Paul Tan on the Automotive Industry
8 of the current F1 teams that make up the Formula One Teams Association have announced that they (with the exception of FOTA members Williams and Force India) will leave F1 at the end of the current season. These 8 teams are: BMW Sauber, Brawn, Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull, Renault, Toro Rosso, and Toyota.
Continue reading after the jump for the full story.
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Honda has updated the Stream MPV for its mid-life facelift, or Minor Model Change as Honda usually calls it. Like before, two different powerplants are offered in Japan – a 140 PS 1.8 litre SOHC i-VTEC and a 150 PS 2.0 litre SOHC i-VTEC engine, both from the R-series of engines.
With the pre-facelift model you had the RSZ, a model that had sportier looks. With this minor model change Honda has added another variant called the Honda Stream RST, which joins the Stream RSZ and Stream X up to a total of 3 variants.
Other than different exterior looks, the RST also uses red instead of blue backlighting for the instrumentation panel.
These variants are further broken down into front wheel drive and 4WD variants. The 2.0L front wheel drive models get a CVT while the rest use a 5-speed automatic. With the Stream only just getting updated to the RSZ model here in Malaysia, this minor model change could take some time before arriving on our shores officially via Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd. Naza might bring it in first.
Look after the jump for a full gallery of the new Stream.
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Edaran Tan Chong Motor brings its “tuned by Impul” model offering up to three with the new Nissan Sylphy tuned by Impul, which will be exhibited at the SIC this weekend in conjunction with Round 4 of the Super GT International Series Malaysia.
The most obvious addition is the aerokit, which consists of a front grille, front and rear lips, side skirts and a rear wing spoiler. The kit also includes an Impul sports suspension kit which lowers the Sylphy by 25mm compared to the standard model, and features uprated shocks and springs. At the rear complementing the rear lip is an Impul Black II muffler with a polished finish. The Impul Sylphy rides on 17 inch Impul Aura SX-10 Black & Polish Finish Alloy Wheels, wrapped with Dunlop Formula D-01 205/45R17 Tyres. On the inside, the seats are wrapped in black leather with matching Impul black mats.
Nissan Sylphy tuned by Impul 2.0 Comfort RM123,900
Nissan Sylphy tuned by Impul 2.0 Luxury RM127,900
The prices above are OTR inclusive of insurance, road tax and misc other fees for the Peninsular Malaysia, and come with a 3-year or 100,000km warranty. That’s actually quite a premium over the regular Sylphy which goes for RM112,800 for the Comfort and RM116,800 for the Luxury. That’s a RM11,100 premium but it doesn’t sound too bad considering you get wheels, an exhaust and the suspension as well.
Those who already own a Sylphy but would like to fit the Impul kit can also do so but of course you won’t be able to package it inside your car hire purchase installment loan.
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Many of us already know this for months thanks to showroom and insider information but Malaysian Peugeot distributors Nasim Sdn Bhd has only just made an official announcement. The 5-door Peugeot 308 Turbo hatchback has been updated with a full-length panoramic glass roof, a similiar one to the one that its more powerful sibling, the 3-door 308 GT has. Nasim says the updated 308 will be available from the end of July 2009 onwards.
The original price of RM111k has been hiked to RM113,888 OTR including insurance and road tax – so that’s less than RM3,000 for the stunning panoramic roof that measures 1.26 meter square, encompassing two-thirds of the roof.
During hot days there is a one-touch full length electric sunblind that fully covers up the glass roof, which uses athermic glass to reduce some of the heat that comes through whenever you have the sunblind open.
Renault will be unveiling a new all-electric car at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show scheduled for September this year. The concept has been developed to go into production in less than 3 years, so we could see it on the road as early as 2011. This new electric car will have a 5-door hatchback body, and will join other Renault EV concepts based on existing models – the Megane EV and the Kangoo EV.
The new electric 5-door hatchback production-destined concept car is said to be built on the Renault-Nissan Alliance B platform, which also underpins cars such as the Renault Clio and the Nissan March. A smaller car such as this would make more sense for now as battery technology isn’t all that mature yet and decent EV range is easier to be achieved with a lighter (and smaller) body.
Renault will also be exhibiting a new system they’ve devised called the Quick Drop system. You essentially cycle between multiple batteries with your electric car ownership. Drive it into a garage, and the system swaps your car’s depleted battery and puts in a new fully charged one in just 3 minutes.
No further details but we can probably assume the system then proceeds to charge the depleted battery to swap back into the car the next night. Initial implementations will most likely be in public areas (due to high cost of implementing a Quick Drop station?), with Quick Drop points functioning the same as petrol stations.
Full details on all of Renault’s forays into the electric vehicle arena to be revealed closer to the Frankfurt show date.
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I’m sure you can see the relationship with brand power and a product’s price tag now, when you look at the C-segment with cars like the Civic, 308, Lancer, Focus, Altis, and the newly launched Mazda 3. A product with a strong brand somehow can command a higher price yet not really offer much in terms of specs. A brand does not get built out of thin air and the higher price tag will pay back some of the efforts put into brand building, whether it is A&P or the money invested into the product build quality or service network.
This applies everywhere and in the world of mobile phones there seems to be a kind of T-badge of sorts. You know, that device that doesn’t even have a camera in front for video calls, no tethering ability (until recently), or even a changeable battery. It is really something to worry about, because the world of electric cars opens up the possibility of car manufacturing to companies that you would not even consider to make cars before. Battery and electric motor technology is something quite unrelated to the internal combustion engines that have been developed by the big brands over the years.
Anyway I digress. I’ve been looking around recently for a mobile phone to potentially replace by existing phone which has gone out of warranty and from what I hear, is quite screwed up inside now. Too many drops it seems. A good mobile phone with good internet connectivity helps me manage this blog whenever I am on the go. A large and readable screen is very important to browse the comments moderation section of the blog’s WordPress system so I’ve been looking at a few touchscreen phones. The Blackberry Storm and the iPhone come to mind.
The Blackberry Storm has the advantage of Blackberry technology and they’ve pretty much perfected push email so that’s a plus point. Various tests around the internet have also shown that the Storm’s browser is pretty much one of the quickest performing browsers, rendering pages quickly and with proper Javascript support, something important with the long comment list pages in my WordPress. The Storm also has built-in tethering support which means I can use it as a modem for my laptop to update my site on the go.
Most importantly unlike the iPhone, it has a changeable battery, which is something I feel is very very important. Battery life generally goes down over time and you have to perform certain charge cycle rituals to keep it up. I simply do not have time for this, so knowing I can change my battery when it finally conks out (it’s happened to me before!) is important. That way I do not have to change my device if my battery dies.
Coming from a world of phones with regular buttons, it’s also worth nothing that the Storm’s touch screen is “smarter” as in it employs a haptic touch keyboard technology. It means the touch screen is tactile or should i say “clickable” – it provides feedback to your finger when you are typing on it. I’ve tried some Windows Mobile touchscreen phones and just felt weird touching something that did not provide me feedback.
The other thing that a motorist can take advantage of is the fact that that the Storm has an internal GPS antenna. Many swear by Garmin and Malsingmaps and there is actually a version of Garmin Mobile for Blackberry mobile phones. You can easily mount it on your windscreen with kits such as these.
The iPhone is currently only sold by one telco but with the Storm it’s a non-exclusive offering. Two telcos currently offer it and it so happens that my two SIM cards are from each of the two telcos. Celcom offers a shorter contract of only 12 months and there are two packages according to your usage, RM1699 and RM1399. The other telco is selling it for RM2199 with a 24 month commitment. Celcom is subsidising more in this case – it makes sense having trouble picking between a more expensive Civic and a cheaper Focus because it is two completely different products but in this case the product is one and the same so it’s a bit of a no brainer.
The only issue with the Storm at the moment right now is the lack of Wi-Fi, but I’ve been subscribing to an unlimited 3G service so that should not be an issue in Malaysia. I’d not be able to take advantage of the hotel Wi-Fi or an outdoor free Wi-Fi service like the one in most parts of Singapore in case I am anywhere overseas though!
The results for the 2009 International Engine of the Year Awards have been released, and the grand overall winner is the 1.4 litre TSI Twincharger engine from Volkswagen, ending for the first time in 4 years BMW’s dominance over the awards.
Quite interestingly out of the 8 entries for the title, 6 and a half are German engines, with the remaining one being the 1.0 litre in the Aygo and the “half” being PSA’s share in the BMW Prince engine, which managed 7th place with 107 points. Check out the videos in this post which talk about the winning engines.
Continue reading after the jump for the full story.
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The E89 BMW Z4 is now here in Malaysia, offered in two variants – the sDrive23i and the sDrive35i. The sDrive brand is basically BMW’s new method of naming their rear wheel drive cars that do not fall under the regular numbered series range. It’s meant to follow up on the xDrive suffix that was introduced on the X6, which means all-wheel drive.
The BMW Z4 sDrive23i is powered by a 2.5 litre N52 engine, producing 204 horsepower at 6,200rpm and 250Nm at 2,950rpm. That’s actually quite an impressive torque curve, as you don’t see many normally aspirated engine hitting peak torque below 3,000rpm, and the engine has Valvetronic and Double VANOS to thank for that. 0 to 100km/h takes a decent 7.3 seconds, far from blistering but within sporty ranges. The sDrive23i’s engine is mated to a 6-speed ZF automatic.
The most powerful one offered internationally for the moment (no E89 Z4 M for now or forever) is also the most powerful one brought in here, the BMW Z4 sDrive35i. This one is powered by a twin-turbocharged direct injection N54B30 engine, producing 306 horsepower at 5,800rpm and an M3-equalling 400Nm of torque between 1,300 to 5,000rpm.
0 to 100km/h takes just 5.1 seconds and the turbocharged roadster also features a 7-speed dual clutch transmission. There are only a few models that feature this – the 335i Coupe and Convertible as well as this new Z4 sDrive35i. The 135i does not get it for now. The E90/E92/E93 M3 gets a M version of the twin clutch.
Like all the new BMWs, the new hard drive-based iDrive system is used and also features BMW TeleServices. The Z4 comes with BMW Service Inclusive 3 years/60,000km + Repair), and here are the prices:
BMW Z4 sDrive23i – RM411,800.00
BMW Z4 sDrive35i – RM558,800.00
For more information on the E89 Z4, read our extensive coverage in the past.
Related Posts:
2010 BMW Z4 roadster: launch details and photos
New photos of the new E89 BMW Z4
New footage of the 2010 BMW Z4 released!
Adrian van Hooydonk on the new E89 BMW Z4 Roadster at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show
Free BMW Z4 game for the iPhone/iPod Touch
BMW Z4 wins a Red Dot award for 2009
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Click for enlarged image
BMW must be really excited about their new found information outlet – social media. They seem to be using it to the max, as the latest on the BMW X1 Facebook Page is another BMW X1 teaser image. This one featuring a white X1 looks more like a product promo photo, it’s fully undisguised but the X1 is a blur. It could be that the photographer had something else in focus that ended up reflected in the lense 
There are no confirmed reports in the Western media yet, but Chinese website auto.sohu.com claims that Ford and Geely have already struck an agreement for the Swedish car company best known for their safety to be sold to the Chinese manufacturer. But it is the only news source that seems to be covering this story, so it either might only be a blown-up rumour or it might be so fresh that only the Chinese side want to talk about it at the moment.
Nevertheless even that news report is skeptical about how such a deal can pull through successfully. Geely’s market value is over 30 billion yuan, which is about 4.3 billion USD, and a Volvo buy would also require several billion USD, claims the site. They are saying Geely might take government loans and other financial assistance. And given Ford’s improving financial health, it will be less desperate to sell Volvo, which might raise the Swedish manufacturer’s price.
Elsewhere in media reports, people are still talking about another Chinese car company recently deciding to join the race to buy Volvo from Ford – Beijing Auto Industry Holdings. Beijing Auto currently has joint ventures in China with Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai. Other names mentioned before in the press said to be interested in Volvo include Renault, Chery, and Changan.
