Jeff Ooi blogged today with pictures of the two AP King’s homes.

Click here to read the rest of An AP King’s Home

The government says that the number of Franchise APs given to recipients are only as much as car makes of the car franchise they can sell.

Click here to read the rest of Kleemann APs

Hyundai builds 4 million vehicles annually today. By 2007, output is expected to be 5.5 million vehicles.

Proton? Production is now shy of 200,000 cars a year. 178,431 sounds about right. Perodua? 113,431 vehicles.

This is why Proton has no chance to give us good cars at fair prices. There is no economies of scale. How did Hyundai do it? They’ve been around since 1967. That’s 38 years. Proton? About 20 years. It was born in 1983. The first Proton Saga rolled off production lines in September 1985.

Even the local market share that Proton holds is dropping, can it compete internationally?

Click here to read the rest of The Korean Advantage

Porsche has announced that it will build it’s Panamera in 2009. The Panamera is a cross-over, having four doors and a coupe-like roofline.

A sketch from Porsche

The car will be a front-engine rear-wheel drive and it will be built exclusively by Porsche, not sharing a platform with other manufacturers like how it partnered with Volkswagen for the Cayenne-Touareg platform.

Click here to read the rest of Porsche Panamera Confirmed

The 2004 AP list is out. Khairy says he did not get any APs. Someone connected to Rafidah is pissed off. The government denies the Naza Ria was given national car status.

Click here to read the rest of The 2004 AP List

Fuel efficiency and less pollution is all the rage these days with cars. Honda brings us their updated IMA (Integrated Motor Assist) system to the 2006 Civic Hybrid.

The Hybrid i-VTEC system provides three stages of valve timing which are the low-rpm, high-rpm and cylinder idle mode. The IMA system is an improved version over the previous version, with battery output increased by 30% while retaining the same size. The electric motor employs coils with high-density windings and high-performance magnets to attain that power. The battery is recharged using regenerative hydraulic braking.

Click here to read the rest of Honda Hybrid i-VTEC System

MITI Minister Rafidah Aziz will publish the full list of AP recipients, after our prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi instructed her to publish the full list while he was in South Africa for a 3-day visit. This full list would include lists of those with showroom ownership.

Okay publish all, publish all. There’s no need to keep. Why should we keep. If by keeping we create negative perceptions, that’s not right, that’s wrong

We’re waiting. Publish! Publish all!

Click here to read the rest of Badawi: “Okay, publish all!”

Hopes of Malaysians for a foreign CEO to steer Proton into a better era is dashed with this statement which our PM gave to Malaysian press during his 3-day visit to South Africa.

On Tengku Mahaleel’s successor, Abdullah said that the new CEO would be experienced and one who had served about 12 years with Proton.

“We’ll see who’s going to be the CEO. It will not be a foreigner. Don’t start speculating,” he said when asked to comment on talks that a foreigner might be appointed to replace Tengku Mahaleel.

Click here to read the rest of Badawi: “Proton CEO to be Malaysian”

Here are shots of the Sedan and Coupe version of the 2006 Honda Civic which I’ve covered previously.

Click here to read the rest of 2006 Honda Civic Sedan and Coupe

Proton shares jumped 11 per cent to a high of RM9.35 but later eased to close at RM9.15, an 8.3 per cent gain for the day after it’s board announced it’s on the lookout for a new CEO after the non-renewal of it’s current CEO Tengku Mahaleel Ariff’s contract.

Click here to read the rest of Mahaleel Down, Proton Shares Up