Lotus’ newly appointed CEO Dany Bahar who used to serve for Ferrari revealed that he plans to bring Lotus back into the high-octane world of motorsport. “Lotus will return to motorsport. I believe that this is the perfect platform to showcase our capabilities; racing is part of our heritage and even today the technology in our road cars is derived from racing,” he said when addressing his staff for the first time.

The new boss of the Proton-owned company announced that the group is studying options of participating in Indy car series, GT as well as Le Mans. He also mentioned that the Group Lotus has no direct equity in the Lotus F1 project. Operationally, Lotus F1 will be run separately from Group Lotus and the two parties will liaise. At the moment, Proton is finalising the brand licensing of Lotus for the Lotus F1 team

Bahar also revealed that detailed plans for a product line-up along with plans for the next seven years will be released sometime in December. “Our future lies in aligning ourselves to what the market wants, rather than what we think the market wants; we must concentrate on our customers,” he added.

Just hours after showing you a leaked brochure of the Lexus HS250h-based Toyota SAI Hybrid, we now have official information about new hybrid sedan as Toyota has just officially unveiled it. Compared its Lexus counterpart, the SAI has a slightly different front end with restyled headlights, hood, front bumper as well as a reworked grille.

At the rear, the only difference is the reworked tailights. On the side profile, the side windows on the rear doors have been reshaped. Inside, the Sai looks a little different thanks to a new instrument panel, revised air vents on the dashboard as well as a different steering wheel.

As expected, the front wheels are motivated by the same drivetrain found in the HS250h. The THS II system is primarily made up by a 2AZ-FXE 2.4 liter Atkinson-cycle VVTi 4-cylinder petrol unit that is good for 150 PS at 6,000 rpm and 187Nm of torque 4,400 rpm. The engine is coupled with an electric motor that develops 143 PS and 270Nm of torque. The drivetrain produces 190 PS of combined power. Energy is stored in a nickel-metal hydride battery pack and the system also features a continuously variable transmission (CVT).

Unfortunately the auto maker did not disclose any information pertaining to fuel consumption and performance. The Toyota SAI is available in four trim levels in Japan and is priced between 3,380,000 yen (about RM 126,000) and 4,260,000 yen (about RM 159,000). As reported earlier, Toyota has also made available TRD and Modellista packages for the SAI for those that want their car to look a little different.

For those of you wondering what’s with the name, the name SAI is based on the Japanese word sai—which means “talent” when written as “” and “coloration” when written as ““. Toyota intends for it to “combine advanced talent and multi-color sophistication”.

Continue reading to view an image gallery.

Click here to read the rest of Toyota SAI Hybrid officially unveiled in Japan

Perodua has officially launched its very first Body and Paint Hub (B&P) in Subang Jaya earlier today and along the with launch, the auto maker announced that it will introduce an exclusive version of the Perodua Myvi on October 24th. The limited edition compact hatch will be launched in showrooms nationwide.

The auto maker also announced that the highly-anticipated MPV (codenamed Perodua D46T) will be launched at the end of next month and bookings can be made at the beginning of the month. Pricing for the D46T which is based on the Toyota Passo Sette will be set between RM56,000 to RM65,000.

The above mentioned B&P Hub and Service Centre costs RM 6 million and is located at Taman Perindustrian Subang. Perodua also revealed that four more hubs will be built by 2012. Each hub will cost between RM 4 million and RM 6 million. Two hubs will be built in the northern and southern regions while two more will be made available in the Klang valley by next year.

Services offered at the 5,159 sq. meter B&P Hub in Subang Jaya include collision repair, spray painting, vehicle servicing and the sale of spare parts. The hub has 35 bays for collision repair, body aligners, four spray booths and three ovens.

According to Perodua, the hub can service up to 2,500 units per month compared to 1,500 units at the Jalan SS13/5 service outlet. This outlet will continue to operate until July next year and thereafter the operations will be relocated to the Subang Jaya B&P Hub and Service Centre.

The auto maker expects overall service intakes to increase to 1.5 million this year from 1.37 million intakes in 2008. For the nine month up to September, Perodua service outlets have recorded a total of 1.2 million intakes. Continue reading to view an image gallery of the B&P Hub and Service Centre in Subang Jaya.

Click here to read the rest of Perodua launched its first Body & Paint Hub, Myvi exclusive edition and MPV to be revealed soon!

What you see above is the Toyota SAI Hybrid sedan that is based on the Lexus HS250h. The SAI Hybrid is treated to a slightly different exterior styling while the interior features a different dashboard and steering wheel compared to the Lexus variant that was unveiled at this year’s Detroit Motor Show.

The new hybrid sedan is scheduled to be unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show but before that can happen a leaked brochure found its way into the Internet. Under the hood, it is safe to expect the Japanese auto maker to feature the same drivetrain used in the HS250h.

To be more specific, the drivetrain we are talking about is a 150 PS 2.4 liter Atkinson-cycle 4-cylinder engine with VVTi that is paired with a 143 PS electric motor. The brochure also reveals TRD and Modellista packages for the SAI.

Look for more images after the jump.

Source

Click here to read the rest of Lexus HS250h-based Toyota Sai Hybrid: Leaked brochure

It was revealed that national auto maker Proton will finalise the brand licensing of Lotus for the Lotus F1 team sometime next month. The auto maker received a draft agreement from the Tune Group over the matter last Friday. Proton Holdings will now go over the agreement before finalising it next month.

Managing Director of Proton Holdings Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir told Bernama, “We are studying the draft and hope to finalise it next month.” Datuk Syed gave the statement at Proton’s Hari Raya open house event at the auto maker’s Centre of Excellence in Shah Alam yesterday. Also to be confirmed next month is the driver line-up.

Source

BMW has just made available two mobile phone hands-free Bluetooth headsets – one with a BMW design and one with a MINI design. The headsets are aimed at those who own BMW or MINI cars that did not come with Bluetooth handsfree systems from the factory. In Malaysia, it’s safe to say that all iDrive-equipped BMWs have Bluetooth handsfree systems installed.

The Bluetooth headset by BMW weighs 8 grams and the rechargeable battery offers a talktime of 5 hours and a standby time of 7 days. You can charge them via a charger that you hook up to your car’s cigarette lighter. It can be paired and used with two different mobile phones at the same time.

We all know that the Chinese automotive industry is booming and we are also familiar with some Chinese cars with designs that we have seen elsewhere. Here is an interesting piece of news regarding the topic. It has been reported that a former Ford engineer is being charged for selling company secrets to Chinese auto makers.

The person in question is Xiang Dong Yu who served for Ford between 1997 and 2007. Yu was recently arrested at the Chicago O’Hare International Airport after returning from an overseas trip. Apparently, Yu made copies of nearly 4,000 documents before leaving the Mustang maker. A year later in 2008, he tried to secure a job with the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation by offering vital information from Ford. Yu eventually found a job in Beijing Automotive Corporation but it is unclear if he leaked out any information to the company.

He now faces five counts of theft of trade secrets, attempted theft of trade secrets and unauthorized access to a protected computer. The damage? Well, Mr Yu could be sentenced to 5-10 years in prison as well as a $250,000 fine for each charge.

Source

A new limited edition Lotus Exige has just been announced – the new Lotus Exige Scura. Scura means ‘dark’ in Italian and the pillar of the whole ‘indulge your dark side’ theme used as the launch theme is a soft-feel matte black paint finish with contrasting high-gloss Phantom Black triple stripes that run the length of the car. A carbon fibre front splitter, oil cooler intakes, side airscoops and a rear spoiler complete the looks.

The ‘Scura’ theme continues on the inside, with vast use of carbon fiber to both complement the exterior theme as well as reduce weight. The seats and center console are also made from carbon fiber and finished in high-gloss clear lacquer. The handbrake and gearknob have a special anodized treatment which leaves the metal with an anthracite colour finish.

The engine makes 260 PS at 8,000rpm from its supercharged intercooled 1.8 liter Toyota VVTL-i engine and thanks to its light weight of 925kg it takes the car from 0 to 100km/h in a blazing 4.1 seconds. The engine is sourced from the Exige Cup 260 and makes use of the Cup’s lightweight flywheel and lightweight supercharger piping. The dampers are Ohlins 2-way dampers mated to Eibach variable height springs. The wheels are matte black lgihtweight forged wheels wrapped with Yokohama A048 LTS tyres. The car also has variable slip traction control.

Only 35 units of the new Lotus Exige Scura are available. It is offered in Europe, South Korea, Australia, South Africa, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Indonesia and Malaysia. It will also be made available in Japan but the car will be called the Lotus Exige Stealth instead. It will be sold in the UK for £45,000 with an additional £950 to be charged for OTR costs such as delivery, PDI, first service, number plates, first registration fee, valet, 12 months Road Fund Licence and a full tank of fuel.

Look after the jump for a full photo gallery of the Scura.

Click here to read the rest of Lotus Exige Scura: 35 unit limited edition with matte black paint goes 0-100km/h in 4.1s

Toyota Motor Corporation has unveiled the redesigned Mark X luxury sedan. The rear wheel drive Mark X is motivated by a new 314 horsepower 2GR-FSE 3.5 liter V6 powerplant that joins the 200 horsepower 4GR-FSE 2.5 liter V6. For the latter, buyers can also opt for an all wheel drive option. Both engines are offered with a 6-speed Super ECT automatic transmission. Fuel consumption is rated at 13.0km/l (10-15 test cycle) for the 2.5 liter V6 (two wheel drive) and 10.2km/l for the 3.5 liter V6.

The new Mark X is 1,435 mm high and both the width and track figures have been increased by 20 mm to help give the car a lower centre of gravity. It is treated to a three-lamp linear layout for the headlights while the rear also features a three-lamp layout with lights built into the trunk lid.

Inside, there is a leather-covered steering wheel, improved seat comfort, driver’s seat with motorized lumbar support function that shifts the seatback forward or back to improve back comfort during driving, a multi-information display, fully automatic independent temperature controls for the driver and passenger sides as well as a Plasmacluster Ions technology that helps combat bacteria.

Furthermore there is a HDD navigation system, Intelligent Parking Assist system and a terrestrial digital TV tuner and gear-shifting functions that are built into the navigation system (for range topping models). According to Toyota, the gear-shifting functions support the driver “in merging and exiting and at intersections.” Also as standard is an Eco Driving Indicator that lights up to signify fuel-efficient operation and an Eco Zone Indicator that shows throttle use.

The auto maker also revealed that the shoulder portion of the door trim for the front and rear seats has been pushed outward by 25 mm (total for left and right) while the distance between the front seats has been increased by 20 mm. The Mark X also has Sport, Snow and Eco driving modes, Variable Gear Ratio Steering system (with electric power steering) which controls the angle of the front wheels according to vehicle speed, Vehicle Dynamics Integrated Management and an Adaptive Variable Suspension for models kitted with the sports package.

The Japanese auto maker also improved the safety features of the Mark X. All models come with seven airbags including SRS side airbags, SRS curtain shield airbags and a driver’s seat knee airbag, VSC (Vehicle Stability Control), TRC (Traction Control) and Active Headrests up front to reduce stress on the neck in a rear-end collision.

The sedan is also offered with a Pre-Crash Brake Assist system, a Pre-Crash Brake system and Pre-Crash Seatbelts, Intelligent AFS (Adaptive Front-lighting System), Radar Cruise Control system equipped with a brake-control function and a Hill-start Assist Control function.

The Sports type Mark X (250G S package, 250G S package Relax Selection, 350S) features tinting for the headlights and combination taillights, spoilers on front and rear bumpers and trunk lid, black-themed interior and steering-mounted paddle shifters.

The Premium type Mark X on the other hand comes with special plating on the front grille, rocker moldings and its own front bumper design, steering wheel and shift knob ornamentation with wood-grain finish, heated front seats, Power Easy Access System (slides driver’s seat back and tilts steering wheel upward and forward) as well as velour-moquette seat covers that are treated with mite-suppressing agent that also prevents static electricity – for those of you who tend to get static electricity. In Japan, pricing for the Mark X starts from 2,380,000 yen (just under RM89,000) and tops out at 3,800,000 yen (about RM142,000).

Look for more images after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of New Toyota Mark X: official details and photos

The Honda Civic is now available in Tafetta White, making it the third model in the Honda Malaysia line-up to offer the new colour. Both the 1.8 liter and 2.0 liter models will get the new colour. Tafetta White Civics are expected to be quite high in demand, accounting for 30% of projected 600 units sales per month.

“After conducting research and analyzing customer feedback, coupled with the positive response from the introduction of the colour for Honda Accord and Honda CR-V, we decided to incorporate the Taffeta White in the Honda Civic 1.8L and 2.0L as well,” said Honda Malaysia’s new CEO Toru Takahashi.

Mr Takahashi also revealed that the two CBU Civic models – the Honda Civic Hybrid and the Honda Civic Type R – have surpassed over 200 units each in Malaysia. The Type R is currently sold out for the moment and it’s not known when the next batch will come in. The last unit was sold by Honda Global Amity in Seri Kembangan.