Naza Corporation has introduced a premium version of the Naza 206 Bestari called the Naza 206 Premium. It’s priced at RM71,888.00, about RM3k more than the 206 Bestari’s RM68,877.80 price tag. For the additional RM3k, this is what you get:

• Leather on the steering wheel, interior and two-tone seats.
• 3 head restraints for the rear seat bench
• A 6-speaker audio system (additional 2 over the Bestari)
• Seat back pockets and Peugeot logo at the back of the front seats
• Only rear spoiler (you lose the full bodykit of the 206 Bestari)
• New design Peugeot-badged 14 inch alloy wheels
• 206 Premium badging, Peugeot sill plates, door visors, hood insulator
• Reverse sensors

The interior leather is done up in orange, meant to be the same colour as the dashboard lighting. With more Peugeot badges around the car including on the alloy wheels it should be cheaper and easier for you to Peugeotize this car, which is what most people do. You get a 5 year warranty with 3 years free service including parts and labour.

The 206 Premium comes in 4 colours – Quick Silver, Aegean Blue, Svelte Grey and Onyx Black. Look after the jump for photos of the rear and the interior.


Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

© 2009 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 22 Nov 09 16:51:27 +0800.

Naza has updated the Naza 206 Bestari with a new bodykit including a rear roof spoiler, door visors, and a new exhaust tailpipe. The rear seat bench now includes head rests, something that was optional on the car when it was initially launched, even though product images showed that it had headrests.

The 3 year or 100,000km warranty package has been upped to 5 years now, and includes 3 years free maintenance. With the additional accessories and warranty, the price remains the same at RM68,888 for the 1.4 liter French-rebadge.

One more rear shot after the jump.

Related Posts:
Naza 206 Bestari in-depth specifications, photos and price
Naza 206 Bestari Test Drive Review


Click to enlarge

© 2009 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 22 Nov 09 16:51:27 +0800.

Naza Corporation is currently having a year end promotion for its Naza Sutera and Naza 206 Bestari models. This promotion starts on the 8th of December 2007 and ends on the 31st of December 2007.

Buyers of the Naza 206 Bestari during the promotion period will get either a free 32 inch Plasma TV or an Acer Aspire 14.1 inch Centrino Duo notebook computer. The Naza 206 Bestari also comes with 5 years of warranty and 3 years of free service. This offer is valid for the first 100 customers only.

If you buy a Naza Sutera or a Naza Sutera Sportivo, you will get a 29 inch “slim fit” TV and a DVD player. This offer is valid while stocks last.

Related Posts:
Naza 206 Bestari Test Drive Review
2006 Naza Sutera 1.1 Manual

© 2009 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 22 Nov 09 16:51:27 +0800.

The Naza 206 Bestari is now available in manual transmission, which should make the car abit more zippy due to less transmission losses, more gear ratios making them closer together as well as the enjoyment of shifting the gears yourself.

You can get one at Naza showrooms for RM63,888, about RM5,000 less than the automatic variant, however with this manual version the ABS has also been removed. However, the twin SRS airbags for the front remain. Surveys show customers in this price range value Dual Airbags first, Reverse Sensors and Vehicle Security as priorities.

© 2009 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 22 Nov 09 16:51:27 +0800.

Also, if you decide to buy any of these cars before the 31st of December 2006, you’ll get an accessory package worth up to RM2,000.

For the Naza Bestari, the accessory package includes tinting, rear headrests, hood insulation and others. Not sure about the other cars except for the gold tint.

© 2009 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 22 Nov 09 16:51:27 +0800.

[ LATEST UPDATE: Naza has updated the Naza 206 Bestari for the 2008 model year. Click the link for more information! ]

Finally after a long wait, the press fleet for the Naza 206 Bestari is ready and I managed to get a hold of one unit to write a test drive report. The Naza 206 Bestari, codenamed the NX-02 is basically a locally assembled rebadged version of the Peugeot 206, in fact the Peugeot lion badge is still displayed proudly on the rear hatch. Look after the jump for what I think about the Naza 206 Bestari.

For one, this is basically the cheapest continental car you can buy first hand, though not the cheapest car with a continental feel. Some of you might be able to guess which cars provide a conti feel at an even cheaper price. Naza’s Gurun plant has successfully preserved the continental feel, goes to show having a different badge on the front and rear doesn’t mean the car is any different.

The 1.4 liter Peugeot TU3 engine making 75 horsepower and 120Nm of torque mated to a 4-speed Porsche Tiptronic gearbox feels underpowered for a car of this kerb weight. You slowly build up the revs and wait for the engine to enter it’s powerband, but you wait and wait and the RPM needle hits the redline, and you wonder when did peak torque kick in? Because you didn’t feel anything. As the engine approaches redline, there is some slight metallic vibration to be heard from the front. Also, I think the gearing isn’t quite suitable, as the Skoda Fabia 1.4 had similiar power to weight ratios but didn’t feel as sluggy as the Naza 206 Bestari.

The gearbox also behaves differently to what you might expect with an automatic gearbox, it is not very willing to downshift even when you floor the pedal, instead forcing you to use Tiptronic manual mode and downshift manually. Apparently this is a common behaviour with French gearboxes, they all behave this way. Anyone with experience with another French automatic car care to share their experience? The gearbox is definitely intelligent though, it doesn’t upshift when you release the pedal while going downhill, instead keeping the revs high on a lower gear to take advantage of engine braking.

There are two other modes, one is a sports mode which shifts at a higher point as well as keeps to lower gears, refraining from upshifting when you ease on the pedal. The other mode is winter mode, which starts the car from second gear to prevent torque slip on slippery surfaces, though with an engine like this I’m not sure if winter mode is required!

Despite the mediocre engine performance, the comfort level and road holding of the Peugeot 206-based Naza 206 Bestari was really good, perhaps one of the best in car’s in it’s class. Very comfy and sufficiently damped over uneven road surfaces. Interior comfort is also good despite the smallness of everything which I will talk about later – the seats are semi-bucket-like in shape, cushioning you well. Being an old school supermini design like the Fabia, i.e.: it sits low, none of that high seating position crap which I really really don’t like, despite it allowing greater interior room. A lower stance coupled with lower center of gravity gives you greater confidence in driving the car.

Now that you know how the car’s engine and gearbox combination performs, I think we can all agree on the fact that this car was designed to take you from A to B with minimum fuss, offering nothing else. So let’s cover the practicalities.

The car looks small for the inside, so naturally the inside is kind of small too, unlike the Myvi which somehow manages to suprise everyone with it’s feel of spaciousness on the interior. The front seats are nice and snug fabric seats. Egronomics are okay, the gear levers are easy to reach, you’d think this are part of the basics in interior design but trust me some manufacturers manage to screw up at this! Power window buttons for the front windows are located on the center console, but the rear power window controls are positioned behind, making it a little awkward for you to control, but I suppose it’s a requirement to position it there for the rear passengers to reach them as well. Steering wheel audio controls aren’t exactly on the steering, but on a separate stalk below the wiper control on the right. You can control radio channels/CD track selection and audio volume from the stalk.

The rear seats can only fit two medium height adults comfortably, or kids. When someone like me (182cm tall) gets into the driver’s seat, you’ll have to push the driver’s seat quite far behind, basically destroying any chance of anyone but a child sitting behind the driver’s seat. As one passenger commented, “Gosh, this is like a two door car with four doors.” There are no rear headrests included in the standard package but they can be purchased as an option.

Audio system is satisfactory, it has decent treble and so-so bass, and is built into the dashboard design. The CD player tends to skip often over bumps and potholes, a problem I never had with my super cheap Pioneer CD player on my Satria. The audio system LCD display is multi-functional, being able to show information like specifically which door is open, external temperature, time, etc.

A neat feature of the audio system is RDS, which allows for the audio system to automatically adjusts the frequency of the radio station you’re listening to as you travel across the country. I’m sure you’ve noticed some CD players have the ability to display the station title. When you travel from KL to the south, the frequencies for the stations change. RDS scans for the new frequency with the same station name and automatically switches frequencies to the new station, not requiring you to fumble about trying to find out where’d you favorite station go.

Build quality of the interior was very decent, however I am abit concerned over this squeaking rattling noise which surfaced on day 2 of my test drive whenever the car went over even the slightest uneven surface. Sounds like the dreaded Proton rear hatch squeak. Whatever it is, I hope that if one gets this problem with his or her car and takes it back to Naza to rectify, the service personnel had better know how to fix it or risk Naza’s reputation going into the drain together with Proton. No one has perfect QC, the difference is how you fix the problem and how you treat the customer!

Other items to take note of include a follow me home function. When the car is turned off, flick the headlamp high beam feature once and the headlamps will stay on for a period of about 15 seconds or so, allowing it to illuminate your path or drive way. This is a safety feature. You also get adjustable headlamps from controls within the car, as well as an engine oil level indicator. Spare tyre is mounted under the car instead of under the boot mat, which could be tricky in situations where you have to access it. The fog lamp in the lower center of the rear bumper is spring loaded so it can withstand a few kisses to your Bestari’s butt. Yes, it is a fog lamp, not just a red reflector.

The air intake vent on the hood is not for cold air intake to the engine as most would think at first glance, but it’s actually a filtered air intake for the air conditioning system. This provides filtered air to the cabin, perfect for Malaysia’s annual smog season courtesy of our friends in Indonesia.

All in all, I think it’s an okay buy for anyone who wants something slightly different, for anyone who wants a feel of driving a continental car, basically those who can afford it as I think RM68,888 is abit too expensive for what it is. Also, the engine is way too underpowered for anyone who likes driving.

© 2009 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 22 Nov 09 16:51:27 +0800.

Full list after the jump, as well as more photos of the car.

External Enhancements

Front Bumper Body Colour	Adoption of Sparkling Black X28 Body Colour Finished
Rear Bumper Body Colour	Adoption of Sparkling Black X28 Body Colour Finished
Full Door Handle (Fr & RR Doors)	Adoption of Sparkling Black X28 Body Colour Finished
Door Molding ( FR & RR – LH/RH)	Adoption of Sparkling Black X28 Body Colour Finished
Body Kits – Side Skirts	Side Skirts – Body Colour Finished with Exclusive Naza Sportivo Emblem
Body Kits – Front Skirts	Front Skirt – Body Colour Finished with Exclusive Naza Sportivo Emblem
Body Kits – Side Skirts	Side Skirts – Body Colour Finished with Exclusive Naza Sportivo Emblem
Body Kits – Rear Skirts	Rear Skirt – Body Colour Finished with Exclusive Naza Sportivo Emblem
Rear Spoiler	Simple Roof Spoiler without lights
Headlights	Titanium Twin Halo Angel Eye ‘M Series’ Headlights
Rear Lamps	Titanium LED ‘M Series’ Rear Lamps
Side Repeaters	LED Side Repeaters
Door Mirror Side Turn Lamp	Clear LED Lights Cluster and Body Colour Finished
Fuel Lid Cover	Aluminium Sport Cover with Allan Key Finished
Back Warning Sensor (BWS)	Independent Type with Two Sensor Eyes and Buzzer Function
Hood Insulator	Sound Proof – Standard Sportivo
Alloy Wheel	Introduce of 16″ Inch Sport Rims with Exclusive Naza Sportivo Centre Cap.
Tire	205/45/R16 Tires (Goodyear)
Exhausts	Dual Exhaust Muffler
Sportivo Emblem	Exclusive Sportivo Emblem – Injection Type (ABS Material)

Internal Enhancements

Seat Trim Cover	2 Toned Colour Leather Trimmed Cover with Perforation Insert and Naza Sportivo Emblem
Steering Wheel Cover	Adoption of Leather Trimmed with Sports Stitching and Perforation Insert.
Door Trim Ornament	Adoption of Leather Trimmed Insert
Pedal, Acceleration	Introduce of MOMO Grand Prix – Black
Gear Shift Knob	Introduce of MOMO Combat EVO – Chrome Finished
Parking Brake Handle	Adoption of Leather Trimmed Insert
Floor Carpet Mats	Black Velour Floor Mats with Exclusive Sportivo Emblem
Centre Cluster Panel	Cubic Printing – SV Series Carbon Fiber
Grab Handles	Cubic Printing – SV Series Carbon Fiber
Air Cond Outlets (RH, LH & Centre)	Cubic Printing – SV Series Carbon Fiber
Centre Console Switches Holder	Cubic Printing – SV Series Carbon Fiber
Bezel, Inner Door Opener	Cubic Printing – SV Series Carbon Fiber
Rear Headrest	Additional 3 Rear Headrest.
Navigation System (Compasseo 600)	Portable Navigation Device 3.5 ” Touch Screen Display Integrated Plug and Drive GPS Device. Slim and Light Design, Easy to Transfer from Car to Car, Maps of Malaysia & Singapore. Precise Voice Guidance and 2D/3D Map Viewer, Photo Viewer, USB Cable Port, 2D/3D Map Viewer, Rechargeable via a Computer or a Car Cigarette Lighter Socket.

© 2009 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 22 Nov 09 16:51:27 +0800.

For those who loved the sports concept of the Naza 206 Bestari that was shown back in May 2006, especially the lovely twin halo angel eye headlamps – you’ll be pleased to know you can actually buy a production version of the car now.

Naza launched two cars today at it’s new Naza Corporation Gallery in Kampung Pandan – the Naza Sutera Sportivo and the Naza 206 Bestari Sportivo. The two cars are basically higher trim levels of the base cars, kitted out both internally and externally. The following are the features of the two Naza Sportivo models:

In my opinion, the 206 Bestari Sportivo looks stunning, and the Sutera Sportivo is so-so, but the interior of the Sutera Sportivo is really weird. Somehow the MOMO accessories don’t fit the interior of the car, and the big beige and gray bucket seats look weird, as if there’s some problems with the colour coordination (too bad I don’t actually have a photo of this, let me see if I can get one from Naza). This is all personal preference anyway. The 206 Bestari Sportivo looks similiar to the original 206 Bestari Sport Concept, but there are some changes, for example on the concept, the exhaust pipes were twin pipes, with one on the left and one on the right of the rear bumper, but on the production Sportivo version the twin tailpipes are grouped together on one side. Sports alloy wheels design is also different. I’m not too sure how good the performance and fuel consumption of the Peugeot TU3 1.4 liter engine will be dragging along big 16 inch wheels.

The Packard Bell GPS Navigation System in the 206 Bestari Sportivo is particularly interesting. It works like how you would expect a GPS system to work – has maps and gives you directions. Maps of KL and other parts of Malaysia are already preloaded into the device.

I didn’t manage to get any good photos at all, as this wasn’t an exclusive press event, so there were tonnes of other people there, it was almost impossible to get clear shots of the car without some random orange-haired aunty in the way. So pardon me for that, and enjoy whatever photos I managed to get after the post jump.

© 2009 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 22 Nov 09 16:51:27 +0800.

© 2009 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 22 Nov 09 16:51:27 +0800.

© 2009 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 22 Nov 09 16:51:27 +0800.

[ LATEST UPDATE: Naza has updated the Naza 206 Bestari for the 2008 model year. Click the link for more information! ]

I remember falling in love with the Peugeot 206 a few years ago when I was in college. There was this blue one parked in the college parking lot belonging to some lucky girl with generous parents, and every time I walked up to the college entrance I would take the opportunity to admire it. It’s a sporty little hatchback, and the addition of the air vents on the hoods did wonders to add to it’s sporty look. Although Peugeot has released the 207 recently, the 206 still remains in it’s portfolio, serving a different market segment. Now Malaysians have the opportunity to experience the Peugeot 206 in CKD form, with the launch of Naza’s latest car, the Naza 206 Bestari, previously known by it’s codename the Naza NX-02.

[ Click here for Naza 206 Bestari Test Drive Review ]

Exterior

The Naza 206 Bestari 1.4 is a B-segment 5-door hatchback based on the Peugeot 206 1.4. In Malaysia, other examples of B-segment cars are the Proton Wira and the Chevrolet Aveo. The Naza 206 Bestari was developed to fill in the gap in the RM60K-RM70K segment of the B-segment car class. This area used to be dominated by cars like the Kia Rio before tax rates increased the pricing of the Kia Rio and the Hyundai Getz CBU.

Naza did not touch the exterior design of the 206, their reasoning is too many cooks spoil the soup as it is already a great product. So much for my photoshop.

Unlike the Naza Sutera which was revamped quite significantly for the local market, Naza’s decided that with the Peugeot 206 it was already a very good product, so no significant re-engineering was required. The car is almost similar to the original Peugeot 206 with the exception of the lion logo being replaced by the Naza logo. The car looks very feline, as with most Peugeot cars. The car is equipped with nice 14” aluminium wheels wrapped with 175/65/R14 tyres. The wing mirrors are powered, and can be controlled from the inside of the car. The air intake on the bonnet however, is not for a cold air intake.

Nice 5-spoke alloy rims

The Peugeot TU3 engine

Engine

The Naza 206 Bestari comes with a 1402cc Peugeot TU3 engine. The multiport fuel injection SOHC 8-valve engine provides 74hp at 5500rpm and 120Nm of torque at a low speed of 2800rpm. For the moment, the car is only offered with a Peugeot AL4 4-speed automatic gearbox with adaptive and sequential control, which Naza says is a Porsche Tiptronic System. There will also be a 5-speed manual transmission in the future. The 4-speed tiptronic gearbox has adaptive control, something like the Waja 1.8’s gearbox or the Toyota Vios Super-ECT where it senses situations like hill descents and downshifts to help with engine braking. The gearbox also suits itself to the driver’s behaviour, changing gears at different RPMs according to the driving pattern. This engine and gearbox gives the Naza 206 Bestari a top-speed of 160km/h for the automatic and 170km/h for the unreleased 5-speed manual version.

The Peugeot TU3 engine torque curve

Other than the manual auto mode, there is also a sports mode with sportier gear changes, a snow/mud mode in which the car starts on 2nd gear to prevent traction loss on slippery surfaces, and a manual mode which is the tiptronic mode. In tiptronic mode, the driver shifts the gateshift to the M selector. Then he can shift the gears up and down sequentially by pushing the lever up and down. If revs drop below 1000rpm, the gearbox automatically downshifts to first gear to prevent engine stalling. This is actually something new to the 206 in Malaysia as the original Peugeot 206 was only offered with a normal 4-speed automatic gearbox on our local shores. Naza brings us a Porsche-developed 4-speed tiptronic gearbox with the Naza 206 Bestari.

Although the Peugeot 206 originally had 1.6 liter and even 2.0 liter models, Naza’s market surveys showed that fuel economy was an important criteria for buyers looking for B-segment cars in this price bracket, so they decided to go for the 1.4 liter model which is fuel and road tax saving, but provides ample torque for a smooth and not “out of breath” drive.

Suspension

The Naza 206 Bestari uses pseudo-MacPherson struts with a decoupled anti-roll bar for the front, and a trailing arm rear suspension. The shock absorbers are pressurized with nitrogen gas. Both the front and rear have 18mm thick anti-roll bars to help with the handling.

Interior

The Naza 206 Bestari has a dark coloured interior, something that suits it’s sporty image. I am not a big fan of cream interiors. Seats are semi-bucket seats, nicely contoured to fit your body. The car is equipped with power windows on all doors. The center dashboard area has manual aircond controls which are arranged in a simple and easy to use layout. There is also a grey Clarion FM/AM/CD player which looks kind of bland to me, but buttons are arranged in a functional and easy to use layout as usual. Sometimes simplicity is beautiful, but maybe this is slightly overdoing it. This player pipes sound output to 4 speakers – two in the front doors and two tweeters located in the wing mirror brackets. CD player functions can also be controlled from a small stalk under the steering wheel, so you don’t need to take your hands off the steering wheel to control your audio system.

Three spoke steering with Naza logo in the middle

The steering is a three spoke design, and most three spoke designs look pretty sporty. I like it. The steering has a Naza logo on it, surrounded by a silver ring. Power window buttons for the front windows are near the handbrake, while power window buttons for the rear are on the back of the center console arm rest area.

There is ample storage space everywhere, and the glove box is sort of clever. It has special compartments for a pen, two cups, and sunglasses. I assume the two cup holders are there for the driver and the passenger, but I think it would be slightly hard to open the glove box to actually put your cup there if there was a passenger sitting on the passenger seat.

Nice touch with the cupholders in the glove box, but is it really practical?

Plenty of storage space in the Naza 206 Bestari’s interior

Nice dashboard meters which are really clear in the dark

The dashboard meter console is what you will be looking at most of the time. From left to right, fuel, engine RPM cum temperate, speedometer, and gear indicator. The gear indicator is an LCD screen showing what gear you are in, which is a must for the tiptronic operation. At the top is a multi function trip meter, which can show you the amount of kilometers to your next service interval. The center of the dashboard also has an LCD screen showing you the date and time. I’m not sure what other things can be shown. I did notice something strange though. In the PR images (the interior images used in this blog post), the area near the center LCD panel has two buttons, a hazard warning light button and a door lock button. But in the actual car pictured below, there is only a hazard warning light button.

Hazard warning light button is located at an easy to reach place

The gate shift looks very upmarket as it is usually available on premium cars only. Instead of a button you press to unlock the safety feature of the automatic gearshift, you just shift it diagonally through the gates. From D, if you push left into the M selection, it activates tiptronic mode. Push forward to upshift and pull backwards to downshift.

Safety features

The car has dual SRS airbags, one for the driver and one for the passenger. The fuel tank also has a safety feature that cuts off fuel supply whenever an airbag is deployed or there is a strong deceleration. There is anti-lock braking system for the automatic tiptronic version which is the one launched now, but the future manual model will not have anti-lock brakes. Brakes are 247mm discs at the front and 180mm drum brakes at the rear. The car also has Electronic Brakeforce Distribution and Emergency Brake Assistance.

Build Quality

I had ample time to look at the car’s quality of fittings and I must say I am impressed. Everything feels solid and very well put together. Dashboard materials feel good, steering feels nice in my hands, the doors do not take much effort to close and feel solid. The seats are comfy. I like the contours of the semi-bucket seats. Buttons do not feel cheap and flimsy. This is what I like about European cars, the interior has a much different feel than Japanese cars. And I like that feel.

Colour Options

The Naza 206 Bestari comes in Midnight Black, Quartz Blue, Quick Silver, Racy Red, Aegean Blue and Svelte Grey.

Naza 206 Bestari Svelte Grey

Naza 206 Bestari Aegean Blue

Naza 206 Bestari Racy Red

Price

The Naza 206 Bestari will cost you RM68,888 on the road with insurance for private registration. This makes it pretty competitive as it is cheaper than it’s competitors like the Chevrolet Aveo and the Hyundai Getz. The Peugeot 206 is a great car, and Naza has provided us with a nice alternative at a cheaper price even though it’s pretty much just a re-badge. The Peugeot 206 is Peugeot’s best selling model and it’s engineering and technology is proven. The Naza 206 Bestari comes with a 3 year or 100,000km warranty, whichever comes first. I’ll end this blog post with somemore Naza Bestari photos for you to enjoy. There is also a sporty concept version called the Naza Bestari Sport Concept.

[Click here for Naza 206 Bestari Test Drive Review]

Nice contoured seats to support your body

Rear space. I could sit in it, although it wasn’t anything too fantastic. This is a small car after all.

[Click here for Naza 206 Bestari Test Drive Review]

© 2009 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 22 Nov 09 16:51:27 +0800.

© 2009 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 22 Nov 09 16:51:27 +0800.

Pictured above is my extremely newbie attempt at photoshopping how the Naza NX-02 could look like. Forgive my noob-ness. At least I tried! Advertisements for the new Naza NX-02 have appeared in the newspapers, meaning the car should be launched really soon.

The advertisement (click the image on the left for a bigger version of the advertisement clip) says the car is open for booking now, and the price is given as RM6X,XXX, which should put it in the RM60,000 to RM70,000 range, just as mentioned before. Other specifications mentioned are 1.4 liter MPFI engines, 4-speed Automatic with Porsche Tiptronic System, a well-tuned agile chassis, 5-door versality (hatchback), central digital display, dual airbags, anti-lock braking system, and a 3 year / 100,000 km warranty. The advertisement states that ABS is standard on AT models, which seems to indicate that a manual transmission model will be available. It also means anti-lock brakes will not be available on all models, but dual airbags will likely be standard following the trend set by the Naza Sutera.

Since we don’t have the official specs of the Naza NX-02 yet, I’ll just list the specifications of the Peugeot 206 1.4 Tiptronic that it is based on here. The 1.4 liter engine is a 1,360cc 8-valve single-cam engine that makes 74 horsepower at 5,500rpm and 120Nm of torque at a low 2,800rpm. This should make the new Naza hatchback really nice to drive around the city, as the engine will not be out of breath at lower RPMs. An 8-valve configuration promotes better airflow velocity at low RPMs, hence the excellent low-end torque. Other examples of modern engines using 8-valve configurations are like Honda’s 1.5 liter i-DSI engine which uses 8-valves. Top speed is rated at 161km/h and 0-100km/h acceleration is rated at 15.2 seconds.

This is the original Peugeot 206 dashboard, so I expect the Naza NX-02 version will look like this with slight variations. They did mention a central digital display as one of the features, so I expect it is that small LCD at the top of the center dashboard area. Or they could also mean they’ve moved the dashboard meters to that area, like the Naza Sutera’s and are displaying data like speed and RPM in digital form like Honda S2000, though this is more of wishful hoping from a gadget-cum-car enthusiast than reality, likely not to happen.

Related Posts:
Naza 206 Bestari In-depth
Naza 206 Bestari Sport Concept

© 2009 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 22 Nov 09 16:51:27 +0800.

Naza is currently bidding for the rights to manufacture other Peugeot cars. It already has the rights to manufacture a Malaysian version of the Peugeot 206 for the regional market.

The construction of the Bertam, Penang plant is expected to start next month and to be fully completed by early 2007. It will have the capacity to produce 100,000 cars annually. The plant cost RM1 billion and was 60% funded by the company’s own generated funds and the remainder via borrowings.

Nasimuddin said the local Peugeot 206 is to be called the Naza 206 and will have 40% local content. He is tight-lipped on the expected selling price of the car.

Source

© 2009 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 22 Nov 09 16:51:27 +0800.

Naza will be manufacturing a Peugeot 206 branded under the Naza brand, and it will come with a 1.4 liter engine. This car will be manufactured at Naza’s assembly plant in Gurun, Kedah and may shift to Naza’s 2nd plant in Penang in 2007.

Target export markets for the Naza-branded Peugeot 206 1.4 liter are Thailand and Indonesia. Cycle and Carriage Automobiles will be providing the after-sales service in Malaysia.

Source: Dow Jones Newswire

© 2009 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 22 Nov 09 16:51:27 +0800.

Update: Naza has launched the Naza 206 Bestari. Click here for an in-depth coverage.

The Peugeot 206

Production is expected to begin in early 2006 at Naza’s plant up north in Gurun.

The car will be relabelled as a Naza. Will it be called Naza 206, or will it have a Malay name like the Ria and Citra?

Cycle and Carriage Automobiles has been appointed to provide the after-sales support.

Currently Nasim Sdn. Bhd., a company under the Naza group is one of the dealers and sole importer of Peugeot cars in Malaysia is. Nasim Sdn. Bhd. distributes the Peugeot 206 1.4 and 1.6 16v models.

Is Mahaleel going to bitch about more money flowing out of Malaysia? Possibly as a countermeasure to any potential bitching, the spokesperson has quoted “possible export to South-east Asia”.

This translates into more money for Naza tycoon Nasimuddin Amin. Is Nasimuddin trying to establish as many alternative income channels as possible before he loses his priviledges as the AP King?

Oh, and Rafidah Aziz says she has no connections to him, I repeat, Radifah Aziz says she has no connections to him!

Source: Forbes, and my blog reader Eric.

© 2009 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 22 Nov 09 16:51:27 +0800.