Business Times reported last week that former DaimlerChrysler Malaysia head Datuk Frank Steinleitner may be engaged by Proton either as a consultant or as head of international marketing. Steinleitner is back in Malaysia.
There was previously some talk on Steinleitner being back in Malaysia to set up his own automotive consultancy firm, so this firm may be engaged by Proton as a consultant as the “Option A” in the report.
Datuk Frank was originally in Malaysia to work with Cycle & Carriage Berhad when Mercedes-Benz had no official presence in Malaysia. Then when Mercedes-Benz came in via DaimlerChrysler Malaysia, Datuk Frank was in charge of setting up the company. He also has experience with the Chinese automotive industry, so that would be a plus point for Proton as well.
SISMA Auto Sdn Bhd unveiled the new Jaguar XF for the first time in Malaysia during the weekend at its showroom at the Pavillion, KL, The new award-winning Jaguar XF is available here in three variants - the 3.0 liter V6 priced at RM488,888, the 4.2 liter V8 priced at RM599,888 and finally the 4.2 liter supercharged V8 producing 420 horsepower at RM728,888.
Continue reading to find out more about the new Jaguar XF and watch a collection of videos as well as additional photos of the car.
Illegal road racers and Mat Rempits may face three strokes of rotan under proposed amendments to the Road Transport Act of 1987, according to Federal Traffic chief Senior Asst Comm II Datuk Hamza Taib. This is definitely the kind of headline we would like to be reading rather than ridiculous and insulting headlines of the past like the rebranding of Mat Rempits to “Mat Cemerlang”.
We are also seeing some actual enforcement of existing rules against Mat Rempits, but the reported cases seem to be far too rare and far too few in compared to how happily the Rempits are still organising illegal races a weekly or even more frequent basis.
On the 16th of April 2008, a Mat Rempit from Kuantan was sentenced 2 years jail and a RM6,000 fine for pulling off a classic Mat Rempit “Superman” stunt. He also had his license suspended for 2 years. Two days later on the 18th of April, another Mat Rempit from Kuantan was sentenced 20 months jail and a RM5,000 fine for beating 3 traffic lights, making an illegal U-turn and riding his motorcycle against the traffic flow. In both cases, the sentences were for crimes committed 2 years ago.
In late March 2008, three Mat Rempits were arrested, out of a total of 20 Mat Rempits who were performing reckless dangerous stunts in the vicinity of Persiaran Masjid, Shah Alam. 28 motorcycles were siezed and 70 summonses were issued, but why only 3 out of 20 arrested?
Malaysiakini reports that a man was hospitalised in February this year after he was assaulted by 200 Mat Rempits in Bandar Tun Razak. It’s a good thing there is a hospital (HUKM) in Bandar Tun Razak, or else the man would have died. He had to undergo a major surgery to stop the bleeding in his head, after being hit by a helmet.
The man had accidentally hit a youth on a bike with his car, and got out to help the youth. The youth’s father who was nearby rushed to the scene and attacked him, and was joined by the youth himself and many others. Watch the video below:
VIDEO: Malaysiakini Interview
Many, many years ago, I have personally encountered such a situation somewhere in Pekan Hulu Langat. A friend of mine had accidentally hit a Mat Rempit who raced through the mist out of nowhere, and when we stopped to help, a huge crowd of aggressive Rempits appeared out of nowhere. It was a good thing that we managed to talk ourselves out of the situation, otherwise this blog would not exist.
Last but not least… in The Star’s reader’s SMS section on Saturday: “MAT Rempit throw rocks at cars passing by Tmn Midah Cheras after midnite. Where r d polis? How 2 punish if u don’t catch dem?”
Mat Rempits should be taken off the streets for endangering the lives of motorists and the general public. Everyone knows that stricter laws are completely useless if there is no enforcement!
BMW has launched another BMW 320i variant called the BMW 320i Sports. The Sports suffix means your usual 320i gets an M Aerodynamics bodykit, 17 inch Double-Spoke M Light Alloy Wheels wrapped with 225/45R17 runflat tyres at the front and 225/40R17 runflat tyres at the rear, an M Sports Suspension which is stiffer and lowers ride height by 15mm, and a thicker M Leather Steering Wheel.
The 2.0 liter inline-4 Valvetronic engine produces an extra 6 horsepower over the normal 320i’s engine at 156 horsepower, but this additional power is gained through the extension of the power band to a peak of 6,500rpm rather than the 320i’s 150 horsepower at 6,200rpm. Peak torque is the same 200Nm kicking in at 3,600rpm.
On the inside, the interior is done up in Aluminum Glacier Silver trim. You also get semi-electrically adjustable sports seats. Another feature is an USB audio interface which allows the connection of iPods and some USB-based MP3 players/thumbdrives.
The BMW 320i Sports is priced at RM245,800 OTR without insurance, a premium of RM9,000 over the 320i which carries a sticker tag of RM236,800. Continue reading to view two more photos of the BMW 320i Sports.
The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) will be introducing financial assistance schemes for Proton vendors to increase their quality and production levels, with an allocation of RM400 million from the government’s coffers under the Automotive Industry Development Fund.
“The ministry will work with Proton to ensure that this effort is successful and hopefully producers who have been appointed as vendors to Proton (when they get the assistance) will successfully see through their efforts. We will use the money to strengthen the selected Proton vendors and raise their standards to a much higher level. This is very important,” said MITI Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
April 18, 2008 @ 3:49 am
· Filed under Cars, Honda
Honda Japan’s website has a very interesting feature - a whole section dedicated to digital versions of their car’s user manuals called the Honda Digital Owner’s Manual section. It’s all in Japanese, but still amusing to browse if you’re bored. For those looking forward to the new Honda Accord that will be launched next week, you can have a look at the Honda Inspire’s user manual page. You’ll be asked to accept some kind of user agreement in Japanese - just click the button on the left.
Some of the cars also have videos. Looking at how safety features like the Collision Mitigating Brake System are activated is quite different from reading about how they work in text form. This way, we can see whether the engineers have designed the system to be easy and intuitive to use. There’s also a video of the new Honda Fit RS which shows the new paddle shifters (rather than the current generation’s “button” shifters).
Anyway, it’s useful for those who want to have a walkaround for the upcoming Accord and Jazz before the car even reaches our showrooms, as these two cars so happen to have video sections. This video for example, shows us that the Fit/Jazz seems to have a hidden storage compartment under the seats.
A white Hyundai H1 Starex was spotted in the vicinity of JPJ Putrajaya by reader JDMD, our regular Putrajaya CBU snapshot “supplier”.
Looking at the rows of seats through the windows, we can see that this is the 4 row version of the MPV. The Starex can be configured to seat up to 11 people, but an 8 seater configuration is also available.
Peeking into the interior to have a look at the dashboard reveals manual air conditoning (as opposed to the automatic climate control you can see in the last photo in my previous post on the Starex), and an automatic gearbox shift lever.
Continue reading for more photos of the Starex in Putrajaya.
April 18, 2008 @ 12:39 am
· Filed under Cars, Local News
Click to enlarge
MyEG has added another service to its portfolio. I’ve written about MyEG before previously, and at that time they offered a few services such as JPJ, DBKL and PDRM summons as well as the ability to renew your CDL driving license online.
About a year later, MyEG has now unveiled a new road tax renewal service. You just enter your insurance details (cover note, etc) and make your payment online using a credit or debit card, and the road tax disc can be delivered to your home or office. If you require to renew your insurance online, it can be done as well with 3 insurance companies - CIMB, Etiqa and Lonpac.
The service charge for the road tax disc renewal is RM2.75. Delivery charges for the road tax disc for the Klang Valley is RM6, and RM8 for the rest of Peninsular Malaysia. For East Malaysia, the delivery charge is RM10.
I’ve not tried the service out yet but I intend to do so, as the Ford Telstar’s road tax and insurance is up for renewal but unfortunately I have not gotten the name transfer sorted out yet. This Puspakom check business is a chore.
The car above is the Volkswagen Lavida, a Chinese domestic market model that has been developed and set to be sold only in the China market as it was developed for domestic tastes. I’m not sure how the name was chosen, but it could be taken from the Spanish phrase La Vida which means “the life”, as Ricky Martin has propagated.
It is built on the Volkswagen PQ34 platform with an increased wheelbase of 2,610mm, the base platform for the Mk4 Volkswagen Golf and Mk1 Skoda Octavia. This puts it in the region of a C-segment sedan in terms of wheelbase, with the Lavida having a wheelbase 10mm longer than the current Toyota Corolla Altis. Under the hood is a choice of engines from 1.6 liters to 2.0 liters.
You will find that various press around the internet has called the car an A-segment sedan, but Chinese model size segmentation is different from the rest of the world, with even the big Volkswagen Passat classified as a B+ sedan.
Other dimensions include a length of 4608mm, a width of 1743mm and a height of 1465mm. The car weighs 1245kg for the 1.6 liter and 1323kg for the 2.0 liter.
The results for the 2008 International Engine the Year Awards 2008 will be announced on the 7th of May 2008.
Personally I can’t wait to see if BMW retains its engine throne or not. BMW has scooped more trophies for engine excellence than any other company in the Awards 10-year history, and if you drive a car with one of their old 1990s engines today, you’ll be amazed at how much torque their “outdated” normally aspirated engines put out across the rev range compared to current generation engines from many manufacturers. It’s no wonder they’ve only recently resorted to turbocharging.
This year’s International Engine of the Year Awards should be an interesting one as there are many new entries this year. Here are some of the new engines that will be considered for the trophies:
Mitsubishi’s turbocharged 2.0 liter 4B11T in the Evo X
The following are the categories for the awards: Best New Engine of the Year, Best Fuel Economy, Best Performance Engine, sub 1 liter engine, 1.0 to 1.4 liter engine, 1.4 to 1.8 liter engine, 1.8 to 2.0 liter engine, 2.0 to 2.5 liter engine, 2.5 to 3.0 liter engine, 3.0 to 4.0 liter engine, above 4.0 liter engine.
For past year results, visit the related posts links below.
Business Times reported last week that former DaimlerChrysler Malaysia head Datuk Frank Steinleitner may be engaged by Proton either as a consultant or as head of international marketing. Steinleitner is back in Malaysia.
The results for the 2008 International Engine the Year Awards 2008 will be announced on the 7th of May 2008.
