Now that most of the regional automotive manufacturing and assembly has gone to Thailand, the biggest buzzword that had been uttered repeatedly during the period where the NAP review was being formulated was hybrid cars and green technology.

So we had to shift focus. The government was quite bent on trying to get a piece of the green pie instead. Or so it seemed, there was plenty of talk in the papers. And you know what they say, supposedly in ASEAN you build your pick-ups in Thailand, your MPVs and vans in Indonesia and your passenger cars in Malaysia. That’s supposedly what kept Volkswagen interested despite flip-flop partnership decisions in the first place.

The new National Automotive Policy review offers a cocktail of R&D grants, duty exemptions, fiscal incentives to whoever invests in the assembly or manufacturing of hybrid and electric vehicles. For automakers, you’ll get 100% Pioneer Status/Investment Tax Allowance for 10 years, training and R&D grants in addition to existing grants, 50% exemption on excise duty on CKD/manufactured vehicles from the IAF.

For hybrid parts suppliers such as electric motors, batteries, Battery Management System, inverters, electric-powered air conditioning, and air compressors, you will get 100% Pioneer Status for 10 years and 100% Investment Tax Allowance for 5 years.

Even before the NAP review was announced, there was one measure that was announced leading up to these new hybrid/EV car incentives announced during the Budget 2009 last year. Imports of CBU hybrid vehicles were given an exemption on import duty and a 50% excise duty exemption. These exemptions will end on the 31st of December 2010 and the NAP review mentions no intention to extend this deadline. If you want to grab a Prius or a Civic Hybrid, you’d better do so before the end of next year, as prices on these cars are sure to go up.

The biggest blow to the government’s green dreams was the announcement that Toyota was going to setup a hybrid manufacturing facility in Thailand. One of the cars that were to be assembled is the Toyota Camry Hybrid. Toyota sells the most hybrid vehicles among all automakers and they are probably the first to setup a hybrid plant outside of their ‘home ground’. Because of their best-seller status, they are able to get the volumes to justify new investments not only in Thailand, but in Australia and soon the UK.

Even with the new lower price of RM129,980 (RM1,180 higher than the Civic 2.0S), Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd only managed to register a total of 100 units of the new Honda Civic Hybrid in Malaysia as of July 2009, and this is the total amount registered since its introduction in our market. The numbers for the much more expensive Toyota Prius certainly will not do any better.

It looks like hybrid cars remain a niche product here despite reduced pricing and there is simply no volume for any car manufacturer to even think of setting up Malaysian assembly facilities, let alone manufacturing facilities. Unless of course you are talking about the ‘SKD’ trickery that some car companies are successfully pulling off. All Honda hybrids are so far assembled at its Suzuka plant.

The government has failed to understand that the production of hybrid vehicles cannot be simply placed anywhere a car company likes – there has to be an ecosystem of hybrid component suppliers as well. It’s a completely different chicken and egg scenario than the one the government thought was most important – pricing and acceptance of hybrid cars which they attempted to solve with the CBU hybrid car incentives that managed to bring the prices of the Civic Hybrid and the Prius down in Malaysia.

And now that Toyota – the largest seller of hybrid vehicles in the world – has placed a hybrid production center in Thailand, guess where the hybrid supplier eco-system is going to be?

The only thing we can do now is sit and wait for hybrid vehicles to take off in terms of acceptance and sales internationally. Then maybe some will come here. But that’s a big maybe. We can look at companies like Ford and GM. GM has a big base in Thailand but they’ve shown some interest in facilities here in the past. We’ve already covered how the Chevrolet Volt is simply too expensive a vehicle to make for what it is, but perhaps the next generation of GM hybrids.

Ford has also shown some improvement in its hybrid car sales – it’s hot on Honda’s heels to take the position of the #2 hybrid seller in the US from the Japanese company. But still, all of these hybrid cars from non-Japanese manufacturers are very US-centric – all medium to large SUVs pretending to be green by adding a motor-assist system in order to comply with weird CAFE systems. They won’t sell in any kind of decent numbers here, not in Malaysia, not in this region, so no reason to assemble them here. Ford Europe is relying more on diesel but the Ford Kuga will be the first European hybrid for the company.

But seriously, for any of that to happen, there will be a gap of years and years in between the end of the CBU import incentives and the introduction of the first locally assembled/produced hybrid car. Prices will shoot up skywards all over again. Hybrid cars will once again become unaffordable. When the cars are not on the road, people will be less exposed to them. Whatever low level of acceptance that hybrid cars currently have will once again go down the drain. And then the first CKD hybrid car will roll out with a decent price, with everyone being afraid to actually buy it.

Do you see what’s wrong with the picture?

Here’s the media release from MITI detailing every bit of the National Automotive Policy review. More stories on this issue to come later. By now you would probably already have seen this embedded document viewer used on this site a few times before so please use the Full Screen function for the best reading experience.

Click here to read the rest of The full NAP review text released by MITI

UPDATED: The results of the National Automotive Policy review were revealed this morning at a media conference.

The following are the updates I’ve been getting so far from various sources, this post will be updated as I get more info.

• A total of 18 new policies and measures covering licencing, duties, incentives, technology and environment, safety and standards and APs to be effective January 1st 2010.
• Open AP system to be scrapped by December 31 2015.
• AP holders will be audited twice a year.
• A gazetted Customs pricelist for used CBU cars to be established to supplement the current list of new CBU cars. This will be used to prevent underdeclaration of grey import vehicles by declaring then as “used” instead of new in order to manipulate the price, as the gazetted pricelist is currently only for new vehicles.
• A large chunk of the RM300 million expected to be collected from the RM10,000 per Open AP fee to be used to develop the auto industry and increase Bumiputra entrepreneurship participation in the auto industry.
• Import duty on CBU & CKD cars maintained.
• Import of used parts to stop in June 2011 (what???).
• Incentives and exemptions will be increased to develop local auto parts.
• Franchise APs to be terminated by December 31 2020.
• Foreign firms can apply for manufacturing licenses to hold 100% shares in firms to produce vehicles with engine capacity of larger than 1,800cc and costing more than RM150,000. This will open up the upper end of the market while keeping the lower end where Proton and Perodua are protected.
• Issuance of new Manufacturing License to be unfrozen for selected segments – hybrid and electric vehicles, pick-up trucks, commercial vehicles and motorcycles with engine capacity of 200cc and above.
• Vehicles 15 years and older will have to be tested annually for roadworthiness; provisions to be made for vintage cars.
• A new strategic partnership between Proton and an established manufacturer will be established.
• Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to establish clear roadmap for fuel standards and quality towards Euro 4M standards to be implemented by 2011
• Automotive Development Fund and Industrial Adjustment Fund will be continued. Despite excise duty and import duty being the same across the board for all makes whether ‘national’ or foreign, cars that have a decent amount of local content as well as proof of local activities such as R&D will receive incentives from the funds. This is where national makes like Proton gets an advantage – despite an equally high excise duty, it gets rebates because its cars are developed locally. Supposedly anyone who meets the fund requirements are able to get the same incentives, but it’s safe to say only Proton has that much investment in the Malaysian auto industry.
• Exemptions on statutory income from exported goods will be increased to 30% from 10% for goods with at least 30% value-added content (I’m guessing this means local content), and from 15% to 50% for goods with at least 50% value-added content.

Group Lotus’s new motorsports ambitions will be spearheaded by its newly appointed Director of Motorsport Claudio Berro, who will report directly to CEO Dany Bahar. Both Berro and his boss Bahar are ex-Ferrari men. Berro was previously the Operations Racing Director for the Speedcar Middle-East International Race Series.

Before that, he held positions at Ferrari, Maserati and Fiat as Formula One Team Manager, Director responsible for all sport activities for Ferrari and Maserati (excluding F1), General Manager Maserati Corse and Director of Fiat Group’s Motorsport Activities, and Racing Operations Director for Abarth. So he’s definitely a man with experience.

“Lotus has a peerless motorsport heritage, not just in Formula One, but we have also won in sportscar racing, saloon car racing, world rally championships, Le Mans and the Indy 500. There is no other car company in the world which can lay claim to so many accolades and championships in such a wide variety of motorsport fields, and I am looking forward to re-introducing Lotus to high level motorsport to not only compete and win but also to demonstrate the shared technology between Lotus sportscars and future racing cars,” said Berro.

Of course, Lotus is also in Formula One, except it actually isn’t. The new Lotus F1 Team is actually run by Litespeed in terms of technical expertise.

Related Posts:
Lotsu eyeing Indy car series, GT and Le Mans

The Suzuki SX4 Sport Crossover (that’s the hatchback version, not the sedan) has been updated with new specifications in Malaysia. On the outside, the model adds auto-retractable side mirrors with intergrated signal indicators, new design 16 inch alloys, and a new front grille.

Inside, there is a new meter cluster with an integrated MID, a new design for the automatic climate control panel, armrests for the front seats, illuminated audio controls, and an additional dash center speaker and aux-in socket for the audio system.

The most significant change has been to the engine – output is now 110 horsepower at 5,600rpm and 150Nm of torque at 3,800rpm instead of the previous power figures of 101hp at 5,600rpm and 140Nm at 4,000rpm. This means the engine will now perform much better – it now makes more torque, but at a lower RPM at the same time. The 4-speed automatic remains. Other technical changes include a revised front suspension for better comfort, and the addition of ventilated discs for the rear brakes.

The car goes for RM89,998 in Peninsular Malaysia, OTR with insurance. From what I heard, the CBU Japan odd-looking “tall” sedan version can be had at some Suzuki dealerships for much cheaper under RM80k after a RM12k discount.

Nissan will be adding two more variants to its Nissan Navara line-up soon, and both of them will be manual. The two manual models will be called the Standard and the SE.

Instead of the 5-speed auto, you’ll get a 6-speed manual gearbox, which is a first in the pick-up segment in Malaysia. The engine is the same 2.5 liter YD25DDTi engine which is the most powerful engine in its segment, producing 174 PS and 403Nm of torque. The engine is intercooled and has VGT.

The list of equipment will also be a downgrade from the current LE Automatic. The xenon headlamps will be replaced by halogens, the seats will be fabric, the rearview mirrors will lose its auto-dimming function, the CD changer will be replaced with a single CD, and the 6 speaker system will be downgraded to 4 speakers.

Some plastic bits in the interior which used to have a silver finish will also be replaced by the beige interior colour. On the outside, the door mirrors will have their chrome finish replaced by body colour paint.

What the SE has over the Standard are ABS brakes and the dual front SRS airbags, which the Standard version lacks. So far no prices of the new manual Standard and SE have been released yet, but expect them to of course be lower than the RM105,800 that you have to pay for the automatic Navara LE in Peninsular Malaysia. With the equipment deleted off the Standard compared to the top of the range LE, it’d better be significantly lower!

Renault has given its new Renault Fluence the tagline “Travel Upgraded”. When you talk about cars designed for emerging economies, thanks to the Dacia Logan all that one can think of is an excessively plain B-segment hatch, or a B-segment sedan that looks more like a hatch with a boot glued on.

C-segment vehicles are usually “world cars” that are the same across the whole market so you might see a big price jump between a low cost car and the next size up. It’s not often that you see a manufacturer come out with a C-segment car (and a big one at that) and say this baby is designed to be easy on your pocket yet offer an upgraded level of comfort at the same time.

The cost-down modifications are apparent – A is the Megane’s original funky meter cluster while B is the Fluence’s more ‘regular’ design

The new Renault Fluence is essentially a Megane sedan, but Renault has designed it to be suitable for markets like Turkey, Russia, Romania and the Mediterranean Basin. It will also be sold in Australia, the Middle-East and Europe.

The Renault Fluence most likely shares most if not all its underpinings with the Nissan Sylphy we have here in Malaysia. It measures 4,620mm long, 1,479mm tall and 1,809mm wide. It has a wheelbase of 2,700mm. That’s actually larger than the Civic’s 4,540mm by 1,435mm by 1,755mm dimensions.

Renault Fluence Sport

A “sports” model with a bodykit and large wheels will come later but there won’t be any powerful engine inside – a maximum 140 horses is all you’re going to get with this car for now. The engine choices top out at a 140 horsepower 2.0 liter engine mated to either a 6-speed manual or a CVT (you’ll probably find this is the same combo in the Sylphy) but the majority of customers will probably opt for the smaller 110hp 1.6 liter petrol or one of the five Renault eco2 diesel engines ranging from a dCi 85 up to a dCi 110 with diesel particulate filter.

Most people shy away from Continental makes because of spareparts worries but would you buy the Fluence in Malaysia with better peace of mind because of potential (I’m not 100% sure) parts commonality with the Sylphy?

Look after the jump for a big photo gallery of the Fluence.

Click here to read the rest of Renault Fluence: more hi-res photos released

The new Toyota Mark X’s Mazda-like wheel arches are even more obvious in real life than in photos. Toyota has basically taken the existing Mark X design and literally did a facelift on it, seemingly stretching the front design outwards and upwards.

As for the rear end, the car’s bangle butt design has been toned down a little and the tail lamp design now stretches onto the car’s bootlid. Kinda reminds me of the Sylphy really. Look after the jump for more live photos of the Mark X at Tokyo 2009.

Click here to read the rest of Tokyo 2009: New Toyota Mark X

Future automobile products are planned a few years in advance and with the volatile world markets these days the job of a product engineering team as well as a product planner is getting harder and harder.

Autonews.com has a very interesting story they managed to squeeze out of Honda’s management at the 2009 Tokyo show centering around one of Honda’s most vital platforms – the Civic platform.

The Civic platform forms the basis of other vehicles like the Stream, the CR-V, and even other Hondas not found in our market such as the Honda Element. The interview revealed that Honda’s original intentions was for the next generation Honda Civic to be even larger and more plush than the current Civic, which has already grown to last decade Accord-ish proportions in terms of length and wheelbase.

The Civic hatchback platform differs from the sedan’s and is smaller.

But that plan has been scrapped. Honda engineers have instead been told to make the Civic smaller and lighter. It’s not 100% clear what this means – the Civic may not necessarily become smaller than the current generation. It could probably mean smaller and lighter than originally intended to be, which would hopefully put it around the same size as the current generation. Honda wants to try creating an increased perception of interior space but keep the exterior dimensions within control.

Another rumour that surfaced a few months ago was that Honda could be splitting the Civic into two lines like Toyota’s Corolla and Corolla Altis, a smaller one for Japanese tax regulations and a larger one for markets that like more metal for their money.

Stream is based on the Civic platform

But such a mid-way change has caused the project to be somewhat delayed. The current Civic has just been facelifted and a new one is supposed to arrive in 2011, a 5 year cycle after its introduction in 2006. But Honda is putting in more manpower to try to meet the target. If that doesn’t happen, the Civic could be delayed for a year or so. Honda president Takanobu Ito admitted the team was struggling.

This is not unprecedented, the previous generation Corolla Altis was also delayed and we still ended up with an all-new Altis that was pretty much a reskinned previous gen.

Other new upcoming Honda products include the implementation of the hybrid IMA system across more models. Right now it is only available in small to medium cars – the Insight, the Civic Hybrid, and pretty soon the CR-Z. A hybrid minivan is coming – this could mean a few things such as an USDM Odyssey Hybrid or even a Stream Hybrid. Not much else was revealed about which minivan model. There used to be an Accord Hybrid but that was scrapped due to discouraging sales. But larger hybrid vehicles like the Accord Hyrbid is going to make a comeback soon.

Honda revealed that a dual-motor IMA system is currently under development. The dual motor system will be configured in a way that it is able to function as an e-CVT in full electric mode, much like the series-parallel system in the Toyota Prius.

This means Honda will have a two-prong hybrid strategy – a motor assist parallel mode hybrid system for smaller cars and a full hybrid series-parallel system that can be used in larger cars. A series-parallel hybrid is of course more costly and complicated to implement thus more suitable for larger vehicles that are able to carry higher price tags.

Lotus Engineering is currently pushing its Versatile Vehicle Architecture to any manufacturer that wants to license it as a base platform for future cars.

The Lotus Evora is the first production car to debut based on the VVA chassis and previously we’ve also seen the Lotus APX Concept which was also built on the VVA. It’s interesting how these two models could have come off the same base platform as the APX is a front engine crossover SUV kind of thing while the Evora is a mid-engine sports car.

The VVA allows for the development of a range of vehicles up to a gross vehicle weight of 1,900 kg. It is designed for low to mid volume applications and is an evolution of technology from the tub that forms the basis of the Elise, Exige and Europa. The tub now allows for ease of ingress and egress from the vehicle (it’s not exactly easy to get in and out of an Elise), build modularity and improved, lower-cost repairability.

View presentation in full screen for ease of reading

One of the key selling points is that usually when car manufacturers make a niche or halo vehicle, it rarely fits the kind of engineering that the rest of its product range does. Not every car company is like Toyota, able to quickly source a rear wheel drive platform and boxer engine from now-partly-owned Subaru. A halo sportscar that may require a bespoke platform will rarely fit in with the rest of the mundane front wheel drive sedans and hatches in terms of platform engineering.

So instead of spending lots of time and money on a bespoke niche platform, Lotus hopes car companies will come to them for the VVA instead. It has been designed so that it can be stretched in width, length and height. The strength and stiffness of the low volume VVA chassis can be modified cost-effectively by varying the wall thickness of the extrusions, without altering the exterior dimensions.