In terms of new car introductions, 2014 was a busy year, both globally and at home. There was certainly no shortage of fancy metal on show, but as far as the most popular posts go, it’s not surprising to find that the Perodua Axia and Proton Iriz are sitting at the top.
According to Google Analytics data, our most popular post was the launch of the Iriz, followed by the first drive impressions of the Axia, which was a much-anticipated vehicle at that point. Both national cars were launched in the same month, which made for a hectic September.
The Iriz dominates this particular top 10 list, occupying three slots, but from a brand perspective, Proton shares the honours with Honda – the City proved to be a popular topic, as did the third-gen Jazz, ahead of its arrival here.
The remaining slots were taken by Nissan’s X-Trail as well as a subject close to Malaysian motorists’ hearts – fuel, though the top story in that category was about the proposed use of MyKad for subsided fuel. Finally, the issue of car seats was addressed in a post, and that went very well in terms of viewership. Hopefully, all that will translate to a higher adoption rate of child seats!
10. Proton PCC undisguised – driven by Tun Mahathir
Ten days before the car was launched, Proton chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed went to Pavilion for breakfast, driving an undisguised Iriz there. Very few people managed to snap what was essentially a great photo opportunity – in fact, the money shot you see here was happily lifted and used by certain newspapers, without credit and watermark removed. Whatever happened to journalistic integrity, eh?
9. Petrol subsidy to be distributed via MyKad, ‘low income group’ to enjoy current price
Things have of course changed from October, when the story was published. Then, it was proposed that the ‘high-income group’ in Malaysia would be paying a full market price of RM2.58 per litre for RON 95 petrol, and those under the ‘low-income group’ would get the fuel at RM2.30 per litre, with MyKad utilised in the dual-pricing scheme planned to begin in June 2015. So much for that one then.
8. New Nissan X-Trail open for booking in Malaysia – CKD, starts from below RM150k
Bit of a surprise, this one, but here it is, the new Nissan X-Trail, which hasn’t yet been launched – this was just the preview! The third-gen SUV makes its full local debut early next year.
7. New Honda Jazz launched in Thailand, from RM55,000
Not just the City, but plenty of interest in the new Jazz as well – the Thai-market debut of the third-gen Jazz in May certainly caught the eye of readers. The B-segment hatch was launched here two months later.
6. GALLERY: 2014 Honda City spec-by-spec comparison
Our spec-by-spec comparison of the four available grades of the City in Malaysia was the sixth most viewed post of the year. From the base S to the range-topping V, a like-for-like photo gallery showed readers all the differences in the variants.
5. GALLERY: Proton Iriz vs Perodua Myvi – take your pick
As soon as the Iriz arrived, comparisons between it and the Perodua Myvi were unavoidable – we decided to run a simple photo and specification comparison of the two cars, which went down well with readers, as the post’s ranking suggests.
4. 2014 Honda City launched in Malaysia, from RM76k
If the stories are any indication, Malaysians love Honda. They certainly loved reading about the new City – not just the launch report, but the gallery post comparing the variants of the type as well.
3. Malaysians need to start putting their children in child car seats when travelling in their cars
Paul tackled a subject close to his heart, that of paying more heed to child safety in vehicles and making an argument for the use of child seats. As pointed out in the story, the statistics show that a child who is in a vehicle that gets into an accident will face the possibility of significantly more injuries or even fatality than a child who is in a child seat. If you haven’t read the piece yet, you should.
2. DRIVEN: Perodua Axia, first impressions of the EEV
It hadn’t yet been launched, and the story didn’t even have any photos of the car (they were embargoed until the official introduction nearly a month later), but it seems that readers were very keen to know what Danny, Jonathan James Tan and Hafriz’s thought of the Axia in their first drive impressions of the hatchback.
1. Proton Iriz launched – 1.3 and 1.6 VVT, from RM42k
No surprises to find that it was the launch of the Iriz – previously known as the PCC (Proton Compact Car) and GSC (Global Small Car) – B-segment five-door hatchback that is the most popular post of the year. National car launches do very well from a visitor and pageview point of view, and this one aced them all in 2014.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
Oh good brings back memories…
Most of the comments were P1 close shop, UMW greedy and Lousy Govt lol
that im totally agree..
You agree P1 close shop???
P1 close shop – not agree. They should instead merge with other big player (Honda is not a bad choice since Honda Malaysia is also partially under DRB-HICOM) and also strip off political connections in their car business that make their name bad. While for UMW Toyota, it’s dealership for Toyota Malaysia is in dire need to be removed (by sending a memo to Toyota Japan)
Don’t talkok about Iriz handling, power, comfort safety bla bla bla bla…
Buy the car! Show your support to Proton with ACTIONS.
Empty talk is dirt cheap.
Look at our Toyota, no need talkok, selling hot, this is called TRUE SUPPORT!
correct wat? many commenter give that type of comment..
kzm always talks rubbish. Infact, few months ago he used to give racist comments
ya ya…u correct I’m racist of the highest order.
Iriz post has the most comment but the car is very rare on the road. Why?
Pity you must be in remote areas
Pity you live in lala land, hallucinating Iriz everywhere
Kid where got I said it’s everywhere?
Go back to school and learn more.
And kimchis will continue to have low RV for the next century
OMG no one interested in your deity toyota??
other than that, Najib didn’t keep his promise to reduce price cars….
A big lie shown on national TV.
I won’t put much hope about car in year 2015.
My crystall ball says 2015 will be the Year of high inflation Recession.
Talking about journalists’ integrity huh?
*eyes rolling upwards*
Why u still here commenting?
He want to comment his pasal lah. Why you own PT is it? and want to be No 1 again as commentator of the year?
A stark proof that Malaysians love to politicize everything under the sun.
Why G like to politicise the car industry with NAP? Let it be free lah!
Later DrM bring you to ISA. That’s why !!!
DrM day light robbery hero, hero to cronies…
Bcos politicians, cronies have a hand in lots of business in Malaysia
I guess Malaysians were waiting for the long awaited launch of the Nissan X-Trail only to be disappointed with its measly 2 airbags…well done TCM for making the headlines for the wrong reasons!
the xtrail is a surprise…but usually local cars are tops , with sky high expectations and a public ready to shoot it down with bazooka’s and heavy machine guns!
That jazz tho. Love it in yellow colourrr
Same Lorrrr time!!!!
Eh no Toyota news? Sam Loo no bonus this year I guess…
Side note: surprised the Teana and Sylphy didn’t make it to the top ten list…
Side, side note
Alot of people keep banging on about how little Iriz are there on the road or how little Corolla (since well, most bash brand of the year to these two). I have almost never seen a decent number of new-Sylphy running around. I’ve seen some Teanas, Lots of Mazda 3 and couple of new Civic facelift(trust me, I know the diffrence)…. but never any Sylphys.
Sam Loo not working hard enough to sell car hahaha!
No matter how fiercely we debate news in Paultan, in reality we’re just the “minority”, a small number of enthusiasts that think differently from the rest of the people.
Personally the top three brands that I felt like it’s mushrooming everywhere in 2014 was Mazda 3/6/cx5, P2 Axia, and Honda City/Jazz, maybe less Jazz more City.
I see as many new Ford on the road as there are new Toyotas on the road, I suppose this is good news for Ford and bad news for Toyota. Notices a lot of Serena Hybrid as well, but not much else. There’s one Iriz park near where I work though.
Apparently, IRIZ is over-exposed. Its actual market acceptance and performance is way below reported.
Mahatir have done nothing for Proton, any Tom, Dick or Harry can do what he is doing!! Proton improving quality…just look at the Iriz and the number of complaints going around online. Asking the government for funds, everyone can do – no need to ask the old man to do. The Proton name is so bad overseas that it is difficult to recover…drop the name and form a new company with a better name!
maybe the over-publicity for the overrated Iriz and biased reviews by local media worked against it…most readers already know local car magazines and websites highly biased and praised EVERY new P1 model that rolled out, using words such as “game-changer, best P1 yet, world-beater” etc..until the clowns at MYCC allowed MONTHLY AUTO SALES FIGURES by MODELS published, we will NEVER KNOW the EXACT no of Iriz sold…all we have was the usual “thousnads and thousands of bookings” announced by the car company, but i live in KL PJ and can count with one hand the No of Iriz seen (1x showroon, 1x test car)
Dei, the delivery of IRIZ just started on end of NOV (for 1.3 MT and 1.6 Premium) Since the price of premium was so high, people don’t bother to buy it. If u ask around proton showroom person in charge, the 1.3 cvt delivery will kick start only on MAR 2015. Dumbass. Blindly bashing without fool proof.
to add more, MOST OF THE BOOKINGS are for 1.3 CVT.
There is very little doubt why Proton posts gets the largest readership. Both detractors and supporters in kind are interested in how proton turns out. I am quite impressed with the Iriz but the price and lack of a Manual gearbox was and is its biggest failing. Perhaps we might see more of them on the road once the MT is available.
Proton is still suffering from a lot of bad karma. Something that will take time and many consistantly good models to cure.
What surprised me was the high readership of the child seat post. It shows that despite general poor utilization, there is a growing educated mass who understands the importance of proper child safety.
The biggest dissapointment for 2014 was for Nissan to backtrack and offer the X-Trail with 2 airbags. Likewise, for proton to offer a reduced airbag version of the Suprima.
Erm….no point arguing…Lets look at the bare facts. Proton was launched at the same tie as Hyundai (1985?). Look where Hyundai is today – top 5 automobile brand in the US and sold/accepted in Europe. I was in Milan recently and I see a lot of Kimchi cars scooting around. No Proton though…if the likes of Mazda, Ford, Nissan, Peugeot etc. etc. have to merge and share cost/technologies…Some of them are actually not doing too good Fiat and Peugeot comes to mind..what makes you think Proton can survive? The only reason it is still around is becoz of protectionism policies. Remove that and see what happens to Proton…some of us are living in ABSOLUTE denial and LA LA land or is it called Bolehland?
Going into 2015, Just a STRONG reminder!!!!When it comes to Automobiles, Malaysian are really treated like 5 class citizens:
1). Because of excessive excise duties and taxes, cars in Malaysia is one of the most expensive in world!
2). Add injury to insult, Auto makers have total disregard for Malaysian lives – 2 airbags in MPVs, no VSC or traction controls, sub standard quality etc etc. Do you know that in EU and Aust, it is MANDATORY to have VSC in all cars regardless of brands or makes? Yet for some brands in Malaysia are charging hefty premiums without some of this basic safety features?
c). Government not doing anything about point “b”?
d). On top of all of the above, we have to put up with CRAP after sales service, rising insurance premiums, bad road conditions, tolls charges!!!!
Where got point “b”?…cannot find