Stellantis aims to set up a regional manufacturing hub for BEVs in the ASEAN region and push their “Built in ASEAN for ASEAN” roadmap

This could be a very good sign in terms of foreign direct investments into Malaysia and the South East Asian (ASEAN) region. On the 6th of November, Stellantis,,the automotive group that owns, notably Peugeot, Citroën, Ram, Maserati, Alfa Romeo and Jeep® has announced its plans for new mobility solutions for the ASEAN region which include their aim to move forward with going fully electric (or any form of clean energy) in the future. They are aiming to bring its STLA Medium platform to the ASEAN region which was unveiled globally in June 2023. STLA Medium is a global BEV-by-design vehicle platform with state-of-the-art features including best-in-class range of 700 kilometers, energy efficiency, embedded power and charging power.

Spotted: An Alfa Romeo Giulia in the Malaysian Wilderness

Now that Alfa Romeo has no official distributor in Malaysia it is actually tough to spot a current model Alfa Romeo in the wild. Yet we managed to see this today - the Alfa Romeo Giulia. 

Video: Sunday with an Alfa Romeo 156 V6 & Some thoughts about Alfa Romeo

This is a short video about an Alfa Romeo 156 with a 3.0liter V6 engine inside of it. It belongs to a friend of mine and it looks superb inside and out. I think this could be the nicest 156 in the country at this moment.

Spotted for Sale: 1980 Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV 2.0 - A real beauty if you ask me

Now this is a unique car that has been Spotted for Sale over at mudah.my. It is an Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV 2.0 from 1980 that has been rebuilt from the ground up by the looks of it. It has a baremetal respray of the body, an overhauled engine, new alloy wheels and tyres and a proper suspension upgrade.

Spotted for Sale: Alfa Romeo 4C Launch Edition

This is the first Alfa Romeo 4C on sale in Malaysia. It is obviously brought in by a local A.P. holder and is steeply priced at RM550,000. The original price for such a car is about 45,000 Pounds Sterling. How 45,000GBP gets translated to RM550,000 is probably due to the fact that exchange rates are at 1GBP = RM5.80 and at least 200+% of excise duty. 

So would I buy such a car? Well, there is no official dealer or service center these days for Alfa Romeo. This means you would be at the mercy of a few specialty shops catering to the marque. This would be slowly declining too as eventually there would be less money to be made when there are less of the marque to go around. So after sales is going to be a pain.

The All New Alfa Romeo Giulia...and the falling Ringgit

Alfa Romeo has just launched the Giulia. It looks like a cross between something German and a  Lexus RC-F matched to a wonderful looking slant eyed front end. The German I am mentioning is the BMW 3 Series as if you took a look at the C pillar/rear doors, that BMW-ish Hoffmeister kink is there. I think it does look all angry and all. Like how an Alfa should be. But I think it could look a little more adventurous than what it is today.

Sunday Car Porn: The Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera coach building company

It's another Sunday. Today I thought that I'd give you folks a history lesson on one of the best in Italian Coachbuilding. Most of you would be familiar with them designing and constructing the Aston Martin DB5 (below)  styling (oh, you know, the James Bond car)

Sime Darby Motors lets go of Alfa Romeo in Malaysia

Tough. I remember reading sometime in 2006 that Sime Darby were serious in making Alfa Romeo work in Malaysia. They gave out pretty good warranties for the cars but it seems they have given up - voluntarily relinquishing their distributorship of Alfa Romeo in Malaysia.

Sometimes large conglomerates get over-confident, claiming that they can do wonders. Well, Alfa Romeo is an enigma all by itself and this year Alfa Romeo Malaysia managed a dozen or so cars. Last year they managed slightly below forty cars. This is quite a sad end to Sime Darby's venture with Alfa Romeo. But somehow this end is predictable.

 I mean how the heck can you try sell a premium Italian brand from one miserable showroom and service center in of all places, Jalan Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur? Everyone who sells premium cars is in Petaling Jaya, one should have stayed in Petaling Jaya instead of Jalan Ipoh. You only buy floor tiles and sanitary ware in Jalan Ipoh. How can you sell cars if you're not where the crowd who buys Alfa is? Maybe the only person that could sell Alfa Romeo in Malaysia was Ron Lim, the chap who used to run the previous Alfa Romeo distribution here who now runs Lamborghini Malaysia.

Anyway, press release from Sime Darby Motors after the jump.

Sunday Car Porn - The 2013 Alfa Romeo Disco Volante by Touring

As per Alfa Romeo:
"The backbone of the Alfa Romeo Disco Volante by Touring is the chassis of the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, selected for its light, rigid structure, perfect as the basis for redesigning a high-performance car. In detail, the architecture features a mid-front engine, transaxle gearbox and rear-wheel drive: this layout offers an optimal 49–51% load distribution between the front and rear ends. It features double-wishbone suspension, with forged aluminium uprights and supports and additional strut at the rear for toe-in control.

The compact, light engine is a 450 HP, 4.7-litre V8 with 480 Nm of maximum torque. The gearbox is electrically operated with 6 speeds and paddle control, while the limited-slip differential and self-ventilating brakes are marked by their generous dimensions. With this equipment, the Alfa Romeo Disco Volante by Touring accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.2 seconds and reaches 290 km/h."

It's an Alfa Romeo. Enuff' Said.

Cars we still adore: Alfa Romeo 164

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The Alfa 164 is a truly beautiful car. Produced from 1987 to 1998 it was a 4 door saloon that was designed by Alfa Romeo to go head to head with traditional German executive saloons like the BMW 5 series and the Meredes Benz W124 series. Of course, being an Alfa Romeo, it was drop dead beautiful. I spotted a beautiful example earlier today, an 164 3.0 in full Cloverleaf specification - bodykit and 17 inch telephone dial wheels. I thought I'd say a few words about it. 

BMW Previews the M4 Concept - Feng Shui disaster in Series numbering?

Nice. I don't really know how many horses this new M Division BMW will make (actually, about 450bhp) nor do I care how fast it goes (0-100km/h in about 4.4secs). The only reason the picture above is being shown on this site is the fact that I really wonder how BMW is going to market this new 4 series model here in Asia.

This car is actually the 2 door BMW 3 series. BMW wants us to believe that the 2 door variant is inherently sportier than any 2 door 3 series before this and that it deserves a series of its own. There goes our dreams of a new proper 2 door BMW M3 after the E92. Somehow unlike Mercedes Benz who have decided to call the 2 door C-class as the C-class Coupe, BMW had decided to make the coupe variant a whole new model series - the BMW 4 series. So we have the BMW M4 pictured above, as well as slower cooking models like the 420i, 428i, 420d, 430i, 440i. Now would Feng Shui practicing Asia welcome the 4 Series with open arms? The number 'Four' basically means 'die' in cantonese.