Ex-Nissan boss Ghosn seeks to attend Tuesday board meeting, says lawyer

Ghosn, accompanied by his wife Carole, arriving at his residence in Tokyo on March 8. — Reuters
TOKYO: Ousted Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn is seeking permission from a Tokyo court to attend the automaker’s board meeting this week, his lawyer said today, setting him up to face off against colleagues he has accused of orchestrating a boardroom coup.

Ghosn, released last week on a US$9 million bail after spending more than 100 days in detention, applied to the Tokyo District Court for permission to attend Tuesday’s board meeting, as required under bail conditions, his lawyer Junichiro Hironaka told reporters.

Attendance would offer Ghosn the first opportunity to speak with colleagues since his arrest in November. He faces charges of under-reporting his salary by about US$82 million over nearly a decade - charges he has called “meritless”.

It would also come as Nissan Motor Co and alliance partners Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp plan to set up a joint board meeting structure, said people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Some at Nissan had been unhappy with Ghosn’s push for a deeper tie-up, including possibly a full merger.

“If you’re a director of a company, it’s only natural to want to attend the board meeting,” Hironaka told reporters outside his office.

One of the world’s best-known auto executives, Ghosn was sacked as chairman of Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi, and resigned as chief executive of Renault. However, he remains on the boards of all three, given a shareholder vote is required to remove a board member.

If the court approves Ghosn’s participation, Nissan would likely allow him to dial in by teleconference, according to a person familiar with the company’s thinking. As Ghosn’s bail conditions prevent him from talking to people involved in his case, Nissan would likely bar him from attending in person, the person said.

Other bail conditions include Ghosn residing in Tokyo and not travelling abroad.

Lawyer Hironaka said the request was submitted on Friday and that he expected the court to decide today.

New structure

Ghosn’s arrest clouded the outlook for the alliance - the world’s biggest maker of automobiles excluding heavy trucks.

Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi plan to set up a joint board meeting structure under which Renault’s new chairman, Jean-Dominique Senard, is likely to take the chair, people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

That would replace Dutch-based companies currently linking Nissan and Renault and, separately, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors, the people said.

The heads of the three companies will hold a joint news conference at Nissan’s Yokohama headquarters on Tuesday, the Japanese automaker said.

TV Tokyo reported on Sunday that the meeting structure was aimed at discussing issues related to integrating operations.

Renault owns 43 percent of Nissan. Renault’s biggest shareholder, the French government, has said it would like to see the chairmanship of Renault and Nissan held by the same person. Some Nissan executives have long been unhappy with what they see as Renault’s outsized influence over the larger Nissan.

After Renault rescued the Japanese automaker from near-bankruptcy in 1999, Ghosn spent the majority of his time at Nissan as CEO and chairman. In 2017, he passed the Nissan CEO role to Hiroto Saikawa who, since the arrest, has blasted his former boss for holding too much power at Nissan.


Aston Martin kicks off DBX prototype production from Welsh plant

                LONDON: Aston Martin Lagonda’s second British plant has started to produce cars, as the latest pre-production models of its first SUV, the Aston Martin DBX, are built.

The 36ha, former Ministry of Defence site at St Athan in Wales, was announced as the second UK plant for Aston Martin Lagonda in early 2016 and since then the whole site, including three huge hangars, has been transformed into a modern manufacturing facility for cars.

St Athan, 267km west of here, will be the only production facility for the DBX, which will be unveiled at the end of 2019.

Real world testing of the DBX, which began in the Welsh countryside last year, is ongoing. Over the last few months, the DBX has been put through its paces in all environments from the Arctic Circle to the challenges of the Nürburgring Nordschleife.


Goodyear Malaysia offers three Perodua Ativa X in contest

                KUALA LUMPUR: Goodyear Malaysia is running a contest in the run-up to the Raya season, where customers stand to win each of three grand prizes of Perodua Ativa SUVs.

Seven consolation prize winners will get four pieces of Goodyear tyres.

All three Ativas to be given away are the X variant factory-fitted with Goodyear Assurance Triplemax 2 tyres. According to Goodyear, these tyres offer high wet braking performance because of HydroTred technology, making it safer to drive on both dry and wet conditions.

To enter the contest, all customers have to do is buy up to two Goodyear tyres and register online at Goodyear Malaysia’s Worry Free Assurance web page.

The contest started on April 15 and will end on July 13.


New retail petrol company FIVE coming to you soon

                KUALA LUMPUR: A new petroleum company, FIVE Petroleum Malaysia Sdn Bhd (FIVE), is set to open its first petrol station in Kalumpang, Selangor this month, its chairman Datuk Juhari Abdul Ghani said.

He said FIVE has secured a supply contract from Petronas as its fuel supplier to ensure that its fuel offering meets the highest quality standard.

Using the brand name Ultimaxx, FIVE aims to keep its brand promise of providing more economical and convenient high quality fuel, he added.

"FIVE is a unified energy company that aims to meet Malaysia’s growing demand for fuel in ways that are economically, environmentally, and socially responsible. We also want to help Malaysia reach its next milestone in development, ” he said at the launch of the FIVE brand here today.

Present was Seng Group managing director and CEO Datuk Seri King Lim Chin Fui.

FIVE will be managed by the same team that built Seng Group, a leader in the petrol retail business for nearly five decades. The group also supplies and manages distribution services to petrol station operators, as well as constructing new stations.

The new petrol company (FIVE) received a licence from the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry on Jan 15, marking the company’s first independent foray into the petrol retail business.

Juhari said as part of the digital movement in Malaysia, FIVE petrol stations will feature a new mobile application that facilitates cashless payment.

"The company also plans to integrate partnerships, rewards and loyalty features into the mobile application in a bid to capture existing market share."Such partnerships will play an integral role in their petrol station convenience stores dubbed Woo! Mart and also feed into FIVE’s soon-to-be-announced consumer loyalty programme, ” he added.


BMW plans first EU plant in two decades amid trade tensions

                MUNICH: BMW AG is building its first factory in Europe in nearly two decades, strengthening its footprint close to home as growing protectionism adds to the cost of shipping cars around the globe.

The carmaker is investing 1 billion euros (RM4.8bil) in a new production plant in Hungary to produce 150,000 vehicles annually, according to a statement Tuesday. It’ll be BMW’s first new carmaking facility since 2000 in the region, when it built a site in Germany, a spokesman said.

BMW, like other global carmakers, is under pressure to adjust to shifting global trade politics that are undermining a decades-long move to lower barriers. Depending on what type of cars the company will build in Hungary, the plant could help offset growing risks.

Making sport utility vehicles in Europe would help insulate BMW from rising trade tensions affecting its US plant. It could also add flexibility to counter interruptions to the flow of MINI city cars, made in Oxford, England, to the European Union after Brexit.

“It looks like this is a decision led by risk minimisation and cost optimisation,” Juergen Pieper, a Frankfurt-based analyst with Bankhaus Metzler said. “Western Europe is too expensive, Mexico and Britain bear tariff risks, and the US plant is already huge.”

BMW said it has no plans to make MINI cars in Hungary while declining to specify which models it’ll make at the new site. The company exports most of its popular SUVs from its Spartanburg, South Carolina, factory to Europe, a strategy that could become increasingly challenged if tariff threats become reality. The company picked Hungary as its newest production location, even as European sales of BMW and MINI cars rose only 1.2 percent during the first half, trailing growth elsewhere.

The German manufacturer announced Sunday it had raised prices for SUVs imported from the US into China after the Asian nation increased tariffs, retaliating against President Donald Trump’s increase in levies on Chinese imports.

Separately, the company is grappling with the risk of Brexit hitting its facilities in Britain. It exports Mini city cars, engines and Rolls-Royce vehicles worth some 2.4 billion pounds (RM12.6bil) from the country. The company last month again warned of the detrimental effect if a Brexit deal isn’t reached.

“We are now strengthening our activities in Europe to maintain a worldwide balance of production between Asia, America and our home continent,” BMW Chief Executive Officer Harald Krueger said in the statement.

Construction near the town Debrecen, about 200km east of Budapest, will start in the second half of 2019. Earlier this year, BMW announced it’ll add the X3 SUV to its line-up of China-made models for local buyers, a prescient move that preceded an increase of Chinese import tariffs for US-made cars to 40 percent as of July. The carmaker is also poised to become the first foreign car company to take majority control of its Chinese venture, a person familiar with the matter said this month.

Picking Hungary as its latest production site, adding to 31 production and assembly facilities globally, makes the luxury carmaker the fifth major producer to start a plant in the central European nation. Daimler AG, Volkswagen AG’s Audi brand, France’s PSA Group and Suzuki Motor Corp. Carmakers’ output reached 8.08 trillion forint (RM119.5bil) last year, or about 21 percent of economic product, according to official data.


GAC GS3 compact SUV arrives from RM88,800

                KUALA LUMPUR: China-based car maker Guangzhou Automobile Group has launched its first model in Malaysia - the GAC GS3 compact sports utility vehicle.

Distributed by WTC Automotif (M) Sdn Bhd (WTCA), a fully-owned subsidiary of Warisan TC Motor Holdings Bhd, the fully-imported GS3 is available in Standard variant priced from RM88,800 (private registration, on-the-road without insurance but with 50% SST reduction) and Premium from RM96,800.

Following the signing of the distributorship agreement between WTCA and GAC Motor International Limited on Nov 30, WTCA is currently working to kick-start the local assembly of the GS3 and other upcoming GAC models.

The GS3 comes with a Flying Dynamic Wing 3.0 front design featuring subtle chrome strips on the grille while the projector headlamps, fog lights with lower bumper cladding combination emphasises the vehicle's width.

Its sides, meanwhile, get a strong shoulder line and deeply sculptured doors with concealed D-pillars to accentuate the ‘floating’ roof design and sporty silhouette of the GS3.

At the rear is a spoiler with an integrated third brake lamp complemented by slim LED tail-lamps that wrap around contours of the body for a distinguished appearance.

The interior carries a similar theme with a ‘floating’ horizontal dashboard design, a large centre 8-inch infotainment touchscreen with switches and controls for the climate control located underneath.

The GS3 also comes with a sporty 3-spoke multifunction steering wheel wrapped in leatherette and equipped with controls for multimedia and voice calls.

The model is also said to have one of the widest cabins in the compact SUV class at 1,500mm and cabin spaciousness that’s virtually one-class above along with impressive legroom and shoulder room for rear passengers, even with three persons seated across.

Its rear seats are also ergonomically shaped for optimal thigh support which many B-segment vehicles lacked.

The GS3 also comes with no less than 25 storage spaces and its cargo space of 356 litres can be expanded by folding down the 60:40 spilt rear seats.

Powering the GS3 is a 1.5-litre engine with Dual-CVVT and a GAC patented combustion control technology for enhanced efficiency.

The smooth four-cylinder engine produces 114PS and 150Nm of torque and is mated to an Aisin six-speed automatic transmission with adaptive intelligent control for a fuel efficiency of 6.9 litres per 100km or 14.5km per litre based on the combined NEDC cycle.

Other features include six airbags, Blind Spot Detection, Electronic Stability Control, Emergency Stop Signal, Rear View Camera, Seatbelt Warning for all passengers, ISOFIX child seat mounts and a Climate Control System with PM2.5 filtering for odour-free interior air.

Available colours are Lunar Grey, Ivory White, Starlight Silver and Rosefinch Red.

Warisan TC Holdings CEO Tan Keng Meng said the GS3 is a global model sold in 25 other countries with Malaysia being the first country to launch the right-hand drive version.

“WTCA has already set up a dedicated showroom for GAC in the heart of Kuala Lumpur and plans to expand reach beyond the Klang Valley very soon,” he said.

 Tan (centre) with other officials at the opening of the GAC showroom.

GAC International president Zeng HeBin said the company was anticipating a strong interest in the GS3 SUV as it would appeal to Malaysian car buyers with its blend of dynamic styling, first-class safety and comfort, fuel efficiency and refined performance.

Bookings, test drives and static viewing of the GS3 are available at the new and dedicated GAC showroom at Lot 72, Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah, Kuala Lumpur.

For details, visit www.gacmotor.com.my and follow GAC Motor Malaysia on https://www.facebook.com/GAC-Motor-Malaysia-104304102124544.


New York City sues Hyundai, Kia over vehicle thefts

                NEW YORK: New York City on Tuesday sued Hyundai Motor Co and Kia Corp, accusing the South Korean automakers of negligence and creating a public nuisance by selling vehicles that are too easy to steal.

The most populous US city joined several other major cities that have sued Hyundai and Kia over the thefts, including Baltimore, Cleveland, Milwaukee, San Diego and Seattle.

In a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, New York faulted the automakers' failure from 2011 to 2022 to install anti-theft devices called immobilisers on most of their cars, making them "nearly unique" among automobile manufacturers.

New York said this has "opened the floodgates to vehicle theft, crime sprees, reckless driving, and public harm," exacerbated by TikTok videos showing how to steal cars that lack push-button ignitions and immobilisers.

The city said the number of reported stolen Hyundais and Kias doubled last year, followed by a "virtual explosion of thefts" in the first four months of 2023 with 977 reported thefts, up from 148 in the same period in 2022.

In contrast, the city said thefts of BMW, Ford, Honda, Mercedes, Nissan and Toyota vehicles have fallen this year.

The complaint seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

Hyundai said in a statement that it made immobilisers standard on all vehicles in November 2021, and has taken steps including a software upgrade to reduce the threat of thefts.

Kia in a statement also cited its anti-theft efforts, and said it is working with New York City law enforcement to combat car thefts. It also called the city's lawsuit "without merit."

In February, Hyundai and Kia said they would offer software upgrades for as many as 8.3 million US vehicles that lack the immobilisers.

Last month, Hyundai and Kia reached a US$200 million settlement of a consumer class action over the thefts.

That case covered about 9 million US vehicle owners, and included as much as US$145 million to cover losses for stolen vehicles, lawyers for the owners said.


Mustang to bring back heritage feature

DETROIT: Ford is bringing back the hood vent-integrated turn signals in the next Mustang.

In a nod to heritage and also fan requests, Ford has decided to make the popular feature as standard equipment for owners of the new Mustang GT. First offered on the 1967 Mustang, secondary indicators in the hood vents would come to represent an iconic piece of pony car DNA.

“Mustang enthusiasts are not shy about telling us what they want,” said Melanie Banker, Mustang marketing manager, “and we’re constantly exploring ideas together with our engineering team to develop new features we know our customers will love. These new hood vent indicators for the GT model are a perfect example of us communicating customer feedback to Mustang engineers and the team responding with an exclusive new feature for owners of the 2016 Mustang GT.”

The Mustang fastback and convertible will also welcome the return of the iconic California Special Package and Pony Package — two Mustang trim levels made popular in the 1960s. Several other new options, including new stripes and wheels, allow owners to make their pony car as individual as they are.

Last seen on the Boss 302, a painted black roof option is now available for the EcoBoost-equipped Mustang and Mustang GT.

Exclusive to Mustang EcoBoost Premium is a fresh take on the Pony Package which offers unique 19-inch polished aluminum wheels, tri-bar pony logo on the grille, side stripe and chrome window surround.


What 'connected' tyres mean to drivers

                HANOVER: German automotive parts manufacturer Continental has been producing its first tyres featuring RFID tags, facilitating product traceability, since last fall.

Now, for the first time, production vehicle models, made by Volvo, will be equipped with this technology.

RFID tags (which stands for "Radio Frequency Identification") facilitates the mounting of tyres and wheels while respecting all stages of quality assurance, before, during and after their use on the road.

Integrated into tyres, this technology notably makes it possible to find out the name of the manufacturer, its model reference and its serial number. The tag can also include other data, specific to each tyre, such as lifespan, wear and tear, etc. Such tyres can be easily identified by RFID ISO logos on each side.

This tiny tag, weighing less than one gram, isn't visible. It integrates an antenna linked to an electronic chip allowing it to receive and respond to radiofrequency requests.

All the data relating to the tyre can be read by radiofrequency using a reader, placed around 15cm from the tag. This means a tyre can be traced throughout its lifespan, from manufacturing to recycling.

Last fall, Continental launched the production of its EcoContact 6 tyres, first of all set to equip Volvo vehicles.

Although the French tyre-maker Michelin is something of a pioneer when it comes to this technology, it has, for the moment, only concretely developed it for heavy trucks and for a few tests in autosports.

In fact, Continental is the first tyre manufacturer to supply them directly to a car-maker.


Govt shelling out nearly RM1bil to stay toll rates for 21 highways in 2019

                PETALING JAYA: The government's decision to freeze all toll hikes on 21 highways for all vehicles which are eligible for an increase in 2019, as well as the toll hike freeze for buses on eight separate highways, and the abolishment of motorcycle tolls will cost the government RM994.43mil.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the government will incur an estimated RM972.75mil in compensation payments to the relevant highway toll concessionaires for 2019.

The 21 highways and toll hikes frozen for next year include the Petaling Jaya Selatan 2 Toll Plaza at the New Pantai Expressway, the Sungai Besi Highway (Besraya), the Shah Alam Expressway (Kesas), the Duta-Ulu Klang Expressway (DUKE), and the Damansara-Puchong Expressway (LDP), among others.

Lim said this is an addition to the Budget 2019 announcement made on Nov 2, which announced that only intra-city toll hikes would be frozen next year.

He added that the abolishment of motorcycle toll for the Penang Bridge and the Sultan Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah Bridge in Penang, as well as the Second Link in Johor will cost the government approximately RM20mil in compensation payments.

"The comprehensive toll hike freeze is an ongoing effort by the Pakatan Harapan-led federal government to alleviate the burden of rising living costs borne by all Malaysians," he said in a statement on Thursday (Dec 27).

Lim added that the government was currently studying the best method to fulfil its general election manifesto promise as stated in the Buku Harapan.

"The toll hike freeze is part of these efforts," he said.


Pirelli reboots its R&D to stay on track through the pandemic

                MILAN: When the coronavirus pandemic forced Italian tyremaker Pirelli to temporarily shut its factories in March, R&D chief Pierangelo Misani needed a rapid rethink.

With a new range of products due to be launched by early next year, Misani scrambled technicians and IT teams to get more research and development shifted online so locked-down engineers could test materials and tyres virtually.

The pandemic has disrupted production and sales for tyremakers worldwide - Pirelli’s revenue fell by a third in the first six months of 2020 - and it needed to keep its new tyre development on track for an expected sales rebound next year.

“There are moments of crisis, like Covid-19, when you have to reshape and make yourself more efficient and that’s what we’re doing,” said Misani.

Pirelli has 19 plants in 12 countries and is the only major manufacturer working solely in the consumer tyre market, supplying high-end tyres for cars, motorcycles and bicycles - as well as Formula 1 racing cars.

Like companies throughout the auto industry, Pirelli has been going digital for years as cheaper computing power and advanced software programmes made virtual engineering possible.

But it also continues with on-the-road testing of a number of factors where it is still better to do so in a physical setting.

As part of its digital drive, Pirelli had been drafting in younger IT staff - engineers with different skillsets, able to match vehicle dynamics and modelling know-how as costly road testing slowly makes way for virtual testing.

“Changing the engineering profile is the biggest challenge for the auto industry,” Misani said.

Wrap-around screen

In recent years, the company headquartered in Milan in northern Italy has spent more than 6% of revenue on average from its so-called high-value tyres on R&D, one of the highest levels among rivals.

While some tests such as noise and aquaplaning can be done reliably using full simulation, others such as tyre endurance still need physical fine-tuning in lengthy road trials to check things such as handling and driving characteristics.

But with the lockdown making it impossible to drive cars round for thousands of miles, Misani’s team needed solutions. So he turned to its new tyre development simulator unveiled early this year which drew on years of virtual work in Formula 1.

The system uses a wrap-around 210-degree panoramic screen built around a static car wired up to reproduce the sensations any driver would feel in a real car - the seat, steering wheel, seat belts, shaker systems.

It cuts lead times by 30% and the number of physical prototypes needed.

As the lockdown bit, Misani’s team stepped up remote drives, developing a series of “off-line” simulations. These allowed engineers to do some tests on their PCs at home connected to the Pirelli server, where the computing programmes are run.

“What surprised us was the speed and acceleration of the whole thing. If before we were at 70% simulation, now we’re suddenly at 80%,” Misani said. “And it’s going to grow.”

Ready for launch

Misani said the best results have been in the replacement market where it is due to launch three new product lines by the start of 2021 - an ultra-high performance tyre for summer use, a brand new all-season tyre and a new winter tyre.

“The epidemic prompted us to engineer tools to boost simulation and modelling and we’ll be ready in plenty of time for the launch,” Misani said.

Things have been a little slower in the so-called original equipment sector where the company sells direct to automakers as it is tied to the development times for the cars themselves.

“There’s been some delay though it’s not as bad as we thought since carmakers have also tried to upgrade their IT platforms in this period,” he said.

Pirelli has development centres around the world in Germany, South America, the United States and China. It also has testing facilities at its factories.

While going virtual does remove the need to pay for physical testing environments, part of the savings are then re-invested in new tools, software licences and IT infrastructure.

But Misani says bumping up simulator programming and virtual testing will help save and, more importantly, speed up the time it takes to develop products and get them to market.

“What we’re doing is not streamlining or rightsizing R&D - we’re reshaping it.”


2019 Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe and Cabriolet revealed ahead of New York debuts

                STUTTGART: A number of manufacturers have been upping their game recently with models designed to challenge the supremacy of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class in what remains a popular and profitable section of the market.

Of course, Mercedes isn't going to lie down and let the likes of Volkswagen and Volvo take a big bite out of its sales, so it's going through the process of refreshing its current C-Class. After the facelifted sedan and estate wagon were revealed recently in Geneva, it's now going to be the turn of the coupe and cabriolet models to get the treatment. And the German auto giant has now revealed what they'll look like ahead of their scheduled debuts at the upcoming New York International Auto Show.

To say the exterior and interior aesthetic updates are subtle would be something of an understatement, but there are going to be some mechanical enhancements too. And one of the biggest changes with the new model is a more powerful engine under the hood of the four-wheel drive C43 4Matic.

Although at first glance it appears to be the same turbocharged 3.0-litre V-6 petrol used in previous incarnations of the estate, coupe, sedan and cabriolet models, it now puts out an additional 23bhp to take its output to a healthy 386bhp, but the torque remains unchanged at 520Nm. Perhaps a little surprisingly, the additional horsepower doesn't make the C 43 4Matic any faster as the quoted 0 to 100kph time remains 4.7 seconds, and it's the same story with the limited 250kph top speed.

What's perhaps more interesting is the entry-level EQ Boost mild-hybrid powerplant that's now going to be offered for sale in selected markets from the middle of this year. This unit is based on Mercedes' newly developed turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder petrol engine that produces 181bhp and 280Nm of torque, but also has a belt-driven alternator that can deliver an extra 140 bhp and 160Nm for short periods for improved acceleration and smoothness at low revs.

The system will be available with C 200 EQ Boost and C 200 4Matic EQ Boost sedan, estate, coupé and cabriolet C-Class variants, and will also get 48V electric architecture for greater efficiency.

Other, more powerful EQ Boost units will also become available as time goes on, including a yet to be confirmed C 300 EQ Boost offering 255bhp and 401Nm with an additional 16 bhp and 160Nm available thanks to the belt-driven alternator.


Shanghai city to regulate data from smart vehicle testing

                SHANGHAI: Shanghai city has issued draft regulations to safeguard data generated during testing of smart vehicles, underscoring China's growing concern about data security.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Shanghai Economic and Information Technology Commission said it will require that entities conducting vehicle testing and demonstrations properly handle the acquisition, processing, application and transmission of data.

The data generated in testing and demonstration activities is also not allowed to be transmitted overseas unless approved by relevant authorities, it said, adding the draft laws are open for public consultation.

Additionally, the entities should take relevant measures to protect data confidentiality, form a personal information protection system and are forbidden to conduct illegal trading, transfer and disclosure of relevant data, it said.

Dozens of automakers, startups and large technology firms in China, ranging from Didi Global Inc to WeRide and internet search leader Baidu Inc, are accelerating work on self-driving vehicle systems, which are widely expected to bring a sea change to the transportation industry.

China is in the process of revamping its policy towards privacy and data security. It is drafting a Personal Information Protection Law and is set to implement in September its Data Security Law, which requires companies that process "critical data" to conduct risk assessments and submit reports.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology earlier this week issued a draft action plan to develop the country's cyber-security industry in a bid to better govern data storage, data transfer, and personal data privacy.

Regulators announced a probe into ride-hailing giant Didi in early July, just days after its listing in New York, and subsequently ordered its app to be removed from app stores. They cited "serious violations" of laws and regulations pertaining to the collection of personal information by Didi's app.


Aston Martin puts ex-Ferrari CEO in charge of global branding

                LONDON: Aston Lagonda has strengthened its global brand and commercial functions with the appointment of luxury brand and automotive product strategy expert Marco Mattiacci as the company’s new global chief brand and commercial officer.

Mattiacci, who spent over a decade in senior leadership positions at Ferrari – including spells as president and CEO of Ferrari North America, president and CEO of Ferrari Asia Pacific, and managing director and team principal of the Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 racing team – begins his new role immediately, having recently worked as an advisor to the British car maker.

Prior to working with Aston, Mattiacci spent five years as a senior advisor to management consulting firm McKinsey & Company and private equity firms, providing counsel on automotive and mobility topics.

His experience extends to electric mobility, having previously served as chief brand and commercial officer at Faraday Future and as an advisor to green technology business Envision.

Mattiacci’s role will also oversee Aston’s luxury customer experience and the brand and product integration with Formula 1 as a key global marketing platform.


BMW launches Indonesian-made sedans in luxury push

                JAKARTA: BMW on Wednesday launched its 7 series sedans in Indonesia that will be assembled in the country as it seeks to tap into the long-term demand for luxury vehicles in Southeast Asia's biggest economy.

Other luxury car companies such as Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz are also increasingly shifting part of their production to the country of 250 million people to reduce costs and distribute their vehicles more quickly to consumers.

"We are very positive about the future of Indonesia and therefore we also see an increased potential in the luxury market," Axel Pannes, managing director of BMW Group Asia, said on the sidelines of a media launch of the locally assembled 730Li here.

The German company has invested more than 210 billion rupiah (RM70mil) over the last five years to assemble a greater number of car models in Indonesia, the 7 Series being the latest addition to its local line-up.

The group sold a total of 3,638 vehicles in Indonesia last year, up 5.7 percent from a year earlier. BMW executives declined to give sales projections for this year or for 2017.

Global carmakers would benefit from lower import tariffs for certain components if they were to set up local assembly plants, said Jongkie Sugiarto, co-chairman of the Association of Indonesia Automotive Industries.

The move would also be positive for Indonesia as it brings investment into the country and generates employment, he added.

The Indonesian government is offering incentives for foreign companies to build cars domestically, said I Gusti Putu Suryawirawan, director-general for metal, machines, transport equipments and electronics at the industry ministry.

"The aim is for them to produce here and therefore involve local suppliers," Suryawirawan said, adding that the automotive sector was a key sector for Indonesia's economic growth.

Gross domestic product is expected to grow 5 percent this year and up to 5.4 percent in 2017, according to the central bank's latest estimate.

The premium car market should be supported next year by the government's economic stimulus and the roll-out of infrastructure projects, said Kariyanto Hardjosoemarto, a sales operation and product management executive at Mercedes-Benz in Indonesia.

Indonesia's tax amnesty scheme, launched in July, may also help to boost luxury car sales as those who were previously concerned by being chased by the tax office would now be less hesitant about making such purchases, Hardjosoemarto added.

 A BMW employee assembling a 7 Series at the PT Gaya Motor factory in Jakarta. — Bloomberg


2018 Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 to go on sale

                YOKOHAMA: Nissan Motorsport International Co., Ltd. (Nismo) is releasing its 2018 model of the GT-R Nismo GT3, which is based on the GT-R (R35) Nismo and conforms to FIA GT3 regulations. Build-to-order and delivery are to begin from January 2019.

Nismo launched the GT-R Nismo GT3 in 2012 and has been supplying it to customers around the world including in Japan, Europe, America, China and Australia.

The car chalked up several achievements including taking the championship titles in the Super GT GT300 class and the Blancpain Endurance Series (currently the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup), along with overall victory in the Bathurst 12 Hour (Australia) in 2015.

The 2018 model that is set for release has significant advances made on the base vehicle and the lessons learned from accumulated actual race data since the 2015 model was released. Nismo aimed to create a vehicle that took advantage of all of the GT-R 's strengths and was capable of running with stability and speed at any circuit and on any brand of tyre.

Specifically, weight distribution has been optimised and the centre of gravity lowered by mounting the engine 150mm further back and lower than in the 2015 model. At the same time, the front and rear suspension, along with the cross member have been newly designed to improve the vehicle dynamics.

In addition to vigorous tests carried out in Japan and overseas since April of last year, participation in several series, in cooperation with Nismo 's official partner teams this season, has seen the car run a total of 30,000km. This new vehicle has enhanced competitiveness through improvements in its fundamental performance, at the same time, the new model is easy to handle for both professional and gentleman drivers, and offers significant reliability

Key features of the 2018 model> Lowered centre of gravity and optimised weight distribution through a revision of the vehicle package
> Improved dynamics through newly designed suspension
> Optimised balance between stable downforce characteristics and drag
> Front and rear rigidity (flexural, torsional) improvements and enhanced linearity by utilizing advanced analysis technology
> Dry sump system implementation for lowered centre of gravity and lubrication reliability
> Extended maintenance cycle through a newly designed transmission
> Strengthened brakes with increased durability and reliability
> An exclusively designed air conditioning system to reduce driver stress and ensure comfort during endurances races, etc. available as an option
> Price of the vehicle ¥60,000,000 or RM2.19mil (excl. tax / delivery at Nismo factory)
> Optional / spare parts will be necessary depending on what category racer intends to participate in.


Daimler announces emissions recall of 3 million diesel cars in Europe

                STUTTGART: Daimler, which is being investigated for alleged emissions cheating, announced Tuesday a voluntary recall of more than three million Mercedes-Benz diesel vehicles in Europe.

It said it had already launched a service action for other models and that, "in order to effectively improve the emissions of additional model series, Daimler has now decided to extend the service action to include over three million Mercedes-Benz vehicles".

The Stuttgart-based company said the action would cost the company some 220 million euros (US$255 million) and be free of charge for customers.

"In this way, Daimler is making a significant contribution to the reduction of nitrogen-oxide emissions from diesel vehicles in European inner cities," it said in a statement.

The recall would start in coming weeks and, "due to the large number of vehicles", take "a longer period of time".

A week earlier, German media reported that Daimler had manipulated the engines of around one million diesel vehicles to make them appear less polluting, raising echoes of competitor Volkswagen's 'dieselgate' scandal.

Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily and two public broadcasters, citing a court-issued search warrant, said the company "sold vehicles with higher levels of damaging emissions than allowed for almost a whole decade between 2008 and 2016, in Europe and the United States".

Investigators suspect Daimler used a similar so-called "defeat device" to Volkswagen, which in 2015 admitted to manipulating emissions readings on some 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide.

Software in the motor runs the emissions treatment system at a higher setting when it detects the vehicle is undergoing regulatory testing.

At the time, a Daimler spokesman declined to comment on an ongoing investigation, but said the carmaker was cooperating with the authorities.

In its latest statement, Daimler said Mercedes-Benz had developed a completely new diesel engine family that could meet stricter EU emission regulations to come.

"The public debate about diesel engines is creating uncertainty - especially for our customers," said Dieter Zetsche, chief executive of Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars.

"We have therefore decided on additional measures to reassure drivers of diesel cars and to strengthen confidence in diesel technology," he said.

"We are convinced that diesel engines will continue to be a fixed element of the drive-system mix, not least due to their low CO2 emissions."


BMW offers up two new maxi scooters priced from RM65K

CYBERJAYA: For big scooter fans, here's news up your alley.

Two new BMW maxi scooters are now available locally, with the C 650 Sport and the 650 GT going for RM 64,900 and RM68,900 respectively. The scooters are touted as being ideal for city and urban riding.

The C 650 Sport is geared towards riders with a sporty bent while the C 650 GT caters to those looking for comfort and touring ability.

The C 650 Sport features completely redesigned body parts such as the nose section, the top side panels, bottom side panels, front trim panel and headlight carrier.

On the other hand, the C 650 GT has a redesigned tail section with rear trim panels on the left, right and centre, as well as new rear lights. The mounting of the rear mirrors has also been optimised in the C 650 GT so as to ensure the rider has a good rear view in all conditions.

In both bikes, the handlebar protectors exhibit a new styling with high-gloss central section and chrome applications, while all grained surfaces within the rider’s field of vision have been given a new structure.

Both scooters feature newly designed instrument dials and handlebar trims complete with a high-gloss centre section and chrome applications that can tailor the vehicle to individual needs.

They are powered by a liquid-cooled four-valved two-cylinder engine with 647cc and electronic fuel injection. This engine produces 60hp at 7,750rpm and peak torque of 63Nm at 6,000 rpm.

The 2-cylinder in-line engine has been designed for optimum thermal balance. The cooling concept directs coolant to flow transversely through the cylinder head and pushes it to enter the front of the
cylinder head on the hot exhaust side. Heat is rapidly dissipated by the intensive cooling effect, thereby ensuring optimum operating temperature.

Both scooters have ABS and Automatic Stability Control as standard.

The scooters are available in Blackstorm Metallic and Lightwhite Solid Paint, while Valencia Metallic Matt and Frozen Bronze Metallic are exclusive colours to the C 650 Sport and C 650 GT respectively.

“The premium motorcycle segment in Malaysia has been growing steadily over the last two years and the introduction of the new BMW C 650 Sport and BMW C 650 GT will offer motorcycle enthusiasts here more choices of easy two wheeled mobility solutions for everyday or weekend use,” said BMW Group Malaysia managing director & CEO Han Sang Yun.


BMW aims to build 250,000 more electric cars through 2023, says CEO

                MUNICH: BMW AG plans to produce an additional quarter of a million electric cars in the coming three years, according to the German automaker’s chief executive officer.

"We already had ambitions growth plans and want to further expand our market position,” CEO Oliver Zipse said in an interview with the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper published Sunday.

Electric vehicles will account for about a fifth of BMW’s sales by 2023, up from about 8% now, he added.

Zipse said his "biggest concern” is that Germany’s transition to electric cars will be hampered by a lack of charging infrastructure, with Europe’s biggest economy expected to have as many as 10 million of the vehicles on the road by 2030.

To cope with this amount, 15,000 private and about 1,300 public charging points would have to be put into operation every week starting now, he told the paper.

"Unfortunately, we are far from that,” Zipse said. "Therefore, the next big joint project in Europe must be to expand charging infrastructure.”


Small goes big: Meet the smart #1 SUV

                BERLIN: Small and cute was yesterday: The car that once sat just two passengers and could find enough room to park on a beermat now seats five and has entered the crossover era.

The rebooted Smart is all grown up and is now set to return as an electric SUV (even if rather small) that definitely won't squeeze into as many parking spots.

The relaunch of the quirky Smart marque at a formal unveiling in Berlin in April comes after China's Geely Group and Germany's Mercedes founded a joint venture at the end of 2019 to bring back the compact brand.

The previously developed small cars Fortwo and Forfour will continue to be offered for the time being, however all eyes are now on sales of the first new model, called #1.

The new Smart is, like previous iterations, all electric, but that's about the only thing it has in common with the tiny Fortwo and Forfour.

The fun and friendly urban runabouts have morphed into a major SUV with a more formidable length of 4.27 metres. In other words: this Smart definitely won't manage the perpendicular parking that was the Smart Fortwo's trademark.

It offers space for five occupants and, thanks to the sliding rear seats, has a variable luggage compartment of 273 to 411 litres. There's also a frunk up front, which at 15 litres is large enough for the charging cable.

Built on a Chinese electric platform, the #1 drives with a rear-mounted engine of 200 kW/272 hp, according to the manufacturer.

Smart puts the top speed at 180kph and the 66 kWh battery is said to be good for a range of up to 440km. It can be charged with 22 kW at the wallbox and up to 150 kW at the DC charging station. This means that 80% battery charge can be reached in less than 30 minutes.

Not only the shape and format are new, but also the equipment: There's a completely new, fully networked infotainment system and a digital car key, meaning owners can share their Smart with friends or strangers for a set time without needing to pass on a physical key.


Driving licence issued by UNHCR not valid, says JPJ

Update:  The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) says it does not issue driving licences and that any such document would be fake.UNHCR only issues refugee identity cards in the country, which serves to verify that the cardholder is a refugee requiring international protection and cannot be forcibly sent to a country where their lives or freedom may be at risk."Our cards do not accord any other right to the bearer, including the right to drive vehicles in the country," a UNHCR spokesman said in a statement on May 2.

PETALING JAYA: Any driving licence issued by the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) is not valid for any motor vehicles in the country, says the Road Transport Department (JPJ).

The department said that this was in line with the Road Transport Act, 1987.

According to the Home Ministry, UNHCR cardholders do not have the right, status and basis to make demands on the Malaysian government, it said.

“JPJ is always committed in ensuring that the rule of law is always maintained and will never compromise against any violations of existing road rules, ” it said in a statement today.

As of the end of March 2020, there are 179,520 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR in Malaysia.


Toyota recognises California authority to set vehicle emissions standards

                WASHINGTON: Toyota Motor Corp on Tuesday said it recognised the state of California's authority to set vehicle emissions standards under the US Clean Air Act.

Toyota said the move will make it eligible for government fleet purchases by California.

California Air Resources Board (CARB) chair Liane Randolph said the board was pleased with Toyota's decision.

"Although we’ve had differences in the past, we look forward to advancing #ZEVs together on positive footing," Randolph wrote on Twitter, referring to zero emission vehicles.

CARB, as early as Thursday, is set to adopt new vehicle emissions rules. If adopted, the regulations will be submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for approval.

"Although we have shared challenges before us, we are committed to emission reductions and vehicle introductions consistent with CARB’s programs," Toyota North America chief administrative officer Christopher Reynolds wrote to CARB and California governor Gavin Newsom.

In 2019, Toyota joined other automakers in backing the Trump administration's effort to strip California of the authority to set emissions standards, saying the rule provided "vehicle manufacturers with the certainty that states cannot interfere with federal fuel economy standards."

Seventeen US states have agreed to adopt California's tailpipe emissions rules and 15 backed its zero-emission vehicle requirements.

In January, General Motors said it had agreed to recognise California’s authority to set vehicle emission standards under federal law.

In November 2019, California said it would halt all purchases of new vehicles for state government fleets from GM, Toyota and other automakers backing then-President Donald Trump in the tailpipe emissions battle.

California plans to ban the sale of new gasoline powered passenger vehicles starting in 2035, a step the Biden administration declines to endorse. Biden has called for 50% of new vehicles sold by 2030 to be electric or plug-in hybrid.

The EPA in March reinstated a waiver under the Clear Air Act awarded to California in 2013 to set its own strict tailpipe and zero-emission vehicle standards.

The agency also rejected a Trump-era decision to bar other states from adopting Sacramento's tailpipe emission standards.

In May, California and 19 other US states backed efforts by Biden to restore California's authority, after 17 states challenged the EPA's decision to restore the authority withdrawn under Trump.

In June, Ford Motor, Volkswagen, BMW, Honda Motor and Volvo cars backed the Biden administration's effort to restore California's ability to set its own tailpipe standards.

In July 2019, Ford, Honda, VW and BMW struck a voluntary agreement with California on reducing vehicle emissions.


Tesla changes course, will keep more showrooms open

A Tesla store in London.
SAN FRANCISCO: Tesla is reversing course on its decision to move most of its sales online, saying it will keep many of its showrooms open — but will need to raise prices to do so.

Tesla said in a statement late Sunday the new plan will mean a 3% rise in the cost of the vehicles, but won't apply that to the lowest-priced Model 3, which is being sold for US$35,000 (RM143,000)$35,000.

"As a result of keeping significantly more stores open, Tesla will need to raise vehicle prices by about 3% on average worldwide," the statement said.

"In other words, we will only close about half as many stores, but the cost savings are therefore only about half."

Tesla made the announcement on Feb 28 that it would begin selling its mass-market Model 3 at the promised US$35,000 price, and close most of its retail locations to cut costs.

But the company led by Elon Musk said that after review, it had decided to keep some of its showrooms, although the specifics were not disclosed. It said 10% of stores where there was low foot traffic were recently closed.

"A few stores in high visibility locations that were closed due to low throughput will be reopened, but with a smaller Tesla crew," the statement said.

"In addition, there are another 20% of locations that are under review, and depending on their effectiveness over the next few months, some will be closed and some will remain open."

Tesla said the price hikes would start on March 18 for "the more expensive variants of Model 3, as well as Model S and X."

"To be clear, all sales worldwide will still be done online, in that potential Tesla owners coming in to stores will simply be shown how to order a Tesla on their phone in a few minutes," the statement added.

Tesla maintained that its "generous" policy allowing a return withing 1,600km or seven days "should alleviate the need for most test drives."


BMW has completely new supply chain approach after Covid, says CEO

                SHANGHAI: BMW AG has adopted “a completely new approach” to supply chain management as a result of Covid, with a much deeper focus on upstream companies that are three or four steps removed from supplying the German automaker, chief executive officer Oliver Zipse said during the Shanghai auto show.

The process now goes “all the way back” to tier five, six and even seven suppliers in an attempt to limit risk, and BMW is also seeking to do as much manufacturing as possible in the countries it sells cars, Zipse said in a media briefing on Tuesday, noting that the “local-for-local” strategy applies to China as well as Europe and the US.

Currently, BMW doesn’t export China-built cars to the US.

Zipse also said he thought the carmaker’s EV strategy in China has been “absolutely successful,” with first-quarter sales of battery-electric cars in the world’s largest auto market tripling from a year ago.

BMW delivered almost 20,000 units of pure-electric vehicles in China in the first three months of the year.

“The Chinese market is very important for us and our product strategy, which has evolved for the last three or four years, is coming into bloom,” Zipse said.


Self-driving cars can free up space

                SINGAPORE: If Singapore had a fleet of 300,000 self-driving cars that were shared among residents on an on-demand basis, all the mobility needs of the population could be met, say researchers.

This autonomous fleet would be just a third of the current total number of passenger vehicles, said a study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that was published in 2014.

Each of these 300,000 robot cars could be utilised round the clock and, when summoned by a nearby commuter - possibly through a mobile app - will be dispatched to ferry him to his destination.

After dropping one commuter off, the car would be able to navigate on its own to the next commuter's pick-up location, and so on.

Imagine the possible changes to the urban landscape in such a scenario. The number of parking lots could be whittled down significantly, freeing up land for other uses, such as parks and other recreational spaces.

As city planners are close to fully using the 12 per cent of Singapore's land space which has been set aside for road infrastructure, driverless cars with their efficiency could optimise the use of existing roads.

Self-driving cars would be able to communicate their locations and intentions with one another and, thus, drive closer to each other in a safe manner, say researchers.

On the labour front, driverless buses and heavy vehicles could help to alleviate the shortage of drivers to operate them. But it is also an unsettling future.

Some 10,000 bus captains, 50,000 active taxi drivers and 25,000 private-hire car drivers could find their jobs disappearing if autonomous vehicles took off in a big way.

Still, researchers say some of these drivers could take on new roles as fleet managers, controlling and supervising the robot vehicles.


Smart for dogs

STUTTGART: 9.5 million Germans own one or even two dogs. But travelling by car together – like now in the holiday season – can be fraught with difficulties. If the four-legged friend has short legs or is old, jumping into the car becomes an arduous climb.Smart has the solution with the readyspace seats in the forfour: the entrance height can be lowered by 12 centimetres in next to no time. Passenger Fido, ready for boarding!The clever, lowerable "readyspace" reversible cushions were actually invented to facilitate the transportation of bulky items at the rear of the smart forfour. But the dog owners among the drivers of the small car quickly realised that the readyspace seats help Fido and his fellow dogs to board the vehicle much more easily and without excessive physical effort.The level surface lowered by 12 centimetres is also ideal for a dog basket or a rug. The standard vent windows ensure fresh air during the journey. And as the cushions on the rear bench can be swivelled by 180 degrees they remain clean and well-maintained despite transporting a dog.Additional advantage as a standard feature: the rear doors of the forfour can be opened by almost 90° for even easier access.This facilitates getting in and out of the smart forfour for both man and dog, as boarding the forfour is much easier on the severely stressed joints of many breeds of dog than with many other cars."For small or older dogs in particular climbing into a car can often be very arduous", says vet Heike Lieberknecht from Birkenau near Mannheim in South Hesse."Lots of dogs particularly like sitting right behind their owner. The lower position means that all passengers are well protected, also in the event of hard braking or even an accident. But please still make sure that your dog always wears a seat belt".And the shorter the special dog seat belt, the safer. With an appropriate adapter, standard models can simply be latched into the smart's belt buckle. A dog crate that also fits on the rear bench of the smart forfour and facilitates boarding for the animal is a further safe transportation option for Fido and his chauffeur.


Finance Ministry says no to higher fuel subsidy

                KUALA LUMPUR: The government will not lower the current ceiling prices of RON95 petrol and subsidised diesel, says the Finance Ministry.

In a written reply published on the Parliament website, the ministry said the government does not want to bear the higher subsidy amounts.

"To continue protecting consumers from the effects of crude oil increase in the global market, the government still maintains the ceiling prices of RON95 petrol and subsidised diesel until now even though the real market prices have exceeded the set ceiling prices,” the ministry said.

The ministry was responding to a question from Datuk Dr Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh (PAS-Pasir Puteh) about the government’s plans related to the restructuring of petrol subsidies.

However, the ministry said the government is exploring measures to improve the way subsidies are given in a more targeted manner to reduce leakages and balance subsidy responsibilities with the need to continue to preserve the welfare and well-being of the people.

It added that subsidy savings could also be used to optimise spending on programmes and projects that added value to the national economy.


Road to Penang Bridge jammed on first day of CMCO

                BUTTERWORTH: The road leading towards the island at the entrance of Penang Bridge was badly congested on the first day of the conditional movement control order (MCO).

A check by The Star on this morning found the 5km stretch from Seberang Jaya - Juru interchange packed with motorists driving into the island.

Although there was a police roadblock during the rush hour, personnel were only seen checking motorists for their authorisation letters at around 9.30am.

Factory worker Ahmad Arif Roslan, 35, said he had not expected the road to be that congested as schools were closed.

"Luckily, I wasn't late to work," he said.

Congestion on the highway only started to subside around 11.15am.

On Saturday, Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob had announced that conditional MCO would be imposed in all states in Peninsular Malaysia except for Kelantan, Perlis and Pahang from Nov 9 until Dec 6.

He said the decision was made after the Health Ministry found that there had been a significant increase in Covid-19 cases as well as the rate of infections in Kedah, Penang, Perak, Negri Sembilan, Melaka, Johor and Terengganu.


This strange-looking car uses pedals for low-carbon mobility

                PARIS: A French startup is developing a surprisingly compact, lightweight and modular pedal-powered vehicle made exclusively of biobased materials.

Launched by former automotive engineers, this vehicle offers more comfort and safety than a cargo bike for transporting a person or goods, and can be used in all conditions any time of the year.

What's unique about this solution from Midipile is that it is completely modular.

Starting with a single chassis, various types of equipment can be added, according to customers' needs. It can take the form of a two-seater version, with a module capable of accommodating a passenger at the rear, or it could include a specially designed unit that can be installed behind the driver for transporting large items.

Of course, the set-up can be modified several times within a single day, depending on the activity to be undertaken, and quite quickly.

The startup uses biobased materials rather than composites, mainly from the flax and hemp sector, as well as resins that are all agro-based, in order to enable maximum recycling and thereby achieve as low a carbon footprint as possible.

Midipile does not intend to sell these vehicles, but rather to rent them out to professionals and local communities, and then to collect them once their mission is over.

The goal is to ensure regular maintenance of each vehicle and facilitate a long lifespan. Therefore anyone who wants to use Midipile's unique cars will likely have to sign up and pay a monthly fee.

Another key advantage of this project is that it combines different sources of energy: force generated by pedaling, batteries and solar panels. In total, this guarantees a daily range of up to 250km. In terms of performance, the vehicle can reach 45kph and carry up to 300kg.

In technical terms, Midipile is a lightweight, energy-efficient quadricycle. Its batteries, fixed and removable, are charged with energy produced by pedaling, electricity generated by photovoltaic panels as well as by regenerative braking. In fact, the vehicle's range fluctuates from 170 to 250 km according to how much effort is made in pedaling.

Midipile recently presented a 3D-printed prototype at the Autonomy show in Paris. A first series of 10 vehicles will be produced later this year for the first full-scale tests, with official production set to start in 2023.


Here are the official prices to use BMW i chargers in Malaysia

                KUALA LUMPUR: BMW Group Malaysia has announced the official pricing structure for all BMW i charging facilities across the country in a move that aims to provide fair access to the infrastructure nationwide, while providing the highest level of premium electric ownership experience for all.

The chargers are installed in partnership with chargEV. So far, there are over 400 charging stations in the peninsula and in Sabah and Sarawak.

The chargers include AC chargers in key locations.

BMW or MINI EV owners who use chargEV-powered BMW i charging facilities can register as a member at RM240 per annum to enjoy preferential pay-per-use charging rates, as well as complimentary usage of all their AC chargers nationwide.
With the chargEV mobile application, users can also locate charging facilities at over 250 locations nationwide and are also able to reserve chargers, start and stop charging remotely, as well as view their vehicle’s charging status in real time.

BMW Group Malaysia managing director Hans de Visser said the company is teaming up with more EV charging providers such as JomCharge and Tenaga Nasional Berhad to build more charging stations.

Users can visit https://chargenow.chargev.my/ to register for the ChargEV membership.


Great Wall latest Chinese automaker to embrace green car future

                HONG KONG: Great Wall Motor Co., the maker of Haval SUVs and pickup trucks, unveiled its new energy vehicle strategy Friday evening, pledging to double down on plug-in hybrid electric technology and becoming the latest traditional Chinese auto company to play catchup as the shift towards cleaner cars accelerates.

The Chinese carmaker said its new technology can bring the fuel efficiency of a two-wheel drive to its four-wheel SUVs. It does that by placing one motor at the front of the car and one at the back, and employing intelligent torque control.

For the so-called Hi4 technlogy, "H represents hybrid, i for intelligent, while 4 means 4 wheel drive,” the company said in a statement.

"All EVs of Great Wall brand will carry the 4WD tech in 2024, while in future the company intends to make it open source.”

The re-alignment comes as Great Wall posted a 17% sales decline in 2022, the first time a drop has occurred since 2018.

Its lineup is light on electric cars, barring the compact ORA pure EV range, and sales of even those models dropped 23%. That in a year when China NEV sales almost doubled to 6.5 million units.

Great Wall has since lowered it sales forecast for 2023 from 2.8 million units to 1.6 million.

Preliminary net income for the 12 months ended Dec 31 should come in at 8.3 billion yuan (RM5.4bil), the company said in February, missing the market’s expectations for around 10.1 billion yuan (RM6.6bil).

Makers of internal combustion engine cars are facing a tough time in China, where EV sales now account for about one in every four new vehicles sold.

Sales of ICE autos dropped 13% in 2022 while battery EV sales rose 74% and plug-in hybrids surged around 160%, according to China’s Passenger Car Association.

Provincial governments and several carmakers have started to offer steep discounts to consumers to clear ICE stock.

In the same event, Great Wall also announced an unusual move of offering awards of up to 10 million yuan (RM6.5mil) for people who report Internet trolls.

It said the program will help return peace to the auto industry and rational competition among peers.

Great Wall’s shift follows that of another large Chinese automaker, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co.

It unveiled a new high-end line of electric cars last month as part of a push to make up lost ground to Tesla Inc., which makes around 70,000 EVs a month from its factory in Shanghai, and local powerhouse BYD Co..

Geely, one of China’s largest private automakers, already had a suite of electric vehicle brands, however, including pure battery premium line Zeekr, which it launched in 2021.


Ex-Tesla exec Straubel aims to build world's top battery recycler

File pic of a lithium-ion car battery pack being stripped down for recycling. — Reuters
SAN FRANCISCO: Tesla co-founder J.B. Straubel wants to build his startup Redwood Materials into the world’s top battery recycling company and one of the largest battery materials companies, he said at a technology conference Wednesday.

Straubel aims to leverage two partnerships, one with Panasonic Corp, the Japanese battery manufacturer that is teamed with Tesla at the Nevada gigafactory, and one announced weeks ago with e-commerce giant Amazon.

With production of electric vehicles and batteries about to explode, Straubel says his ultimate goal is to “make a material impact on sustainability, at an industrial scale.”

Established in early 2017, Redwood this year will recycle more than 1 gigawatt-hours’ worth of battery scrap materials from the gigafactory — enough to power more than 100 Tesla cars.

That is a fraction of the half-million vehicles Tesla expects to build this year. At the company’s Battery Day in late September, Chief Executive Elon Musk said he was looking at recycling batteries to supplement the supply of raw materials from mining as Tesla escalates vehicle production.

Redwood’s partnership with Panasonic started late last year with a pilot operation to recover materials at Redwood’s recycling facilities in nearby Carson City, according to Celina Mikolajczak, vice president of battery technology at Panasonic Energy of North America.

Mikolajczak, who spent six years at Tesla as a battery technology leader, said: “People underestimate what recycling can do for the electric vehicles industry. This could have a huge impact on raw material prices and output in the future.”

Straubel’s broader plan is to dramatically reduce mining of raw materials such as nickel, copper and cobalt over several decades by building out a circular or “closed loop” supply chain that recycles and recirculates materials retrieved from end-of-life vehicle and grid storage batteries and from cells scrapped during manufacturing.

In September, Redwood said it received funding from Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, following an investment by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, backed by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

“I’m excited about the work we can do together,” Straubel said of Amazon. “They have batteries in many devices,” from consumer electronics to data centres, as well as future electric delivery vehicles and drones.


Ferrari considering electric supercar and SUV

Ferrari's LaFerrari Aperta.
DETROIT: It seems no automaker is immune from the incredible popularity of SUVs or the relentless march towards electrification these days, and now even Ferrari has confirmed it will soon be producing its own SUV as well as an all-electric supercar to challenge Tesla's lead in that part of the industry.

As Ferrari has now been spun off from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), it's been free to pursue an expansion of its lineup and to grow its sales without compromising the brand's exclusivity. Although known exclusively as a producer of super-fast sports cars and roadsters, Sergio Marchionne, who heads both Ferrari and FCA, told reporters at this year's Detroit Auto Show that Ferrari will be producing its first-ever SUV by late 2019 or 2020, and that it will be "the fastest on the market."

Marchionne also said, "If there is an electric supercar to be built, then Ferrari will be the first. People are amazed at what Tesla did with a supercar. I'm not trying to minimise what Elon did but I think it's doable by all of us."

 The Urus.

There's no getting away from the fact Elon Musk and Tesla have defined the luxury electric vehicle market with the Model S and the Tesla Roadster so far, but a battery-powered Ferrari would seriously challenge Tesla's supremacy in that part of the market.

It's actually a huge turnaround by Marchionne and the Italian supercar brand as only two years ago the CEO said that a Ferrari without an internal combustion engine would be what he described as, "an almost obscene concept."

But despite the undoubted advantage the Ferrari name will have over most serious rivals in the electric car market, the evocative Italian manufacturer faces the same challenges as every other company when it comes to range.

Marchionne admitted, "You're going to go real fast but how long do you last? We have seen that in Formula E, you have to change your car in the race. We need a lot more work to be done before we can make that a legitimate answer, motorized sports cars."

No indication was given as to the time scale for producing an all-electric Ferrari, but it will have to get a move on as McLaren is already testing electric-only prototypes. And as for a supercar SUV, Lamborghini has already stolen a march on Ferrari with the unveiling of the Urus.


Free vehicles for GM customers

                DETROIT: Five loyal General Motors customers across the globe were pleasantly surprised when they were presented with a free vehicle each last week by GM CEO Mary Barra.

The events celebrated the global production of 500 million GM-branded vehicles and recognized customers who experienced milestones in their GM vehicles.

The customers are:

Trent Brining, a US Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient who received an all-new 2016 Chevrolet Malibu.

Supot Khwankoom, a farmer from Thailand who saved to purchase his family’s first vehicle, received a Chevrolet Colorado.

Anna Katharina Dionysius, whose Opel Astra was totaled in a collision, received a Zafira Tourer fresh off the line.

Da Shuo, an entrepreneur from China known for his “Purple Bullet” – a peach and purple-painted Chevrolet Cruze that inspired his customization business. His personalized fleet will expand with the addition of a new Chevrolet Trax.

Amandio Palhares and Joselle Pinheiro, avid travelers from Brazil who traveled nine months in their Chevrolet truck across 16 countries from Brazil to Alaska. They received a Chevrolet Cruze to inspire another cross-continent journey.


Rolls-Royce's first all-electric car wraps up winter tests

                LONDON: Rolls-Royce has finished road testing of its first all-electric production car, the Spectre, near the Arctic Circle ahead of a market debut in 2023, the British company has announced.

Enduring temperatures of up to -40° Celcius, the car has now completed 25% of its 2.5-million-km testing programme said to simulate 400 years of use.

The Spectre is a two-door grand tourer with a long bonnet and muscular proportions and is shaping up to replace the Wraith, which first appeared 2013.

The gruelling tests are essential to ensure the legendary reliability of the brand, says Rolls-Royce, which prides itself on the reputation that its cars "never break down."

Despite the pledge, models can still occasionally be seen on the hook of a tow truck.

Among the legendary tales of Roller reliability is the story told about "Jungle Book" author Rudyard Kipling.

His pre-war Phantom once suddenly "failed to proceed," prompting a call to the firm's Paris distributor.

A day later, Kipling is said to have complained that no one had come to fix his vehicle, only to be told by the manager that a team of Rolls-Royce engineers arrived in the early hours, repaired the Phantom and discreetly left before dawn so as not to disturb the owner.


Automobili Pininfarina's electric hypercar named Battista

                MUNICH: The first car in Automobili Pininfarina's luxury electric vehicle portfolio, previously known as the PF0, has officially been named the Battista.

A new all-electric, potentially world record-breaking hypercar is on its way, and on Tuesday the official title was revealed: the Battista, a nod to Battista "Pinin" Farina, founder of coachbuilding company Carrozzeria Pininfarina which first debuted back in 1930.

Battista's grandson, Paolo Pininfarina, demonstrated his approval of such a dedication, saying, "This hypercar will boast world-beating performance, technology innovation and of course elegant styling. For me, we simply had to call is Battista. His dream becomes reality today as we link our glorious past with the future of motoring."

If all goes according to the company's plan, this model will be the world's first fully-electric luxury hypercar. Power is expected to reach 1,900bhp and torque 2,300Nm; this would equate to the car reaching 100kph in less than two seconds and breaking 402kph. Automobili Pininfarina claims that all this performance will be partnered with a 480-km range.

The Pininfarina descendant will be overseeing the construction of the 150 Battista hypercar models that will be made: 50 cars each will be allocated to the US, Europe, and Middle East and Asia regions and will be available for a price tag between US$2 and US$2.5 million (up to RM10.5mil) in late 2020.


Full charge ahead as car tuners discover electric drive

Lamborghini Sian FKP 37.
FRANKFURT: Car tuning outfits understand the need for a more environmentally friendly speed and now many have started hybridising their go-faster products by mating an electric motor to a conventional combustion engine in a bid to create a greener mix.

The combination provides impressive acceleration and low fuel consumption at the same time, something which will not work so well with stand-alone petrol or diesel engines.

Leading tuners like Mercedes-Benz's performance unit AMG, the M department of BMW and over at Audi Sport see the tide turning. They realise that a return to the petrol-head heyday is no longer possible.

"We are charging ahead and electrifying the whole range step by step," said Oliver Hoffmann. He is one of two new men who head Audi Sport and he has just got back from the Frankfurt Car exhibition where the 600-horsepower petrol-electric RS7 was among the show-stealers.

 The Mercedes-AMG GLE 53 relies on electric power alongside the traditional engine.

Car analyst Jan Burgard from Berylls in Munich said firms like AMG are needed in order to make a brand more emotional and exciting. This also boosts the image of the sensible, everyday models in the range which appeal to the head rather than the heart.

The cost of developing these high tech products is high but the benefits to carmakers are manifold. The greenness of top models pushes down tailpipe emissions of the whole range. Buyers are also willing to pay more for the conscience-soothers enabling costs to be recouped more quickly.

The RS7 from Audi features an electric motor that helps power the car away from the kerb before the petrol engine takes over. The e-motor also kicks in during acceleration, which pushes down everyday fuel consumption, even though the car is incapable of moving using electric power alone.

Hoffman believes cars like this mark the start of a move towards electric performance motoring.

The Audi uses what engineers call mild hybrid technology where a combustion engine provides the grunt and an electric motor assists.

Audi is fettling an all-electric sports car to rival the recently-unveiled Porsche Taycan. The E-Tron GT will share a lot of technology with the Porsche - both firms are part of the huge Volkswagen empire. Meanwhile an electric successor to the R8 is also being mulled.

 Audi RS7.

"We are currently giving a lot of thought to our next-generation super sports cars and electrification is playing a major role here," said Hoffman.

BMW's M division plans to install some heavy-duty power cables into its M8 sports car. At the moment the racer only uses electricity to drive compact motors that adjust the seats, wing mirrors and side windows. The car needs petrol before the 625 horses can spring into life.

At the Frankfurt IAA show, BMW showcased its Vision M Next concept car which bears more than a passing resemblance to the legendary M1 track racer and showcases what future sports machinery may look like.

The concept uses a plug-in package made up of a turbocharged four-cylinder engine and an electric motor at each axle. The set-up provides 600 horsepower and a pure electric range of around 100 kilometres.

Of course it is still a design study yet M division boss Markus Flasch is convinced that here lies the way ahead. "We are working intensively on electrifying future M models and also seeking hybrid solutions which will boost efficiency and driving dynamics for our clients," he said.

Over at AMG his colleague Tobias Moers sees things much the same way. Models will get an electric makeover, as evidenced by the new GLE, which has an electric starter-generator on board. Moers said recently that the entire sporting range will get an electric boost.

Sports car makers such as McLaren, Aston Martin, Lamborghini and Ferrari are gradually going electric too. The Ferrari SF90 Stradale PHEV for instance uses three small electric motors which whisk the car ahead before a V8 petrol engine takes over.

Purists can rest assured, however, that pedal-to-the floor combustion engines are not on the way out, despite their dirty image. Porsche boss Oliver Blume recently remarked that despite the advent of the electric Taycan, Porsche will always offer high-performance petrol motors in cars like the iconic 911.


Electric car uptake could reduce pollution-related respiratory problems

                LOS ANGELES: Popular for their non-polluting nature, electric cars could also have a positive impact on the respiratory health of city dwellers, according to a recent study conducted in California.

However, this positive impact is more likely to be observed in wealthier populations, the research notes.

Since the advent of electric cars, often hailed as the future of mobility, there has been increasing evidence of reduced air pollution associated with the use of these vehicles.

But few studies have focused on the effects on respiratory health, say researchers from the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine, who conducted the study, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

They focused on publicly available data sets to analyze various factors in several cities in the state of California between 2013 and 2019.

The researchers began by looking at changes in the use of zero- or low-emission vehicles (electric cars, hybrid cars, hydrogen fuel cell cars), before looking at air pollution levels and finally at asthma-related emergency room visits.

The study found that, as the adoption of zero-emission vehicles increased within a city or neighborhood, local air pollution levels and emergency room visits decreased.

At zip code level, for every additional 20 electric cars per 1,000 people, the researchers note a 3.2% decrease in the rate of asthma-related emergency room visits and a small suggestive reduction in nitrogen dioxide levels.

However, the study nevertheless notes that a "zero-emissions vehicle adoption gap" threatens the equitable distribution of any associated benefits. Indeed, the researchers found that while the total number of electric vehicles has increased over time, the shift appears to be slower in low-income neighborhoods.

"That disparity points to an opportunity to restore environmental justice in communities that are disproportionately affected by pollution and related health problems," the study authors explain in a news release.


Kobe Steel's cheating engulfs more divisions

                TOKYO: Crisis-hit Kobe Steel Ltd said today its steel division has also falsely labelled products, the latest in a string of revelations confirming widespread cheating at the firm that has engulfed its global customers.

The bombshell admissions by Japan’s third-largest steel maker sent its shares plummeting again, with the scale of the misconduct dealing a body blow to the nation’s reputation as a high-quality manufacturing destination.

Investors, worried about the financial impact and legal fallout, have wiped out about US$1.8bil off Kobe Steel’s market value this week after the firm said about 200 companies were affected by its cheating.

The company said it found data tampering in its steel wire products. Customers have said there are no problems with the safety or function of the products, the spokesman said.

Chief executive Hiroya Kawasaki will brief media at 0800 GMT, as the crisis ripples through supply chains across the world after the firm admitted at the weekend it had falsified data about the quality of aluminium and copper products used in cars, aircraft, space rockets and defense equipment.

Boeing Co, has some of the falsely certified products, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, but stressed that the world’s biggest maker of passenger jets does not as yet consider the issue a safety problem.

More than 30 non-Japanese customers including Daimler AG and Airbus SE had been affected by the firm’s data fabrication, the Nikkei newspaper reported today.

A Kobe Steel spokesman said the companies received its products but would not confirm they had any of the falsely certified components.

Nuclear power plant parts are the latest to join the list of affected equipment as Fukushima nuclear operator Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) said today it had taken delivery of pipes from Kobe Steel that were not checked properly.

The pipes were delivered to its Fukushima Daini station, located near the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi plant, but have not been used, Tepco said, adding it was checking all its facilities.

Faulty parts have also been found in Japan’s famous bullet trains that run at speeds as high as around 300kph and a space rocket that was launched in Japan earlier this week. One bullet train operator has already said it will seek compensation from Kobe Steel.

The government has ordered Kobe Steel to address safety concerns within about two weeks and report on how the misconduct occurred in a month.

No safety issues have yet been identified in the unfolding imbroglio.

The steel maker faces a range of legal risks, including compensation sought by clients or their customers, penalties for violating unfair competition laws for false representation, shareholder lawsuits for the fall in the company’s stock price and class lawsuits from overseas customers seeking punitive damages, a lawyer said.

“It is hard to predict the extent of legal costs,” said Motokazu Endo, a lawyer at Tokyo Kasumigaseki law office.

“We cannot rule out the possibility that this will shake Kobe Steel to its foundation.”

Kobe Steel was founded in 1905 and has been a pillar of Japan’s manufacturing sector. Such are its establishment bona fides that Shinzo Abe, the prime minister and scion of a political dynasty, worked at the company decades ago, before entering politics.

But those credentials have been shattered, a point amplified by CEO Kawasaki who said the credibility of the firm “has plunged to zero.”

Kobe Steel said it was examining possible data falsification going back 10 years - a familiar echo of a string of other cheating scandals involving Japan inc.

The corrosive business practices have raised broader questions over corporate governance in Japan, and cast doubt on the integrity of a manufacturing industry once the envy of the world.

Previous cases in Japan involving falsified data included Nissan Motor, Mitsubishi Motors and Takata, which filed for bankruptcy this year over faulty airbags that were blamed for 17 deaths and scores of injuries.

In 2015, it was revealed that Toyo Tire & Rubber fabricated data to secure government approval for materials to absorb shocks from earthquakes. Conglomerate Toshiba Corp is still battling the fallout of a scandal over reporting inflated profits.

“It will likely continue to be extremely difficult to make judgments on creditworthiness and investment until the safety of the products and the extent of damages are clarified,” SMBC Nikko Securities said in a note to clients.


Nissan says British plant hit by cyber attack

                LONDON: Nissan's plant in Sunderland, northeast England, has been affected by a cyber attack that has hit over 150 countries, a spokesman for the Japanese carmaker said on Saturday.

"Like many organisations around the world, some Nissan entities were recently targeted by a ransomware attack. Our teams are responding accordingly and there has been no major impact on our business," he said in a statement.

He said the situation at the plant, which employs 7,000, continued to be monitored.

On Friday, cyber extortionists tricked victims into opening malicious malware attachments to spam emails that appeared to contain invoices, job offers, security warnings and other legitimate files.

The attack disrupted Britain's health system and companies including carmaker Renault and global shipper FedEx.

Renault, meanwhile, said it expects to be able to resume normal production today, said a spokesman. "Nearly all plants should be able to resume their activity tomorrow."

Renault said on Saturday that it had stopped production at several sites to prevent the spread of the cyber attack that hit its computer systems the previous day.

Microsoft on Sunday pinned blame on the US government for not disclosing more software vulnerabilities.

Cyber security experts said the spread of the worm dubbed WannaCry - "ransomware" that locked up more than 200,000 computers in more than 150 countries - had slowed but that the respite might only be brief amid fears new versions of the worm will strike.

In a blog post on Sunday, Microsoft president Brad Smith appeared to tacitly acknowledge what researchers had already widely concluded: The ransomware attack leveraged a hacking tool, built by the US National Security Agency, that leaked online in April.


Elon Musk’s driveway deliveries could be key to maintaining momentum

A Model 3 on a trailer. — Bloomberg
SAN FRANCISCO: Before Tesla Inc. blew past expectations for vehicle deliveries this week, Elon Musk was on Twitter promoting a months-old service that remains a bit of a mystery to the legions of electric car fans that follow the company’s every move.

The programme, called Tesla Direct, offers some buyers of the Model 3, S and X the option to have their car dropped off right to their home or office. Musk and Tesla have said little about how prevalent the service has become since it started last year, and the company didn’t mention it in its statement Tuesday announcing that worldwide deliveries surged to 95,200 last quarter.

But based on Daan Hermsen’s experience, the growth of Tesla Direct could play a role in helping the company maintain momentum. The 30-year-old medical plastics industry salesman living in the Utrecht province of the Netherlands initially planned to pick up his metallic blue Model 3 from a Tesla facility in Tilburg about 90km from home before finding out he’d been chosen for direct delivery.

"My neighbours saw it arrive, and now they want to drive it,” Hermsen said. The only drawback he encountered was that the delivery specialist put some miles on his vehicle by driving it to his home in Amersfoort.

In his tweet on Monday, Musk quoted a follower in Santa Clara, California, who likened Tesla Direct to Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime service. The CEO seemed to appreciate the comparison.

Tesla’s experimentation with home delivery should come as no surprise, given the company’s approach to retailing has been somewhat unique from the start. It’s flouted the franchise dealership model and sold cars direct to consumers, which allows Musk more flexibility to try something different.

"Customers desperately want an easier buying process with at-home delivery,” said Michelle Krebs, an analyst at car-shopping researcher Autotrader. "Elon Musk is spot-on with consumer desires.”
While a number of questions remain about Tesla Direct — including how cost-efficient and scalable it’s been — interviews with customers who’ve used the service yielded some clues to how it works.

They describe taking delivery either from a flatbed truck driver or a specialist who gets behind the wheel personally and drops the car off in a driveway or office parking lot. The specialist then hails a ride back to a Tesla facility.

In the days leading up to the quarterly sales deadline, Musk had implored Tesla employees to "go all out” to hasten shipments of vehicles on order. It’s unclear what role, if any, the direct delivery service played in what the company said were marked logistical improvements last quarter.

"We made significant progress streamlining our global logistics and delivery operations at higher volumes, enabling cost efficiencies and improvements to our working capital position,” Tesla said in its statement Tuesday. Representatives for the company didn’t respond to a request for comment on Tesla Direct.

Eric Okon, the co-owner of a corporate car service in New York City, had two Model 3s delivered to the company’s office in Queens on June 28.

"It was certainly convenient,” Okon said. "It was a quick process; it was really easy.”


Toyota, Suzuki take hybrid route in India for local, global markets

                NEW DELHI: Toyota Motor Corp and Suzuki Motor Corp today said they would begin production of hybrid vehicles in India, a category that Toyota has said is currently best suited to such markets.

A Toyota plant in southern India would in August begin building a hybrid sport utility vehicle (SUV) developed by Suzuki, the companies said.

Two power trains would be available, they said: one with a mild hybrid configuration from Suzuki and the other as a strong hybrid from Toyota. In a mild hybrid, the battery only assists the piston engine, without the all-electric mode available in a strong hybrid.

Building the model is part of a broader partnership formed between the two Japanese automakers in 2017. It will be sold in India and exported to markets including Africa.

Green investors have criticised Toyota, the world's largest carmaker by sales, for slowness in moving its product line-up to all-electric, battery electric vehicles (BEVs).

But the company has argued that hybrids make more sense in markets where infrastructure is not ready for BEVs and that it needs to offer a variety of choices. read more

It has also said that much of the electricity in the developing world is generated by burning coal or other fossil fuel. Since BEVs rely on that generation, they are more polluting in those markets than hybrids are, it says.

Toyota last year committed to spending $60 billion by 2030 to electrify its range of vehicle models, but only half of that is for the development of fully electrics ones.

The new SUV, which has not been named, will be marketed as both a Toyota and a Suzuki, each company relying on its local affiliate to do so, they said in their joint statement.

India wants carmakers to build more electric models but the uptake for such vehicles so far has been slow, and only Tata Motors builds them locally.

Suzuki committed in March to investing $1.4 billion in the country to produce BEVs and batteries, but its local unit, Maruti Suzuki, India's biggest carmaker, has said it will not launch a fully electric vehicle before 2025.

Toyota is also focused on setting up a supply chain for electric vehicles in India before making BEVs there. It said in May it would invest more than US$600 million to make India a global production hub for EV parts, including electric drives. read more

While BEVs are currently too expensive for mainstream buyers in India and other emerging economies, so are complex hybrids like the Prius, whose manufacturing cost Toyota has had trouble cutting.

This is among the reasons why Toyota partnered with Suzuki, which has championed low-cost manufacturing in India. The agreement between the two includes joint product development, lowering local sourcing costs and sharing technology.


BMW plant offers 160 Individual colour options for 1 Series and 2 Series Gran Coupe

                LEIPZIG: BMW has announced that its Leipzig plant has expanded its colour options for the 1 Series and 2 Series Gran Coupe for customers seeking to stand out with unusual paintwork.

The range of colours, available under BMW's Individual program, include Speed Yellow, San Marino Blue, Verde Ermes Green and Nardo Grey.

Black and white are still among the most popular colours for cars, but customers are increasingly seeking more expressive and individual paintwork.

Dealerships now offer 160 Individual colour options for the 1 Series and 2 Series Gran Coupe, which are going down well with customers despite the surcharge for matt and Individual finishes.

Leipzig’s order books for vehicles with Individual finishes have filled up nicely until the end of the year, and the next major order is for 180 118d vehicles in Hockenheim Silver, Ruby Red and Sepia Violet for BMW Japan.

The lead time for special finishes in a preferred Individual colour is about 10 weeks. Customers can even create their own colours, which will be specially mixed and used on their car only.

Such colours increase technical complexity in the plant, which has been upgraded to handle the special paints. In addition, new paint supply systems and a new mixing area have been integrated. The paintshop can now paint five vehicles a day in colours from the Individual range.

The full range of options can be experienced via the BMW Individual Visualiser.


Nanjing city may limit car licence plate issuance to check jams

                BEIJING: China's eastern Nanjing city is studying whether to restrict the issuance of vehicle licence plates, a policy enacted in other major cities that is blamed for severely curtailing car sales, according to a government report posted Monday.

If Nanjing enacted such a policy, it would be the first city to restrict plate issuance since a downturn in the auto market began last year as economic growth weakened, prompting the government to support sales through a tax cut on small-engine cars.

Similar plate restrictions enacted in cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou policies helped shift rapid sales growth in the world's largest auto market from major metropolises into lower-tier cities. The city is studying a wide range of policies to reduce traffic including congestion fees and limiting which days certain number plates can drive, according to a report posted on the city government website.

Vehicle sales in China increased 8.1 percent year-on-year in the first six months of 2016, outpacing a forecast of 6 percent growth for the whole year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.


BMW's 5G Network goes live

BEIJING: BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA) in Shenyang, China, has become the first carmaker to enable full 5G wireless coverage at all its plants and parent company, BMW Group, is looking at a long-term aim to establish 5G networks at all its plant locations worldwide.

The new wireless standard (5G) allows for the transfer of data of up to one gigabit per second – fast enough to download an entire HD film in just a few seconds, from an initial 600 megabytes per second.

The company partnered with China Unicom and China Mobile to build the infrastructure and connect its newfound network across a total area of over three million square metres.

Development began in October last year and was completed recently in April with 21 mobile phone masts and 35 5G base stations for its car plants in Tiexi and Dadong, as well as at its powertrain plant.

Possible 5G application scenarios include augmented reality, cloud-based control of autonomous transport systems, human-machine interaction using mobile smart devices, robot-to-robot communications and communication between robotics systems and control centre.

The new network will help the company to transform its automobile production and boost productivity.

In Germany, BMW Group is currently preparing to set up local private 5G networks to improve overall reliability and security of its current network.

This will help to benefit innovations that work with large quantities of data in real-time such as virtual and augmented reality, widescale networking of machines and the use of autonomous logistics fleets.

The network will allow networked machines and systems to exchange data in real-time and align themselves even more with the production process.

The company is currently implementing the technology in a pilot project that uses 5G to transfer large quantities of test data from vehicles to the data centre in real-time, making data collection and analysis more efficient.

This way, vehicle updates involving large volumes of data and real-time diagnostics could also be conducted remotely in the future.

“5G is a ground-breaking technology with the potential to revolutionise industrial production. BBA is taking a leading role in testing the use of 5G and developing new innovations and procedures to improve industrial productivity," said BMW Group and Brilliance China Automotive Holdings joint venture president Johann Wieland.

The BBA Brilliance Automotive joint venture was founded in 2003 which encompasses production and sales of BMW automobiles in China, as well as local development tasks while employing a total of more than 18,000 people.

In 2018, the BBA automotive plants in Tiexi and Dadong produced over 490,000 vehicles for the Chinese market – an increase of almost 24% year-on-year.