Nissan’s Sports Concept and it’s unit Infiniti’s Kuraza concept makes an appearance in the latest Ghost in the Shell movie, Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society. The Ghost in the Shell series is very popular, enjoying sales of 1.5 million DVDs so far, so this is a pretty good deal for Nissan. I wish they inculded the GTR-PROTO into the anime though, too bad! More details on the Nissan Sports Concept here, and the video is available after the jump!

Click here to read the rest of Nissan concepts star in Ghost in the Shell movie

If you love the marque with the quad ring badge, be sure to head on to the main concourse of KLCC from August 18th to August 20th between 10am to 10pm for an Audi car showcase. The Audi A4, the Audi A6 and the Audi TT will be available for show, and test drives will be held for those interested in taking the German marque for a spin. Of course, the Audi TT is not the new one as the new TT is not available for the Asian market for the moment, but will be at the end of the year.

The roadshow also marks the launch of the Audi A3 Sportback which comes with the revolutionary DSG gearbox. While the guys drool over the sleek cars, their spouses can participate in make-up sessions by Giorgio Armani while teenagers can chill out with Playstation2 and young children, entertained by a balloonist. Looks like Euromobil has it all planned for the whole family.

Mercedes Benz is still Malaysia’s top luxury marque, according to sales figures for the first half of this year. Mercedes Benz sales went up 5%, despite sales in the luxury car segment dropping 17% in the same time period. It’s top seller was the E-class (650 units), followed by the C-class (450 units), A-class (150 units), S-class (100 units) and B-class (100 units). DaimlerChrysler Malaysia Sdn Bhd (DCM) attributed it’s success to it’s extensive product line-up as well as it’s Autohaus showrooms.

It will be interesting to see if this figures change in any way with the introduction of the more affordable CKD BMW 3-series recently. Mercedes also has the advantage over BMW in terms of product line-up, where there are no BMW competitors for models like the A-class and the B-class (shown above).

Proton’s motorsports division Race Rally Research launched the commemorative special edition duo of the Proton Waja MME Edition and Proton GEN.2 MME Edition yesterday evening at The Curve, Mutiara Damansara. 200 Wajas and 200 GEN.2s will be built to celebrate Protons R3 Amprex team emerging victorious as Overall champions and Class O champions completing 279 laps in a specially-built Lotus Exige 300RR. They had the two cars on display as well as some other R3 track cars, so here are some photos for the benefit of those that were not there. Photos and more details on the two cars after the jump. Enlarged photos of all the photos in this post can be viewed by clicking on it.

Click here to read the rest of Proton Waja MME and Proton GEN.2 MME Photos

Race Rally Research has unveiled their Proton Waja and Proton GEN.2 Merdeka Millenium Endurance Edition, to commemorate their 2005 victory in the Merdeka Millenium Endurance race.

The MME is a 12-hour endurance race, and Proton’s R3 Amprex team emerged victorious as Overall champions and Class O champions completing 279 laps in a specially-built Lotus Exige 300RR.

The Proton Waja MME Edition comes in one colour - Deep Burgundy - and comes with a 5-piece bodykit. Other than the usual bumper, grille, skirts and rear apron fittings, you also get R3 Dark Titanium headlamps. The Proton Waja MME Edition also gets Xenon HID headlamps, the first on a national production car. The Proton GEN.2 MME Edition has the new headlamps but not the HID lights. Performance upgrades include an R3 Cat-Back Performance Exhaust System for the Campro engine to exhale more freely. The exhaust system comes with a stylish oval tip. R3 Performance Spark Plug Cables give your spark plugs extra juice to fire.

As usual, R3’s performance upgrades are all dyno proven and not just for show. The JPJ-certified, EURO 2 compliant exhaust system optimally an 8bhp increase to engine horsepower, while the spark plugs provide 3bhp. This should mean a total 12bhp increase over the stock Campro 1.6, which brings it up to 122bhp, but R3 has rated the Waja MME and GEN.2 MME at 118bhp.

The car also comes with a new set of 7-spoke wheels with 16 inch size, and these are wrapped with grilly Continental SportContact-1 tyres, similiar to the ones found on the Proton Satria Neo 1.6 liter. Peer into the space behind the wheel spokes and you will find the car has been fitted with R3 Performance Slotted Brake Discs.

As for handling, both the Waja MME and the GEN.2 MME also comes with a performance spring kit, lowering the car by 25mm on average. There is also a front strut bar made from aluminium, helping with suspension strut deflection. Other than the strut bar and the spark plugs, the other addition to the engine bay is purely aesthetic - an alloy CamPro engine cover that comes finished in red.

Interior aesthetics are enhanced with a red R3 gearknob and R3 floor mats. The sound system comes with Bluetooth and iPod support. If you’re thinking you don’t need iPod support because you don’t have an iPod, you’ll be delighted to find the car also comes with an iPod Nano 1GB ready to be connected to the car audio system.

Both the Proton Waja MME and Proton GEN.2 MME comes in manual transmission only, and the Proton Waja MME 1.6 manual costs RM66,671.03 while the Proton GEN.2 MME 1.6 manual costs RM59,789.81. Only 200 units of each car available, and each car will have a serial number due to it’s limited edition run.

I’ve just upgraded to Wordpress 2.0.4 the moment it came out a few days ago, and apparently this new release brings on a host of commenting related problems. Have any of you had problems writing comments but it doesn’t show up? Please do let me know using the contact form. I want to see whether this affects everyone or just a few accounts. Please state your username.

While the world is fussing over Volkswagen’s excellent Direct Shift Gearbox (DSG), Honda has come up with their own automated manual transmission called the Honda I-SHIFT. For a technology-driven company like Honda, this might seem a little late to market, considering companies like Renault and Volkswagen have been using these gearboxes for quite some time now.

Honda’s I-SHIFT only debut recently on the European market Honda Civic hatchback, pairing it with the 1.4 liter i-DSI engine and the 1.8 liter SOHC i-VTEC engine. In fact, there is another automated manual transmission on the market with a similiar name - Volvo’s i-Shift used on it’s trucks and buses.

The Honda I-SHIFT is a 6-speed manual transmission with a hydraulic computer controlled clutch. The I-SHIFT transmission is a 700 pound option over the Civic with a standard 6-speed manual. No slushbox automatic is offered with the Euro Civic. Kind of like our Savvy here.

Toyota intends to drop the name Corolla when the next generation of the hatchback version of the car is unveiled in the UK. Toyota says the new model will be a radical change, so much that a name change is needed to reflect that. Toyota says it is hoping to repeat what Ford managed to achieve when it dropped the Escort badge for the new Focus name.

Honda had actually considered putting a new name on it’s European Honda Civic because of it’s radically different nature and having moved slightly more upmarket, but in the end they decided to stick with the Civic moniker.

Kia has unveiled it’s Kia ED, a future C-segment car for the European market. The ED is just a codename for now which stands for European Design as it’s targetted at the European market. The hatchback has a relatively long wheelbase, which will allow it to offer top notch interior space. The C-segment in Europe means small family car which include cars like the Ford Focus and the Honda Civic hatch. As a comparison, the Civic has a wheelbase of 2635mm while the Kia ED is longer at 2650mm.

Once it’s launched, it will offer the usual Kia range of engines, petrol engines in the 1.4, 1.6 and 2.0 range with CVVT variable valve timing as well as a new 1.6 liter turbodiesel equipped with variable geometry turbo. The Kia ED will go on sale in December this year exclusively in the European market. It will be offered first in 5-door hatch form, with station wagon and 3-door hatch versions to come in September and December 2007 respectively.

Click here to read the rest of Kia ED exclusively for Europe

Malaysia’s Ssangyong importers Competitive Supreme Sdn Bhd will be launching an updated version to it’s flagship SUV, the Ssangyong Rexton II on the 15th of August this year. I previously blogged about the Ssangyong Rexton II after it made it’s South Korean debut earlier this year in March. The Ssangyong Rexton II still has much of it’s Mercedes Benz DNA, sporting a 2.7 liter common-rail turbodiesel engine developed together with Mercedes Benz mated with gearboxes from the German marque as well.

The Rexton II will be assembled by Automotive Manufacturers (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd, a unit of DRB-Hicom Berhad. Ssangyong will be switching to CKD only for the Rexton after it’s fully imported CBU models are sold out. There are only a few left, so you know what to do if you want a CBU Rexton. No prices yet, but we’ll know later this month.

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