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BMW Malaysia is currently having a competition to celebrate both the MINI brand’s upcoming 1000th customer as well as the MINI brand’s 50th birthday next year.

The 998th, 999th and 1000th MINI customer in Malaysia will be able to visit the MINI Plant Oxford in the UK and will be invited to the MINI 50th birthday bash at the Silverstone racing circuit, all expenses paid of course! BMW Malaysia is expecting to hit 1000 MINIs on our roads sometime in early 2009.

These 3 lucky customers will also get a special limited edition roof art (design shown on the left, click for larger image) for their MINI designed by 26 year old Penang-born artist Munkao.

Existing MINI owners will also be able to win the plant visit and party invite (but not the roof design though). What you need to do is submit a creative shot of you and your MINI along with the slogan “I love my MINI because…”. This photo and slogan must be submitted at the contest website at 1000LoveMINI.

I’ve been to Plant Oxford before, courtesy of BMW. Read my plant visit stories in the two related links below.

Related Posts:
MINI Production Triangle and Plant Oxford tour
MINI Collection Fashion Show

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Honda’s new second generation Insight hybrid will feature the Honda Ecological Drive Assist System, a driver’s assist system that helps the driver drive fuel efficiently.

How it does this is via a few indicators on the dashboard. There is a scoring system on the multi-info display which gives the driver feedback via graphic “leaves”, which grow over time as the driver becomes more able at fuel efficient driving.

The second indicator is the background colour of the digital speedometer display, which is located on the top deck of the multi-tiered dashboard. This is probably more convenient as it doesn’t require the driver to shift his eyes too far from the road to know how fuel efficient is his current driving pattern. During fuel efficient driving, the background is green, and this changes to blue-green during relatively fuel-efficient driving and back to fuel when the driving pattern is not efficient. This colour changes in real time.

Another feature of the Honda Ecological Drive Assist System is the ECON Mode button which activates an energy-saving feature in the air conditioning unit, extends idle stop time, and increases regenerative recharging during deceleration. The IMA’s CVT transmission shift programming also changes to a more fuel saving pattern.

This isn’t a preview of a future model, or perhaps just a very vague one, but is instead a demonstration of alternative car styling exercises that cam be done thanks to the flexibility of installation of a fuel cell.

The Honda FC Sport concept uses the Honda V-Flow fuel cell stack from the Honda FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel cell car to power the electric motor that drives the car. The fuel cell is located behind the rear seats while the battery pack if placed low in the middle of the vehicle, helping give it a low center of gravity. The electric motor sits just forward of the rear axle. The hydrogen fuel tanks are located behind the rear axle and can be seen from above through the transparent glass.

On the interior, the Honda FC Sport concept fits three including the driver, with the driver sitting in a racecar-like center driving position. The two passenger seats flank the driver’s seat behind him.

Look after the jump for a set of 6 more hi-res images.

Click here to read the rest of Honda FC Sport design study concept

It feels like not a day goes by without reading about some new form of cost-cutting by the Detroit Three. Today’s casualty is Tiger Woods, or more specifically his endorsement deal with GM which ends prematurely this December 31, a year earlier than scheduled.

Tiger Woods has endorsed GM for the past 9 years and drives Buick vehicles such as the Buick Enclave as part of the deal. The deal is valued at US$40 million for 5 years, a contract which was renewed in 2005.

Woods was involved extensively in the launch of the Buick Rendezvous SUV in 2002 and apparently more than 130,000 of the SUV were sold in 2002 and 2003, which far exceeded forecasts. That sales success was attributed to Tiger Woods.

GM also grounded 2 more of their original 7 leased corporate jets, which were already down to 5 in September. This must be a big blow for big GM’s pride, having only 3 corporate jets in its fleet now.

GM, Ford and Chrysler attracted criticism when their company heads flew down to Washington D.C. in their luxury private jets to lobby the U.S. Congress for bailout money. Such irony. Democrat Gary Ackerman likened it to seeing a man in a high hat and a tuxedo working in a soup kitchen. I guess they’ll never learn.

Skoda has given the C-segment Skoda Octavia liftback (aeroback) and estate a facelift for the 2009 model year. The front end receives a more dynamic look (e.g. new Fabia-ish more shapely headlamps) instead of the straight-cut look that the pre-facelift Octavia had.

The 1.6 FSI model will be replaced by a new 1.4 TSI turbocharged engine producing 122 horsepower, which is more than the outgoing FSI’s 115 horses. The star of the line-up will be the Octavia vRS which will feature a 200hp turbo FSI engine mated to a twin clutch DSG transmission.

Three more shots of the new Octavia available after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of 2009 Skoda Octavia facelift gets 1.4 TSI engine

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I’m sure alot of you are aware of credit card features such as Mastercard Paypass and Visa Wave, but what if you could integrate something like that into your car key? That’s precisely the idea that BMW Group Research and Technology had when they came up with this concept multifunctional smart key.

The new smart key is multifunctional like what a MyKad is supposed to be - it can store a credit card and even stuff like lectronic tickets for bus, train and air travel.

Datuk Shahrir Samad says fuel prices could be lowered again by another 15 sen during the next revision which is scheduled to take place at the end of this month. A 15 sen reduction would mean RM1.85 per liter for RON97 fuel, the lowest it has been in 3 years since it was previously raised to RM1.92 end-February 2006.

He also said the National Economic Council will meet on the 1st of December 2008 to decide on a fuel price float mechanism where fuel prices would be revised at a certain interval according to global crude oil prices, with a 30 sen fuel subsidy to be given only when necessary so there will probably be some form of upper-end threshold before the subsidy kicks in. The matter of a lower-end threshold (a floor price for fuel) is still being decided, but if the government goes ahead with one we’ll see us paying a fuel tax for every liter if crude oil prices drop below the floor price.

But let’s hope we won’t see Fomca’s wishes come true. Fomca (Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations) spoke to the NST on Sunday and said they would like to see a minimum price of RM3 per liter to encourage prudent use of petrol, push for alternative energy R&D and promote the use of public transport.

Obviously Fomca secretary-general Muhammad Sha’ani Abdullah lives right next to an LRT in an area where buses are clean, well-maintained and always on time because I sure don’t and I’m sure many others do not.

Source 1, Source 2

The world has much to thank Ford about when it comes to the new Ford Mustang. It’s the car that started the whole “retro-futurism” muscle car trend that gave us beauties like the new Transformers Chevy Camaro and the new Dodge Challenger.

This is the revised fifth generation Mustang, facelifted for the 2010 model year, which will go on sale in early 2009. You can have it in either 4.0 liter V6 or 4.6 liter V8 engines, with the former being from the Cologne engine family featuring an iron block with an aluminium SOHC head, 2 valves per cylinder, and a redline of 6,100rpm. Peak output is 210 horsepower at 5,300rpm and peak torque is 325Nm at 3,500rpm.

The V8 from the Ford Modular family is where it gets just a little more “exciting”: variable valve timing, all-aluminium and 3 valves per cylinder good for 300 horses at 5,750rpm and 434Nm of torque at 4,500rpm up to a redline of 6,250rpm. Both engines can be mated to either a 5-speed manual or a 5-speed automatic transmission.

The special limited edition Mustang Bullit will be continued with this facelift, with an additional 3,000 units planned to be added to the initial 7,700 unit number. This version features a slightly tuned up engine producing 315 horses and 440Nm of torque, and Ford also promises crisper throttle response and a higher redline of 6,500rpm.

The Mustang also gets a new glass-roof option priced at US$1,995 allowing you to enjoy the night sky without actually having to opt for the Convertible model.

Pay a visit to the photo gallery after the jump for high-res Mustang goodness.

Click here to read the rest of 2010 Ford Mustang: official details and photos

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Volvo Cars has released a teaser image of the Volvo S60 Concept that’s set to make a public debut at the 2009 Detroit Motor Show in January 2009. A view of the concept’s all-white interior was unveiled earlier, which featured a center dash stack made of crystal crafted by Orrefors.

The S60 Concept features a coupe-like silhouette and the design of the shoulder line pays homage to the likes of the Audi A5 and Hyundai Elantra as in it has a wave-like shape extending from the front headlamp to the rear taillamp. Volvo Cars says is inspired by the cliffs and seas of Volvo’s home country, Sweden.

“We both can and dare to deliver even more exciting and more dynamic designs while retaining our grip on the lead position with regard to safety. The concept car shows part of our future, it’s a hint that the all-new S60 will be one of the strongest contenders in the CD premium segment. The concept car’s design gives a visual promise of enthusiastic driving characteristics and I can assure you that the all-new S60 will deliver a sporty drive like no Volvo before,” says Stephen Odell, President and CEO at Volvo Cars.

We’re definitely waiting in anticipation, Steve! This 2009 concept will preview a production version which will make a debut for the 2010 model year.

The Fisker Karma is a plug-in hybrid luxury sports sedan, and was also the subject of controversy because Tesla accused Fisker Coachbuild of not doing a good job with the work it was contracted to do with the upcoming (and postponed) Tesla Model S sports sedan. Tesla has since dropped the lawsuit.

The Karma is an extended-range plug-in electric vehicle, which means its sole method of drive is its electric motor, which can take it up to 0 to 100km/h in a rapid-enough 5.8 seconds. But it also has a combustion engine, which was just recently announced this week to be GM’s inline-4 turbocharged direct injection Ecotec engine from the Pontiac Solstice GXP that can produce 260hp.

This engine’s sole purpose is to generate electricity to recharge the Karma’s batteries to extend the car’s 80km battery range. I’m not sure why such a high-powered engine is necessary for this, instead of a small displacement engine like GM’s own extended range plug-in, the Chevrolet Volt. Perhaps its because the li-ion batteries need to be recharged more rapidly because of the high power requirements of the electric motor.

“GM is proud that Fisker has selected one of the world’s best powertrains for installation into the new Karma. The advanced design of this engine offers a superior performance-to-weight ratio that makes it the right choice for the Fisker Karma,” said Tom Stephens, Executive VP of GM Powertrain & Global Quality.

Look after the jump for a gallery of the Fisker Karma.

Click here to read the rest of Fisker Karma to use 260hp 2.0L turbo from GM