Archive for Local News

Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Datuk Shahrir Samad says petrol prices may go down further, and may have hinted at a possible reduction in price sometime before Hari Raya. “Looks like fuel prices are stable and I hope they continue to be so and come down a little so we can celebrate Hari Raya happier,” he said to Bernama at the Bernama Web TV launch yesterday.

He said a reduction is possible as there is a slight downward trend in fuel prices, with crude oil costing US$109 a barrel this week compared to US$115 a barrel two weeks ago.

The government raised fuel prices on the 5th of June this year from RM1.92 per liter to RM2.70 per liter for RON97, RM1.88 per liter to RM2.62 per liter for RON92 and RM1.58 per liter to RM2.581 per liter for diesel fuel

It then dropped it on the 23rd of August 2008 to RM2.55 per liter for RON97, RM2.40 per liter for RON92 and RM2.50 per liter for diesel.

Chery’s B240 MPV has been relaunched in Malaysia as a locally assembled car and it is now called the Chery Eastar. The locally assembled Chery Eastar MPVs will roll out of Oriental Assembler Sdn Bhd’s plant in Johor, but a new CKD plant will be up and running in Pekan, Pahang by the end of 2009. The Pekan plant will include an investment of over RM50 million in equipment and will begin assembly of up to 100,000 Chery vehicles a year, including 10 models such as hybrids, SUVs, MPVs and executive cars.

According to Chery Alado Sdn Bhd’s chairman Tan Sri Cam Soh Thiam Hong, more details on the plant will be announced in the next two months together with its joint venture partners which may include a GLC. “Malaysia is the largest passenger car market in ASEAN and also the important link for Chery to other ASEAN countries’ market. We currently have 7 other overseas factories in countries like Russia, Iran, Egypt and Argentina and are planning to accelerate more overseas factories in the coming 2 years,” said Chinese automaker Chery Automobile Co Ltd’s president Yin Tongyao.

Chery currently exports 120,000 vehicles yearly and plans to hit 400,000 vehicles by 2010. As it is, the Malaysian plant will export 30% of its Chery Eastar production to countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Australia. Local sales of the MPV is expected to be between 120 to 200 units monthly.

Under the hood of the 7-seater Chery Eastar MPV is a 2.4 liter SOHC Mitsubishi long-stroke engine producing a rather sedate 127 horsepower at 5,500rpm and 198Nm of torque at 3,000rpm. This is quite a conservatively-tuned basic engine (SOHC, 9:1 compression) which does not produce much power for its displacement but should be relatively easy on maintenance. It is mated to a 4-speed automatic transmission with manual shifting. The MPV measures 4662mm long, 1820mm wide and 1590mm tall with a long 2800mm wheelbase.

The new Chery Eastar is priced at RM79,888 for the standard version and RM86,888 for the high-spec version. The standard version includes LED rear lamps, side turn indicators on the wing mirrors, all-round disc brakes, a radio cassette player with 6 speakers, manual windows and 16 inch steel wheels while the premium version adds a CD player with MP3 support, steering wheel audio controls, ABS brakes, traction control, power windows for all four doors, dual SRS airbags for the front, and 16 inch alloy wheels. Further options include 18 inch alloy wheels and an NGV kit.

The high-spec version adds It comes with 1 year free service (for the first 1,000 units sold) and a 3+2 year warranty.

Click here to read the rest of Chery Alado launches locally assembled 2.4 liter Chery Eastar 7-seater MPV

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Would you be interested in a Proton Persona powered by 100% electric power for about RM80k? That could be a genuine question sometime in the future, thanks to Detroit Electric. The team from Detroit Electric is in KL this week with their fleet of prototype electric cars built on existing models. A few cars were available at the media event today including a Lotus Elise, a Proton Persona, and a Proton Savvy. All were powered by Detroit Electric’s electric powertrains with various power ratings.

We took the Lotus Elise for a spin around Proton’s oval test track at its Shah Alam plant. Read our experience as well as more on Dutch-based Detroit Electric after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of DRIVEN: Detroit Electric’s electric Lotus Elise

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The Proton MPV will begin on-road testing from the 12th of September 2008 onwards, so we’ll be able to spot it on our local roads and hopefully get some nice clear photos possibly from mid-September onwards. It will be launched to the public in March 2009.

Proton sources have confirmed that the Proton MPV will initially come with the 125 horsepower Campro CPS found in the highline GEN2 CPS facelift. The car will ride on 15 inch wheels which should be easy on the fuel consumption as well as tyre change bills as smaller tyres are cheaper. 125hp is far from sprinty on a heavy vehicle especially with all 7 seats occupied, but it is still more powerful than the 1.3, 1.5 and 1.6 liter engines that almost all B-segment Japanese MPVs have to make do with.

A turbocharged Campro engine is said to be in the works but according to inside sources if any other engine options other than the CPS engine are to be available for the Proton MPV, next in line is more likely to be a turbodiesel engine. In fact, Proton may have played a part in (successfully) lobbying for the recent drop of diesel road tax rates to the same level as petrol road tax rates.

Above is a rendered image by Theophilus Chin based on insider information including some photos of a finished Proton MPV model that have been circulating in e-mail inboxes. Some of you have definitely seen it already by now. Some details in the rendered image are correct so you can have a “preview” but others are intentionally left different to prevent any legal problems.

The actual car will have a much sharper and sportier front end which will remind you of the Lotus APX. I am also unable to post up the finished model photos as they were taken inside private properties and not public roads, thus leaving anyone publishing it open to legal problems.

Look after the jump for two more shots of Theo Chin’s rendered speculation, or click any one of the related stories before for more exclusive details on the Proton MPV.

Related Stories:
Proton MPV: exclusive initial details and specifications revealed!
Proton MPV sketches preview production model
First sighting of Proton MPV test mule on the road

Click here to read the rest of Proton MPV first batch to roll out mid-Sept 2008

There are only two announcements made during the unveiling of the Budget 2009 yesterday that directly applies to motorists. One is a change in the road tax structure for diesel cars. Effective from the 1st of September 2008, the road tax rates for diesel cars will be changed to be the same as petrol cars.

I am not sure whether this is really good news or not because for an owner of the Isuzu D-MAX 3.0 who previously had to pay RM1,878.10 for individual private registration (according to Isuzu Malaysia’s website) for his truck equipped with a 2,999cc engine, he now may have to pay over RM2,000 for his road tax (typical for a 3.0 liter petrol engine). Unless of course they are still keeping the significant green engine discount, then the new rates will be cheaper.

The other thing revealed during the budget presentation was the abolishing of 100% import duty and 50% excise duty for hybrid cars imported by franchise holders with engine displacements lower than 2,000cc.

What I like is the barriers that the government has put around this to prevent “loopholes” as it would rule out all the “luxury hybrids” out there (including the 2.4 liter Camry Hybrid and the collection of hybrid Toyota MPVs) and narrow it down to cars like the Civic Hybrid and the Prius which have small engines assisted by electric motors. Only allowing franchise holders (and not Open AP holders, grey importers) to have this tax exemption would only let genuine importers who will back their cars like Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd.

The tax exemption will be affective from the 30th of August 2008 to the 31st of December 2010 (slightly more than 2 years). The government has also defined what is a hybrid car. It says a hybrid car should be “a vehicle with at least two different energy converters and two different energy storage systems (gasoline and electric), on-board the vehicle for the purpose of vehicle propulsion.” It should also achieve not less than a 50% increase in city fuel economy OR not less than a 25% increase in combined city-highway fuel economy compared to an equivalent vehicle with a regular internal-combustion engine. Carbon monoxide emissions must be less than 2.3 g/km.

As mentioned above, this tax exemption will only be in effect for the next 2 years. The rational given by the government is that they want to encourage local assembly of hybrid cars. Allowing cars to be brought in at prices to simulate local assembled prices for a short period of time will allow car manufacturers to gauge public acceptance of hybrid cars so that they can take into consideration local assembly.

Whether this will work or not is not known - hybrid cars are complicated things and there could be a reason why hybrid cars usually come from a centralise production center in a world. Only when the Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive achieved major success did Toyota decide to set up more hybrid production centers around the world, one of which will be up north in Thailand. The others will be in Mississippi, Australia and China.

Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd has announced that it welcomes the new “temporary” tax structure and it would be announcing the Honda Civic Hybrid’s new pricing soon. The Honda Civic Hybrid currently costs RM162,800 OTR with insurance in the Peninsular Malaysia. In Langkawi, it costs RM100,800 and RM104,800 in Labuan.

National carmaker Proton Holdings Bhd announced today at its Annual General Meeting that its new MPV will be launched in March 2009. It also mentioned that it would focus more on fuel efficiency in the future, in line with the world’s energy crisis and high fuel prices.

It also revealed its financial performance for the first quarter of financial year 2008. Proton posted a profit after tax of RM52.03 million, an improvement compared to net losses of RM46.7 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.

This is thanks to the higher revenue of RM1.7 billion compared to RM1.14 billion in Q1 2007, thanks to higher sales volume of 39,888 versus 28,145. Its net cash balance has also improved from 328.6 million in Q1 2007 to 1.339 billion in Q1 2008.

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Proton launched a special edition of the Proton Persona SE today, priced at RM59,800. The Persona SE is only available in two colours - Blue Haze and Brilliant Red. Like all new units of the Persona, the new Proton Persona SE is powered by the Campro IAFM engine which offers a smoother torque curve compared to the old Campro engine. It is only available with an automatic transmission.

The following are the differences in equipment for the special edition model:

• Leather-wrapped seats, steering wheel, gear knob and trim
• Meter panel from the GEN2 CPS
• Different alloy wheel design (15 inch)
• Cruise Control
• Smoked headlamps
• Silver matte door handles and front grille
• A bodykit consisting of front, side and rear skirts and a subtle spoiler
• A Proton-rebadged windscreen-mounted GPS navigation device

The GPS device loads its maps from an SD card, so it should be easy to replace the maps whenever there are updates. I noticed there were some points of interests loaded onto the map such as local restaurants so if you’re in an area you do not know and want to grab a quick bite the GPS should be quite useful in that sense.

Look after the jump for more photos of the Persona SE.

Click here to read the rest of Proton Persona SE now on sale for RM59,800

Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Road Safety Department of Malaysia to support the government’s move for safer cars in Malaysia.

The Road Safety Department recently pushed for car manufacturers to install rear seatbelts on cars that did not have them for free, and Honda is the first non-national make to do so.

According to Honda Malaysia’s CEO Atsushi Fujimoto, there are 25,480 units of the Honda City sold between 2003 to 2005 that do not have rear center seat belts.

Free installation of belts for the affected cars will begin in October 2008 and all costs will be born by Honda Malaysia. It will be done in batches and owners will be informed on when they can come in to install their belts.

UPDATE: All Honda Citys do have 2 rear seatbelts at the rear. This exercise is to install a 5th seat belt for the middle seat.

The Citroen Grand C4 Picasso is a 7-seater version of the C4 Picasso. It is priced at RM168,000 with a 2 year or 100,000km warranty. The C4 Picasso loses its egg-like contour thanks to the third row which gives it a more traditional shape towards the rear.

It is powered by a 2.0 liter engine with variable valve timing producing 143 DIN horsepower and 200Nm of torque at 4,000rpm. The Euro 4 compliant engine is mated to a 4-speed automatic transmission.

The interior is particularly impressive especially at this price range as it features a massive glass sunroof that is laminated and tinted for anti-UV and anti-infrared properties. That combined with the panoramic windscreen and the large side windows gives the interior a very roomy and airy feel. There are air vents for all 3 seating rows, and the third bench folds down flat with a 50:50 split whenever you need the luggage space.

The second row features tables integrated into the front seats, like the ones you find in airplanes. The steering wheel features the trademark Citroen fixed hub which does not turn together with the wheel. Headlamps and wipers turn on automatically when needed.

Safety features include a 5-star Euro NCAP rating and 9 airbags (2 x front, 2 x front side, 2 x side, 2 x curtain and 1 driver’s knee). There are seatbelts with warning indicators for all 7 seats to ensure everyone including the third row buckles up. ISOFIX child seat points are found on the front passenger seat and three 2nd row seats. Stability control and ABS are standard.

A comfort pack is available which adds Bluetooth handsfree, ambient lights, and a telephone kit for RM3,000. Leather wrapping on the steering wheel costs an additional RM400 while leather for the seats cost RM1,800.

Look after the jump for more photos of the Grand C4 Picasso.

Click here to read the rest of Citroen Grand C4 Picasso 7-seater MPV

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Citroen’s new Malaysian distributor Brooklands Motors Sdn Bhd has launched the new luxury D-segment Citroen C6 in Malaysia last week.

The C6’s 3.0 liter V6 puts out 215 hp DIN at 6,000rpm and 290Nm of torque EEC at 3,752rpm. It really looks quite different from any other car out there thanks to the notchback-like convex boot and the overly long front overhang. The doors are also frameless which make them quite sexy, something usually only found on coupes.

There are also a few technologies goodies in the C6 which sets it apart from the rest of its competitors, and just how the interior looks makes it fit to be called a gadget person’s car. It has a dual-mode active silencer which maintains serenity under normal conditions and improves performance under load.

A in-car entertainment system called the Citroen NaviDrive displays key information such as entertainment, climate control and navigation on a large 7 inch 16:9 widescreen LCD.

A heads-up display projected onto the windscreen displays key driving info such as driving speed and can also display navigation data. Citroen says HUDs can improve motoring safety as moving your eyes to look at traditional displays for this info can take up to 0.5 seconds of time at at speeds of approximately 110km/h this can mean 15 meters of travel or an average of 3 cars’ lengths.

The car also features the Hydractive III+ suspension system, which is an electronically controlled suspension which can vary different settings like damping and height. For example, the car’s height will always remain the same no matter how many passengers or luggage are loaded into the vehicle. Height is also automatically adjusted according to speed and road condition to optimise comfort, ground clearance and fuel consumption.

A Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS) warns the driver via vibrations in the seat if he accidentally leaves his lane by monitoring the white lines marked on the road via infrared sensors built into the front of the vehicle.

Priced at RM398,000 it offers an alternative to the likes of the “mainstream” A6 the E-Class and the 5-Series. The other luxury D-segment competitors are the S80 and the Jaguar XF.

Click here to read the rest of Citroen C6 luxury sedan launched in Malaysia