Archive for International News

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the USA has now made stability control mandatory on all vehicles below 4535kg beginning September 2011. The September 2011 deadline applies for carmakers that produce over 5,000 cars a year - other manufacturers will be given more time to put the technology in.

So now stability control systems like DSC and VSA has joined the ranks of mandatory safety systems in all vehicles, airbags being one of them. This will indirectly make ABS mandatory, as stability control depends on the same functions as ABS to selectively activate brakes.

The NHTSA expects SUV rollovers to drop by 59%, and passenger cars to drop by 34% once the regulations are in effect, making stability control available on all cars. Of course, most manufacturers will include an option to disable stability control for some crazy driving opportunity in safe, controlled environments.

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A Saudi Arabian private company under the Al-Qabba Group called Malaysian Centre plans to setup a Proton assembly plant in Saudi Arabia to market Proton cars in the Middle Eastern market. Malaysian Centre is currently talking to DRB-HICOM as their middlemen with Proton, and will be paying a visit to Malaysian soon to discuss the matter.

Sales targets would be 2,000 cars a year initially and these figures are expected to increase to 5,000 units a year by the year 2011.

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Volvo has launched the new facelifted versions of it’s Volvo S40 sedan and the Volvo V50 stationwagon. The styling cues have been updated to reflect Volvo’s new design cues that started with the new latest model S80 sedan and V70 stationwagon.

There is increased differentiation with the front ends of the two cars. Both cars use different bumper designs, and the V50 grille is now sportier with a black egg-crate design and a larger Volvo iron mark. Tail lamps for both cars are slimmer by 30mm, have a new graphic layout and now use LEDs to light up. The exhaust tailpipes have also had their shape and position altered.

As for the interior, there is now extra space on the front door inside panels thanks to reshaped speakers. There is now a new large compartment that can fit an A4 book, an upright drinks can or a water bottle lying down. The iconic slim center console that has been copied by other manufacturers now feature an optional real wood trim called Nordic Light Oak, which can be seen in the photos after the jump. It looks really weird, I prefer the normal brushed aluminium. Some safety enhancements include hazard lights that automatically come on when airbags are activated, and all three brake lights flashing five times a second during emergency braking or ABS function activation. Also, ISOFIX points in the rear seats are now standard.

Two models have engine enhancements - the 2.5 liter turbocharged T5 model’s horsepower is up by 10 to 23 horsepower, while the Euro V-compliant 400Nm D5 turbodiesel engine now comes with a 6-speed manual.

More photos after the jump, or read my road test report on the Volvo V50 T5.

Click here to read the rest of Volvo S40 and V50 facelifted

The results of the World Car Of The Year 2007 awards have been announced, and the winner is the Lexus LS460! The LS is available on our local shores in long wheelbase form - the Lexus LS460L. The other two top contenders for the award was the new second generation Audi TT and the new second generation MINI Cooper/Cooper S. The other contenders in the top ten finalists were the Audi Q7, Citroen C4 Picasso, Citroen C6, Fiat Grande Punto, Jaguar XK, Mercedes CL-class, and the Suzuki SX4/Fiat Sedici.

To be eligible for the overall World Car of the Year title, cars must be on sale in 2006 on at least two continents. The awards are conducted by automotive journalists from all over the world. This year there were no Malaysian jurors on the list. There was a Malaysian juror on the list back in 2005 - Daniel Fernandez, managing editor of Asian Auto Magazine. There are three other supplementary awards - World Design of the Year won by the Audi TT, World Performance Car won by the Audi RS4, and World Green Car won by the BMW Hydrogen 7.

Volkswagen under Martin Winterkorn’s leadership is currently developing two low-end car platforms in parallel. One is being developed in Brazil, and following the lead of the low cost Renault/Dacia Logan, would be sold first in Brazil and eventually in all emerging markets like India and China. The other is being designed in Germany. Both cars are targetted at an entry price point of 7,000 Euros. As a comparison, the Proton Savvy in the UK is priced at £5,995, or 8,804 Euros, so the new Volkswagens would be priced even cheaper than a Savvy!

Something like this could definitely be used as an Iswara Replacement Model if Proton ever chooses to develop a car based on a Volkswagen platform, however sources through the grape vines have indicated that the Iswara Replacement Model is already being developed without external technology and platform sourcing, and prototypes have already been shown to Malaysian journalists.

Volvo’s R badge was originally intended to change the public’s perception on Volvo. While being known for safety is a great branding achivement by itself, it wanted people to know that Volvo is just not all about boring old safety. Thus the R badge was born, first born by the 850 T5 R and later continuing on the new S60 R and V70 R.

The new generation R duo featured turbocharged engines making 300 horsepower, and went from 0 to 100km/h in 5.4 seconds, putting all those 300 horses to the ground through a Haldex all-wheel-drive system.

While Volvo’s R badged vehicles were delicious beasts to begin with, sales figures did not meet expectations. Annual sales targets were set at 3,800 for the S60 R and V70 R, but only managed to hit 1,098 S60 R and 528 V70 R in 2006. Thus the R badge will be dropped beginning 2008 onwards, but Volvo intends to cook up more performance versions in the future, just without the R badge.

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Other than Thailand, everyone knows Americans have a healthy appetite for pick-up trucks, which is why anyone who wants to do a pick-up truck must think of whether it can do well in the American market. Because only if it sells in America you can get the economies of scale you need.

Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia have no pick-up truck. This is because there was previously a 25% tariff on trucks entering the American market, but now with a new free trade agreement between US and South Korea, Kia is now considering developing a pick-up truck for the Korean market.

Unfortunately for us, whatever Kia makes is not likely to ever reach our shores. Americans love huge oversized trucks, not the 2.5 liter to 3.0 liter turbodiesels that we have running around our country. Kia’s truck offering will most likely be monsters like the Kia KCV4 Mojave concept pick-up truck shown above. It’s a pity, because Theophilus Chin’s photoshop of a Sorento-based pick-up looked quite good.

Related Posts:
Kia Sorento Pickup Truck Photoshop

Volkswagen doesn’t seem to be able to decide what it wants to call it’s station wagons. The Passat stationwagon is called the Passat Variant, while this Jetta stationwagon, essentially also a Golf stationwagon, is called the Jetta SportWagen.

It will be offered with either a 2.5 liter normally aspirated 5-cylinder putting out 170 horsepower, a 2.0 Turbo FSI with 200 horsepower, as well as a 2.0 liter turbodiesel engine. More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen

BMW’s 5-Series Facelift model line-up for the US market will be slightly different than the European line-up previously announced when the 5-Series Facelift was unveiled. In the US, the 2008 BMW 5-Series will come in 528i and 535i forms, an upgrade from the previous 525i and 530i models.

The 2008 BMW 528i features a slightly detuned 3.0 liter inline-6 found in the previous generation 530i, now making 230 horsepower at 6,500rpm. The 2008 BMW 535i features none other than BMW’s award-winning 3.0 liter twin-turbo direct injection engine, making 300 horsepower at 5,800rpm and 406Nm of torque between 1,400rpm to 5,000rpm. The top of the range is the BMW 550i, which uses the same 4.8 liter V8 as it’s predecessor, however the engine now makes 360 horsepower and 488 Nm of torque, up from 350 hp and 475Nm.

BMW’s new fast shifting and locking 6-speed transmission Sport Automatic Transmission that made it’s debut in the E92 BMW 335i Coupe will also be an option for either the BMW 535i and the BMW 550i.

Check out my previous post on the BMW 5-Series facelift for more details on the new facelifted car. For the moment, it’s not known when this new facelifted BMW 5-Series will arrive on Malaysian shores as the bulk of our 5-Series sales are CKD units, so the production lines must be readied.

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This trio of new minicars are part of Chevrolet’s initiative to introduce new minicars because of the recent market shift to a preferance for economical and fuel efficient cars. The cars were designed by GM Daewoo in Incheon, South Korea and were designed with GM’s Global Product Development Process which ensures cars have design elements that can be targetted at any international market, but at the same time responsive to regional needs, whatever that means

Please have a look at the three cars after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Chevrolet Concept Cars: Trax, Beat and Groove