Archive for Malaysian Makes

I sent a query to Proton when the RON95 introduction was officially confirmed on whether their engines would be compatible with the new fuel. From what I understand from reading some comments on this site and on other forums apparently there are some Proton manuals that call for RON97 fuel to be used. So I think it’s best to get an official answer from the manufacturer.

Proton’s powertrain department have tested all of their engines including the Mitsubishi models and have stated that all Proton cars can run on RON95, despite what they’ve stated in their manuals (why???). This includes the old carburetor cars, the Renault engines, and the new Campro CPS engine.

There is only one issue. They acknowledge some of the old carburetor cars may experience knocking depending on the condition of the engine and needs to go into the Proton service center to adjust the engine’s ignition timing.

This happens to carburetor engines because a carburetor cannot inject fuel as accurately as a fuel injection system, thus sometimes the air-fuel mixture is too rich. All the unburned fuel results in lots of carbon deposits, which change the shape of the combustion chamber and causes pre-mature ignition, which results in engine knock. Any high mileage engine may also have the risk of carbon deposit build up.

So if you have an old Wira or Satria with a carburetor, you are at a higher risk of engine knocking if you use RON95, if you didn’t have it already with RON97 of course. Any other high mileage car is also at a risk because of carbon build-up that can happen over time, even with a fuel injection system. For those that are a little adventurous, RON95 is now available at the Petronas stations in Precinct 9 Putrajaya so you can go try it out.

And of course, saying your cars can run on a certain fuel octane grade without knocking is one thing, but it’s another to say it would run at the same level of performance and fuel economy because of the ignition timing adjustments, whether manual or automatic.

If you would like to learn more about what RON really is, read the related link.

Related Post:
What is RON (Research Octane Number)?

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Reader acesDSI spotted this Kia Forte with JPJ plates roaming the streets of Batu 3 Shah Alam heading towards Section 20 Shah Alam. It looks like the good-looking Kia Forte is going to be launched soon, and sources in Naza say it’s most likely to be offered in CKD locally assembled form.

Although we cannot really see the badge on the car because of the resolution of the photos, the photographer said the car had Naza badges on, so maybe what we’re going to get is a Naza Forte instead of a Kia Forte.

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There are positive and negative points about that, firstly having a Naza badge on is likely to give the company more bargaining power with duties resulting in a lower price, which is ultimately beneficial for consumers if a simple badge swap (that could even be supplier by showrooms) will “fix” it. Secondly it will stop potential customers from waiting for Naza Kia to Naza-ize a Kia Forte in anticipation of further price drops.

If the Naza Forte is to become a proper bread and butter sedan for Naza Kia it has to replace the Spectra in the product range so expect it to come with a 1.6 liter engine, with larger engines reserved for the Kia Koup 2-door coupe which I tested in South Korea recently.

Proton Edar has signed a new Master Dealership agreement with EON for the sale and service of Proton cars in Malaysia. The new agreement is to rationalise the sales and distribution network.

This new agreement will extend for a period of 5 years from the 1st of July 2009. Here are the terms and conditions of the new agreement:

• EON shall be entitled to maintain its existing forty (40) sales branches but shall reduce the same to thirty two (32) on or before 31 December 2010
• EON shall ensure that the said 32 sales branches are consolidated into 3S (sales, service and spare parts) centres on or before 31 December 2010
• EON shall be entitled to maintain its 32 service centres
• EON shall be entitled to relocate its sales and / or service branches subject to Proton Edar’s written approval
• EON shall be entitled to service or continue to service Mitsubishi marque cars until 31 December 2010

Take note that EON currently has sixty five (65) sales dealers and one hundred and fifty two (152) service dealers. It will have to rationalise its network to meet the conditions offered above. The last point in particular is quite interesting. It looks like Proton wants EON dealers to focus on selling Proton cars only.

With the signing of the new agreement, all EON sales and service dealers will undergo a migration process into the Proton Edar sales and service network with effect from 1 July 2009. Subsequent to the migration process, EON will no longer have any sub-dealers (sales & after sales) for Proton vehicles after 31 December 2009.

Under the consolidation exercise, EON dealers will migrate to Proton Edar within the next six months. During that period, EON’s sales and services dealers will be evaluated on their performance, compliance and business ability. This exercise is to streamline the dealer network into a smaller and stronger dealer network.

The Naza Group of Companies wants to move from being a family owned institution of management to that of an organization of 23 companies adhering to a multinational organization culture of focusing on improvements.

The latest in a series of steps taken is an effort to “upgrade” its human resources or staff – a signing with Motorola University, where 1,000 of the Naza Group’s employees will be trained and developed to improve their skills focusing on increasing productivity and revenue. The training will be provided by Motorola University based on programs that Motorola has developed on the way of becoming a Fortune 500 company.

Naza will offer these programs to employees of all 23 Naza companies under SM Faisal, which will include leadership development, lean manufacturing, customer driven total solutions and the Motorola Six Sigma Program series.

There are many big companies who are actually family-owned but are managed and run by trained professionals. One example very close to Naza is the BMW group, which has been majority (about 46%) owned by the Quandt family since the 50s. It is a proven formula that works.

The Proton Exora has been launched and it won’t be long until the car is handed out to members of the media. An MPV is quite a different animal from a regular car.

People buy it for different reasons, and most rational people just want a big box to move people or stuff around. I don’t have a bunch of kids to lug around as of yet so perhaps it is better if you guys share with me, what would you like me to check out in a write-up of the Proton Exora? Please do share your questions in the comments section of this story and I will try my best to answer all of them in a future test drive story.

Please keep the comments here to questions only. To share your opinion or showroom experiences of the Proton Exora there is the launch story.

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Reader Nazril sent in these 3 shots of the new Perodua D46T MPV, which apparently is being displayed in near full glory at the Minggu Amanah Saham 2009 in Johor Bahru. Thanks Nazril! Now we can compare these shots with the already revealed shots of the Japanese model so we can see what the differences are.

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Quite interestingly these shots show a dashboard that has its dash-mounted shifter very intact – it’s not been moved to the floor! So that’s nice. The dash has a two tone design, dark att the top and beige at the bottom, with some form of integrated audio head unit with steering wheel audio control on the steering wheel.

The front seats are joined together (not the backrests though) as a single bench, and the arm rest in the middle looks like it can be flipped up to become a small backrest for the middle area, unlike the bench seat this part was found in the Passo Sette. No sign of a handbrake so it must be foot-operated!

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Of course there are some changes compared to the Japanese unit. The displayed Perodua D46T MPV interior used blue backlighting for its head unit and a blue instrument panel, while the Japanese car uses orange. The head unit design is also very different, but I see a little mic there so there should be a Bluetooth handsfree.

Air conditioning controls have been changed from automatic climate control with an LCD panel to a manual 3-knob version that looks like it shares parts with the Toyota Vios, but this 3-knob control is also found in the low spec versions of the Passo Sette.

For more info on the new Perodua MPV (currently called by its Perodua D46T codename) based on the Toyota Passo Sette set for a launch later this year, refer to the linked posts below.

Related Posts:
Toyota Passo Sette: 7-seater MPV full details
Perodua MPV D46T spotted at Restoran Jejantas Sg Buloh
Perodua MPV D46T to sell for RM56k to RM66k!

A Youtuber called byawn4us spotted this disguised Perodua MPV at the Sungei Buloh Restoran Jejantas carpark on Thursday, just one day after the launch of the Proton Exora. The flow of the video is somehow quite convenient really, first you get to see it parked next to a Wira, then it reverses and drives past a Viva, giving us a good comparison of its size compared to other cars that we see daily.

The Perodua MPV (codenamed D46T) is based on the Toyota Passo Sette and is definitely smaller than the Proton Exora, but it is expected to be cheaper (indicated pricing of RM66k and below) and there will always be people who are drawn to its Toyota DNA, even more so if they only need 5+2 instead of 7 seater capabilities.

Have a look at the Toyota Passo Sette version, or watch the video after the jump.

Related Posts:
Toyota Passo Sette: 7-seater MPV full details

Click here to read the rest of Perodua MPV D46T spotted at Restoran Jejantas!

Some of you have enquired on the song at the end of the Proton Exora launch video posted up yesterday.

The song is “Menawan Dunia” by Aubrey Suwito, lyrics by Tinta S and performed by Badri Ibrahim. Look after the jump to listen to the song, and you will also find the lyrics.

Click here to read the rest of Proton Menawan Dunia Song and Lyrics

For those of you who missed the live telecast of the Proton Exora’s launch on TV1, I am re-”broadcasting” it here on this site as I noticed some of you had praised Datuk Syed Zainal for giving a good speech, which piqued the interest of some other readers to want to watch it, but missed the chance.

I was busy writing the Exora stories so I did not make it to the launch, and even missed it on the TV so I was also curious of the contents of this speech, so I managed to source it and here it is. OK let me stop rambling. Continue reading to watch the MD’s speech at the launch. The video ends with a Proton theme song performance by Badri Ibrahim from MyStarz LG, who just so happens to be working for Proton. Enjoy!

Click here to read the rest of Proton Exora: Dato Syed Zainal’s Speech

Proton has sent the Proton Exora for crash testing using the Applus+ IDIADA facility in Spain. The tests were required to engineer the Exora to meet Euro NCAP 4 star standards, which Proton claims the Exora will be able to achieve based on its tests conducted at IDIADA according to Euro NCAP test specifications.

In this story are tables listing the tests – note that P0 and P1 denote two different stages of prototypes, so the earlier P0 car would have failed some tests which the P1 car passed later because of revisions to the prototype specs.

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The Exora was designed to be able to achieve a 4 star Euro NCAP equivalent of crash safety but of course you can’t just rely on your engineering data for that, you have to actually crash it and see what happens, and if it doesn’t go as to what you predicted, go back to the drawing board and fix it.

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A total of 32 Proton Exora crash test vehicles were destroyed in various tests including a rollover test. The cost of these vehicles amounted well into a Ringgit figure that is 8 digits long, because at the early developmetn stages you are essentially making a few nearly one-off parts, so when things are not produced in volume they are very expensive.

These videos have already been inserted into the launch, specs and price story that I published right after the Exora launch ceremony, but here they are again after the jump for those who missed them.

Related Posts:
Proton Exora: Malaysia’s first MPV from RM69,998!
Proton Exora platform to spawn new models
Proton Exora Prototype Test Drive Experience!
Proton Exora: Body Control Module and a few more juicy details!
Proton Exora Technology Exhibition
Proton Exora Prime Concept
Proton Exora Prestige Concept

Click here to read the rest of Proton Exora Crash Testing Videos