BMW is 100 years old, so time to bring out 100 special edition 7 Series

MUNICH: BMW is marking its centenary by producing 100 units of a centenary edition 7 Series. The car is available in three drive variants, and they come with a MontBlanc.

These are the 740Le iPerformance and 740Le xDrive iPerformance with plug-in hybrid system, the V8 model 750Li and 750Li xDrive as well as the M760Li xDrive featuring a 12-cylinder power unit.

With BMW's custom department doing the job, you can be sure there a wide palette for the customer to individualise the car to his taste.

For all three variants, BMW is bestowing them with an exclusive centenary model paint finish, 20-inch BMW Individual light-alloy wheels, BMW Individual fine grain Merino full leather trim and further interior details from BMW Individual.

The equipment range also includes a MontBlanc fountain pen created for the special edition car.

To recap what has been said before, the sixth generation of the 7 Series luxury sedan aims to set benchmarks in operating comfort, intelligent networking and feel-good atmosphere inside the car.

It lists technology and design highlights such as the Carbon Core body structure, BMW eDrive technology, anti-dazzle BMW Laserlight, chassis control system Executive Drive Pro, BMW gesture control, remote controlled parking, Executive Lounge and panorama glass roof Sky Lounge.

The vehicles feature exclusive BMW Individual equipment details, recognisable instantly by the BMW Individual exterior colour Centennial Blue metallic and the handcrafted signet. The colour variant available exclusively for the 100 centennial models is attained by an elaborate painting process that accentuates the sedan’s design through high brilliance and depth effect. The forged 20-inch BMW Individual light-alloy wheels has a V-spoke design that come in a bi-colour Silver/Ferric Grey look and with mixed tyres.

An exclusive, handcrafted signet bearing the lettering “THE NEXT 100 YEARS” adorns the B pillars, the interior strips above the glove compartment on the passenger side as well as the front and rear seat headrests. The cover of the cup holder located in the front area of the centre console boasts the inscription “1 of 100”.

The BMW Individual fine-grain Merino full leather trim in the colour variant “Smoke White” with black accents is the central element. The leather used for the seats, door panels including B pillars, the upper and lower sections of the instrument panel, the centre console, armrests and door pulls is said to be pleasant to the touch thanks to its volume and soft, fine-grain surfaces.

The leather remains breathable and promises supreme comfort. Quilted seat surfaces in a woven look, hand-woven piping and contrasting seam applications bear witness to a production process that is defined by precision and attention to detail. Floor covering and floor mats, safety belts and the BMW Individual headliner also come in Alcantara in the colour “Smoke White”. The stylish interior ambience of the centennial model is capped by BMW Individual interior strips in Piano Finish Black and a BMW Individual leather steering wheel with fine-wood applications in the same finish.

The new V8 is a 4.4-litre engine that delivers a maximum power output of 450hp and maximum torque of 650 Nm. Acceleration from 0 to 100kph can be completed in 4.7 seconds. Combined fuel consumption is 8.3 litres per 100 kilometres.

The two other engine variants are due to be launched later this year. The plug-in hybrid luxury sedan Individual 740Le iPerformance, the eDrive technology of which is based on expertise gained from the development of i automobiles, will boast path-breaking efficiency.

A four-cylinder petrol engine featuring TwinPower Turbo technology and a synchronous electric motor deliver a total system output of 326hp.

The top dog is of course the 12-cylinder power unit of the Individual M760Li xDrive Model V12 Excellence. The V12 engine is also of historic significance for the 7 Series. In 1987, the top-of-the-range version of the second-generation 7 Series was the first 12-cylinder production model made in Germany during the post-war era. The 6.6-litre, V12 power unit of the latest generation, which also features TwinPower Turbo technology, delivers a maximum power output of 610hp and enables the M760Li xDrive to sprint from 0 to 100kph in 3.7 seconds.

The car’s outstanding performance characteristics are combined with unsurpassed power delivery and smoothness as well as an average fuel consumption of 12.6l/100km.

The chassis technology comprises a 2-axle air suspension including automatic self-levelling and Dynamic Damper Control. A further enhancement of comfort, dynamics and supremacy is achieved with Integral Active Steering (optional extra on some models) and the Executive Drive Pro system with active roll stabilization as well as the data-based predictive function.

In addition to the COMFORT, SPORT and ECO PRO settings, it is now also possible for the first time to activate the ADAPTIVE mode by means of the Driving Experience Control switch. In this setting, the set-up adapts to the current driving style and route characteristics. Furthermore, the 7 Series can be fitted with BMW Laserlight including BMW Selective Beam as an alternative to full-LED headlights.

The 7 Series features iDrive that has been supplemented by a touch function for the Control Display and BMW gesture control, which is being presented for the first time.

Further optional extras including Ambient Light, Welcome Light Carpet, Ambient Highlight in the rear compartment, the Bowers & Wilkins Diamond Surround Sound System and the Ambient Air Package are available.

The Executive Lounge feature provides the highest degree of individual well-being at the rear. This optional equipment package comprises automatic air conditioning with 4-zone control system, electrically adjustable comfort seats with massage function and Vitality Programme, Active Seat Ventilation as well as the options Executive Lounge Seating, Executive Lounge Rear Compartment Console and Rear Compartment Entertainment Experience including BMW Touch Command. The removable 7-inch tablet computer facilitates control of the infotainment and comfort functions available in the rear compartment of the 7 Series and can also be used to play back external audio and video files, as a games console or to surf the Internet.


Toyota and Nissan to seek reimbursement from UK if Brexit talks fail, says Nikkei

                TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp and Nissan Motor Co Ltd would seek reimbursement from Britain if the government fails to agree an EU trade deal, the Nikkei financial daily reported today.

The companies are bracing for an additional 10% EU tax on automobile imports from Britain and are demanding that the government pays for such additional customs costs, the report said, without citing sources.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday said that he did not particularly wish for a Brexit transition period to end without a new trade deal in place but that Britain could live with such an outcome.

Officials for Nissan and Toyota had no immediate comment when contacted.

However, the report underscores how Britain’s tortuous divorce from the European Union has implications for companies around the globe, including in Japan, the world’s third-largest economy.

Toyota operates a plant in Derbyshire, central England, and produced roughly 8% of the 1.52 million cars made in Britain in 2018. It also produces engines at a factory in Wales.

Nissan has a plant in Sunderland, northern England, that employs 7,000. That would be “unsustainable” if Britain leaves the EU without a trade deal, Nissan said in June.


Aston Martin launches 'swan song' V12 Vantage before going electric

                LONDON: Aston Martin today launched the final fossil-fuel version of its limited-run powerful V12 Vantage sports car, with every vehicle already snapped up before the British luxury carmaker starts its gradual shift to an electric lineup.

"This V12 Vantage is really a swan song," said Aston Martin executive chairman and investor Lawrence Stroll.

"There is a history of V12 Vantages at this company that goes back several decades and it will be the last one we make... before we move onto hybridisation and electrification."

Aston Martin plans to launch its first fully-electric vehicle in 2025 and has said that as of 2026 all new car lines will have an electric option.

Fictional secret agent James Bond's car brand of choice had a tough time after going public in 2018, failing to meet expectations and burning through cash. In 2020, it brought in fresh investment from billionaire Stroll.

The V12 Vantage and the DBX707, a luxury SUV, are the carmaker's first two new vehicles produced under Stroll.

Aston Martin has been incorporating technology into its cars from shareholder Mercedes-Benz, which increased its stake in the struggling carmaker in 2020.

The carmaker's petrol-powered V12 Vantage is limited to 333 units globally with a starting price of around US$300,000 (RM1.3mil). Stroll said the car was three times oversubscribed.

Since 2007, Aston Martin has crammed its biggest engine into its smallest model to create the Vantage.

The carmaker said the latest and last version "offers an intoxicating combination of magnificent low and mid-range muscularity with searing top-end power" and a top speed of 323kph.

Premium and luxury car sales soared in 2021, especially in key global markets like China and the United States, as pandemic travel restrictions left wealthy consumers with more disposable income.


New TVR to make its global debut at the London Motor Show

                LONDON: The first TVR sportscar in over a decade is set to be unveiled at the first London auto show.

On May 5, fans of the iconic and eccentric British sports car brand will get their first glimpse of an all-new two-seat V8 coupé which is heading into limited production in 2017.

TVR closed its doors, seemingly for good, in 2006, devastating a loyal group of car fanatics in the process. However, the brand has now been resurrected and will announce its return to the premium sportscar market with a vehicle designed by none other than Gordon Murray, the man behind the legendary McLaren F1 hypercar.

"We have built enormous momentum over the past 12 months, to the point at which we now hold more than 350 deposits from enthusiastic individuals who are keen to be proud owners and drivers of the new TVR," said TVR chairman Les Edgar. "Our appearance at the London Motor Show will be a perfect platform for us to show a physical representation of the car and we hope to use the opportunity to tantalise the public and provide a strong indication of the look of the production vehicle."

There hasn't been a traditional international auto show hosted in Britain for over a decade, but the inaugural London Motor Show aims to address this shortcoming. Though an entirely new and independent event, a host of high-profile car companies, from Aston Martin to McLaren and Land Rover, will be in attendance when doors open to the press in Battersea on May 5.


Duo in car trying to escape cops seen in viral video charged with attempted murder

                PETALING JAYA: Two men have been charged at the Sessions Court and the Magistrate's Court with attempted murder, among other charges, over an incident where several cars were rammed at a road junction in Sierramas, Sungai Buloh last week.

Mustaza Mustaffa, 35, was slapped with eight charges while his friend Khairul Fazily Fadzil, 40, faced two charges.

Both men pleaded not guilty after the charges were read out at the respective courts here on Friday (March 5).

At the Sessions Courts before judge Norshila Kamaruddin, Mustaza was accused of attempting to murder Kpl M. Amareisan and Kpl Mohd Edham Zakaria by speedily reversing a car and trying to run over the two policemen.

He allegedly committed the offence at a junction on Jalan Kuala Selangor, Kepong-bound, Damansara at 12.30pm on Feb 26.

The charge under Section 307 of the Penal Code carries a maximum 20 years imprisonment if convicted.

Mustaza also pleaded not guilty on a charge of dangerous weapon possession, an axe, an offence under Section 6(1) of the Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act 1958.

He faces imprisonment between five to seven years and liable for whipping, if convicted.

Khairul Fazily was charged with his association with Mustaza, who at the material time carried a dangerous weapon.

The charge under Section 5 of the Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act 1958 carries a maximum seven years in jail and whipping if convicted.

Meanwhile, before magistrate Nurshahira Abd Salim, Mustaza was jointly charged with Khairul Fazily under Section 186 of the Penal Code for allegedly obstructing two policemen from carrying out their duty.

They face up to two years imprisonment or fine up to RM10,000 or both, if convicted.

Mustaza also pleaded not guilty to four counts of mischief by damaging four vehicles including a Toyota Vellfire and a lorry.

He was charged under Section 427 of the Penal Code and faces imprisonment up to 12 months or fine or both, upon conviction.

Mustaza was also charged with alleged failure to produce his identity card under Regulation 7 (1A) of the National Registration Regulations 1990, which carries a maximum fine of RM20,000 or up to three years imprisonment.

Deputy Public Prosecutors Alison Chan and Atifah Hazimah Wahab appeared for the prosecution.

Mustaza was represented by lawyers Datuk Suraj Singh and Datin Raj Preet Kaur while Khairul Fazily was unrepresented.

Mustaza was allowed bail at RM43,000 in one surety for all the charges while Khairul Fazily was not allowed bail due to the absence of bailor.

The cases have been fixed for mention on April 19.

On Feb 26, a video of policemen shooting at the tyres of a car after two suspects refused to stop their vehicle went viral on social media.


Ex-Renault man to replace Ford design chief

Callum (left) will be replaced by Lo from May 1.
DETROIT: Ford's design chief Moray Callum will be retiring soon. He will be succeeded by Anthony Lo, who most recently was Renault's vice president for exterior design.

Callum’s retirement is effective May 1, enabling a one-month transition to Lo, who will start with Ford on April 1. Like Callum, Lo will report to Hau Thai-Tang, Ford’s chief product platform and operations officer.

Callum’s design influence on Ford and the industry has been extensive. His most recent body of work was particularly prolific, as Callum and his team helped create and introduce the acclaimed 2021 F-150, Mustang Mach-E, and reimagined Bronco and Bronco Sport. A refined, modern design language for Lincoln has been essential to the brand’s global resurgence.

Among notable designs Callum steered across his career were the 1999 Super Duty truck, 2011 Explorer, 2005 Mazda MX-5, 2007 Mazda CX-7, 2015 Mustang and F-150, and 2016 GT.

Lo will join Ford in the midst of an ambitious plan to turn around and grow its automotive business, with continued design of must-have vehicles.

Born in Hong Kong, Lo got his initial break in the auto industry in 1987, when a professor at the Royal College of Art in London where he studied offered him a position at Lotus Cars in England. There, Lo designed the distinctive Lotus Carlton, the world’s fastest car of its type at the time.

At Renault in Paris for the past 10 years, Lo was instrumental in development of the company’s “Cycle of Life” design strategy. That approach was the basis for a series of award-winning concept cars, such as the Dezir, Captur, R-Space, Frendzy, Twin’Z, Twin’Run and Trezor. Lo and his team implemented the strategy in Renault’s all-new global lineup of cars and SUVs.

Among production vehicles about which Lo is most proud are the second-generation of the Renault Captur, which built on the success of the original model with features like a wider track, distinctive lighting signature and more expressive body sides, and the Dacia Duster 2, delivering on its low-cost objective without compromising attractiveness.

Other car makers Lo has worked for include Saab, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz and Audi.

In addition to a master’s degree in Automotive Design from Royal College of Art, Lo holds a higher diploma in Industrial Design from Hong Kong Polytechnic University.


Teacher is proud owner of 250,000th Perodua Axia

                ALOR SETAR: Little did a 31-year old teacher Isma Nurul Farhana know that by booking a Perodua Axia some two weeks prior would be the 250,000th unit to be sold in Malaysia.

On Aug 5, Isma - along with her 42-year old husband Ismail Din and four-year old son Isma Abdul Hadi Ismail, took delivery of the car during a ceremony where she was presented with a mock key and a bouquet of flowers.

“In just over three years, we have delivered a quarter of a million Axias, which is a significant milestone for us,” said Perodua sales managing director Datuk Dr. Zahari Husin.

The Perodua Axia has a four-star (five-star mximum) ASEAN New Car Assessment Programme (ASEAN NCAP) rating for crash tests, is powered by a VVT-I engine that's able to achieve 22.5km/L when in Eco-Driving mode.

As standard, the Axia is available in Ivory White, Glittering Silver, Ebony Black and Midnight Blue, while the SE and Advance Version variants have two additional colours of Solid Sunflower Yellow and Metallic Lava Red.

Depending on variant, the Axia's price tag ranges from RM24,900 for the Standard-E (manual) to RM42,900 for the Advance (auto).

“Apart from being the lucky quarter millionth customer, Puan Isma is also in the running to win a Perodua Myvi under the 12-year anniversary promotion which is running between July 1 TO Oct 31,” added Zahari.

To be eligible for an entry in the “Myvi 12 Iconic Years Anniversary” promotion, a person could either buy a new Perodua vehicle at an authorised Perodua sales outlet or service a Perodua vehicle (with a minimum spend of RM300) or trade in any car with Perodua.

The Perodua Axia was launched in 2014 and a facelift of the model was introduced in January this year.

“We are happy yet humbled by the overwhelming response by the Malaysian public for Perodua in general and for the Axia in particular,” Perodua Sales Sdn Bhd Managing Director, Dato’ Dr. Zahari Husin said.


Continental, Osram to launch car lighting joint venture

                BERLIN/MUNICH: German auto parts supplier Continental and lighting company Osram said they plan to set up a joint venture next year to develop lighting products for the automotive industry.

The 50:50 venture, to be called Osram Continental GmbH, will target sales in 2018 in the 500 million euro (RM2.5bil) range, the two companies said in separate statements on Monday.

People familiar with the talks between Continental and Osram said earlier on Monday that the new business was expected to generate annual sales of between 400 million euros and 600 million euros (up to RM2.9bil) initially.

 Osram’s Specialty Lighting CEO Hans-Joachim Schwabe (left) and Continental’s Body and Security chief Andreas Wolf have announced the plan to set up the joint venture for intelligent lighting solutions.

Continental, the world’s second-biggest supplier to carmakers by sales, is bolstering its expertise in electronics as customers such as Volkswagen and Daimler increase spending on electric and self-driving technologies.

The new venture would operate as an independent company and be fully consolidated in Osram’s balance sheet. Neither Continental nor Osram disclosed how much they will each invest in the new company.

They have yet to sign binding contracts on the venture or seek approval from antitrust authorities, Osram said.

The venture will employ 1,500 people in 17 locations worldwide to combine semiconductor-based lighting modules, advanced electronics, optics and software expertise with access to sensor technology and innovative light sources, Continental said.

“Osram Continental would therefore be able to offer a broad range of end-to-end, innovative lighting solutions, designed especially for headlight and tail light applications,” Continental said.


Wine and dine at Renault showroom

                PETALING JAYA: TC Euro Cars (TCEC), the sole franchise holder for Renault cars in Malaysia, recently upgraded its flagship Renault showroom in Petaling Jaya to provide a more enriching and inclusive experience to customers and visitors.

"These improvements underline our steadfast commitment and passion to exceed the expectations of our discerning Renault customers. With these upgrades, we aim to establish more fulfilling connections that will enable us to better serve our customers,” said chief executive officer, TC Euro Cars Sdn Bhd, Kuan Kim Luen.

Located along Jalan Kemajuan, Section 13 in Petaling Jaya, the improved Renault showroom now features a new restaurant and pub called Tavern 13, in addition to an existing café, to create a more lifestyle experience in the showroom.

Serving western and Thai BBQ cuisine, Tavern 13’s casual setting and relaxing ambience makes it an ideal spot for customers to wait in or simply just to unwind.

The Renault touch is added with updated photos of key activities in Malaysia, a display of interesting Renault-related video clips and other branding elements.

Outside in front of the showroom, is a newly constructed vehicle display platform clearly visible from the road – Jalan Semangat. This display platform showcases the latest fashionable and fuel-efficient vehicles from Renault, such as the new Captur urban crossover and Clio GT Line compact hatchback.

Additionally, customers can now make appointments through sales consultants to drop off their Renault vehicles at the showroom. Besides enjoying F&B while waiting for their cars to be serviced, they can also utilise the hair salon adjacent to the showroom for further convenience and to make the most of their time.

The company recently added new showrooms in Seremban and Johor Baharu to strengthen Renault’s brand presence and connect with more customers in the southern region of Peninsular Malaysia.

Renault has 15 showrooms all over Peninsular Malaysia and 14 service centres across Peninsular and East Malaysia.


Hyundai to make low-cost SUVs to battle Chinese rivals, say sources

                SEOUL: Hyundai Motor and affiliate Kia Motors plan to launch three low-cost sport utility vehicles (SUVs) in China, their biggest market, from next year, say people with knowledge of the plans.

Making cheaper models, their first for China, marks a shift for the South Korean automakers, whose strategy of appealing to price-conscious Chinese buyers with older model versions has faltered as local brands surge.

Hyundai and Kia's China market share slid to a 7-year low of 8.9 percent last year from 10.4 percent in 2014, according to company data, hit by the rise of Chinese rivals including Great Wall Motor. The drop in annual sales was the biggest among the top 10 automakers in China, data from IHS Automotive showed.

Latecomers to China when they began making cars there in 2002, Hyundai and Kia rank third behind Volkswagen and General Motors. But Chinese brands are gaining share by aping Hyundai's original formula: sleek, but affordable, smaller models. The battleground has shifted from sedans to SUVs, which are increasingly popular and affordable partly due to the slide in oil prices.

Hyundai plans to build a compact, no-frills SUV at its planned factory in Changzhou starting in November 2017, and a subcompact SUV at its new Chongqing factory in 2018, two of the sources told Reuters.

Kia will follow with its own subcompact, entry-level SUV in 2018, another two people said, with one adding that Kia also plans to produce its mid-sized SUV in China next year.

"After missing out on a segment where Chinese have a head start, Hyundai is rushing to build small SUVs," said one of the individuals, declining to be named as the plans are private.

Hyundai and Kia will also make more use of Chinese suppliers to source cheaper, lower-spec parts and bring down costs, said another official with direct knowledge of Hyundai's engineering. The two automakers, which have a joint research and development centre in the Chinese city of Yantai, are also stepping up local engineering, he said.

Hyundai said it is taking steps to defend its position against Chinese rivals.

The group is "internally examining from various sides to develop differentiated SUVs that give customers a more practical value by continuing in our cost-cutting efforts," it said in an emailed response to Reuters' queries, and plans to "realign its line-up to range from lower-priced models to high-end cars to respond to demands from diverse customer bases."

Hyundai also said it is "developing parts and specifications" that are best suited to local needs as part of its efforts to be price competitive.

Some industry experts warned that introducing low-end SUVs could undermine the Korean automakers' quality and brand image.

"Going downmarket into low-cost SUVs may actually damage the brand in the long term," said James Chao, Asia-Pacific managing director at IHS Automotive.

In China, Hyundai and Kia have simultaneously sold two or three generations of the same model, a strategy that helped rapidly boost sales by targeting diverse customer groups.

Until late last year, Hyundai sold three generations of its Tucson SUV in China simultaneously. The oldest, based on the 2006 model year, is no longer available.

But the South Koreans, whose value-for-money image with sedans such as the Elantra positions them between other mass-market foreign brands at the higher end and Chinese brands at the lower end, were caught off-guard by the surge of cheaper Chinese SUVs.

"Whereas Chinese-brand car and SUV offerings were once looked upon with disdain or rejected outright, they're now increasingly accepted," said Michael Dunne, president of Hong Kong-based consultancy Dunne Automotive, citing "a clear sea-change" in buyer perceptions about Chinese brands.

The stakes are high for Hyundai as its two planned Chinese plants will boost its combined production capacity with Kia by nearly 30 percent to 2.7 million vehicles a year in 2018.

One Hyundai executive in China said his colleagues worry about being replaced because of sluggish sales. A mid-ranking sales official at Hyundai's China operations described a "crisis mode". Neither wanted to be identified as they are not authorised to speak with the media.

Both Hyundai and Kia replaced their top China executives last August.


Jaguar Land Rover not facing UK port problems so far

                LONDON: Jaguar Land Rover has not seen any impact so far from issues at UK ports, its parent Tata Motors said today, even as many countries cut transport ties with Britain due to a fast-spreading new variant of the coronavirus.

Tokyo-listed Honda Motor Co Ltd had to stop output at its British factory earlier this month because of transport-related delays that caused a shortage of parts. It resumed production about a week later.

The Covid-19 pandemic has compounded issues that were already plaguing carmakers ahead of Brexit, with the looming end to the transition period widely expected to cause delays at ports regardless of the outcome of talks on a trade deal.

Jaguar Land Rover halted production at its British factories for a week in November last year to mitigate any potential impact from a no-deal Brexit ahead of the then Oct 31 deadline.


Paris Motor Show focuses on cars with alternative powertrains and AI

                PARIS: After a pandemic-related hiatus for two years, the Paris Motor Show is opening its doors again with a focus on the switch to electric mobility and research into alternative fuels, notably hydrogen.

Visitors at the Oct 17-24 Paris car show - one of the most visited trade fairs in the world - are also expected to see the increasing impact of AI in cars in the use of driver assistance systems.

Starting on Monday with a visit from French president Emmanuel Macron, the 89th edition of the auto show is set to showcase a new approach aimed at reviving the flagging platform of car shows with an experience-oriented format.

Organisers are trying to lure visitors back with a new visitor circuit, an extended daily programme and more opportunities than before to get up close and personal with the new vehicles.

Although it counted one million visitors in 2018, many of which came to test drive upcoming releases, the Paris Motor Show is not immune to the creeping decline of horsepower parades.

Visitors will have to do without a number of brands this year, and German manufacturers are among those largely ignoring the so-called Mondial de l'Auto.

VW, Audi and BMW will not be in Paris, and Mercedes will not be at the show, although it is staging an event in the city.


Distraction or lifesaver: Have head-up displays lived up to the hype?

Helpful or annoying? Continental has developed a system that indicates obstacles to the driver.
BERLIN: Distraction at the wheel is one of the most common — and most fatal — causes of accidents on the road.

Whether it is checking our smartphones, looking at the passengers in the car, or even looking down to check your fuel gauge or speedometer, the number of possible distractions is countless.

In just half a second of distraction — the normal time it takes one to re-adjust to the road after looking away — you'll have driven blind for a distance of about 17 metres at a speed of 120kph.

For the latter of the three causes mentioned earlier, however, carmakers believe that they have created a solution with the head-up display.

Head-up displays project important information such as speed or information from the navigation system onto the windshield in front of the driver so that they need not look away from the road ahead.

"These systems bring the information to exactly where it's needed: the driver's field of vision," said car reporter and tester Holger Ippen.

As the driver no longer needs to constantly switch between near and far-sight to check the speedometer, this means they are also less fatigued when driving, explained Ippen.

While they have long been featured in luxury vehicles from brands such as BMW or Audi, head-up displays are now becoming commonplace in the less flashier models.

Among other factors, Ippen sees the main reason for this is the increasingly compact design of head-up technology, which means that they can now fit in the instrument panels of smaller cars much easier than ever before.

"Head-up displays are now very popular, especially since the cheaper version with the small Plexiglas disc in more compact and mid-range vehicles came onto the market," said Ippen.

In this version mentioned by Ippen, the display does not feature on the large windshield but on a small folding Plexiglas disc sitting on the dashboard.

Costs for this version range between US$600 (RM2,486) to US$850 (RM3,521), but the system can be significantly more expensive if the data is projected onto the actual windshield of the car.

For this incarnation, a special windscreen must be installed in which a wedge film is incorporated. If these are not properly fitted, the result can be a fuzzy, unclear display, according to Ippen.

For either type of display, head-up displays can quickly overshoot their target of keeping drivers focused, says the German Road Safety Council (DVR).

"The display should not be overloaded with information, otherwise it can irritate the driver," said Welf Stankowitz from DVR.

He suggests that systems be limited to basic data such as speed, any indication of gear change and hazard warnings. How these warnings are presented to the driver is another matter of contention.

If, for example, a driver has already seen that a pedestrian is on the road ahead, the assistance system points to the obstacle with a warning sound and the head-up display also flashes. This could be irritating and distracting, warned Stankowitz.

Head-up displays are also available as retrofit systems, with variations ranging from apps for smartphones to small projection devices that are mounted on the cockpit, and many are quite affordable.

But whether cheap or expensive, Ippen warns that he is "yet to be convinced so far" of the viability of these options, while the road safety experts also strongly advise against the retrofitting option.

"The procedure is often complicated, leaving many displays out of focus. Also, since the smartphone is then placed on the dashboard and must be aligned again and again, this can cause even more distraction," said Stankowitz.


Rendezvous with Mercedes-Benz C 350 e in San Francisco

                It was in the City by the Bay that we first laid eyes on the Mercedes-Benz C 350 e.

Though it looks like a conventional C-Class, its innards indicate a future that Mercedes-Benz is embracing.

READ MORE: Mercedes-Benz C 350 e to arrive in Malaysia in late 2016

Aside from being a vibrant and bustling city with a modern skyline, San Francisco also has a stunning view of the Pacific Ocean and its namesake bay.

First-time visitors to this “City by the Bay” are usually told to personally check out the must-see “ABC” - Alcatraz (a federal prison island from 1934 to 1963), Bridges (Golden Gate and Oakland Bay bridges) and Cable cars (first cable car operated in 1873).

These instantly recognisible icons have largely remained unchanged for decades and have even been featured in many blockbuster movies, travel documentaries and television shows.

In addition to its traditional charm, San Francisco’s position as the gateway to the technology-driven Silicon Valley, proved to be an ideal backdrop for our test drive of Mercedes-Benz’s C 350 e plug-in hybrid variant.

With the C 350 e, Mercedes-Benz is maintaining its bold steps into the global hybrid car market especially after unveiling the S 500 Plug-In Hybrid in 2014.

The company intends to up the ante by introducing 10 new plug-in hybrid models by next year.

Said to be the most advanced C-Class variant and most fuel efficient vehicle in its segment, the C 350 e still looks pretty much the same like other C-Class variants with stylish curves and refinement.

Inside, the familiar free-standing infotainment monitor, and leather, aluminium and wood trimmings impart a mix of luxurious and sporty ambience that Mercedes-Benz is known for.

The obvious give-away is that the right side of the rear bumper comes with a flap that opens up the charging point for its hybrid battery.

While the C 350 e’s 2.0-litre turbocharged engine with 211bhp and 350Nm of torque is similar to that in the C 250, the plug-in hybrid gets an electric motor with 60kW and 340Nm of torque for extra kick.

The standard seven-speed 7G-Tronic Plus automatic transmission that is used in many Mercedes-Benz models, now incorporates the electric motor and an additional clutch which allows the engine to be decoupled from the drivetrain when the C 350 e is in electric vehicle mode.

Both engine and electric motor work together to unleash 279bhp and 600Nm of torque, enabling a sports car-like performance with a 0-100kph sprint of 5.9 seconds and a top speed of 250kph.

But if you are keen on getting good fuel economy, the combination can also work to give a frugal consumption of 2.1 litres per 100km.

Running on electric vehicle mode along Embarcadero, San Francisco’s waterfront road, the C 350 e is whisper quiet and silky smooth, making you think that you are in a S-Class.

Low to mid-range acceleration is immediate and strong because of the electric motor’s high torque.

The C 350 e’s accelerator pedal is the haptic-type that provides “resistance” to the driver’s foot when the vehicle’s full performance under electric mode is about to be achieved.

If the driver continues to depress the accelerator pedal, the 2.0-litre turbocharged engine will fire up to deliver additional power.

Compared with energy flow meters on typical hybrids, this haptic-feature is more intuitive and direct in getting drivers to be gentle on the accelerator and keep their vehicles running on electric power without using the petrol engine.

Under certain conditions, the haptic accelerator can send a double impulse to the driver’s foot to lift-off the pedal and shut down the petrol engine, leaving the car to coast and save fuel.

Meanwhile, the C 350 e’s hybrid lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 6.38kWh has enough juice for a 31km drive on a full electric vehicle drive.

The C 350 e can clock a top speed of 130kph on full electric power which is impressive.

The hybrid battery, which is stored in the boot, can be connected to a normal house socket and be fully charged up from empty in two hours.

While bootspace has been reduced to 335 litres from 480 litres in the non-hybrid C Class, space is still decent enough for luggage and other items because of the partially-raised flat boot layout.

Although the water-cooled battery weighs some 100kg, this extra load factor does not seem to affect the C 350 e’s agility or handling dynamics.

Steering is sharp, and with minimal bodyroll you can engage in exuberant driving and throw the C 350 e around fast twisty roads without dramas.

The Airmatic air suspension system, while allowing for a comfortable ride over rough surfaces, can be stiffened up for a sporty driving.

In addition to driving programmes of Economy, Comfort, Sport, Sport+ and Individual, drivers can also select hybrid modes of Hybrid (most fuel efficient), E-mode (all-electric driving), E-save (maintains the hybrid battery charge level for later use) and Charge (allows the battery to be charged by the petrol engine).

In short, the combined punch from the electric motor and turbocharged engine is exhilarating, delivering a performance similar to a big block V6.

Other key features include LED headlights, electronic stability programme, Collision Prevention Assist Plus and Attention Assist to name a few.

There is also a pre-entry climate control where the interior temperature of the car can be set earlier before driving off.

Blending sportiness with fuel efficiency and comfort in a plush mid-size car, the C 350 e is certainly a few steps up from conventional and other hybrid cars.

Prices for the C 350 e starts from 50,000 euros (RM232,000) in Europe.

There will be plenty of smiles if Mercedes-Benz Malaysia could offer the C 350 e in Malaysia, preferably under a locally-assembled programme and benefit from the hybrid vehicle incentive scheme.


Jump start for Malaysian auto industry after MCO is lifted

                PETALING JAYA: The movement control order (MCO), implemented since March 18 to control the Covid-19 pandemic, has resulted in devastating impact to the country’s automotive industry with the shuttering of vehicle plants, car showrooms and service centres.

Initially scheduled to end on April 1, the order has been extended twice and will be lifted on April 29.

The automotive industry is a major pillar of the economy, with a 4.3% contribution to Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019, according to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI).

Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) president Datuk Aishah Ahmad said a proposal had been submitted to the government earlier this week, regarding post MCO jump-start measures for the automotive industry.

“We have submitted a proposal to both MOF (Ministry of Finance) and MITI. Among the measures proposed are easier hire purchase approvals, and lower taxes or duties for at least until end of this year. We have also requested for the calculation of the open market value (OMV) of a vehicle to be reverted to the previous formula, so that the duties imposed for locally assembled cars do not increase,” she told CarSifu.

Earlier this year, the Government had provided a deferment on the revised OMV formula until end-2020.

Aishah had estimated that prices of some locally assembled car models could increase as much as 15% to 20% with the revised OMV formula.

Regarding vehicle sales, Aishah said the total industry volume (TIV) would definitely drop this year.

“However, we cannot gauge the quantum of the drop in vehicle sales. The TIV would also depend on when the MCO would be lifted, and if the Government provides packages to stimulate the auto industry,” she said.

In January, the MAA had forecasted TIV in Malaysia to hit 607,000 units this year, which is a slight increase from the 604,287 units recorded last year.

Meanwhile, CarSifu spoke to a few automakers in the country about their readiness to resume normal operations post MCO.

Mazda car distributor Bermaz Auto Bhd said the company had made plans and is well-prepared to resume normal operations once the MCO is lifted.

The Bermaz Auto spokesperson said the company had also prepared procedures and policies for sanitisation and hygiene practices at its service centres and showrooms.

As for Honda Malaysia, the company said it was still monitoring the on-going situation in the country.

Regarding sanitisation measures for Honda Malaysia’s operation sites and car dealerships, a spokesperson said: “We are currently studying all the precautionary measures. Once we are back in operation, we will ensure that our dealerships are safe and follow all the required guidelines for customer safety.”

Meanwhile, a UMW Toyota Motor spokesperson said new vehicle deliveries and service appointments have been affected due to the MCO.

“Together with our business partners, we are ready to start operations immediately after the MCO is lifted and we will ensure that customer services are expedited without further delay,” said the UMW Toyota Motor spokesperson.

UMW Toyota Motor also said the company’s priority was to ensure a safe environment for customers and staff.

“There will be additional measures taken to ensure that our premises are safe for our customers to visit and also for our staff to work in. These measures are taken not only at our premises, but also at our manufacturing plants where stringent operating processes have been put into place to ensure that our products are safe from contamination right from production and throughout the logistics stages of vehicle production. We will implement this as a permanent measure.”

Regarding vehicle sales this year, the company is expecting weaker consumer sentiment for at least six months.

An industry observer said dealerships are facing difficult times as most auto shows, walk-in sales, delivery and maintenance services are hampered by the nationwide MCO.

“Those with higher inventory levels are facing additional costs including loan repayments, thus locking up their capital,” he said.

Other factors affecting car distributors and manufacturers are high operating expenses, weaker economic growth outlook with the rising inflation, lackluster consumer demand and weaker ringgit in 2020.

“Most car brands in Malaysia have shown a decline in numbers in the last three years and this is not good for the industry,” he said.

He also said that once the MCO is lifted, the local industry should spur domestic consumption by promoting walk-ins to showrooms and service centres via new innovative ways of doing business and connecting with customers.

“Even market leaders have to re-strategise to fit the situation, despite reporting losses or smaller revenues,” he said.

He said auto makers in China had presented their wish list to the government which includes cuts to the purchase tax on smaller vehicles, measures to support sales in rural markets, easing of car emission requirements, extending subsidies for new energy vehicles and expand investment in infrastructure such as charging stations.

The observer also said the South Korean government in helping its auto sector, had promised to speed up customs clearance, arrange freight transportation and provide liquidity support for the industry which employs about 12% of the country’s workforce.

He added that the American auto companies also had sought for the US government to delay the implementation of new rules requiring higher local content in cars in order to qualify for zero tariffs.


Robot paw helps stop Land Rovers going to the dogs

                LONDON: It might seem a minor bugbear, but Jaguar Land Rover says many owners use their Defender to transport dogs, and the left-behind scratches are an unsightly annoyance.

That's why engineers at the company have come up with a way to imitate how dogs scratch the shiny paint surfaces of the rugged off-roader.

With the help of a real dog and lots of algorithms, they created a high-tech, 3D-printed paw to test the long-term endurance of a car.

The data came from a Labrador called Yogi which was was tasked with jumping in and out of the Land Rover Defender's cargo space while brushing past the side-hinged door.

Each step was recorded by pressure mapping technology and Yogi's paw was used to model and 3D-print a spring-loaded replica, allowing the claws to follow contours and apply pressure evenly across the bumper.

The spring-loaded claws also proved a cost-effective solution as they are easily replaceable - unlike Yogi's.

Results showed the car's bumper can withstand more than a decade of scratching by dogs, said the maker.

The life-like paw is now used by the company to complete a standard 5,000 cycle abrasion test during which robotic paw scratches a panel at random 10 times followed by a linear scratch to one side, before repeating the process.


Pickup truck driver and bodyguard fined RM2,000 each for highway fracas

                KULAI: Remember the case of the supercar blockade in March after a pick-up truck crashed into a Lamborghini on the PLUS expressway?

The case made news again today when the 28-year-old woman truck driver was issued a RM2,000 fine after pleading guilty to causing an accident on the expressway.

Lee Jia Ming, a businesswoman, pleaded guilty after charges were read in front of magistrate Sharifah Maleeha Syed Hussin at the magistrate's court here today.

In the incident, footage of which went viral, a pickup truck driven by Lee is seen forcing other cars out of the way on the highway and rammed into the Lamborghini, which was travelling in a convoy.

The convoy is then seen stopping in the middle of the highway, preventing all cars – including the pickup truck – from moving.

According to the charge sheet, Lee had failed to control her vehicle, causing an accident to take place at KM34 at 6.10pm on March 18.

She was charged under Section 119(2) of the Road Transport Act, which carries a fine of up to RM2,000 or a jail term not exceeding six months.

Lee was represented by lawyer Tan Cheng Yee, while the case was handled by Deputy Public Prosecutor Eddlynn Wong.

In the same court, 44-year-old Nor Razman Abd Razak was fined RM2,000 after pleading guilty to hurting Lee. Nor Razman, who works as a driver and bodyguard, was said to have slapped Lee following the incident on March 18.

At the time of the incident, Nor Razman was a passenger in the supercar driven by his employer.

He was charged under Section 323 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing hurt, which carries a jail term of up to one year or a maximum fine of RM2,000 or both upon conviction.

He was represented by lawyer Mohd Azlan Shah Mohd Allias.


Tesla puts brake on Shanghai land buy as US-China tensions weigh, say sources

File pic of a Model 3 on display last April at Auto China 2018 in Beijing. — Reuters
SAN FRANCISCO: Tesla Inc  has halted plans to buy land to expand its Shanghai plant and make it a global export hub, people familiar with the matter said, due to uncertainty created by US-China tensions.

With 25% tariffs on imported Chinese electric vehicles imposed on top of existing levies under former President Donald Trump still in place, Tesla now intends to limit the proportion of China output in its global production, two of the four people said.

Tesla had earlier considered expanding exports of its China-made entry-level Model 3 to more markets, including the United States, sources told Reuters, a plan that had not previously been reported.

Tesla currently ships China-made Model 3s to Europe, where it is building a factory in Germany.

Tesla's Shanghai factory is designed to make up to 500,000 cars per year, and is currently producing Model 3 and Model Y vehicles at a rate of 450,000 units per year.

In March, Tesla refrained from bidding on a plot of land across the road from the plant as it no longer aimed to boost China production capacity significantly, at least for now, three of the people said, declining to be named as the discussions were private.

In a statement to Reuters, Tesla said its Shanghai factory was "developing as planned".

The Shanghai city government, a key supporter in Tesla's establishment of a wholly-owned factory in China - the first and only foreign passenger car plant not required to form a joint venture - did not respond to a request for comment.

Tesla had never declared an intention to acquire the land, which is about half the size of the 80 hectare plot housing Tesla's current facility and would enable the company to lift capacity by another 200,000 to 300,000 cars, said two of the people.

Tesla’s China sales are surging despite mounting regulatory pressure in the country after consumer disputes over product safety and scrutiny over how it handles data.

It generated US$3 billion in revenue in China in the first three months of this year, more than tripling year-earlier sales and accounting for 30% of total revenue.

Land plans

Led by mercurial CEO Elon Musk, Tesla is known for shifting gears on strategy, including in China.

Construction documents posted on a government website in March show Tesla is revamping its plant in Shanghai to add capacity.

Tesla still has land, designed for production but now used for parking, at its Shanghai site. One of the people said Tesla could expand its capacity beyond 500,000 on its existing site. Another said Tesla may acquire more land for more car production lines in the future.

Separately, Tesla is building facilities to repair and reproduce key components such as electric motors and battery cells and build EV chargers at its Shanghai plant.

The Shanghai government has been talking to several companies to sell the land for new-energy commercial vehicle production, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

Tesla faces intensifying competition in China with domestic players such as Nio Inc (NIO.N), which is considering making mass market products under another marque.

Even before the trade war tariffs, relatively few China-made cars were shipped to the United States.

General Motors Co  sells its China-made Buick Envision in the United States, paying the additional 25% tariff, although the SUV is not a high volume model.


Free recycleable shopping bags from BHPetrol in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur

                PETALING JAYA: To support the eco-friendly initiative, Boustead Petroleum Marketing Sdn Bhd (BHPetrol) will provide their free recyclable non-woven shopping bags from selected BHPetrol stations in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur starting Jan 13, 2017.

Customers will be entitled to get one free bag by buying shop items worth RM15 (excluding cigarettes, Touch N’Go, e-Pay) plus any fuel product of any amount at participating BHPetrol stations.

The recyclable non-woven bags are available in multi colours, and are offered while stocks last.

James Khoo, retail director of BHPetrol said, “By having this promotion, we hope our bags will come in handy to our customers to carry their shopping goods and at the same time, support the eco-friendly initiative.”

Also present during the promotion's soft launch were Terry Lim, BHPetrol retail national sales manager and Baba Tan, BHPetrol senior marketing manager.

There are more than 80 BHPetrol stations with “BHPetromart” convenience stores in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur offering this special shopping recycle bags.

The list of participating stations can be obtained from www.bhpetrol.com.my.


Nissan news a vote of confidence in Britain, says PM Johnson

                LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said today that Nissan’s decision to source batteries from Britain to avoid tariffs on electric cars after the Brexit trade deal with the European Union was a great vote of confidence.

“This is a great vote of confidence in the UK and fantastic news for the brilliant Nissan workforce in Sunderland and electric vehicle manufacturing in this country,” Johnson said on Twitter.

Chief Operating Officer Ashwani Gupta said Brexit-related problems at ports since Jan 1 were “peanuts” for Nissan, which has had to handle Covid-19 and natural disasters.


Porsche may ditch diesel engines, says CEO

                NUERBURGRING (Germany): Porsche will decide at the end of the decade whether its latest generation of diesel engines will be its last, said chief executive Oliver Blume, the first time a German carmaker has said in public it could discontinue diesel.

Volkswagen's cheating on diesel emissions tests has cast a shadow over its Porsche division and the sports car brand, which first introduced diesel in its Cayenne sports utility vehicle (SUV) in 2009, is considering its options.

"Of course, we are looking into this issue," CEO Blume said in an interview at the Nuerburgring motorsports complex in western Germany. "We have not made a decision on it."

Blume said Porsche would offer a mix of combustion engines, plug-in hybrid vehicles and purely battery-powered cars over the next 10-15 years and would decide at the end of the decade whether diesel had a future at Porsche.

German prosecutors last month started investigating Porsche staff to see whether they were involved in designing illicit engine-control software and regulators are examining whether the Cayenne was fitted with such a device.

A redesign of the Cayenne will be launched in September and it will still offer a diesel version, Blume said, just like the Panamera saloon that hit dealerships last November.

"For the generations that will follow there are different scenarios," Blume said. One scenario has Porsche backing out of diesel altogether, sources at the carmaker said.

Stuttgart-based Porsche still relies on diesels, which account for about 15 percent of its global sales, to help it bring down emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) as they are more fuel-efficient than petrol engines.

At luxury rival BMW, diesel cars make up 35 percent of new registrations while Audi's European diesel sales alone account for two-thirds of deliveries.

But diesel's image has been badly tarnished by the emissions scandal and revelations that some engines pump dangerously high levels of poisonous nitrogen oxides into the air, prompting many carmakers to review their strategies.

To tap into growing demand for electric cars, Porsche is spending a billion euros (US$1.2 billion) to overhaul its main Stuttgart plant and build its first battery-only model - the four-door Mission E saloon which is due on the market in 2019.

Battery-only vehicles could account for a quarter of Porsche's sales by 2025, give or take 5 to 10 percentage points, Blume said, contradicting a media report that said up to half of its output by 2023-24 could be electric.

Earlier this month, Geely's Volvo said all its cars launched after 2019 would be electric or hybrids, making it the first major traditional carmaker to set a date for phasing out vehicles power solely by combustion engines.

Porsche and Audi, which together contribute 60 percent of VW's profits, are targeting "significant savings" in development and material costs for their electric-car programs by sharing a new production platform code-named PPE, Blume said.

The new architecture will allow both brands to save money by sharing components and modules, helping Porsche with a goal of keeping its return on sales at about 15 percent a year, he said.

"Further platforms are conceivable, for instance with SUVs."

Porsche sales rose 6 percent to a record 238,000 cars in 2016 and Blume said the carmaker had a guideline for increasing its sales about 5 percent per year through 2025.

Counting on growing demand for high-end electric cars, Porsche may spawn another zero-emission model off the Mission E platform, for which it plans an initial capacity of about 20,000 cars at its Zuffenhausen factory, Blume said. An electrified version of the top-selling Macan SUV is also possible.

"We expect the metropolises in China and Asia will switch to pure electric mobility very fast," the CEO said. "I believe there will be few pure combustion engines to be seen in the large cities there in five years time. The development in rural areas will, however, proceed much more slowly."


Uber grounds self-driving cars after accident

                SAN FRANCISCO: Uber has grounded its fleet of self-driving cars pending an investigation into the crash of an Uber autonomous vehicle in Arizona, a spokesman for the car-hailing service said Sunday.

No one was seriously injured in the accident which occurred Friday in Tempe, Arizona while the vehicle - a Volvo SUV - was in self-driving mode, the company said.

"We are continuing to look into this incident and can confirm we had no backseat passengers in the vehicle," the Uber spokesman said.

The accident occurred when the other vehicle "failed to yield" while making a left turn, Tempe police spokesman Josie Montenegros said.

"The vehicles collided causing the autonomous vehicle to roll onto it's side. There were no serious injuries," she said.

Self-driving Uber vehicles always have a driver who can take over the controls at any time.

Montenegro said it was uncertain whether the Uber driver was controlling the vehicle at the time of the collision.

The company grounded its self-driving vehicles in Arizona after the accident, and then followed up on Saturday pulling them off the road in Pittsburg and San Francisco, the two other locations where it operates self-driving vehicles, the company said.

The car-hailing service has been dented by a series of bad news stories, including disclosures about a culture of sexism, cut-throat workplace tactics and covert use of law enforcement-evading software.

A number of executives have left the company in recent weeks, including president Jeff Jones, as troubles have mounted.

Advocates of self-driving cars say that they can cut down on deadly traffic accidents by eliminating human error.

But there have been accidents, including a fatality in Florida in May when a truck struck a speeding Tesla that was on autopilot.

An investigation found no safety-related defects with the autopilot system, but concluded that the driver may have had time to avert the crash if he had been paying closer attention.


Ford will expand self-driving test car fleet to 30

                LAS VEGAS: Ford said today it plans to triple to 30 the size of its fleet of self-driving test cars as part of an effort to accelerate autonomous vehicle development.

In an announcement coinciding with the Consumer Electronics Show here, Ford said it will begin using a new, lower cost LiDAR sensor made by California-based Velodyne. The high cost of such sensors, which act as the eyes of a self-driving car, is one of the main technical obstacles to widespread commercialization of self-driving vehicles, industry executives say.

Ford said it will be the first automaker to use Velodyne’s new solid state “hybrid Ultra PUCK Auto” sensor. The compact device replaces the spinning scanners mounted on the rooftops of some autonomous test vehicles. Ford said two of these sensors could replace four current LiDAR sensors. The Ultra PUCKs are small enough to mount on a side-view mirror, Ford said.

Ford said it will add 20 hybrid Ford Fusion sedans to its existing 10-vehicle self-driving car fleet, and test them on roads in California, Arizona and Michigan. Rival automakers are also testing fleets of self-driving cars on and off public roads. Alphabet Inc’s Google has been testing self-driving cars of various kinds, including some of its own design, since 2009.

Separately, Ford said it is exploring ways to link in-home automation devices such as Amazon.com Inc's Echo to the Sync communications systems in its cars to allow consumers to control lights or thermostats inside the home from the car, or start up cars and check fuel levels from inside the house.

In a third technology-related move, Ford said it will collaborate with drone maker DJI to sponsor a contest to develop drone-to-vehicle communications systems using the connectivity systems on a Ford F-150. Contestants would design a system that United Nations workers can use to survey disaster areas, Ford said. The winner would get US$100,000 (RM434,000).


Renault 5 reboot: What this 80s classic's comeback could look like

                PARIS: Around 25 years ago, the last R5 rolled off the production line at Renault. Decades after its heyday, this hatchback supermini is poised to return as an electric - if Renault's latest concept is anything to go by.

The Renault 5 Prototype unveiled in January is an all-electric car clearly inspired by the classic cosy design of the R5, a widely successful runabout built from 1972 to 1996, before disappearing from city streets in the 21st century.

With its chunky sides, the concept also brings back memories of the R5 Turbo sports car, which Renault even sent to compete in some races.

The study might be inspired by the past, but according to the manufacturer, that's where history ends. The new Renault 5 is resolutely oriented towards the future and the company says it exemplifies a new direction of the brand.

Renault isn't yet giving any details on a possible series production, but it would come as no surprise. After all, the original model is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2022 - which would at least be a fitting time for a reboot.

The French firm has pledged to launch seven new EVs worldwide by 2025. Industry observers noted that when the electric R arrives, it could replace the highly successful Zoe EV as Renault's main compact electric hatch.

Full technical details are sketchy but visually the electric R is close to the last, sportier versions of the R5 which was built as a petrol-engined runabout from 1972 to 1996. R5 production topped 5.5 million over a 14-year period, making it France's most popular car.

"The design of the Renault 5 Prototype is based on the R5, a cult model of our heritage. This prototype simply embodies modernity, a vehicle relevant to its time: urban, electric, attractive," Renault Design director Gilles Vidal said.

Going by this and the model's history, we can expect any series version to be tailored towards city dwellers not looking to break the bank or make regular, long road trips.

The two-door R5s of yore was known for being small on the outside and big on the inside, stylish and yet cheap to buy - and above all cheap to repair.

One of the most successful cars in France in its heyday, it ushered in a new era of small cars. Even today, the R5 is roomier than most modern small cars, and drivers were spoiled with up to 900 litres of luggage space with the rear seats folded down.

The original had a spare wheel built in under the bonnet, but we don't imagine this old tradition will be kept on. The 33 kW/45 hp engine was known to struggle with the weight of this 900-kilo car. Here's hoping those ratios change.

The future R5's top speed may not improve radically on the predecessor's 135kph maximum, if we can assume an affordable battery-powered runabout designed for city driving.

But even if the hinted-at electric comeback is to remain cheap, we would hope that Renault can improve on the original's sprint time: 21.4 seconds from 0 to 100kph.


Man jailed after driving 55 stolen Malaysian vehicles to Singapore to be exported

File pic of police inspecting recovered stolen cars.
SINGAPORE: He helped to dispose of 55 Toyota vehicles which were stolen in Malaysia, driving them across the Causeway to Singapore to be exported to other countries.

Malaysian Freddy Augustus Juary, 37, was sentenced on Tuesday to 2 and a half years' jail after pleading guilty to 10 counts of being part of a conspiracy to help in disposing of the stolen vehicles. Another 45 similar charges were considered during sentencing.

The total value of the vehicles was not stated in court documents which said that only three - two trucks and a sports utility vehicle - had been recovered thus far.

The court heard that Freddy, an odd-job worker, committed the offences between December 2015 and October last year after receiving instructions from an alleged accomplice, Goh Chon Kong, who is also a Malaysian. Goh has not been dealt with in court.

She told District Judge Toh Yung Cheong that Freddy would drive the vehicles through the Woodlands Checkpoint before making his way to designated drop-off points in Singapore.

He initially parked the vehicles in Fan Yoong Road near Boon Lay Way but he later left them in Sungei Kadut.

DPP Cheng said: "All the vehicles were stolen in Malaysia by unknown persons... reports had been lodged by the victims with the Royal Malaysian Police, stating that their vehicles had been stolen. After the accused drove the vehicles into Singapore, they were exported to other countries."

The destinations were not revealed in court documents. After leaving the keys behind, he would take a public bus back to Johor and meet Goh, who paid him up to RM250 for each trip.

The DPP added that Freddy had reasonable grounds to believe that the vehicles were stolen property.

For instance, from the second week of October last year, Goh instructed Freddy to remove the registration plates of the vehicles.

Freddy did as he was told. He broke the plates into pieces and threw them away.

Court documents did not state how the offences came to light but officers from Ang Mo Kio Police Divisional Headquarters detained Freddy at the Woodlands Checkpoint on Oct 27 last year.

Anyone convicted of helping to dispose of stolen property can be jailed for up to five years and fined on each charge.


Testers screen best product for keeping your parked car cool

                BERLIN: Getting in a car that's been parked in the sun all day is not only uncomfortably hot, but also downright dangerous: the steering wheel or dashboard can burn your skin if you don't pay attention.

If parking in the shade isn't an option, there are a number of products that offer sun protection specifically for cars.

The ADAC, Europe's biggest motoring club, put several to the test.

Using seven identical vehicle with different products, the club monitored the temperatures over four hours in the middle of the day.

A reference vehicle heated up to 53 degrees Celsius inside.

The best result, which kept it at 43 degrees, was a half car cover.

A windscreen sun shade placed on the outside of the car reduced temperatures inside to 45 degrees, while one set up in the interior achieved 49 degrees. A white cloth on the dashboard saw 50 degrees.

The club also compared a white car and a black car.

The result? While the painted surface of the black car was more than 20 degrees higher than the white one, at 65 degrees, the interior temperature difference between the two vehicles was only 5 degrees.

According to the ADAC, air and surface temperatures also differ considerably when a car has been in the sun.

The steering wheel and dashboard were far hotter than the air temperature, hitting more than 70 degrees. With sun protection measures, however, those temperatures were 14 to 26 degrees lower.


Transport Ministry told to crack down on 'lori hantu' issue in Nilai

File pic of unregistered lorries.
PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong has told the agencies under the Transport Ministry to solve the issues of “lori hantu” (unregistered lorry) affecting road users close to the Mesa Mall in Nilai, Negri Sembilan.

The Transport Minister had in a Facebook post today acknowledged a letter by an Utusan Malaysia reader who highlighted the problem of lori hantu.

Lori hantu is an unregistered lorry that operates at construction sites. Owners of such lorries do not pay road tax, and such vehicles are not allowed on public roads.

The reader, Prof Dr Nuradli Ridwan Shah, had said that the lorries could be a cause of accidents as they tended to make u-turns from the left lane of the road even though there were vehicles on the right lane.

The reader said that he himself was involved in an accident because of this and hoped that action would be taken against the owners of companies that did not adhere to the law.

“I take note of public complaints related to the portfolio of the Ministry of Transport Malaysia such as the concerns raised by the reader of the Utusan Malaysia newspaper today.

“I have requested the relevant agencies under the Ministry to immediately help address this issue and further prevent unwanted incidents from happening, ” said Dr Wee.


New suppliers race to plug in to electric car market

Fry with the IPG5 inverter. — Reuters
WOKING (Britain): The global auto industry has committed US$1.2 trillion (RM5.2tril) to developing electric vehicles (EVs), providing a golden opportunity for new suppliers to grab contracts providing everything from battery packs to motors and inverters.

Startups specialising in batteries and coatings to protect EV parts, and suppliers traditionally focused on niche motorsports or Formula One (F1) racing, have been chasing EV contracts.

Carmakers design platforms to last a decade, so high-volume models can generate large revenues for years.

The next generation of EVs is due to hit around 2025 and many carmakers have sought help plugging gaps in their expertise, providing a window of opportunity for new suppliers.

"We've gone back to the days of Henry Ford where everyone is asking 'how do you make these things work properly?'," says Nick Fry, CEO of F1 engineering and technology firm McLaren Applied.

"That's a huge opportunity for companies like us."

Bought from McLaren by private equity firm Greybull Capital in 2021, McLaren Applied has adapted an efficient inverter developed for F1 racing for EVs. An inverter helps control the flow of electricity to and from the battery pack.

The silicon carbide IPG5 inverter weighs just 5.5kg and can extend an EV's range by over 7%.

Fry says McLaren Applied is working with around 20 carmakers and suppliers, and the inverter will appear in high-volume luxury EV models starting January 2025.

Mass-market carmakers often prefer to develop EV components in-house and own the technology themselves.

After years of pandemic-related parts shortages, they are wary of over-reliance on suppliers.

"We just can't afford to be reliant on third parties making those investments for us," said Tim Slatter, head of Ford in Britain.

Traditional suppliers, such as German heavyweights Bosch and Continental, are also investing heavily in EVs and other technologies to stay ahead in a fast-changing industry.

But smaller companies say there are still opportunities, particularly with low-volume manufacturers that cannot afford huge EV investments, or luxury and high-performance carmakers seeking an edge.

Croatia's Rimac, an electric hypercar maker part-owned by Germany's Porsche AG that also supplies battery systems and powertrain components to other automakers, says an undisclosed German carmaker will use a Rimac battery system in a high-performance model - with annual production of around 40,000 units - starting this year, with more signed up.

"We need to be 20%, 30% better than what they can do and then they work with us," CEO Mate Rimac says.

"If they can make a 100-kilowatt hour battery pack, we must make a 130-kilowatt pack in the same dimensions for the same cost."

 Swindon Powertrain commercial manager John Bond holding a part of an e-axle the company has developed, to help low-volume vehicle manufacturers make the transition to electric. - ReutersNo time to lose

Some suppliers like Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Actnano have had long relationships with EV pioneer Tesla.

Actnano has developed a coating that protects EV parts from condensation and its business has spread to advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), as well as other carmakers including Volvo, Ford, BMW and Porsche.

California-based startup CelLink has developed an entirely automated, flat and easy-to-install "flex harness", instead of a wire harness to group and guide cables in a vehicle.

CEO Kevin Coakley would not identify customers but said CelLink's harnesses had been installed in around a million EVs. Only Tesla has that scale.

Coakley said CelLink was working with U.S. and European carmakers, and with a European battery maker on battery wiring.

Others are focused on low-volume manufacturers, like UK startup Ionetic, which develops battery packs that would be too expensive for smaller companies to make themselves.

"Currently it costs just too much to electrify, which is why you see some manufacturers delaying their electrification launch," CEO James Eaton said.

Since 1971, Swindon Powertrain has developed powerful motorsports engines.

But it has now also developed battery packs, electric powertrains, e-axles and is working with around 20 customers, including carmakers and an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft maker.

"I realized if we don't embrace this, we're going to end up working for museums," said managing director Raphael Caille.

But time may be running out.

Mate Rimac says major carmakers scrambled in the last three years to roll out EVs and now have strategies largely in place.

"For those who haven't signed projects, I'm not sure how long the window of opportunity will remain open," he said.


2017 New York Auto Show: Mercedes' mid-size SUVs get the AMG works

                NEW YORK: Mercedes seems to have given AMG a birthday present for its 50th anniversary — carte blanche with the current model line- up. That's because making its debut at the New York Auto Show is the smallest production SUV in Mercedes' history to incorporate AMG's monstrous twin turbocharged 4-litre V8 powerplant.

The Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 comes in two states of tune — 476 or 510hp (for the 'S' variant) and in two body styles, traditional and coupé. But no matter which one you plump for, you'll get an intelligent, torque-distributing all-wheel drive, a sports-tuned nine-speed automatic gearbox and the only premium mid-sized SUV on sale anywhere with eight cylinders under the hood — even the Porsche Macan, the GLC's closest direct competitor, tops out at six cylinders.

"[It] is a quite special vehicle. It is no easy job designing an SUV to be highly sporty and dynamic while at the same time offering inherent extreme driving stability. This required us to put our heart and soul, along with our many years of SUV expertise, into the development of this vehicle," said Tobias Moers, Mercedes-AMG CEO.

"The result is an SUV that can be driven with high precision and agility and which, if required, is equally at home on a high-speed lap of the race track."

Unlike with, say, a Range Rover Sport, which is a genuine all-terrain vehicle given a huge dose of straight-line performance, it will be hard to imagine most GLC 63 owners taking on canyon trails or descending a grassy hill with a one-in-five gradient.

Indeed, Mercedes hasn't provided data on ground clearance, angle of approach, or maximum fording depth, but it's very keen to highlight the car's acceleration. All versions of the 63 can cover the 0-100kph dash in 4.0 seconds, and the 'S' manages it in 3.8 seconds. Both versions top out at 250kph.

Mercedes has now sold over 4 million SUVs since it started offering the G Class back in 1979.

"[SUVs] now make up around one third of our global sales," said Britta Seeger, Mercedes-Benz Cars global head of Marketing and Sales. "Our SUVs show that Mercedes-Benz feels completely at home off the beaten track. This sense of adventure is one of the reasons why customers value our brand so highly."

This is particularly true in the US, where over the past year Mercedes has re-asserted itself as the country's most popular premium automotive brand at a time where demand for SUVs, crossovers and rugged styling has never been greater.


Tesla’s Model 3 is doing what other EVs have not: retain value

                NEW YORK: It’s early, but there are signs Tesla Inc.’s Model 3 could be as exceptional in the used market as it has been in the new-car world.

The sedan has sold at volumes no other electric vehicle has come close to reaching, turning Tesla into the most valuable auto company in the world. But it takes a while to see how well a car performs on the used market - owners typically hold onto their wheels for at least a few years.

Car-shopping websites still have small samples sizes to work with for how used Model 3s are doing, but so far the data are extremely encouraging.

The sedans are retaining much more of their value than small luxury vehicles and selling quickly once owners list them for sale.

“If you’re looking for a used Audi A4, you have other comparable options like the BMW 3 Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Lexus IS,” said George Augustaitis, director of automotive industry and economic analysis at CarGurus Inc. “If you’re looking for a Model 3, there’s no substitute.”

If used Model 3s retain their value anywhere near as well as the few that have hit the used market so far, the sedan will break the mold for EVs all over again. Tesla’s success selling new cars has almost quintupled its stock price this year, sending its market value soaring to US$382 billion.

Early plug-in models such as the Nissan LEAF and BMW i3 depreciated much faster than conventional cars. Demand was low, driving range was limited and battery degradation was a concern.

Low residual value - the amount cars are worth after a few years of ownership - was one of many factors holding back wider adoption of EVs.

But TrueCar Inc.’s outlook is for vast improvement, driven in large part by the Model 3. The company’s ALG unit forecasts that the premium electric-car segment will go from currently having the lowest auction-value retention after three years to the fourth-highest 36 months from now.

Used Model 3s took just 29.3 days to sell on average from March through June, according to iSeeCars.com. The Tesla sedan was the fastest-selling used car the vehicle-listing aggregator tracked during that span.

Three-year-old models depreciated by just 10.2% on average, retaining much more of their value than small luxury vehicles the site analyzed.

Tesla’s ability to deliver over-the-air software updates are likely helping its cause.

“You’ll frequently hear people say, ‘The car I own is better than the one I purchased,’” said Gene Munster, a managing partner at venture capital firm Loup Ventures.

This has helped limit the supply of used Model 3s.

“There still aren’t a lot of Teslas in the aftermarket,” said George Chamoun, chief executive officer of ACV Auctions. Some independent used-car dealers don’t sell them, but he expects this to change.

ACV sold triple the number of Teslas in July compared with the beginning of this year, and the average number of bids for the cars are 20% more than for the rest of the company’s inventory.

“Demand is outpacing the limited supply,” CarGurus’s Augustaitis said of the Model 3. “Its range and tech and price point are still unique.”


What to remember when getting your automatic or e-vehicle towed

                HAMBURG: There are plenty of reasons why a car might break down, and when nothing else helps, sometimes the only answer is to get it towed.

When the tow-truck arrives, there are a few extra things to keep in mind if you happen to drive a car with automatic transmission or an e-vehicle.

In cars with automatic transmission, placing the driving lever into the N position puts the vehicle into neutral.

However, how far the car can be towed in N can vary greatly from one manufacturer to another, so it’s essential to pay attention to the manufacturer's instructions.

 The BMW i3.

And what about electric cars? On many models, the generator will create power whenever the wheels are in motion.

Since the electricity that’s produced as a result is not being consumed to the same extent as when the car is actually running, this could cause serious damage to various components.

As such, the BMW i3, for example, cannot be towed. Instead, the manufacturer offers mobile help if the car breaks down or runs out of power.

Service vehicles are able to bring stalled cars back to life using mobile charging devices, which, according to Heinrich Schwackhofer of BMW, transfer electrical current into the vehicle through a rapid charging device.


Running on RON97

                Which petrol would you use? RON95 or RON97? For most Malaysians, the answer would be RON97 if money was not an issue.

Since RON95 is the cheaper option, it makes sense to run the car on RON95.

The age-old question comes up time and again though: is RON97 better than RON95?

It all depends on your definition of ‘better’.

Better for your engine or better for your drive?

 The vantage point from the top of Lukut Fort, Negeri Sembilan.

The former takes a longer time to assess while the latter, is more immediate.

I haven’t used RON97 since the price went up a while back and I’ve been happily using RON95 ever since.

Recently, I took a drive down to Lukut and Port Dickson for a day just to get away from the bustling city life of Kuala Lumpur.

It was an average of 90km one way and on the way over, I turned off the Seremban exit and went through the quiet winding roads of Sendayan before turning off to the Port Dickson highway.

I had under a half tank of RON95 in my almost eight year old Honda City with a 1.5 litre engine under the hood.

That was enough to get me to my destinations but I had to fill up on the way back.

So I stopped over the Shell filling station and topped up with Shell V-Power, its brand of RON97.

 The author's Honda City at the Lukut Fort and Museum, Negeri Sembilan.

Sure enough, the car behaved differently. It was more eager on the road and not as sluggish as before. It pulled away faster when I was overtaking and the car felt smoother too.

As long as the traffic was clear on the highways, driving outstation or long distance was really satisfying...until I reached KL and faced the ever present heavy traffic.

That’s when RON97 is negligible - when you are just stuck in traffic.

I came to the conclusion that if I am driving outstation, I would fill up with RON97 and spend extra at the petrol station.

It makes driving more pleasurable and I came away impressed with my old car.


Perodua continues record-setting streak

                RAWANG: Perodua sold 27,858 vehicles in October to cement  a new record.

This was 1,010 more vehicles sold than in the corresponding month last year when Perodua was listed in the Malaysia Book of Records as having achieved an all-time high sales of 26,848 vehicles.

The latest record came with improved production and swift deliveries of vehicles to customers as the compact car manufacturer aims to deliver as many vehicles as possible in the fourth quarter of 2021.

“This achievement is our commitment towards our customers and represents a 90.67% increase from 14,160 units sold in September 2021. We are now working to further improve production especially for the rest of the year,” said Perodua president and chief executive officer Datuk Zainal Abidin Ahmad.

Of the 27,858 Perodua vehicles registered, 8,761 were Myvis, 5,973 were Axias, 5,257 Bezzas, 3,973 Ativas, 2,553 Alzas and 1,341 Aruz units.

In terms of production, Zainal said October also saw the highest ever number of vehicles made with 29,803 units produced within a month.

He said that the 29,803-unit achievement was beyond Perodua’s current production capacity, yet the staff was able to boost their productivity with the same level of quality without new hires, equipment or machinery

On a year-to-date basis, Perodua registered 146,951 units from January to October this year, which is 14.5% below 171,861 registered in the same period of 2020.

“The remaining two months will be a challenge as both Perodua and its ecosystem are still facing supply challenges due to the ongoing pandemic," said Zainal.


Lotus UK cuts servicing costs

                LONDON: Lotus has slashed prices of servicing an Elise, Exige or Evora, with annual maintenance work now starting from just 270 pounds.

The initiative is now live at every one of the UK’s 27 Lotus retailers and service centres, and applies to all versions of the Elise, Exige and Evora.

Coupled with improved residual values, it means lower running costs and improved value for money for current and future Lotus customers.

It means the price of the first service (9,000 miles or one year) on a Lotus Elise Sport 220 – the best-selling version – has been cut from 554 pounds to just 270 pounds.

Across all three current models the average first service cost has been reduced by 37%.

Almost 50 regular servicing components have had their prices reduced, including filters, plugs, drive belts and fluids.

In addition, Lotus has also simplified the servicing schedules and realigned servicing job times for each car.

Together these initiatives mean lower running costs during the entire ownership period.

Lotus’ whole life running costs are already among the best in the sports car sector, as data from industry analyst CAP proves.

Residual values on a three-year-old Lotus Elise Cup 220 jumped up 8%, to 56%, between Q2 and Q4 2019.

Figures for a Lotus Evora GT410 Sport rose by a staggering 15%, also to 56%, during the same period.

Chris Hinks, director of aftersales, Lotus, commented: “This change is fantastic news for our customers, who can now benefit from the servicing expertise of a Lotus retailer for even less money. We’re driving down the cost of ownership and saving people money.”


Mitsubishi Tritons roughing it out during the 26th Borneo Safari 2016

                Borneo Safari 2016 was no easy feat but it still draws in adrenaline junkies and car makers hoping to use the challenge to prove a point or two.

It's been some 25 years since this city-slicker has spent a night under the stars and it was certainly well-worth the experience - insects and all, for what was to be The toughest 26th Borneo Safari International Offroad challenge.

There they were, Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia’s (MMM) pride and joy - two recently-launched 2.4-litre Tritons each with a MIVEC turbo-diesel engine mated to an automatic gearbox and two older 2.5-litre Tritons with a variable geometry turbocharger (VGT).

The new 2.4-litre (2,442cc) Tritons are powered by a more fuel-frugal 4N15 aluminium turbo-diesel engine that uses the Japanese carmaker’s Mitsubishi Innovative Valve-timing Electronic Control (MIVEC) system.

That means the engine dishes out 181PS of potency at 3,500rpm and 430Nm of torque from 2,500rpm, while mated to a 5-speed automatic with paddle-shifters. Depending on variant, they are priced on-the-road with GST and insurance from RM105,780 to RM128,800.

Inside, each Triton was equipped with radio transceivers, a 12,000lbs winch, steel front and rear bumper bars, snorkel, raised suspension, lightweight wheels fitted with Giti Compete Extreme (mud) Terrain tyres as well as bright LED bars and spot lights.

We navigated through a 400km plus route from Kota Kinabalu along the foot of Mount Kinabalu and across the districts of Ranau and Kota Marudu and back to the Sabah capital from Oct 30 to Nov 6.

But it would be a 40km hardcore section from Kampung Garung that tested the mettle of both man and machine.

With a special guest, Malaysian motorsport celebrity Leona Chin was along for the ride, braving the harsh conditions that would take us four gruelling days just to get through the insane stretch.

Although rain was projected everyday throughout the challenge, it was usually relegated to the late evenings or wee hours as we slumbered.

No, it had to start that very afternoon on the fifth day, (Thursday), of the challenge, allowing the precipitation to soak well into the soil, before we passed through the gates of no-return and into the hardcore section sometime around 4pm.

By that time, the ground had turned into soggy, sticky ‘play-doh’ and traversing the steep descent past the gates leading to the obstacle required very delicate braking finesse or it’d be a pile-up of epic proportions thanks to the new ‘slip and slide’ ride down.

At 600m from the staring point of the hardcore section, we were in sticky ankle-high muddy goo and, in total darkness by 6.15pm. We hurriedly tried to get everyone across as quickly and safely as possible before calling it quits for the day.

After a quick dinner, it’d be a cold wet night spent on a slight incline with a praying mantis for a bunk mate and the chaotic mix of buzzing insects and reverberating snores to usher all of us into dreamland.

The word ‘why’ continually ran on a loop for the next few days.

Conditions varied from pure slush to sticky-yet-slippery mud, but the Tritons soldiered on, enduring and rolling with the conditions, until we arrived at a refreshing river on Friday to cool everyone’s heads and rid ourselves of odour.

On Saturday, the trees were traded in for thick vegetation that towered above the already-raised Tritons and the lights (no matter how bright they were) could only illuminate the immediate surroundings, only to fail to do anything beyond that.

We weren’t going to let the rain dampen our spirits and decided to keep moving through the jungle till aching bodies were pleading for rest.

And so we shifted into ‘P’, savoured every ‘slurp’ of our piping hot cup noodle, closed our eyes and tried to catch as many forty-winks as possible while listening to the pitter-patter of rain.

By sunrise, the Tritons were still being pelted by rain, but as we emerged from the confines of the cabin, motivated by the call of nature and the need to seek sustenance, we ogled the watery brown slush that was once dirt. Now it just drowns feet and ankles.

It would be our last day in the ‘wild’ with the route finally beginning to smoothen out as we hurtled towards completing the final few kilometres.

We were keen to return to more modern familiarities and leave behind the cold nights, hot days and the need to winch our way out as we slipped and slid through the endless trails of sticky watery mud.

But as buildings appeared in the horizon, there was a sense of sadness.

The pain and suffering endured throughout the entire ordeal had built a strong sense of camaraderie within the group and that was soon accompanied by a new sense of respect for the machinery that bares the three diamonds for its logo.

The Tritons had succeeded in passing its ultimate tests without succumbing to breakage on its official and inaugural offroad challenge.

Unfortunately, incidents were unavoidable with the convoy having been reduced to 20 vehicles from its initial 22.

Along the way, we lost a 4X4 to a broken gearbox early into the hardcore section while another, that was our medical vehicle, snapped an axle and had to be abandoned for later with the necessary parts.

Thankfully, all four Tritons managed to reach the relative safety of the city’s limits, but not without baring its battle scars proudly, as onlookers ogled on.


Tan Chong and Berjaya impose austerity measures

                KUALA LUMPUR: Tan Chong Motor Holdings Bhd and Berjaya Corp Bhd have decided to implement austerity measures to to sustain their operations during the movement control order (MCO).

Tan Chong Motor is the Nissan franchise holder, while a Berjaya Corp unit - Bermaz Motor Sdn Bhd - handles the Mazda distributorship in Malaysia.

Tan Chong Motor's independent directors have offered to reduce their fees with immediate effect during its current zero revenue period, while senior management employees will also be taking salary cuts of between 20% and 30%.

Non-senior management employees will also undergo salary cuts of between 3% and 15% based on their total monthly basic salary plus monthly fixed allowance, according to their grade level.

According to the document, Tan Chong group president Datuk Tan Heng Chew said the group would review the measures periodically until the situation returns to normal.

Tan said additional measures might be announced to sustain the business if the situation is prolonged or takes a turn for the worst.

He said the group's businesses in Malaysia have been greatly affected by the MCO since it began on March 18.

The group also envisaged that its business operations in Indo-China will be affected as various lockdown measures are being imposed by the authorities, while the impact on social economic activities will last for some time to come.

Tan said although government assistance has been given to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and some industries, the group, however, has not been able to leverage any of the assistance or support.

Meanwhile, Berjaya group has taken a more comprehensive approach by implementing austerity measures effective April 1-June 30, for all companies under the group.

The exercise entails pay cuts, the percentage of which to be based on the employee's salary range bracket, and a reduction of fixed monthly allowances.

The group has also required employees to take unpaid leave or annual leave on every Friday, from May 8-June 30.

Meanwhile, offices for Berjaya’s subsidiary companies will be closed on three Fridays in a month until June 30.

According to the memo, Berjaya executive chairman Tan Sri Vincent Tan said the group management would discontinue the austerity measures and evaluate the reinstatement of the salary and monthly allowances once the group’s business performance recovers to the pre-Covid-19 level.

"However, if the group's businesses and revenue could not recover near to the pre-Covid-19 level performance by then, primarily due to further extension of MCO by the government, the austerity measures may be extended," he added.


Continental trial using cloud service to track tyre tread depth a success

                HANNOVER: Continental has successfully demonstrated real time tyre tread depth monitoring in a pilot that entailed electric vehicles of carsharing provider SHARE NOW Denmark.

In cooperation with its project partner and telemetry specialist Traffilog, the premium tyre manufacturer connected information of tyre sensors and telemetry data of the fleet’s cars with a proprietary algorithm in the cloud.

As a result, Continental can predict tyre tread depth in real time with an accuracy of below 1mm.

In future, smart digital tyre solutions like this will be a key driver to enable need-based servicing of tyres, instead of regular, scheduled servicing.

”With this pilot, we are the first in the market to offer significantly accurate tread depth monitoring via an algorithm," said Tansu Isik, Head of Business Development and Global Marketing at the Continental Tyres business area.

Benefits are more efficient fleet operations, minimised downtime due to repair, greater safety and reduced overall cost due to higher energy efficiency.

The real time tread depth measurement pilot is part of a bigger project in which Continental together with Traffilog also delivers real time remote tyre pressure and temperature monitoring of the entire fleet of SHARE NOW in Denmark, with around 600 cars in operation.

Continental was able to integrate its real time tyre monitoring solution into an already existing telematic setup.

To enable both capture and transfer of data, Traffilog modified its telematic unit to fit Continental’s requirements to harness the relevant data to feed its proprietary algorithm.


VW shows off Tarok Concept pick-up truck

                SÃO PAULO: Volkswagen unveiled the Tarok Concept on Tuesday at the Nov 6-18 São Paulo International Motor Show.

The all-wheel drive pick-up truck combines the progressive features of the latest SUVs with the versatility of a five-metre pick-up. Its innovative new features include a large variable loading area, which can be extended, thanks to the folding rear panel in the four-door double cab.

As a result, drivers can also use the back of the cab to transport extra-long items. At the same time, the maximum load is correspondingly high at around one tonne.

The interior indicates a new way forward for Volkswagen in the pick-up segment, with its eye-catching elements that include a colour-keyed crossbar in Cypress Metallic that stretches across the entire dash panel. This crossbar surrounds a glass-covered Infotainment system, digital air conditioning controls and a Digital Cockpit, which together form the main cockpit elements with all displays and controls on a single visual and operational axis.

The Tarok Concept is powered by a 1.4-litre 148hp four-cylinder TSI engine, which can be driven in Brazil as a TotalFlex Fuel Unit both with pure ethanol (E100) as well as a gasoline-ethanol blend (E22). The TSI engine in the Tarok Concept is also combined with a 6-speed automatic gearbox and permanent 4MOTION all-wheel drive.

The concept vehicle will soon become the production Tarok in Brazil with barely any changes save for the engine. The future series model will start out with a 2.0-litre turbo diesel direct injection (TDI) TSI engine that also delivers 148hp.

Volkswagen has hinted that the new model may be sold in other global markets.

(Video commentary in Portuguese)


Zero-rated GST: Mercedes-Benz adjusted prices finally revealed

                PETALING JAYA: It took Mercedes-Benz Malaysia a while to release its zero-rated GST price list after many other car makers had already done so. But finally it did today on the first day the zero-rated GST took effect.

Mercedes-Benz Malaysia said it abides by any and all future pricing and taxation guidelines.

Mercedes-Benz Malaysia’s highlights this year include the launch of the locally assembled Mercedes-AMG C 43 and Mercedes-AMG GLC 43 alongside the introduction of the EQ brand – which saw the re-designation of the C 350 e and E 350 e plug-in hybrids as EQ Power models.

To tap into football fever, Mercedes-Benz Malaysia is organising a World Cup campaign which runs from May 1 to July 15. It offers customers the chance to score the Mercedes-Benz of their dreams with either a hire purchase plan from an interest rate of 1.98% for a tenure of three to five years or Agility Financing. Both options come with complimentary motor insurance or four free service vouchers (or 48,000km, whichever comes first).

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