A source inside BMW attests that there will be no new BMW 5-series planned for introduction in any country at anytime in 2009, contrary to the story by Autocar UK earlier this month.

Autocar’s report came as a shocker to everyone because a full model change in 2009 gives the current BMW 5-Series a model lifespan of only 5 years, much shorter than the lifespan of its predecessors.

The BMW 5-Series began with the E12 and it had a product cycle of 9 years (1972 to 1981). Next up was the E28 from 1982 to 1988, a 6 year cycle. The BMW E34 was launched in 1989, and was in the market up until 1996 – that’s 7 years. The delicious E39 lasted from 1997 to 2004 – that’s another 7 years.

The current 5-series was introduced in 2004 and was updated in early 2007, so following a similiar 7 year (maybe 6, since the market is more competitive now) product cycle we can only expect a replacement perhaps in 2010 or 2011?

Related Posts:
Autocar 2010 BMW 5-Series Details Scoop

We should have seen this coming: Naza has picked up the sole distributorship for Peugeot cars here in Malaysia after Cycle and Carriage Bintang Berhad announced back in October that it had decided not to renew its contract, which would expire at the end of this year.

The Naza Group already has a relationship with Automobiles Peugeot through Naza Corporation Sdn Bhd to assemble the Peugeot 206 here locally as the Naza 206 Bestari.

Expect the sexy looking Peugeot 407 to be assembled locally soon, which should put it in better reach for buyers looking at D-segment sedans and want to try something European. The 2.0 liter model currently sells for RM164,989.90 OTR with insurance. A drop to about RM130k to RM140k through local assembly is likely, and this is good news to me at least, because Naza has some surprisingly very decent local assembly build quality for its foreign brand cars, something I’ve personally observed with the new Kia Optima and the Naza Bestari.

Related Posts:
CCB discontinued Peugeot partnership in Malaysia

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This kitted up Mazda Demio Mazdaspeed Concept will join its bigger sibling, the Mazda Atenza Mazdaspeed Concept at the 2008 Tokyo Auto Salon early next year. The Mazda Demio is the car’s Japanese market name, and it is known as the Mazda 2 everywhere else in the world. A Mazdaspeed 2 with a 2.0 liter turbocharged engine would be nice – or perhaps an even smaller turbocharged engine to save weight and help with the car’s balance. One more photo available after the jump.

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Mazda Atenza Mazdaspeed Concept

Click here to read the rest of Mazda Demio Mazdaspeed Concept

Volkswagen AG will be remodelling the group’s wholesale operations in Malaysia through Volkswagen Group Malaysia, as the initial plans for the group to tie up with Proton in a strategic stakeholding failed.

“Following the recent developments in the Proton-Volkswagen discussions and the Malaysian Government’s announcement, Volkswagen is currently reviewing its business strategy for Malaysia. Volkswagen considers the government’s counsel on this matter to be of utmost importance and value in ensuring the well-being of all Volkswagen local stakeholders, especially its customers. Volkswagen continues to believe in the potential of Malaysia’s automotive industry as well as the country’s continuously growing importance and influence in the region,” said Volkswagen in a statement.

From what I see, VGM could take two paths – one is to bring in CBU units through AFTA benefits from wherever they decide to place their regional plant, either Thailand or Indonesia, and the other would be to start up CKD assembly in Malaysia.

The last European manufacturer who looked into the CKD business here was Peugeot, and they seem to be happy with the standard of Naza Automotive Manufacturing’s plants up in Gurun, so that might be a good idea. Other choices include Inokom in Kulim, and Oriental Assemblers in Johor.

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BorgWarner has announced the winners of the 2007 China Heart awards – an annual event which picks China’s top 10 engines.

The 2007 China Heart awards are selected by an independant evaluation committee comprising of 14 members from research agencies, universities, and media. An engine must be manufactured in China, equipped for vehicles made in China, and in mass production in China for the current year to quality for the awards. 59 engines by 34 OEMs and engine manufacturers were rated based on performance, technology, market performance, and environmental-friendliness. The winners are:

• Mazda 6 2.3L engine from FAW Car Company
• Audi 3.2L FSI engine from FAW-VW
• BMW 3.0L engine from Brilliance BMW
• Roewe 2.5L engine from Shanghai Motor Company
• Buick 2.4L engine from Shanghai General Motors
• Magotan & Skoda 1.8 TSI engine from FAW-VW
• Zun Chi 1.8T engine from Brilliance Auto
• Corolla 1.8L engine from FAW-Toyota
• Brilliance Jun Jie 1.8L engine from Dong’an Engine Company
• SX 4 1.6L engine from Chang’an Suzuki

It would be interesting to note that the only actual Chinese engine there is Brilliance Auto’s Zun Chi 1.8T engine. The rest are all global engines in global cars, perhaps with minor localization for the Chinese market.

Some of you who have been following my blog for more of the year should be able to remember the Brilliance Zun Chi – it was featured back in April 2006 but I spelled the name “Junjie” instead of Zun Chi. Its a rather decent looking car, and this particular engine that won the top 10 award powers the top of the range variant of the car.

The engine is codenamed the BL18T, and it is a turbocharged 1.8 liter engine making 167 horsepower at 5,500rpm and 235Nm of torque constantly from 2,000rpm to 4,500rpm. It has a bore and stroke of 81×87mm.

Quite a decent effort from a Chinese car manufacturer, isn’t it? The Brilliance Zun Chi/Junjie itself is not too bad looking – you can view it by clicking the link below.

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Zhonghua Brilliance Junjie

Those of you who are movie buffs will already know this – the latest installment in the Batman series will be premiering in July 2008 and it will be titled The Dark Knight. The villain in this movie will be the Joker, and he will be played by Heath Ledger. The Dark Knight himself will be played by Christian Bale of course – the man’s performance in Batman Begins was fantastic. Anyway, Warner Bros has released the full trailer for the new movie and you will be able to watch it after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of The Dark Knight Movie Trailer

Ford is taking the Ford Focus ST up another level with a top of the range Ford Focus RS. Above is a teaser image of the new car released by Ford. While the ST competes with the likes of the Golf GTI, the Ford Focus RS will be a Golf R32 fighter, with it’s Volvo inline-5 2.5 liter engine tuned up to produce 300 horsepower and 400Nm of torque. All-wheel drive is also very likely.

A concept version of the new Ford Focus RS is expected to be unveiled at the 2008 London Motor Show, with the production version following in early 2009.

Prices for the new BMW X6 in the UK has been released, and there will be 4 variants available in that part of the world. The cheapest is the BMW X6 xDrive30d, powered by the single turbocharged variant of BMW’s 3.0 liter turbodiesel engine. Next up is the BMW X6 xDrive35i, powered by BMW’s 3.0 liter twin turbocharged engine that made its debut in the BMW 335i Coupe. This takes the BMW X6 from 0 to 100km/h in 6.7 seconds, only 0.2 seconds faster than the third variant, the BMW X6 xDrive35d, which does it in 6.9 seconds thanks to BMW’s award winning twin sequential turbocharged 3.0 liter turbodiesel engine, producing 286 horepower and 580Nm of torque.

The most powerful and most torquey BMW X6 is the variant with the all-new 4.4 liter twin turbocharged V8 under the hood, producing 408 horsepower and 600Nm of torque. This takes the BMW X6 up to 100km/h in only 5.4 seconds, and goes on to a top speed of 250km/h. This is the most powerful production X car that BMW has ever created. The price for this monster has not been released yet.

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BMW X6 full details, specifications, photos and video

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Autocar reports that the next generation W212 E-Class will be unveiled in September 2008 – less than a year from now. Once again Mercedes Benz will be trying to get a younger generation of customers, and the new car will gain more hard edged looks, like its two siblings the new S-Class and the new C-Class.

The new Mercedes Benz E-Class will also get direct injection engines for its high end engines, probably the same new direct injected 3.5 liter V6 found in the Mercedes Benz CLS350 CGI. The new lean-burn CGI engine manages a fuel consumption of 9.1 to 9.3 liters per 100km in the European driving cycle, and delivers 292 horsepower and 365Nm of torque over 3,000 to 5,100rpm – an extra 20 horsepower and 4% more torque compared to the conventionally injected 3.5 liter V6.

The torque to displacement ratio also exceeds the usual slightly below 100Nm per liter ratio for normally aspirated engines.

For Malaysians, it would be interesting to see whether the E200K replacement gets a new turbocharged engine or not… as many feel the M271 is getting abit old.

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The Naza Forza is Naza’s latest foray into the high-volume A-segment market and they obviously hope to reverse their fortunes after the Naza Sutera failed to get into 5-digit sales after 18 months on the market. But what is it exactly?

First of all, it’s got an Italian name, unlike the rest of Naza’s offerings which have had specifically Malaysian names in the past. It’ll be launched today but Shannon Teoh was part of a media sneak to Port Dickson recently to find out exactly what sort of pizza Naza is baking with their latest car.

More after the jump, including the new price and warranty/service package.

Click here to read the rest of Naza Forza 1.1 Manual Test Drive Report

The final production version of the new BMW X6 will be unveiled at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show in January, but for the benefit of all of us who obviously can’t take off and head to Detroit, they’ve released full details on the car.

Two variants of the new E71 BMW X6 Sport Activity Vehicle will be made available – both petrol but these product photos show that there will be a diesel one available too. The top of the line 4.4 liter twin turbocharged V8 petrol engine used in the X6 is new engine unveiled to the world for the first time.

The BMW X6 xDrive50i uses a new 4.4 liter V8 direct injection twin turbocharged all-aluminium engine putting out 408 horsepower between 5,500rpm and 6,400rpm, and 600Nm of torque over a wide range of between 1,800rpm and 4,500rpm. It is the first turbocharged V engine in the world to feature its turbocharger between the V section in the middle of the two banks of cylinders.

The engine uses water-to-air intercoolers which provide a shorter air path, and omits the use of Valvetronic throttle-less intake, a choice BMW made with the N54B30 twin turbocharged inline-6, and the BMW Prince engine used in the MINI Cooper S.

The other petrol model is the BMW X6 xDrive35i, using the award winning 3.0 liter twin turbo inline-6, also powering the 135i and 335i, making 300 horsepower between 5,800rpm and 6250rpm, and a peak torque of 400Nm between 1,400rpm and 5.000rpm. The oil burner model is the BMW X6 xDrive35d, powered by the potent 3.0 liter sequential twin turbodiesel of course.

BMW’s xDrive permanent all-wheel drive which comes standard on the X6 now has Dynamic Performance Control, which is essentially a torque vectoring system. Dynamic Performance Control ensures variable distribution of forces between the two rear wheels via an innovative torque vectoring rear differential and an advanced computer control system. This creates a DSC-like effect but without the momentum loss because of DSC’s use of braking. This control can be employed independent of engine load of drive power, so it also works when the driver’s foot is off the throttle pedal – a first in the world.

Ride and handling is controlled by Integrated Chassis Management technology, which varies drivetrain and suspension functions within fractions of a second, responding to sudden changes in driving conditions such as spontaneous steering maneuvers on changing surfaces, whether accelerating or braking. Vehicle control in situations that requires it is primarily employed by Dynamic Performance Control – DSC which uses brakes only kicks in at far limits of vehicle stability.

Of course, every performance X BMW needs to have Adaptive Drive, which is a fantastic system I’ve tried out in first person. It uses variable anti-roll bars and dampers to control body roll – this makes a huge difference!

Now the boring utility stuff – storage space in the rear of the BMW X6 is rather large at 724 liters, and this can be increased by folding down the rear seat backrests to 1690 liters. The BMW X6 seats 4.

More photos and a video available after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of BMW X6 full details, specifications and photos

After 6 years of development, the Chang’An Jiexun HVE hybrid vehicle has rolled off the production lines – China’s first locally developed hybrid vehicle. It’s your run of the mill hybrid – a 1.5 liter gasoline engine combined with an electric motor. Chang’An says this will improve fuel efficiency by 20%.

Not sure how well this will do – Toyota only sold 2,000 Prius hybrid vehicles in China last year, but Chang’An promises the Jiexun HVE will be cheaper than foreign hybrids in the Chinese market. Chang’An also recently announced Chinas first independently-developed hydrogen engine earlier this year.

Could this Chang’An Jiexun HVE possibly come to Malaysia? We’ve had sightings of a tall MPV on road tests in Malaysia, not sure what happened to that one, but the model has been identified as the Chang’An CM8.

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Chang’An unveils China’s first independently developed hydrogen engine
Chang’An CM8 spotted in Malaysia!
Chang’An CM8 to be assembled in Malaysia

Being known as one of the pioneers in vehicle safety, Volvo has been constantly researching new ways to make motoring safer. Volvo has brought us technologies like the Blind Spot Information System that we have in the fully imported second generation 3.2 liter Volvo S80. Here are a few new vehicle safety technologies that Volvo is showcasing:

Volvo Collision Warning with Auto Brake

The Collision Warning with Auto Brake system helps the driver “see” people. It uses radar with a wide angel search area to detect objects in front of and around the car. If an object – say, a pedestrian – is detected, a red warning light will first come up on the car’s HUD, and a warning system will sound.

If the driver does not react to this, assisted panic braking is activated to help the driver when he slams on the brakes. If the driver somehow does not brake, the car activates the brakes automatically as a last resort – but only by 24km/h.

Volvo Collision Avoidance by Auto Steering

Collision Avoidance by Auto Steering is an advanced version of Lane Departure Warning, in which the latter uses a camera to monitor the position of the car in relative to lane markers.

This new system takes it further by using both a camera and radar to monitor the position of the car itself and oncoming traffic. If the car moves into a wrong lane and there is an oncoming object detected, the car automatically steers itself back into the original lane,

Vehicle to Vehicle Communication

Volvo is also testing out inter-vehicle communication – for example one car can receive information from another car further down the road and inform them of an obstacle in the middle of the road that has caused the driver to slam on the brakes and come to a halt. With this information, the other cars coming up the road can be warned before hand.

“With communication between vehicles, and between vehicles and the traffic environment, a large number of todays accidents could be avoided. The major challenges are to find a standard “language” and the particular applications that are most urgent and effective,” says Jonas Ekmark, Manager for Preventive Safety at Volvo Cars Safety Centre.

LATEST UPDATE: Nissan Grand Livina 1.6 and 1.8 launched in Malaysia

This trailerload of Nissan Livina MPVs was snapped by reader Gupta. The MPVs were undisguised – this should mean a launch is imminent really soon! We can count at least three colours here – white, grey and black.

Check out a few more photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Nissan Livina spotted on trailers in Malaysia

While it is a common practice these days to turn hatchbacks into sedans, some hatches really shouldn’t be turned into sedans. One such hatch is the Suzuki Swift, which looks really good as a hatch but as these spyshots show, looks as odd as a Chery QQ6 when it is given a notchback sedan body style.

This photo was snapped at Suzuki India… is this the replacement for the Maruti Suzuki Esteem sedan (essentially a sedan based on an older Suzuki Swift)?

The new Suzuki Swift Sedan will hit Indian showrooms in February 2008.

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