Car jackers and robbers are continuously reinventing their tactics, but unfortunately for them they chose to try their dirty tricks on Chips Yap of Motor Trader Malaysia, who did not fall for it and is now getting the message out to the public, warning us of these crooks’ latest way of manipulating you into a situation where you are vulnerable.
You’ve seen photos and text on what the Maybach Landaulet is all about, but here’s a video allowing you to see the semi-open top luxury barge in motion.
Check out the video after the jump.
Related Posts: Click here to read the rest of Maybach Landaulet Concept Video
Maybach reveals the Maybach Landaulet Concept
Naza Kia Sdn Bhd is having a roadshow for their newly launched Kia Optima, Kia Sportage facelift and Kia Spectra5 models. Many have decided to forever shun Korean cars, especially Kias, after bad experiences with the Sephia. But these are the latest generation of Kias and it would be interesting to go have a look and see if they have made any progress over the years or not.
Kia cars registered during these roadshow dates will be eligible to get a free Samsung SGH-L760 phone, a slider phone featuring 3G, MP3/WMA/ACC player, microSD expandable memory and a 2 megapixel camera.
We first saw signs of the Mazda BT-50 earlier this year when a taped up unit with trade plates was spotted in Sri Hartamas. Earlier this week, the BT-50 pick-up truck was finally launched and is now an option for those who want a softer, sportier and more Japanese-looking truck than the Ford Ranger TDCi.
Mazda has picked the BT-50 name over the Fighter name carried by the previous generation. Mechanically it is pretty much the same as the Ford Ranger TDCi - a 2.5 liter turbodiesel with direct injection and a variable geometry turbocharger under the hood, double wishbone suspension at the front and a leaf spring setup at the rear. The leaf springs at the rear are 1,320mm long, making them the longest in the class, which enhances ride comfort.
The 2.5 liter engine is mechanically the same as the Ranger’s, which is nothing bad as it is truly a fantastic engine for a truck. The variable geometry turbo eliminates any turbo lag so power delivery is at maximum once you floor the pedal. It produces 143 PS at 3,500rpm and 330Nm of torque at 1,800rpm. The truck also gets a 5-speed manual or a 5-speed auto.
Early birds get a special introductory package - 50 months warranty (or 150,000km) and 50 months (or 80,000km) of free service. 50 months is equal to 4 years and 2 months, compared to the Ranger TDCi’s 3 years warranty. If you don’t want this, you can trade it for a RM3,000 rebate. Of course, this is for the first 100 early birds only. The normal warranty period is 3 years.
The following is the price list for Peninsular Malaysia, individual OTR with insurance. The prices are generally slightly cheaper than the Ranger TDCi. For the full price list click here.
More photos after the jump. Click here to read the rest of New Mazda BT-50 pick-up truck launched in Malaysia
A recent lucrative export deal to China involving the Proton GEN2 has been cited as one of the ways to spearhead Proton’s recovery, as most of you would know by now. Proton was to export 30,000 completely built up Proton GEN2 cars to China for Jinhua Youngman to rebadge under the Europestar brand, with a further possible 80,000 units to be assembled in China.
Thanks to spyshots by Chinese automotive industry website Cheshi, we now find out that the “localisation” of the Proton GEN2 by Jinhua was not just limited to a left hand drive conversion and swapping badges with the Europestar badge. The Europestar GEN2 gets a completely new front fascia that looks like the poor car has jaundice, and the rear crop circle lamps get a similiar treatment.
UPDATE: Some of you may remember the spyshots of the facelifted Proton GEN2 due to be launched very soon. It too had a larger grille, although not as over the top as the Europestar version.
More images including rear light treatment are after the jump.
Source Click here to read the rest of Europestar GEN2 gets “unique” styling
While we are on the subject of Alfa replacements, what about the Alfa Romeo 166’s replacement? The new Alfa Romeo 169 is known as the Progetto 941 internally, and it is set to ride on a derivative of the next generation Maserati Quattroporte E/F platform.
This means rear wheel drive. It also means a longtitudinal engine layout, something not seen on Alfa Romeos since the 145 Boxer and 146 Boxer. Engines are expected to be exclusively V6 and V8 (for a GTA variant) engines with Uniair/Multiair technology, with transaxle gearboxes to help the car achieve a close to 49:51 weight distribution.
Sources reveal the V6 engine will be lifted from a new family of Alfa Romeo V6 engines, not an upgraded GTA engine. It will most likely have JTS lean burn direct injection engine heads and twin turbochargers.
Styling will most likely be inspired by the year 2004 Alfa Romeo Visconti Concept styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro. The Visconti was based on the Alfa Romeo Premium platform which underpins the current Alfa Romeo 159, but has its wheelbase lengthened by 20mm.
The 169 was to originally use this platform, but later it was decided that the Quattroporte E/F platform was a better idea. Under the concept’s hood is the first sighting of the new V6 engine family - a 3.2 V6 twinturbocharged JTS direct injection engine to make 405hp and 680Nm of torque.
More photos of the concept after the jump. Click here to read the rest of Alfa Romeo 169 to be based on Quattroporte E/F?
Proton Holdings Bhd shares are now at a 7-year all time low, closing at RM4.02 yesterday, but not after dipping to an intra-day low of RM3.98. This is a 18.6% drop. You can see the effects of this share drop in the local automotive forums, where some reveal their losses of thousands of ringgit on paper value.
Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop says there is no reason for investors to fret over the price decline as this is a normal market reaction. He also added that there is no specific timeframe for the management of Proton to turn around, but the government hopes the company will keep the momentum going with efforts to increase sales and quality.
I am sure there is a timeframe, otherwise it would not make any sense at all to throw away all that hard work in steering the Proton-Volkswagen negotiations towards a positive end result - something that has been going since 2004.
UPDATE: The new Alfa Romeo baby hatch will be called the Alfa Romeo Mi.To - click for more info!
The latest car manufacturer to enter the fray of creating small cars to compete against the BMW MINI Cooper is Alfa Romeo. Internally, this new car is known as the 955. The new car will share a platform with the Fiat Grande Punto, and will offer technologies like SDC active suspension where various settings can be set via a Ferrari-like steering wheel switch, and an engine with an electronically controlled hydraulic valve actuation (similiar to VVTi-E) combined with a throttle-less intake called the Multiair engine.
Multiair engine options will include a 105 hp 1.4 liter normally aspirated unit, two 1.4 liter JTB turbos making 135hp and 180hp, a 1.8 liter JTB making 230 horsepower, and two diesels - a 120hp 1.6 liter JTDm and a 150 horsepower 1.6 liter JTTDm. These engines will be mated to either a 6-speed manual or a Selespeed automated manual.
Following the footsteps of Volkswagen which used a public voting system to name its new Tiguan SUV, Alfa Romeo had a public vote to let the public choose the name of the new car. Choices included Agea, Enos, Everson, Fira, Furiosa, Milo, Mod, Nevo, Solea, Sparvo, Velvetta and Ventura, and the winner turned out to the name Furiosa.
So there you have it. The Alfa Romeo Furiosa. There are currently two camps on where this will fit in the Alfa Romeo model line up - some say it is a smaller model than the 147 replacement (previously to be called the 149, should be a proper word-based name now), and everyone else says this is the new 147 replacement. But looking at segments, the 147 replacement should be based on a platform similiar to the Bravo (C-segment) instead of the Grande Punto (B-segment), so I tend to agree with the smaller-than-147/149 camp.
One more sketch after the jump.
Related Posts: Click here to read the rest of New Alfa hatch to be called the Alfa Romeo Furiosa
2008 Alfa Romeo 149 Artist’s Impression
More previews of the Alfa Romeo 149
The latest Ferrari FXX incarnation is the Ferrari FXX Evoluzione, an upgrade of the original Ferrari FXX, the company’s track car program for its cream of the crop buyers. Like the FXX, it is not homologated for road use thus cannot be registered.
The original FXX’s 6.2 liter V12 engine now puts out 860 horsepower at 9,500rpm, a solid 1,000rpm higher than the original engine. The F1 gearbox’s gear shifts now take only 60ms, a drop of 20ms, and naturally the gear ratios have been adjusted to match the engine’s new wider rev range.
The Ferrari FXX Evoluzione’s traction control system now has 9 settings including off. These were developed with the GES Racing Division engineers. This allows the car’s track behaviour to be changed according to the different positions on the track you are on, something Formula 1 drivers do.
A new front suspension design allows the Bridgestone custom made 19 inch tyres to last longer, as if money is a huge problem when are amongst the only 20 clients in the world who get to drive this car, including Michael Schumacher.
More photos after the jump. Click here to read the rest of Ferrari FXX Evoluzione - the ultimate track car?
Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd has launched the new Honda Stream, the second introduction of the car in our local market, but this time its offered by the principals themselves and comes with a 3 years manufacturer warranty, at a cheaper price than grey importers.
More details after the jump. Click here to read the rest of Honda Malaysia launches 2nd gen Honda Stream
