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Honda Malaysia to review Honda Civic Hybrid pricetag

October 15, 2010 at 7:19 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Honda, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, Local News, Malaysia Budget 2011

Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd has just issued a statement – they are quite pleased with the government’s decision to extend import duty and excise duty exemption for hybrid vehicles until 31st December 2011 with excise duty to be given full exemption. An internal review will be done and a new revised price structure for the Honda Civic Hybrid will be announced when the internal review has been completed.

Interestingly, Honda Malaysia also said that it is also looking to extending its hybrid vehicle line-up. Other than the Civic Hybrid, Honda also has the Honda Insight, Honda CR-Z, and the Honda Jazz Hybrid in its stables. Which would you rather see launched in Malaysia?
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Budget 2011: other motoring and transport related news

October 15, 2010 at 6:58 pm By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, Local News, Malaysia Budget 2011

Besides the news of the removal of the 50% excise duty of hybrid vehicles in Paul’s earlier story, there were some other items related to motoring and transport in Budget 2011.

Effective January 1 next year, the service tax on all taxable services will go up from 5% to 6%, which of course means that it’ll add to the cost of servicing and repairing your vehicle, among everything else that you can be expected to pay a service tax for.

Better news for frequent users of the four highways run by PLUS Expressways Berhad – as a means of alleviating your burden, the toll won’t be raised for the next five years.

As part of its plan to reduce the intensity of carbon emissions, the Government will also begin the implementation of its B5 programme – the blending of biofuel in diesel – on a mandatory basis in Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Negeri Sembilian and Melaka starting from June 2011.

Elsewhere, some good news for the physically disabled who are able to drive – the current exemption of excise duty by 50% on the purchase of a national vehicle is now 100%, with all existing conditions for such a purchase remaining unchanged. The revised exemption, effective from October 18, is also extended to those with hearing and speaking disabilities.

In terms of public transport, work on the Mass Rapid Transit rail system in the Klang Valley is slated to begin in 2011. The project, which is estimated to cost RM40 billion, is aimed at providing an efficient transport system that will reduce travelling time and offer better connectivity in the Klang Valley.

The project will be integrated to other modes of transportation, including buses and taxis (it’ll be interesting to see how this one works – a definite overhaul is needed, for sure), and is expected to be completed by 2020. Upon its completion, the Government expects that the utilisation rate of public transport to increase by at least 40%.

Meanwhile, rural roads get that much needed improvement – Sabah and Sarawak is to get an allocation of RM2.1 billion for the building and upgrading of rural roads, while RM696 million will be set aside for those in the Peninsular.

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Hybrid car tax exemption to be extended to end of 2011

October 15, 2010 at 4:41 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, Local News, Malaysia Budget 2011

Civic Integrated Motor AssistIn today’s Budget 2011 announcement, the PM has announced that import duty and excise duty is now FULLY exempted for hybrid and electric cars and motorcycles until the end of the year 2011.

  • The duty exemption has been extended until the 31st of December 2011, it was supposed to expire by the end of this year.
  • The duties for hybrid cars are even lower now. Previously the government offered 100% import duty exemption and 50% excise duty exemption, now it’s 100% exemption for both import duty and excise duty! This should mean the price of the Toyota Prius and the Honda Civic Hybrid should be even lower now.
  • Exemptions have now been extended to electric cars, hybrid motorcycles as well as electric motorcycles.
  • The rest of the details are status quo, for example the exemptions still only apply to internal combustion engines with capacities of lower than 2.0 litres, so there’s still no way for the Toyota Camry Hybrid to be brought in with these tax benefits.

Let’s look at how much that additional reduction in excise duty means for hybrid cars. This is just a possible guesstimate, feel free to correct us in the comments. We are calculating the new Peninsular Malaysia price based on the Langkawi pricing (which gives us an indication of how much a truly tax free price would be, including whatever profit margin the local distributor wants to take) with an additional 10% added for sales tax. All prices are for private registration.

  Honda Civic Hybrid Toyota Prius
Current Peninsular Price RM129,980.00 RM175,000.00
Current Langkawi Price RM100,980.00 RM127,408.45
Possible New Price RM111,078.00 RM140,149.30
Possible Savings of Excise Duty RM18,902.00 RM34,850.70

The budget text appendix also says that the new duty range is for applications beginning from January 2011 to the end of 2011 so we’re probably only going to see any drop in prices next year.

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Subaru Forester S-Edition concept unveiled in Australia

October 15, 2010 at 11:40 am By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, International News, Subaru

forester s-edition

More from Sydney, this time from Subaru. Making its world debut at the Australian International Motor Show is a Forester concept called the S-Edition, which offers strong clues to a possible new variant next year.

The S-Edition builds on the existing Forester XT, but its turbocharged 2.5 litre engine offers 259 hp. a jump up from the 227 hp available from the XT. Torque is up too on this one, with 347Nm to the XT’s 320Nm.

forester s-edition 2

Additions to the Variable Torque Distribution (VTD) All-Wheel Drive vehicle include a revised sport suspension, paddleshifters accompanying the five-speed auto gearbox, 17-inch high lustre alloy STI wheels and unique styling accents, including of course S-Edition badging.

Inside, new to the kit list are drilled alloy pedals, new Alcantara seat trim bearing S-Edition logos as well as luminescent instruments with a centre design unique to the model.

Gallery after the jump.
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Mercedes-Benz presents two unique AMGs in Sydney – the Concept 358 and a special colour scheme SLS

October 15, 2010 at 10:08 am By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, International News, Mercedes Benz

Benz C 63 AMG Concept 358

At the 2010 Australian International Motor Show, which begins today, Mercedes-Benz is showcasing two unique AMG vehicles, a C 63 AMG called Concept 358 and a special-finish SLS AMG, built exclusively for the show.

The Concept 358 is the only C 63 AMG in the world to be painted in designo Pearl Orange paint, and includes the AMG Performance Package Plus, which brings the power output up to a neat 480 hp (or 358 kw, which gives the car its moniker).

Magno Black SLS AMG

Besides Package Plus, which contains a new engine management and forged pistons adopted from the SLS AMG, as well as new connecting rods and a lightweight crankshaft, the C 63 AMG in Sydney features unique 19-inch, multi-spoke alloy wheels in black, Keyless-Go and extended designo leather appointments in the cabin.

As for the SLS AMG, it’s the first and currently the only one to be painted in designo magno Night Black, with red highlights both externally and internally to lend it an even more distinct flavour. Specially commissioned for the show, both vehicles highlight Australia’s importance for the brand – no surprise at all, since the country is the fifth largest AMG market in the world.

More photos after the jump.
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Mercedes-Benz Malaysia to carry out steering rectification work on E-Class Coupe following global recall

October 15, 2010 at 12:08 am By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, Local News, Mercedes Benz

E-Class Coupe

Mercedes-Benz Malaysia will be undertaking rectification work on the steering system of 38 E-Class Coupes – which are CBU units brought in by the company from Germany – following the recent global recall issued by Daimler of over 100,000 of its Mercedes-Benz C-Class and E-Class Coupe and Cabriolet models produced between June 2009 and late February this year over potential steering problems.

MBM added in a statement that that none of its vehicles assembled in its production plant in Pekan – namely the C-Class models – are affected by the recall.

The company said that it has contacted all 38 customers via its authorised dealerships to carry out the required rectification, which takes no more than 30 minutes to accomplish.

The global recall – which affects around 85,000 cars in the United States and more than 22,000 vehicles in the UK – was over the fears that the steering system in the cars “may fail due to the loss of power steering fluid,” though Daimler said that the vehicles would remain steerable.

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2011 Mazda BT-50 pick-up truck – first images!

October 14, 2010 at 10:18 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Mazda

As always, a new Ranger will be accompanied by a new Mazda BT-50 (sometimes referred to as the Fighter). The two trucks are nearly identical beneath the different sheetmetal, tub and interior, which by the way Mazda’s designers have decided to take a completely different approach compared to Ford’s straight and macho lines.

The new Mazda BT-50 was apparently inspired by a picture of a lion, which gave the truck’s chief designer Ryo Yanagisawa the impression of a “magnificent predator, with his muscles all bunching up as though he was about to pounce on his prey”. I think the front looks OK but the rear is kind of off.

The interior looks quite car-like and I wouldn’t be surprised if you showed me the interior shot above and told me it came from a regular Mazda passenger sedan.

Mazda hasn’t given out much details on what’s going into the engine bay but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s pretty much the same 2.2 diesel, 3.2 diesel and 2.5 petrol engines that are going into the new 2011 Ranger.
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Next generation 2011 Ford Ranger unveiled in Sydney!

October 14, 2010 at 9:38 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Ford, International News

The next generation 2011 Ford Ranger has been unveiled to the world at the 2010 Australian International Motor Show in Sydney! We have shots of the double cab XL model at the moment, and it looks like the Ranger is back to its macho square looks with a big three bar chrome grille at the front, and we do see a little hint of the F150 at the front end, which is no surprise considering the new Ranger’s design team was led by Craig Metros, who was also the lead designer on the F150 team.

Why Australia? Apparently there is the birthplace of this new model – the project was led by Australia’s Ford Product Development Center. Australia’s terrain was also used in the truck’s development testing, along with the other countries where the truck will be sold of course. However, the first factory to build the new “T6″ Ranger will be none other than the Thailand plant up north beginning summer 2011, followed by South Africa and South America.

The new Ranger is a larger truck than the one it replaces, and it’s the longest in its class. Its wheelbase is 8.6 inches longer (for the Double Cab), and dimensions-wise it’s 1.7 inches wider, 2.5 inches taller, and 7.5 inches longer. Luckily Ford didn’t attempt to apply any futuristic “Kinetic Design” kind of surface patterns on the Ranger – although Kinetic Design looks good on the Ford Kuga SUV I don’t think it would work so well on a truck body.

On the interior, the design team took inspiration from items such as power tools from Bosch and DeWalt for the interior styling elements, and the instrument cluster is supposed to be inspired by Casio G-Shock watches. The parking brake is now operated by a regular handbrake lever. There’s plenty of storage space – Ford claims a total of 20 different interior storage areas, and the glovebox is said to be big enough to fit a laptop computer, though they didn’t say how big of a laptop.

There are 3 engine options, with two of them being diesel and one of them being a petrol. The petrol version will probably never be seen in this region – it’s powered by a 2.5 litre Duratec petrol that produces 166 PS and 226Nm of torque, mated to a 5-speed manual. The smaller diesel has been downsized from the current Ranger’s 2.5 litre size – the new T6 Ranger with the smaller diesel engine is equipped with a 2.2 litre turbodiesel 4-cylinder engine making 150 PS and 375Nm of torque.

The larger turbodiesel engine option is a 5-cylinder 3.2 litre engine making 200 PS and 470Nm of torque – that should be very fun! The diesels can be fitted with either a 6-speed manual or a 6-speed automatic.

Look after the jump for a small photo gallery of the new T6 Ranger.
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Toyota to utilise new bio-PET Ecological Plastic for its vehicle interiors – and it has sugar cane in it!

October 14, 2010 at 6:05 pm By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, International News, Technology

lexus ct200h

It sounds sweet, it does. Toyota has developed a new Ecological Plastic for use in its vehicle interiors, with a raw material in it derived from sugar cane. The plastic is the first in the world to be made using bio-PET, and the company says the new development is tougher, harder wearing and more shrink resistant than previous bio-plastics.

Bio-plastics aren’t exactly new, nor is Ecological Plastic – the company developed a bio-plastic made with polyactic acid seven years ago which was used in the Raum, and it introduced Ecological Plastic last year, in which injection moulded material derived from plants are used in scuff plates, trim elements and seat cushions in the current Prius.

The bio-PET featuring in the latest Eco Plastic incarnation, developed by Toyota and Toyota Tsusho Corporation, has a biological raw material derived from sugar cane replacing the 30% monethylene glycol element in polyethylene terephthalate, to give PET its full name.

Toyota says the new plastic’s qualities make it suitable for use for vehicle liners, carpeting, seats and other interior surfaces, with the first application in a production model being the luggage compartment liner in the new Lexus CT 200h. In 2011, it plans to introduce a model in which the new plastic will cover 80% of the vehicle’s interior.

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Shell Track Lab – working for Ferrari within Ferrari

October 14, 2010 at 5:37 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Feature Stories, Formula 1, Motorsports

We were fortunate to be among the journalists hosted by Shell over the Singapore GP last month – not only did we get to watch the exciting race under the stars (my first time doing so as a spectator from the grandstand, see the pics here), we also got to dig deeper into what makes Shell V-Power different, got some drive time in a Lotus Elise and visited the Shell Track Lab in the F1 paddock.

Shell and Ferrari have been partners since the Italian company started making road cars in 1947 and they were also on the grid together at the first ever round of the Formula One World Championship in 1950. Since then, the Scuderia, with Shell fluids in its engines, has competed in 463 races (as of S’pore GP), won 12 Drivers’ titles and 10 Constructors’ titles on its way to become the most famous and instantly recognisable racing team in the world.

Shell is also the biggest Ferrari dealer in the world – it has sold 70 million Prancing Horse cars in the last four years! Of course we are talking about the toy cars that make an annual appearance at Shell stations. Did you know that Malaysian sales of the model cars are among the top three worldwide?

Continue reading the story after the jump.
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