Proton says it has managed to position itself in the top three spot in Indonesia’s taxi market, outselling other brands in a taxi market dominated by Toyota and Hyundai. This may be a case of marketing spin here, if the market’s number one and number two is Toyota and Hyundai, this means Proton has slotted itself as number three. Does anyone know who is number four?

Proton’s Proton Wira taxis for the Indonesian market are currently imported as CBU fully assembled models from Proton’s Shah Alam plant. CKD assembly will begin soon. 600 have been delivered so far to taxi operators in Pekan Baru and Jakarta. Proton also has another 1,500 orders at hand. Indonesia’s taxi market is estimated at 22,000 units a year, out of a total industry volume of 300,000 cars.

Proton is also considering CKD assembly of the Proton Savvy and Proton Gen2 if sales go well. Proton has just introduced the two cars into the Indonesian market as it’s passenger car offering. The Wira is for taxi usage only. The Savvy will go for 95 million ruppiah, or roughly RM36,166. The Gen2 will go for 130 million rupiah, which is about RM 49,491 in local currency. Both units are CBU for the moment.

Proton estimates 700 units sold for each of the cars for the first year. PT Proton Edar Indonesia intends to capture 1.7 percent of Indonesia’s passenger car market in the next five years. Proton sales in Indonesia currently ranks at the 16th place, and to gain 1.7% it must enter the top ten.

Bernama’s news report on the launching had a really funny quote in it. 54 year old property consultant Didi Hutapea who bought a Gen2 R3 for his 29 year old wife said, “The Campro engine was developed with input from Lotus. Not everybody knows that it is a prototype for an F1 engine. It also has good suspension and stability. I will promote it to my friends. Definitely.”

Somehow I missed this piece of news. The 4 robotic welding lines for the upcoming locally assembled Suzuki Swift has been up and ready to run since the end of February. The welding line is involved in assembling the Suzuki Swift 1.5 liter for the local market. Production will begin by the end of April, with an initial run of 300 units a month.

However, low usage despite high capacity is a tell tale of a weak market. DRB-HICOM group managing director Datuk Mohd Khamil Jamil said Automotive Manufacturers (M) Sdn Bhd (AAM) assembly plant in Pekan only put out 12,000 units assembled last year despite a ready maximum capacity of 60,000 units.

I’ve just installed a new feature to track the statistics on my blog. It’s available for your viewing by clicking the Statistics link on the sidebar. Here are some of the statistics it’s gathered so far, you might find it interesting.

10 Most Commented Stories

1. Perodua Myvi - 513 comments
2. Jeremy Clarkson annihilates the Perodua Kelisa - 428 comments
3. Proton Savvy Photos - 368 comments
4. Proton Satria Neo 1.3 and 1.6 In-depth - 358 comments
5. Proton Gen2 1.3 in showrooms - 325 comments
6. Proton Chancellor 2.0 V6 - 316 comments
7. Joint letter by Tun Dr. M and Tengku Mahaleel - 280 comments
8. Proton disposes of MV Agusta for 1 Euro - 225 comments
9. Perodua Myvi TRD Bodykit - 193 comments
10. Gory Car Crash - 181 comments

Top 10 Members with the Most Comments

1. Joe Ooi (917)
2. motorhead (688)
3. raybrig85 (507)
4. mystvearn (439)
5. honda_driver (427)
6. aksMS (421)
7. szw (415)
8. protonGL (346)
9. DOG THE WAN (329)
10. SEE FU (320)

You can view all of their comments by clicking on the name used to comment on this blog. This data is as of 5.00 AM, 18th March 2007 and will definitely be outdated in the future. For updated stats, go to the Statistics page.

This little Frankenstein of a BMW started off as a normal 4-door BMW E30 3-Series Sedan. Apparently the owner has decided to keep up with the times, somehow he managed to show-horn something that looks like a Z3 mixed with an E46 front end onto the front of the car. He also decided to bring the car a class above, so an E60 lookalike rear is slapped on. What do you think?

Now that we’ve seen the BMW M3 Concept in coupe form, what’s remaining is the upcoming Sedan and also Cabriolet version. The E9x series M3 will mark the debut of the 4-door M3, last seen back in the E36 days. The E46 skipped with 4-doors and went with the more rigid 2-door body exclusively.

So we’ll have an M3 Coupe, Sedan, and Cabriolet. Not sure if there will be an E91 stationwagon version. Oh well, at least there’s the 335xi Touring with all-wheel drive for wagon fans.

One thing you would have noticed from the spy photos above is the new front end on the sedan. The BMW M3 Sedan will use the front end from the 3 Coupe which has a more aggressive and pronounced nose rather than the sunken grille design of the 3 Sedan which has found disfavor among car enthusiasts.

Many have said that this new more pronounced grille is now the E90 3 Series was supposed to look like in the first place. I’m not sure whether the sedan with coupe nose design will be limited exclusively to the M3 Sedan, or a new 3 Sedan facelift will introduce this updated front end.

Related Posts:
BMW M3 testing at the Nurburgring track
BMW M3 Concept at Geneva 2007

The big blue bottle in the engine bay looks lovely doesn’t it? But wait a minute, where’s the engine? Perhaps taking inspiration from Renault’s Clio V6 with a V6 engine mounted at the rear, or even our local homegrown Kancil with a VR4 engine at the rear, this Volkswagen Polo Mk3 has had it’s engineering tweaked extensively by Dubsport. The result is a 1.8 Turbo Audi engine at the rear, turning it into a mid-engined, rear wheel drive car that puts out 325 horsepower. Bear in mind this pocket rocket only weighs about 875kg.

Zero to hundred km/h is done in under 4 seconds, plus over there in the UK the car is actually street legal! Of course, there is also that nitrous injection system with the bright blue nitrous tank mounted in the front engine bay, however horsepower ratings with NOS pumped into the engine have not been tested, but a rough estimate puts the figure at over 400 horses.

Of course, to separate the driver from the big engine at the rear (relatively anyway, the original Polo Mk3 engine was a 1 liter), there is a custom firewall. The driver sits in alloy racing seats with four point racing harnesses. Additional protection is provided by a custom built race spec rollcage.

The starting bid for the car on eBay UK goes for £10,000.

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Mid-engined, rear wheel drive Volkswagen Polo Mk3

You might remember how environmentalists petitioned for a speed limit to be imposed on the Autobahn some time back. Judging by your reactions, although most of you and me included would most likely never have the chance to ever drive on the Autobahn in the first place, we did not want a speed limit to be put up either. After all, how would we get to watch high speed Autobahn chase videos then?

ZDF television conducted a poll on the matter and the results showed 54% of Germans wanted a speed limit of 130km/h on the Autobahn, while 10% wanted a speed limit even lower than 130km/h. The remainder did not want things to change. That’s more than half who want a speed limit imposed!

German car firms like BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche fear that if a speed limit is imposed, the demand for some of their high powered models would go down. I personally think if a speed limit is to be put up, it should be at the 150km/h range or so. All continental cars I’ve driven feel really stable and controllable at those speeds, plus the Autobahn is made up of mostly straight roads. 130km/h would be acceptable, but anything lower than that would be silly. Try driving a BMW or an Audi, or even a Skoda at 130km/h. Feels boring.

Source

Related Posts:
Environmentalists want Autobahn to be limited
What is the Autobahn?

The new facelifted BMW X3 is now available in Malaysia, in one variant - the BMW X3 2.5si. This model is powered by BMW’s updated straight-six 2.5 liter engine, now making 218hp at 6,500rpm and consuming 10% less fuel than the pre-facelift model.

Thanks to the new motor, the BMW X3 2.5si goes from 0 to 100 in 8.5 seconds, down from 8.9 seconds, and top speed is now 232km/h compared with 224km/h in the pre-facelift model.

Stocks will come from BMW’s Rayong plant in Thailand, to take advantage of the new ASEAN preferential CBU tax rates. Toyota has also recently made this switch with the Camry. It will be available in showrooms beginning tomorrow (17th March 2007) and will go for RM319,000.

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Facelifted BMW X3 now in Malaysia

Audi officials have hinted of a convertible version of the sleek Audi A5 coupe that might hit the market next year. While Audi clearly has access to coupe-convertible technology, as Volkswagen has implemented it in it’s Volkswagen Eos coupe convertible, Audi says it is most likely that the Audi A5 convertible will be a soft top instead of having an automatic hard top.

A more hardcore performance version of the Audi S5 is also in the works, to be called the Audi RS5. The S5 to begin with is a performance A5, so that’s two levels of tune-up!

UPDATE: Perodua has launched a facelifted Perodua Myvi SE 2008 on the 10th of October 2008. Check out full details, photos and prices via the linked text.

Perodua’s new Perodua Myvi SE was launched last Friday, and has been available in showrooms for the past week now. A short recap on the specifications: new front and rear bumper, sideskirts, rear spoiler, new sports rims, blue outlined Optitron meter panel, chromed muffler tip, leather seats, and silver trim for center console.

The Perodua Myvi SE’s new bodykit is reminiscent of the Toyota TRD bodykit for the Passo and Boon, however Perodua has made some modifications to the rear bumper, making it more complex with a diffuser-like design instead of the TRD’s smooth design. I’m thinking that area would look good painted black or dark gray. Waiting list won’t be too long as Perodua has stocked up 1,000 of the new special edition Myvi SE cars prior to the launch. Perodua targets 1,200 units a month for the Perodua Myvi SE.

Three sporty colours are available - Ebony Black, Mistik Red and Ivory White. How much does it cost?

Perodua Myvi SE 1.3 GHS Manual (solid) - RM48,932
Perodua Myvi SE 1.3 GHS Manual (metallic) - RM49,455
Perodua Myvi SE 1.3 ZHS Auto (solid) - RM51,812
Perodua Myvi SE 1.3 ZHS Auto (metallic) - RM52,346

Related Posts:
2007 Perodua Myvi SE in a carwash

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Perodua Myvi SE (Special Edition) Details & Price