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Meet Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies at the PETRONAS Motorsports Carnival 2011

October 17, 2011 at 9:08 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Advertorial

Come to the PETRONAS Motorsports Carnival from the 15th to the 23th of October 2011, 10am to 10pm at the KLCC outdoor area. There are some exciting activities for the whole family during the carnival such as Augmented Reality games, bike stunts, trivia, daily performances by local acts/artistes and many more. Click here for a full itinerary.

For fans, there will also be a chance to meet Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies at the PETRONAS Motorsports Carnival on the 19th of October 2011. Both riders will make an appearance at 6 PM, so it would be best to go there by 5:30 PM.

PETRONAS Motorsports also has a cool Augmented Reality game online at their website, which you can check out by clicking here.

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Undisguised VW Jetta and Passat all ready for launch

October 17, 2011 at 5:55 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, Local News, Volkswagen

Here are some pics taken by reader Ching Hong. They show some new Volkswagens – Passat and Jetta – on a car transporter, not wearing any sort of disguise, and probably heading to showrooms.

This is probably the last time you’re gonna see spy shots of the two sedans – Volkswagen Group Malaysia released teasers of three cars that will be launched on 21 October last week – and the Passat, Jetta and CrossTouran were our guesses. Two of those are seen here.

There’s nothing much to learn from these pics, other than a glimpse at the colours and wheel design of the Passat. The Passat is a D-segment sedan sharing a class with the Camry, Accord and Teana, and we’re getting the European version of the car. The American Passat has a rear end that’s a lot like the Jetta’s The Jetta is a C-segment sedan version of the Mk6 Golf.

Four more days to go!

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Honda CR-Z set for November introduction in Malaysia

October 17, 2011 at 2:35 pm By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, Honda, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, Local News

It’s confirmed – the photo snapped of it last week suggested its arrival was on the cards, and now Honda Malaysia has announced that the CR-Z will be introduced to the Malaysian market in early November, making us the first country in Southeast Asia to launch the vehicle. No word with regards to specs and pricing on the three-door hatch though.

The CR-Z, which is equipped with a 1.5 litre LEA i-VTEC four-cylinder mill and Honda’s Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) hybrid-electric system, with 122 hp and 174 Nm for output numbers, will be the second Honda hybrid currently available here, following the Insight, which was launched at KLIMS in December last year. Until next month, then!

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Proton introduces ‘Power Window Lifetime Warranty’

October 17, 2011 at 12:39 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, Local News, Malaysian Makes, Proton

Mention Proton, and more often than not the “power window issue” will crop up from both detractors and those who have experienced it themselves. Proton MD Datuk Seri Syed Zainal Abidin admits that he has been obsessed with the power window issue since he came in five years ago.

The man points out that Proton has long turned the corner in this, and current gen cars are no longer bugged with power window problems. Generally, Defects Per Unit (DPU) has dropped to 0.26 in August 2011 from 8.0 in 2006/07.

But one can only do so much to convince 28 million people, as Syed Zainal said, so Proton has come up with the Power Window Promise to put this issue to rest. The main component in this promise is the Power Window Lifetime Warranty. A very unique warranty for a very unique situation in a very unique market!

Here are the terms. The Power Window Lifetime Warranty (PWLW) is applicable for all new Proton models registered from 1 September 2011 onwards. The warranty is for 10 years from the date of registration, or 250,000 km, which Proton takes as “the lifetime” of a vehicle. Also included in this scheme are current Proton cars that were still under manufacturer’s warranty as at 1 Sept 2011.

For instance, if a Proton Waja is two years and 10 months into its three-year factory warranty at 1 Sept 2011, it will be eligible for PWLW. The 10 years will be counted from the car’s date of registration, and if it has already done 100,000 km, the warranty will last for 150k km more, whichever comes first. But the said Waja won’t be eligible if it has been serviced outside of Proton’s service network at any time in its life.

The same goes for new cars. To be eligible for the warranty, cars must be serviced at an official Proton service centre throughout the duration. I also found out that from now, cars brought in to Proton SCs for regular service will also undergo some “power window servicing” which involves silicone spray to reduce friction, among other measures. Previously optional, there’s no extra charge for this, and is part of Proton’s efforts to improve itself.

Applicable to both private and fleet owners, PWLW covers four main components in the power window mechanism, namely the PW regulator, PW motor, PW switches and PW run channel. If your case complies with the T&Cs, Proton will absorb all labour and parts costs. There’s no limit on how many claims can be made per car.

Eligible cars that are in the “still under warranty” category explained above need to claim their Power Window System Warranty Registration certificate from any Proton service centre. Take note that prior appointment must be made. This process is not necessary for Proton cars registered from 1 September 2011, since the Power Window Promise is already included in your car’s service booklet.

“Correcting this perception is a challenging but necessary task, and PWLW is one of the initiatives that is being undertaken to put to rest this particular stigma. It saddens us that our customers purchase Proton cars whilst questioning the quality of our power windows, to the point that they refuse to use it for fear of damaging it,” said Syed Zainal, recalling a story we shared with you before.

“Our message is simple: Should you buy a Proton car today, please know that the power windows are working, they are working well and you have our Power Window Promise to back you up,” the boss confidently added.

Need to clarify some issues or need more info? Proton i.care is waiting for you at 1300-880-888 or email them at talk2us@proton.com.

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BMW ActiveE: We drive Munich’s electric 1-Series Coupe

October 17, 2011 at 12:37 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under BMW, Cars, Feature Stories, Test Drive Reviews

The new BMW ActiveE is an electric car based on the BMW 1-Series Coupe, and is BMW’s second electric vehicle key learning project after the MINI E which made its debut in 2009.

BMW has used data obtained from the MINI E’s lease to learn user behaviour, customer acceptance as well as requirements for an e-infrastructure. From MINI E usage patterns, vehicle usage for the electric MINI only differed marginally from that of comparable MINI Cooper and 116i users. Basically the conclusion was that an electric city car with a range of about 100 miles with an expanded interior space would meet virtually 100% of the mobility needs of urban drivers.

There are quite a few MINI E leasers who will be “upgrading” to the BMW ActiveE, and perhaps later to the new BMW i3. The ActiveE willl be offered with a 24 month/50,000km lease period, and will fill the gap until the launch of the BMW i3.

The main purpose of the ActiveE is to approve the new electric power train and battery. As opposed to the MINI E where BMW worked with a third party to supply the EV components, the BMW ActiveE’s electric power train is an in-house development, and will also be used in the upcoming BMW i3.

The ActiveE is produced together with other normal BMW cars in an in-line assembly process at their Leipzig plant. BMW has designed a 1,100 car production line for the ActiveE there. It is still a conversion vehicle like the MINI – this means BMW took a chassis designed to house the power and fuel components of a regular international combustion engine and converted it for electric use. As the chassis is not optimal for EV usage, the ActiveE ends up weighing a massive 1,815kg – compared to the purposes EV built BMW i3 Concept which weighs just 1,250kg.

Now for some tech specs – the BMW ActiveE has its electric motor integrated into the rear axle. Peak power is 125kW while maximum torque is rated at 250Nm from standstill. The electric motor has no transmission, so its 12,000rpm redline can take the car up to about 145km/h. The car hits 100km/h in 9 seconds, which isn’t particularly fast but brisk enough not to feel underpowered.

Power is provided by a 32kWh lithium ion battery with a total of 192 x 40 Ah cells supplied by SB LiMotive. It is liquid cooled and separated into three storage packs to help the car achieve a 50:50 axle weight ratio. Charging time is approximately 10 to 12 hours on a 230V/12A power supply, or as low as 4 to 5 hours on a 230V/32A power supply. The battery pack provides an New European Driving Cycle pattern range of 205km, or a customer driving average range of 160km.

We had a chance to try out the BMW ActiveE in Munich recently. It was a pretty rainy day and the route was designed to simulate a typical city commute of about 35km, so we didn’t exactly get any opportunities to test out the 50:50 weight distribution of the car, if you know what I mean. But we came away with findings on how the ActiveE tackled city car duties.

Firstly, this car is quiet. Really eeriely quiet. Ease onto the throttle and you get a diesel like surge in acceleration, except all you can hear is a soft whine from the electric motor, kinda like how one of those new direct drive motor washing machines sound like. Throttle response is very good, but it takes some getting used to because there’s some really strong engine braking upon releasing the throttle.

This is because ActiveE puts its motor into reverse to become a generator to recharge the batteries upon lift-off. If you leave the throttle closed, the car will eventually come to a stop pretty quick – you have to keep the pedal pressed to coast and the engine management will adjust the power needed to maintain your speed accordingly. The engine braking is so strong that you can probably control the car’s stop and go within the city using the accelerator pedal alone, and indeed I managed to do this for quite some time.

We managed to hit the top speed of about 145km/h while on a straight highway section – check out the video above to see that happen. There was no drama, but of course if you plan to drive this car at 145km/h often don’t expect much range out of the batteries.

The iDrive screen has lots of information on how much power you’re using and how much range you have left but it’s kinda hidden in the menus. But info on range and remaining battery charge can be had at a glance as BMW has appropriately reworked the instrumentation panel gauge to show battery charge instead of fuel tank level.

The car felt just like any other BMW – there was no odd feeling of any weight imbalance because the EV components were mounted strategically, as well as low in the chassis to help lower the center of gravity. Everything else also functioned like a regular internal combustion engine car, down to the air conditioning system which worked well. It was a cold rainy day of course, so I don’t think the air conditioning system needed to work much.

The ActiveE doesn’t ask much from the driver in terms of getting adjusted to the idea of driving an electric car instead of a car with a normal engine, other than the fact that you should remember to charge it.

Look after the jump for a photo gallery as well as 2 other videos.
[Read more...]

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New tech to help build better batteries emerges

October 17, 2011 at 12:34 pm By Anthony Lim Filed Under Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, International News, Technology

Over in Japan, automakers – working with partners – as well as companies in other industries are researching technologies to improve the performance of storage batteries for use in both vehicles and homes, according to a report.

Toyota is one of these; working together with the Tokyo Institute of Technology and the High Energy Accelerator Research Organisation, the automaker has come up with a prototype next-generation storage battery that’s based on a solid core instead of a liquid one. Because it doesn’t have an easily combustible liquid core, the new-gen battery doesn’t require fire-retardant materials, which will allow the use of a simple structure to lower costs.

The battery can easily be processed into sheet form, and is able to store several times the amount of electricity, volume for volume, than the current generation of electric vehicle batteries, its developers say. The extra capacity could thus enable a higher maximum driving distance per charge for compact EVs to around 1,000 km, from the 200 km or so now, the report added.

Toyota and its partners aim to further improve the battery and commercialise it sometime in 2015 to 2020, and adds that the tech can also be used to design compact, home-use storage batteries.

Meanwhile, Mazda – together with Hiroshima University – has come up with a new electrode material that it says can boost battery capacity by roughly 80%. The material, which is based on molecular spheres of carbon measuring several hundred nanometers in diameter, can approximately halve a battery’s weight but maintain the same levels of storage capacity. Mazda says the new electrode material is likely to be commercialised in about five years.

Besides the two automakers, electronics giant NEC says it has developed a lithium-ion battery with an electrode that uses manganese instead of cobalt, which is more expensive. It has also altered the composition of the battery’s electrolyte and improved its durability, making it possible for the unit to be recharged 20,000 times.

This will make for the development of household storage batteries with a 13 year life span, compared with seven to eight years right now – NEC is looking at getting the durability up to 20 years, and have the battery out into the market in five years.

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Toyota to return to Le Mans in 2012 – with a hybrid!

October 17, 2011 at 11:05 am By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, International News, Motorsports, Toyota


Click to enlarge.

Toyota has announced that it will make a return to the Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race next year, and it will do so with a new hybrid-powered car.

Its return to Le Mans, where it last competed as a manufacturer in the late 1990s running the GT-One, will be with a new LMP1 chassis that will be designed, developed and produced by Toyota Motorsport in Germany, equipped with a hybrid petrol powertrain engineered by Toyota in Japan.

Le Mans will be just one of a number of races Toyota proposes to enter in the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship, where it is seeking to further explore the potential of its hybrid technology through competition.

The new team will be based at Toyota Motorsport’s Cologne headquarters, and the LMP1-based race car will be rolled out in early 2012 for an extensive pre-season testing programme.

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Thailand floods – Japanese automakers likely to suspend production for at least a month

October 17, 2011 at 10:18 am By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, International News

It looks likely that Japanese automakers will suspend production at their manufacturing facilities in Thailand for at least a month, following the chaos brought about by the massive flooding that has hit the country.

According to the Nikkei, in addition to Honda, whose assembly plant there was inundated by the floods, both Toyota and Nissan – which were not hit directly by floods – will take at least a month to resume operations, according to sources.

Toyota and Nissan have currently shut down their plants due to parts shortages – the companies are looking to restart operations as quickly as possible, sending workers from Japan to assist. Given that the cluster of autoparts suppliers in Thailand are likewise affected by the floods, however, both companies will probably be forced to revise their production plans, just as Honda already has.

About 20 parts suppliers which Nissan works with in the kingdom have stopped operations; the company is sending employees from its procurement and production divisions in Japan to Thailand early this week to seek alternative sources of supply.

Elsewhere, Toyota – which halted production in Thailand last Monday – has dispatched a support team that is working to get production rolling again, and has also asked major parts suppliers in Japan to increase output of parts for models being built in the country.

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Infiniti to expand partnership with Red Bull Racing

October 17, 2011 at 9:48 am By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, Formula 1, Infiniti

Infiniti, which opened its second ASEAN outlet here in KL last week, announced at the Korean GP that it will expand its partnership with the Red Bull Racing F1 team for the 2012 season, seven months after the partnership began.

Next season will see more prominent Infiniti branding on the RBR F1 cars, with enhanced logos on the side of the chassis and cockpit top of the next generation car. Elsewhere, the Infiniti name and logo will also be expanded to new areas on the drivers’ overalls and team equipment.

Additionally, Infiniti and RBR is set to increase the global and market leverage of their partnership through more marketing and media activities throughout the year. The company will also continue to build on its personal agreement with Sebastian Vettel, who has already worked on several projects with it, including the launch of the Infiniti FX Sebastian Vettel concept in Frankfurt in September.

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Suzuki-Volkswagen squabble: no backing down either way

October 17, 2011 at 9:26 am By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, International News, Suzuki, Volkswagen

According to reports, the ongoing dispute between Suzuki and Volkswagen over the companies’ capital tie-up took a turn for the worse last Friday, and there’s a likelihood that the matter may be taken to court.

At a press conference in Tokyo, Suzuki executive VP Yasuhiti Harayama said that Suzuki was promised easy access to VW’s environmental car technologies, but it never became a reality, referring to the 2009 agreement between the firms.

The German automaker said that it has honoured its commitments all along, and expostulates that it’s prepared to provide comprehensive technological assistance, but that Suzuki is misunderstanding the situation, the reports add.

On Friday, VW said – in response to Suzuki – that every possibility will be considered in weighing its options, suggesting that it may file suit to prove that the agreement has not been violated on its side.

Volkswagen also reiterated its stand that Suzuki has done nothing about its own violation of the contract, with regards to Suzuki’s cooperation with Fiat to procure diesel engines from the latter – VW says that the engine deal violates their tie-up agreement, but Harayama stated that it was not a breach of contract.

A September 30 deadline issued by Suzuki for VW to retract what it called a defamatory accusation went by without the desired response from the German automaker; it had received a response from the German automaker, but had then stated that it was “not worth commenting on.”

Both sides are effectively refusing to budge, and so a meeting between top executives may hold the key to resolving the conflict; Harayama added that Suzuki is hoping to talk to VW’s chief executive Martin Winterkorn as soon as possible.

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