Honda has announced new prices for four of it’s most popular models, the Honda City, Honda Accord, Honda Civic and Honda Jazz. These prices took effect on 23rd March 2006. The following are the new prices for the four models. All models below are CKD except for the Honda Jazz, where the i-DSI is a Thailand CBU while the VTEC model is a CBU from Japan. Basically CKD models are cheaper now, while the CBU models have gone up abit. But then again, the Honda Jazz is classified as an MPV anyway and even CKD MPVs prices are expected to go up. New prices for the Accord 3.0 V6 CBU, CR-V, Odyssey, Stream iV and Stream I-VS will be announced later.

Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd is once again rethinking it’s RM100 million investment plans in Malaysia. It was not very happy with the new National Automotive Policy which stated that any new foreign car manufacturers who want to enter the Malaysian market would have to export 80% of it’s production here in Malaysia. It used to be 30:70.

It was also not very happy with the government ruling that no new manufacturing licenses will be granted until overcapacity problems are addressed. I’ll leave you to think of your own definition of what overcapacity. And there’s always that case-by-case basis clause.

If Geely does not invest in an assembly plant, Geely’s local partner IGC Corp will still continue assembling the right-hand drive Geely cars at Oriental Assembly in Johor.

If I was Cam Soh, I would be pretty frustrated by now. First his Chery A160 vehicles encounter AP problems, now there’s a problem with his venture into assembling Geely vehicles.

It makes me wonder, does the government really intend to develop Malaysia into a regional automotive hub is it just hot air when the policies it formulates do not look very encouraging. But then again, the ‘case by case’ clause is a very good wildcard.

Related:
Geely CK1 Freedom Cruiser
Geely Freedom Cruiser assembled in Malaysia

6 custom officers are being investigated for assisting car dealers to import vehicles using cloned or fake Approved Permits. Two are assistant directors while the other 4 are rank-and-file officers. These guys earn as much as RM5000 per car. Two Mercedes Benz E240s were seized from businessmen, and investigation proved that the APs used to import those cars were fake. I suppose this answers a question a commenter posed here on my blog a long long time ago, will innocent consumers who bought cars from dealers with dodgy practices be affected by a clamp-down? Yes, they will.

Corruption is not just evident in the luxury car import business. An ex-Proton colour and trim unit chief is currently under trial for accepting a RM90,000 bribe from Ara Borgstena Sdn Bhd to help obtain contracts to supply car seat fabrics for Proton cars. The case will be trialed on May 10.

Corruption seems to be everywhere, from the low-end national cars to the high-end luxury imports. Anything for a quick buck these days eh?

Sources: The Star, NST

Fuji Heavy Industries has just won a contract to supply high-speed chase cars for the Gerdarmerie Nationale police of France. Fuju Heavy Industries who manufactures Subaru cars, will supply 63 Subaru Impreza WRX cars to replace the “rapid interventio bridge” department’s existing Peugeot 306 S16 and Renault Megane Coupe high-speed chase cars. These cars could only go to a maximum of 190 km/h, but the new Subaru Impreza WRX can touch over 240 km/h, allowing the police force to keep up in the most high-paced chases where the driver of the vehicle has to be stopped immediately.

Subaru beat bidders from other French companies for the contract, and even though the police department is usually very loyal to French cars, this time French offerings were just not fast enough to match the WRX.

156 lucky police officers will be trained to drive these new Subaru Impreza WRX chase cars at the Bugatti racing circuit of Le Mans, in west France.

Source

Some of the must-watch movies for car enthusiasts would be the Fast and the Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious and Gone in 60 Seconds. There was even some DVD I watched called “Dead racer”, which was not actually the movie title but somehow Uncle Ho’s minions decided to stamp that on the DVD cover. I never knew the real title to this very day. Some of these car enthusiast movies have horrible storylines and B-grade acting but the hot cars compensate for everything. After exhausting the drag scene in the first two movies, here comes the third installment: The Fast and the Furious 3: Tokyo Drift.

Click here to read the rest of The Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift Movie Trailer

More developments on Malaysia-China automotive industry relations. Previously there were rumours on Proton’s involvement with Jinhua Youngman and Chery. Jinhua Youngman was believed to have entered a deal with Proton to assemble Proton CKD kits in China and rebadge them as Jinhua cars.

Now there is news on talks between Proton and Chery Automotive Co Ltd for a two-way partnership which would allow Proton cars to be assembled for the growing Chinese market, as well as providing Chery a base for automotive assembly here in Malaysia. While Proton and Chery officials did not comment much on talks, word is that talks have advanced to a relatively advanced stage although no final agreement has been reached yet.

The outcome of this would likely be Proton CKD kits assembled at Chery facilities for the Chinese market, and Chery CKD kits assembled at Proton’s facilities for the Malaysian market. But I wonder what of the NAP ruling regarding selling assembling capacity to 3rd party manufacturers.

Proton Edar Sdn Bhd and EON have published new price lists for Proton cars, lower than the prices previously announced. It’s still not much, with the model with the largest price cut being 7% for the Proton Gen2 1.6 A/T Highline which translates to about RM4,450 in savings. The new price list is available after the jump, provided by Proton Corporate Communications.

Click here to read the rest of NAP After-Effects: Proton reduces prices further

Perodua has announced that it’s 4% price reduction will be extended to it’s baseline Perodua Kancil EX660 and Perodua Kancil EX850 models. Previously it was decided it would not reduce prices for those models as margins are already very thin, instead offering a fixed RM100 price cut instead.

Prices for the Perodua Kembara and Perodua Rusa remain unchanged, as they fall under the SUV and MPV category.

Source

Oriental Holdings Bhd has announced price cuts for Hyundai cars between 1.42 and 10.73 percent. Models affected are the Hyundai Sonata, Hyundai Elantra and the Hyundai Accent.

The Sonata’s price has dropped by 10.73 percent (RM13,555), down to RM112,780 now. The Elantra’s 1.6 and 1.8 models enjoys an overall price reduction of about RM4,400. The best-selling 1.5 liter Hyundai Accent, popular as an alternative to the Proton Wira now has been reduced by RM1000, or 1.5%.

These are CKD models assembled by Oriental Holdings. Hyundai CBU vehicles like the Hyundai Getz are distributed by Hyundai-Sime Darby, so wait for an announcement from them for the other half of Hyundai’s model offerings here in Malaysia.

Malaysians have not seen a low-end to mid-range stationwagon since the days of the Nissan AD Resort. We do have station wagons, but they are in the form of the Volvo XCC (XC70) and the Volvo V40. Hicomobile plans to reintroduce the station wagon with the Chevrolet Optra Estate.

Click here to read the rest of Chevrolet Optra Estate