Archive for Local News

The new Mazda 3 Sport is now in Malaysia. I apologise for the delay in the launch writeup as I’ve only just managed to get the press kit. Only the sedan models with 1.6 and 2.0 engines have been launched at the moment but I am told the hatchbacks will be introduced later.

This new Mazda 3 does share some underpinings with the previous Mazda 3 sold here but sports a completely new look. At the front you of course have the smiley grille which everyone was commenting on when this model was first unveiled. Even Mazda calls this a “smiley” face grille!

The side profile looks way more dynamic than the outgoing model, with a shoulderline that rises upwards instead of the flat one on the previous model. The rear end is an evolution of the outgoing car, also looking more sportier and with an obvious family resemblance to the larger Mazda 6 sedan.

The 2.0 liter model is really quite chock full of equipment. You’ve got bi-xenon headlamps (xenon for both main beam and high beam) with auto leveling, rain sensor wipers, power folding mirrors, automatic climate control, LED rear lamps, light sensor for the headlamps, and fog lamps for the exterior. The interior has an in-dash 6 CD changer, a multi-info display featuring exterior air thermometer, trip computer with speed alarm, blue mood lighting, a sliding arm rest, paddle shifters, a black-out meter cluster, leather seats and a leather steering. Both models have ABS, and the 1.6 liter model has dual front airbags while the 2.0 liter model has 6 airbags.

UPDATE: I apologize for the mistake, the Mazda 3 Sport 2.0 has 6 airbags. There are two at the front, two at the A-pillars and another two integrated into the front seats.

The MID display is one of the most full-featured ones that I’ve seen at this price range and segment. It even has reminder functions for your next service as well as a built-in trip computer and reminder for tyre rotation. The seats are manually adjustable for both models, and the rear bench splits 60:40. The steering wheel is both tilt and telescopically adjustable, and runs on an electric hydraulic system.

In the engine bay, the 1.6 liter base model features a 103 horsepower inline-4 with 144Nm of torque at 4,000rpm. This is mated to a 4-speed auto with a single overdrive. The 2.0 liter model produces 145 horsepower at 6,500rpm and 182Nm of torque at 4,500rpm. This engine is mated to a 5-speed auto with two overdrives, but the first overdrive has a ratio of 0.933 which is very close to 1.000.

The new Mazda 3 shares the same 2,640mm wheelbase as the outgoing car. It now measures 4,580mm long, 1,75mm wide and 1,470mm tall. The 1.6 liter model has wider treads of 1,535mm at the front and 1,520mm at the rear, while the 2.0 liter model front tread is 1,530mm and 1,515mm for rear tread. The 2.0 has larger wheels naturally, measuring 205/50R17 compared to 195/65R15 for the 1.6 model.

What you lose on the 1.6 model are the CD changer, xenon headlamps, rain sensor wipers, LED tail lamps, power folding mirrors, leather steering and sports seats, trip computer with speed alarm, auto climate control, lamps on the sun visors, and the sliding arm rest.

The 1.6 model is currently going for RM 111,017.50 OTR with insurance while the 2.0 liter model is going for RM 131,537.90 OTR with insurance. Mazda says these are special introductory prices for the first 100 customers only. In addition, the first 50 of these buyers will receive a maintenance package from Goodyear Tyres and Shell Lubricants.

Look after the jump for more photos of the new Mazda 3.

Click here to read the rest of Mazda 3 Sport 1.6 and 2.0 launched in Malaysia!

Those who are looking for a rugged ladder frame-based 4WD vehicle as an alternative to the Ford Everest or the Toyota Fortuner can now opt for the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, which is based on the multi-Malaysian-award-winning Mitsubishi Triton pick-up truck.

Mitsubishi has engineered a SUV body for the Triton’s ladder frame and change the rear leaf spring suspension to one based on coil springs mated to a 3-link live axle with stabilizer bar. The front rides on double wishbones with coil springs and a stabilizer bar. It is essentially the replacement for the Mitsubishi Challenger which can be found on Malaysian roads, which is a 4WD SUV version of the Mitsubishi Storm which preceded the current Triton.

Under the hood is a 16 valve 4 cylinder direct injection intercooled turbocharged 2.5 liter diesel engine producing 136 PS at 3,500rpm and 314Nm of torque at 2,000rpm. This is mated to a 4-speed automatic transmission with INVECS-II shift control. No 3.2 liter version like the one in the Triton currently available.

The 4WD system features Super Select 4WD. SS-4WD features four modes – 2H for regular driving, 4H for a 50:50 torque split between the front and rear axle, 4HLc which locks the center differential for equal power to all four wheels, and 4LLc which engages 4WD, the center differential lock, and in addition drives power through a set of low gear ratios for torque multiplication. 2H to 4H can be selected at speeds of up to 100km/h. 4LLc provides a maximum climb angle of 35 degrees. Departure angle and approach angles are 25 degrees and 36 degrees respectively. The ramp break-over angle is 23 degrees. Lateral travel angle (tilted sideways) is up to 45 degrees.

The Pajero Sport features a beige interior with three rows of seats in a 2-3-2 configuration, which means space for 7. The second row splits 60:40, with two 3-point seatbelts for the sides and one 2-point center lapbelt for the middle. The third row has 3-point seatbelts for both seats. For smaller families that don’t require the third row, it can be folded down flat and kept that way most of the time to make way for a larger boot space. The second row shares air conditioning vent airflow from the front dash with the first row while the third row gets their own side vents with manual fan speed control.

The interior’s dashboard design looks quite close to the Triton but there are a few subtle changes such as a different steering wheel, a slightly different design for the center dash area, and a different automatic shifter to accommodate the Tiptronic manual shifting ability. The area where the Triton featured an RV meter has been replaced with a 2-DIN touch screen DVD/CD head unit with USB and AUX input, mated to a 6-speaker audio system (including 2 tweeters).

The Pajero sport rides on 265/65R17 tyres. It has dual SRS airbags for the front. Brakes are ventilated discs at the front and drums at the rear. To help with maneuvering its larger bulk it has both front and rear sensors. The wing mirrors have power folding function. A total of 5 body colours are available – Eisen Grey Mica, Cool Silver Metallic, Platinum Beige Metallic, Dark Blue Mica and White Pearl. It goes for RM162,980.00 OTR with insurance for individual private registration, and RM163,450.51 for company private registration.

Now that’s a huge gap of tens of thousands between the price of the Pajero Sport and the Triton but it’s all because of taxes as the price difference between the Pajero Sport and Triton in Langkawi is just slightly more than RM3k – RM88,888.00 for the Pajero Sport SUV versus RM85,299.05 for the Triton pick-up, both for individual private reg. The Pajero Sport is brought in as a fully imported CBU from Thailand.

Look after the jump for more images of the Pajero Sport.

Click here to read the rest of Mitsubishi Pajero Sport SUV on sale for RM163k!

A new facelifted Ford Escape will go on sale at Sime Darby Auto Connexion showrooms from the 12th of June 2009. A single model will be offered – the 2.3 liter inline-4 engine mated to a 4-speed automatic transmission which Sime Darby says will be priced at below RM140,000 OTR with insurance. The official price will be unveiled sometime this week.

The V6 model has been dropped for this generation of Escape, which actually differs from the new American market model that was unveiled in 2007 and showcased on this blog previously. Ford decided to split the Escape into two models, with Malaysia getting this Asia-Pacific model which was previewed at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show as the Ford Escape Adventure Concept, while the US gets one with a more traditionally truck-like look.

Tech-wise, the US Escape gets some new changes this year – the 2.3 has been replaced by a 2.5 and the V6 gets a 40hp boost to 240 horses, along with an upgrade from a 4-speed to a 6-speed auto transmission. There is even a hybrid model mated to a CVT. Our Asian market version continues with the 2.3 liter and the 4-speed auto.

The new facelifted Ford Escape will come with a 3 year or 100,000 km warranty. Initial specs are revealed to include ABS, EBD, a sunroof, cruise control and a imported leather interior (not wrapped locally).

Look after the jump for a gallery of the Asian market Escape.

Click here to read the rest of New Ford Escape facelift coming to Malaysia!

Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd is currently offering a 100 unit limited edition Honda Jazz Grade S Modulo Limited Edition, which is essentially the Jazz Grade S with a Modulo kit which consists of a front and rear lip, side skirts, and a tailgate spoiler. It is only available in Cerulean Blue Metallic. According to Honda, the Modulo kit cost approximately RM5,000 but the 100 units are priced at the same price as the normal Jazz S: RM104,800.

With a difference of only RM5k between the Jazz S and V, it’s likely that alot of Jazz customers just opted to pay the extra RM5k for the Jazz V, so this promotion could be intended to help prop up the sales of the S variant to balance out the stock levels.

In case you don’t know, the Jazz S is the lower spec version of the two offered, with the top of the line being the Jazz Grade V. The V has larger wheels (16 inch versus 15 inch on the S) and a black interior instead of a black and blue interior on the V.

For the full list of differences, check out my Honda Jazz launch story, or look after the jump for a closer look at the bodykit parts.

Click here to read the rest of Honda Jazz S Modulo Limited Edition – 100 units

The Proton Saga 1.6 liter B-Line with manual transmission is now available for public booking on Proton Edar’s website. The B-Line M/T listed at RM39,000 is the sole 1.6 liter model on sale, and is only available in Chilli Red. That’s about roughly a RM3k premium over the 1.3 liter B-Line M/T.

No specs for the B-Line 1.6L M/T have been made known on the site but based on various ads placed on online classifieds: it has power windows for the front, air conditioning, an alarm system and a CD player so it should satisfy the bare requirements of creature comforts, but with no safety features as there is no airbag.

The car comes with steel wheels so if you want to spend some money you can quickly junk them and put something else on to match the more powerful engine.

Interestingly the cheapest and most affordable N-Line which was priced at RM31.5k seems to be completely gone from Proton Edar’s website now.

It is not unusual for car manufacturers to launch a car model with the very baseline model priced without profit or even at a loss to draw customers to showrooms, and then later get the sales staff to try to sell them the more profitable trim levels. This baseline model will then be phased out later.

Also, is it just me or have the prices changed since launch?

Proton is in the red again for the financial year 2008/2009 after a short stint of profitability for the 2007/2008 financial year. Profit of RM144 million in the previous financial year dropped to a loss of RM338 million for the financial year ended 31st March 2009.

Chairman Dato’ Mohd Nadzmi Mohd Salleh says the results are primarily due to impairment of property, plant and equipment (PPE) and inventory write-down of certain models impacted by volume contraction, and is reflective of the current global economic condition.

He added that the second half of the financial year was dversely affected by the accelerated amortisation of certain dies and jigs as well as the increased costs of components and raw materials arising from higher foreign currency exchange rates, particularly, the Japanese Yen and the US Dollar.

He noted that despite the loss, revenue had actually improved from RM5.62 billion in FY2007/2008 to RM6.49 billion in FY2008/2009, an increase of RM864.98 million. Proton currently has a cash balance of RM899.5 million, down from RM1,173.9 million in FY2007/2008. They also expect to receive a RM81 million R&D grant through the National Automotive Policy for the financial year.

“As a fully fledged automotive company, we spent a substantial amount on the development of new models such as the Proton Exora and Lotus Evora during the year. While this had affected our cash reserves, we will be able to recover when the cars are sold,” said the group’s managing director Dato’ Haji Syed Zainal Abidin.

Dato Haji also adds that Proton intends to double their total sales volume by 2010, with the bulk of improvement coming from improvements in export market sales. The Proton Exora will be launched in Indonesia in July 2009. Proton sold 156,845 cars in FY2008/2009, up from 139,942 in FY2008/2007. Out of that amount, 16,746 or just over 10% were export cars and 2,280 were Lotus cars.

In other Proton related news, the Proton Exora is now eligible for the Proton Xchange programme effective immediately, where customers will be able to trade in their old cars with minimum lifespan of 10 years for a RM5,000 discount.

Look after the jump for the full Q4 results announcement by Proton.

Click here to read the rest of Proton posts RM338 million FY2008/2009 loss!

I have heard time and time again from enthusiastic Naza Kia management that a car company is all about the Brand, Product and Network. Sometime back Naza Kia embarked on a whole overhaul of their dealer network.

As per most of your reactions to the new products from the Korean marque such as the Kia Forte and Forte Koup, I believe that Kia has got the whole Product thing right, but it is hard for the marque to handle things such as Network directly as this is the responsibility of the country’s distributor. All 3 aspects have to move forward to bring Kia on par with the Japanese.

Kia cannot sell based on a cheap price tag forever as the Chinese manufacturers are quickly moving to fill in area part of the product landscape. Kia developed a 200 question 1000 point system for dealer development, and each country’s distributors have to follow this system in the evaluation and overhauling the Network part of Brand, Product and Network.

The results from the 1000 point system determines if a network outlet is graded from A to E. A, B and C outlets are recognised and rewarded, whereas strict efforts are put in place to either develop D and E outlets into at least B and C outlets or revoke their dealership. 24 Malaysian dealers scored sufficient points to be accorded ‘A’ which Kia Motors recognises as being Platinum-grade dealers. 18 are in the B grade, 2 in C, 2 in D and none in E (these E dealers have presumably been terminated).

In recognition of these efforts, Naza Kia was selected as the best in the Asia-Pacific region to win the Kia Asia-Pacific Network Development Award, based on the number of dealers developed and improved.

The Chevrolet Captiva is an interesting and good looking alternative to the regular Honda CR-V and the aging Nissan X-Trail that people usually opt for when they look for an SUV under RM200,000. In fact, the Captiva is Hicom-Chevrolet’s best-seller and it’s refreshing that a company has been offering a turbodiesel variant for people to enjoy diesel power in a more family-friendly format without resorting to driving a pick-up truck.

There are various versions of the 7-seater (third row folds flat) Captiva available and the highlight is the top of the line Captiva Diesel with all-wheel drive. The 2.0 liter engine produces 150 horsepower at 5,000rpm but the really nice thing is it has 320Nm of torque from 2,000rpm for an effortless drive around town, no need to rev the engine to get good momentum.

Even the 2.4L petrol is tuned for very good torque – horsepower is low at 136hp for a 2.4L engine but it is a compromise in order to get 220Nm at only 2,200rpm. Both engines are mated to a 5-speed auto.

The Diesel version gets beige leather upholstery as standard, an 8-speaker sound system with MP3, USB and Bluetooth Audio support, ESP stability control with Active Rollover Protection, Hill Descent Control, and Traction Control.

Safety features for all Captivas include dual front airbags, ABS, disc brakes on all wheels and ISOFIX child seat points for the second row, which is something that certain car manufacturers think Malaysians do not know how to use or perhaps do not deserve, but if you don’t have the points in the first place how are people going to learn?

The first 50 customers will also get a holiday package to a resort at Lake Kenyir, a GPS navigation system and a rear view camera which is mounted cleanly on the rear bumper. The GPS map is customised with the locations of Chevrolet dealers nationwide.

The following are the prices for the new Captiva. The top of the range is the 2.0L AWD Diesel with beige interior, this is the model with all the goodies and safety features. All prices are OTR with insurance.

Chevrolet Captiva 2.4L AWD Petrol (Beige Interior) RM 150,306.20
Chevrolet Captiva 2.0L AWD Diesel (Beige Interior) RM 161,442.30
Chevrolet Captiva 2.4L AWD Petrol (Grey Interior) RM 151,332.20
Chevrolet Captiva 2.4L FWD Petrol (Grey Interior) RM 143,124.20
Chevrolet Captiva 2.0L FWD Diesel (Grey Interior) RM 150,982.30

There are two accessory packages available for you to add-on. One is the Captiva Sporty Package which includes a Front Bumper Guard, Black Chrome Bezel headlamps, Side Steps, Chrome Wind Deflector and Clear Chrome Rear Lamps for RM 7,700.

The other is the Captiva Elegant Package which includes the Molding Package, Black Chrome Bezel Headlamps, Side Steps, Chrome Wind Deflector and Clear Chrome Rear Lamps for RM 6,800.

Click here to read the rest of Chevrolet Captiva 7-seater SUV updated in Malaysia with new features!

Right now when you renew your motor insurance, 10% of the fee you are paying actually goes to the insurance agent as commission. From the 1st of July 2009 onwards, you could potentially save on this 10% fee by buying your motor insurance from insurance companies directly.

Insurance companies will have to offer mandatory rebates to customers who buy insurance directly such as through the Internet, telemarketing, direct mailing, or walk-in customers. If you are a new customer you will be entitled to a 5% rebate, and from the 2nd year renewing with that company onwards, you’ll get a 10% rebate.

There are already plenty of insurance companies selling insurance online such as ETiQA. But while this move will benefit consumers who are aware of this and know how to go directly to the insurance companies, many insurance agents would have lost a source of annual income, as the same person usually goes back to a certain agent every year for his motor insurance needs.

Source

The new Audi Q5 is here in Malaysia, available in two models – the regular version priced at RM299,000 or the S-Line priced at RM325,000, both prices without insurance. Both models come with the very nice 2.0 liter TFSI engine with Valvelift putting out 211 horses and 350Nm of torque between 1,500 to 4,200rpm, and is mated to a 7-speed S-Tronic twin clutch transmission.

The S-Line package includes an S-Line exterior bodykit, Milano leather for the front seats and black headlining. On top of that you can also spec some other niceties including a B&O sound system for RM6k, a panoramic glass roof for RM10k and an electrical tailgate for RM6.5k. This should mean a fully loaded up Q5 should cost you RM347.5k!

Although there are plenty of platform sharing going on between Volkswagen and Audi and the Q7 has many technical and platform similiarities to the Cayenne and the Touareg, the Q5 is no rebadged Tiguan. The Q5 is more of a SUV-ized Audi A4 and uses the A4’s MLP architecture, which means a longitudinal engine layout instead of the Tiguan’s transverse engine layout.

Also, the Tiguan’s transverse edition of the engine puts out less power and torque – only 200 horses and 280Nm over 1,700 to 5,000rpm. The Tiguan also uses a regular torque converter 6-speed auto, while this Q5 has a DSG.

Its competitors in Malaysia is the new Land Rover Freelander 2 which goes for RM272k with a 2.2 liter turbodiesel engine, the Tiguan 2.0 TFSI which goes for about RM250k, the X3 which goes for RM320k (this model has even disappeared from bmw.com.my) and the RAV4 which comes in the cheapest at RM204k. Internationally there is also the Mercedes-Benz GLK but Malaysia will not see this model offered officially as Stuttgart has decided to build it in left hand drive only.

Look after the jump for a full gallery and video of the Q5.

Click here to read the rest of Audi Q5 in Malaysia: RM299k to RM325k!