Hybrid sales could be seeing a sales slowdown and Carlos Ghosn was one of the very few people who had enough foresight to see this during the days of the hybrid hype where everyone was jumping onto the bandwagon.

Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Nissan and Renault said it was far too early to invest in hybrid technology, because costs outweighed the benefits for both consumers and manufacturers. The fuel savings of a hybrid vehicle did not justify the fuel savings incurred.

In fact, on highways a hybrid car like the Toyota Prius might actually use more fuel than a normal car. This is because on highway speeds, the Toyota Prius runs on full gasoline as the ECU detects highway long journeys might drain the battery too fast as the time for journeys are usually long and there is very little opportunity for regenerative braking. Since the Toyota Prius gasoline engine is quite tiny relatively, it actually has to work harder and use more fuel compared to a conventional powered vehicle with a larger more potent engine.

“At least admit I was the only guy saying, Watch out, the consumer decides, don’t be excited about it. I have some kind of satisfaction of being a little bit right on this one.” said Carlos Ghosn at the New York Auto Show. He says diesel or ethanol vehicle holds more promise for now, but he is not abandoning the idea of hybrids completely. He just thinks it’s not time yet. Nissan is still on track to release a hybrid version of the Nissan Altima this year.

J.D. Power and Associates predicts hybrids will make up 1.5 percent of automobile sales in 2006 and will grow to nearly 5 percent by 2013.

The government plans to start a 5-year road safety plan costing as much as RM50 million to promote safe driving habits and encourage the use or rear seatbelts. The government says it is in consultation with car manufacturers to introduce airbags in all new models from 2006 onwards in efforts to reduce the fatality rate in accidents which claimed 5,623 lives last year.

Road safety education programs will be introduced in primary schools this year as a pilot test, with plans to implement it nationwide in 2007.

I am interested in the outcome of the compulsory airbags plan. The government is still in consultation stages with the car manufacturers and Bloomberg’s report did not say anything about plans to make airbags compulsory, it sounds more like encouraging the manufacturers to make airbags available across the model ranges for now. It would definitely drive lower-end models like the Perodua Kancil 660EX prices up.

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This is Volkswagen’s advertisement for the Volkswagen Polo in the UK produced by DDB London. It was created based on the slogan for the Volkswagen Polo - “Built to Protect”. Lots of guardian angels. Video after the jump!

Click here to read the rest of Volkswagen Polo Built to Protect Advertisement

Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile Company Ltd, a joint venture company between French company PSA Peugeot Citroen and Chinese automobile company Dongfeng Motor Group is recalling nearly 20,000 cars due to a faulty alternator.

An alternator converts alternating current into direct current to supply power to car components. The models affected are the Elysee and Fukang vehicles made between 1 December 2005 and 9 March 2006. The faulty alternator will be replaced for free.

There has been 11 recalls this year in China, showing that Chinese car manufacturers take their vehicles seriously and are responsible with after-sales support. But of course, this has been encouraged by the Chinese governmetn in the form of the State General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine which enforces auto recall regulations put in place back in October 2004.

I posted sketches and spyshots of the 2007 Kia Carens a few days ago. Many of you wondered how come the sketches looked so different from the actual camouflaged spyshots. Well, wonder no more. This is how the new 2007 Kia Carens will actually look like. Not really similiar to the really sporty sketches, but not too bad either. It has a slight SUV-ish profile to it, although it is a front-wheel drive strictly on road vehicle.

Click here to read the rest of 2007 Kia Carens

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) has granted Appoved Permits for all CBU models imported by DRB-HICOM into Malaysia. DRB-HICOM currently brings in the Chevrolet, Citroen, Honda, Mahindra, Suzuki, Audi and Mitsubishi marques. Before this, there was a problem in the AP policy where public listed companies could not qualify for APs because they did not have the required amount of bumiputra shareholders even if they were bumiputra-controlled. Of course, APs are for bumiputras only and being public listed, it’s hard to control the amount of bumiputra shareholding in the company.

The APs for DRB-HICOM’s cars are awarded to it’s wholly owned subsidiary DRB-Hicom Auto Solutions Sdn Bhd. The AP kings Syed Azman and Mohd Haniff will not be able to mint free money anymore.

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Hicomobil will maintain it’s prices for the Chevrolet CBU models it brings into Malaysia until new stocks have to be ordered. When the new stocks come in, prices are expected to go up slightly. This is while Hicomobil sets up CKD assembly facilities for it’s Chevrolet models.

Current Chevrolet car prices without insurance:

Chevrolet Aveo 1.5 (standard) - RM74,888
Chevrolet Aveo 1.5 (premium) - RM79,333
Chevrolet Optra Sedan 1.6 - RM88,888
Chevrolet Optra Sedan 1.8 - RM96,888
Chevrolet Optra 5 1.8 - RM94,888

Toyota Modellista has released a special 100 unit run of the Toyota Mark X. It comes with a Modellista bodykit and a Tom’s Supercharger bolted on to the 3GR-FE 3.0 V6 engine. I suppose the engine can be called a 3GR-FZE now? Not really sure. The special edition car is called the Toyota Mark X Special Version. Boy, it must have took them ages to crack their heads to think of that name. More photos of this hot white monster after the jump!

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This is the Zhonghua Junjie, China Brilliance Auto’s 2nd passenger car. The name Junjie means Triumphant Horse, or Winning Gold. The sporty mid-sized sedan was designed by the Italian design firm Pininfarina. It is built on a shortened version of it’s big brother Zhonghua Grandeur’s platform.

Click here to read the rest of Brilliance Zhonghua Junjie

Daihatsu has released a new variant of the Daihatsu Boon called the Daihatsu Boon X4. It reminds me of the old Daihatsu Charade GTTI. The Daihatsu Boon X4 looks like a great basis for a rally car, if you could somehow get around it’s slightly high center of gravity. Let’s have a look at the specifications.

Click here to read the rest of Daihatsu Boon X4