, Proton, Videos

Detroit Electric

Detroit Electric and Proton Holdings Berhad signed an agreement today for a supply and manufacturing agreement related to Detroit Electric’s upcoming range of electric vehicles. Detroit Electric is manned by ex-Lotus Engineering CEO Albert Lam and used to have a joint venture with ZAP and Youngman which didn’t happen.

Interestingly Detroit Electric’s ex-partner Youngman is Proton’s customer in China, where it buys the Proton Persona and GEN2 to rebadge as its own cars. Detroit Electric’s deal with Proton is similiar. It will buy the Proton Persona and Proton GEN2 from Proton to fit with an electric motor instead of the CamPro engine, and rebadge them as the Detroit Electric e63 and the Detroit Electric e46 respectively.

The deal is expected to take in RM 2 billion of revenue for Proton over the next 4 to 5 years, with expected volume to be 40,000 cars a year, potentially to grow up to 100,000 cars a year, if Detroit Electric does well in marketing its EVs. They will work with Proton engineers and assemblers to optimise the assembly line. The cars will be built alongside the regular Persona and GEN2 at Proton’s Tanjung Malim plant. The installation of the electric motor and battery and etc will be done off line.

Detroit Electric e63

Detroit Electric said it picked Proton as its partner after discussing with a few others because it allowed Proton an easy entry into the market. Given that Lotus Engineering, the company that Albert used to work for, had a part to play in the development of the GEN2 and Persona should clear up any doubts that Detroit has with the capability of the car’s chassis.

More details on the cars to come in a post following this, but the specifications for the cars seem impressive at first sight but because of an extended teh tarik session between the VIPs there, the press conference was extremely delayed and we ended up having less than half an hour to ask questions, so we’re not sure if these specs are finalised or not. If they are finalised, looks good.

The first production cars will hit the road in Q1 or Q2 2010, and target markets are UK, Europe and China. No mention of Malaysia, apparently that is still under study :( Detroit Electric are targetting markets with incentives for zero emission vehicles or at least fines and taxes for polluting vehicles.

Detroit Electric e46

A US market entry is expected towards end-Q3 2010 or beginning Q4 2010 because of the additional work needed to get the Persona and GEN2 homologated in the US. Apparently Detroit Electric will be paying for this, so no expenditure from Proton in that sense.

Detroit Electric is also exploring the possibilities of locating its battery and electric motor plant here. Albert Lam says Malaysia is an attractive place for them because of the availability of engineers as well as the relatively low labour costs.

Coming up next – some specs of the cars. In the meanwhile look after the jump to watch some videos that Detroit Electric gave us.
[Read more...]

65 Comments      

GM CEO Rick Wagoner asked to resign?

March 30, 2009 at 9:36 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Chevrolet, International News

gm logoAccording to Politico citing an unnamed White House official, Rick Wagoner will reportedly be stepping down as the CEO of General Motors at the request of the US Government, probably as part of conditions for more aid to be given to GM by the feds. In fact some sources day the 56 year old CEO already resigned yesterday.

The replacement for the outsted CEO who said over a week ago that he does not plan to resign anytime soon is likely to be GM’s COO Fritz Henderson, if the feds do not request for someone from the outside.

Chrysler chief executive Bob Nardelli is said to be safe from receiving similiar chopping, for now. If more and more aid is given to Chrysler (already $4 billion – they are asking for another $5 billion) with no results like GM so far, he may face the axe.

A formal announcement has yet to be made – Politico quoted the White House official and the rest of the media world ran the story. Look after the jump for a video of one of the latest congressional hearings regarding the Detroit Three bailout. One of the congress members (Senator Bob Corker) basically sums up what he thinks their plans to use the money are, quite interesting.

In other auto CEO news, PSA Peugeot Citroen has fired its CEO Christien Streiff and replaced him Philippe Varin, the man who oversaw the merger of Corus and Tata Steel two years ago. Streiff was replaced because his ability to perform as CEO was in doubt. He had two minor strokes in 2008. Apparently the board was also not happy with Streiff’s go-it-alone management style.
[Read more...]

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2009 HEICO Sportiv Volvo XC60 (with video!)

March 29, 2009 at 12:35 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Videos, Volvo

Heico Volvo XC60

Heico Sportiv displayed this kitted up Volvo XC60 at the Essen Motor Show last year, and it’s the world’s first complete tuning program for Volvo’s baby XC90.

Other than aesthetic enhancements which include either a twin or quad tailpipe exhaust at the rear and sports springs which lowers the car by 30mm, both the petrol and diesel variants have an engine tuning program. The XC60 2.4D and XC60 D5 have engine outputs of 163 PS and 185 PS respectively but Heico tunes both up to 210 PS. The T6 turbocharged 3.0 litre inline-6 variant gets boosted up from 285 PS to 315 PS.

The XC60 will share some technical underpinings with the latest generation Freelander. It is set to join Volvo Cars Malaysia’s product line-up in either Q2 or Q3 2009. Look after the jump for more photos and a video featuring the diesel HEICO XC60′s exhaust note. You’ll be amazed that it’s a diesel!

Related Posts:
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[Read more...]

16 Comments      

Chevrolet Cruze set for July 2009 Malaysian launch!

March 29, 2009 at 11:37 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Chevrolet, Chevrolet/Daewoo, Koreans

Chevrolet Cruze

The Chevrolet Cruze will hit Malaysian roads in July 2009 and it will be imported from Korea as a CBU model. The Cruze is a C-segment sedan in the same class as the Civic, Corolla Altis and Focus.

Under the hood will be a GM-Opel Powertrain sourced 1.8 litre DOHC unit while in other markets the Cruze is also available with a 1.6 litre ECOTEC. This new 1.8 litre unit replaces the older Holden-based engine that our market’s Optra comes with. The new engine will have DCVCP or Double Continuous Variable Cam Phasing and produce 140hp and 175Nm of torque at 3,800, so that’s quite a torquey mid-range there.

Chevrolet Cruze

What’s most impressive is the Cruze will be a class leader in terms of transmission as it will be equipped with a 6-speed transmission, something that none of its rivals have. The closest is Honda with a 5-speed auto.

The Cruze is generally a rather good looking car and it has a pleasant interior as well. It has been touted over and over that this car together with the upcoming Chevrolet Volt will be the new global car that saves GM. Unlike previous GM C-segment offerings where the Americans got the Cobalt while the rest of the world got the Daewoo-derived Optra, the Cruze is one single model that will serve the global market.

Another new Chevy will come later – the D-segment Chevrolet Epica. Look after the jump to view a full featured high resolution interior & exterior photo gallery of the Cruze and its Daewoo-based version, the Lacetti Premiere.

Related Posts:
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Chevrolet Cruze finally launched as the Daewoo Lacetti Premiere
[Read more...]

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