Mazda will be unveiling two concept cars this year that will make it to the production lines. First will be the Mazda 1, a small city car that will be the first production Mazda to use design cues that Mazda showcased with its alien-like Nagare line of concept cars last year. The Mazda 1 concept will be displayed at the 2008 Paris Motor Show, with perhaps a 2010 model year production version.

Next is a Mazda small crossover SUV, most likely based on the Ford Kuga. It will likely be built on a jacked up Mazda 3 platform - perhaps called the Mazda CX-5? This concept will be displayed at the 2008 Moscow Motor Show, and will also take styling cues from the Nagare Concepts.

A world premiere at Moscow is interesting, but not surprising since analysts say Russia will soon overtake Germany as the biggest passenger vehicle market in Europe.

Roush Technologies’ Mountune Performance division has unveiled a range of dealer-fit upgrade packages for the Ford Fiesta ST. The stock Fiesta ST’s normally aspirated 2.0 liter DOHC engine produces 150 PS at 6,000rpm and 190Nm of torque at 4,500rpm.

A Stage 1 Mountune Performance upgrade kit using intake and exhaust upgrades as well as ECU reprogramming takes this up to 165 PS and a much nicer torque curve with 200Nm of torque produced between 3,500rpm to 5,000rpm.

The Stage 2 kit adds stronger valve springs and more aggressive camshafts to result in 185 PS and a torque increase to 200Nm between 4,500rpm and 6,000rpm. There is also an optional sportier suspension kit, and an interior kit using Recaro sports seats.

Roush will announce upgrade kits for the Focus ST later.

Click here to read the rest of Ford Fiesta ST tuned by Roush produces 185PS!

The Audi A3 TDI clubsport quattro is currently only a showcar, but it previews what could be possible with the 2.0 liter TDI-engined version of the A3. Under the hood is a 224 PS and 450Nm of torque version of Audi’s 2.0 liter common rail fuel injected TDI engine, which takes the car up to 100km/h in 6.6 seconds, on to a top speed of 240km/h. The car uses a 6-speed manual and sends power to all four wheels via quattro.

The concept gets a flashy exterior with 20 inch wheels, bolt on wheel arches and a tailgate spoiler. The inside the interior gets racing bucket seats and an aluminium open gate gear lever. The 20 inch wheels do not make the brake discs look lost in a void as they have been suitably uprated to large ceramic discs with 6-piston calipers.

The car also gets the Audi drive select system with magnetic ride dampers. The driver is able to select the driving mode he wants, and this will vary the car’s throttle response, exhaust sound, electric power steering assistance, ESP cut-in thresholds, and magnetic damper operating mode.

Four more photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Audi A3 TDI clubsport quattro Concept

In line with the late Tan Sri SM Nasimuddin SM Amin’s wishes, his second son SM Nasarudin has been appointed as the CEO and executive chairman of the NAZA Group of Companies as of the 16th of May 2008. SM Nasarudin, 25, is the late Tan Sri’s second son.

After completing his Business Economics degree from the University of Southern California in the US, he joined Naza Kia Sdn Bhd as a management trainee in 2005.

In 2006, he was appointed Naza Corporation Sdn Bhd head of operations, and took up CEO positions in three Naza companies this year - Nasim Sdn Bhd (Peugeot franchise), Naza Corporation Sdn Bhd, and NZ Diners Sdn Bhd (Naza’s first foray into the food business, Bubba Gump Shrimp).

Naza World is now selling the Bentley Continental GT with a price tag starting from RM1 million upwards. The Continental GT is a 2-door Grand Tourer largely based on the Volkswagen D platform of which underpins the Volkswagen Phaeton and the Audi A8, except that like the Phaeton it uses conventional steel body panels instead of the A8’s aluminium space frame.

Under the hood is a massive 6.0 liter twin turbocharged W12 engine, producing 552 horsepower at 6,100rpm and 650Nm of torque from a low 1,600rpm. The suspension uses double wishbones at the front and a multi-link setup at the rear with air springs.

Despite a 2,385kg weight, the engine’s power and torque together with an all-wheel drive system manage to propel the large GT coupe to 100km/h in 4.8 seconds, on to a top speed of 318km/h.

Naza World is selling the Continental GT with an extended warranty of up to 3 years. More photos of the Bentley Continental GT after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Bentley Continental GT imported by Naza World

The newly elected Works Minister Datuk Mohd Zin Mohamed says the ministry will be conducting a toll review at 22 highways nationwide to measure traffic volume. This will be completed in the next 3 months.

According to Datuk Mohd Zin, if traffic volume is sufficient, concession companies should not have any reason to increase toll rates. Other factors to be looked at include financing of loans, maintenance and operation costs. He added that this may result in a reduction of toll rates, or at least no further hikes.

This brings us to a question: does this mean that before this, when the concessionaires want to increase toll rates, the government has never conducted such an investigative check on whether their requests are reasonable or not?

Datuk Mohd Zin also mentioned that buying back the highways from concessionaires is one of the options that the government may consider in the future.

Source

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The Puspakom vehicle inspection monopoly first signed in 1994 for 15 years has been renewed for another 15 years even before it expires next year. The renewal was made on February 14th 2007 despite 392 public complaints lodged against Puspakom from 2001 to 2007, of which the bulk comprise of allegations of corruption.

The Road Transport Department has also given Puspakom a show-cause letter to explain why some vehicles were checked manually despite computerised inspection facilities. If I am correct, computerised inspection print-outs are difficult, if not impossible to tamper with, while manual inspections are easier to “influence”. In the case that there the computerised inspection equipment was faulty, Puspakom was asked to explain why there were no reports filed on faulty equipment.

The show-cause letter also asked Puspakom to explain why certain officers took a long time to complete inspections. According to DAP MP Bukit Mertajam Chong Eng in the Dewan Rakyat, there were allegations that many consumers were forced to pay bribes in order to get their inspections approved faster (see source 3).

Source 1, Source 2, Source 3 (video), Source 4

Skoda has confirmed that it will be putting the Skoda Yeti into production, after the Skoda Yeti Design Study displayed at the Geneva Motor Show was quite well received by the public. After the success of the Yeti concept, Skoda also produced a two-seater pick-up version that used a hard top that could be removed for an open top driving experience.

The name for the new car has not been decided yet, so the production version could use the Yeti name again, or an entirely different name could be used. The production Skoda Yeti will be a unique Skoda in the sense that will use some parts from the Volkswagen family parts bin much like how the Skoda Roomster was developed - it used the Polo chassis front and the Mk4 Golf chassis rear.

You may think why bother when the Volkswagen Tiguan is there for Skoda to use, but the concept Yeti was a little SUV-like thing smaller than the Tiguan. Think of it as something positioned somewhere between a CrossPolo and a Tiguan.

Three more images after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Skoda to put Skoda Yeti into production

According to a report by Automotive World, CKD assembly of the Europestar Lotus RCR at Youngman’s plant in Jinan, China is set to begin in August 2008 this year. The Europestar RCR is a badge engineered left hand drive pre-facelift version of the Proton GEN2 we have here on our local shores. A total of 150,000 CKD kits have been ordered for the next 6 years - which is about 25,000 units a year.

The Europestar RCR was initially launched by Youngman in early January this year, and sales began with a batch of 30,000 CBU imported units of the left-hand drive car from Proton’s plant in Malaysia. Before launch date, the car had already received 1,500 bookings. The RCR is being pushed in China by an initial appointment of 40 dealers which will provide a sales, service and spare parts network.

Here’s something interesting: the rebadging deal includes royalty payments for legal usage of the Proton GEN2 design. So legally, Youngman - the company behind the Europestar brand - holds the rights for the Proton GEN2 designs in China.

If another Chinese company decides to rip the GEN2 off, it won’t be Proton against a Chinese company in the Chinese courts. It will be a Chinese company against another Chinese company, which could lead to more favorable results than the precedents we have seen previously where a Chinese company who has ripped off a Japanese or western design can get away with it easily.

There will be more cars from Europestar in the Chinese market in the future. While there will likely continue to be some form of platform and parts sharing with Proton, future Europestars will be engineered by Lotus engineering consultants and will be be much further differentiated from the Protons it may share parts with - something like how a Seat Ibiza is a Volkswagen Polo but does not look like one.

Picture above snapped in China courtesy of Astley Ho, find more photos after the jump.

Source

Click here to read the rest of Europestar RCR CKD assembly to begin in August

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi claims that the government has stopped Proton’s protective policies because it has started up programs like the Industrial Adjustment Fund which exempts excise duty payment depending on the how much the manufacturer has invested in Malaysia.

“The Government has implemented various measures such as giving incentives and grants, technical training through international strategic partnership, which also benefit the entire industry,” said Abdullah.

Since prices have not really come down in the past few years (manufacturers who wish to keep their strong brand loyalty and perception of good second hand value which Malaysians consider important when purchasing a car will never suddenly drop the prices of their cars because they do not want to anger their existing customers by having their car’s second hand values affected), these non-national manufacturers who have benefited can channel the money into a) increasing specs, b) increasing marketing expenditure to increase sales or c) laugh all the way to the bank.

There has not been and probably will never be any disclosure on which companies are getting duty exemptions, but we can see some form of relaxation in policies here and there. For example, Cam Soh finally managed to start assembling his Chery vehicles here - vehicles which are priced rather closely to Proton’s.

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