OVER 400 PARTICIPANTS TURN UP AT THE SCANIA DRIVER COMPETITION TO TEST THEIR TRUCK DRIVING SKILLS

An unexpected number of people turned up at the Scania Driver Competition–MIBTC Edition (SDC-ME) that was held in conjunction with the recent Malaysia International Bus, Truck and Components Expo 2015. 

Sunday Car Porn: The Lancia Delta Integrale and all of its scoops, vents and grilles.

Six Constructor's Championships, four Driver's Championships. This is what the Lancia Delta HF Integrale Group A Rally car had achieved in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. That six title record still stands to this day.  It was unbeatable even against much newer cars like the then new ST185 Toyota Celica (1989-1993), the Sierra RS Cosworth (1990-1993)and the Ford Escort Cosworth (1992-1996). When you state the fact that the Delta Integrale actually first appeared in 1979 it is why the Delta HF will forever hold a place in my heart as one of the giants of fast road and rally cars. 

The Land Rover Discovery Sport 2.2 SD4 Ground Effect Edition by Project Kahn

The 2015 Land Rover Discovery Sport has not been launched in Malaysia as yet but I think that the small SUV will be popular with people here. Supposedly due here at the end of 2015,  It is the entry level lifestyle Land Rover (not including the rugged Defender) and promotes practicality over style unlike the Range Rover Evoque which is vice versa. Both are entry level but different. The Disco Sport has more space at the rear too compared to the 5 door Evoque. Again, practicality over style.

TEST DRIVE: 2015 Ford Mondeo 2.0L GTDi EcoBoost - A great drive underneath layers of refinement

I have been swamped with things recently. Aside from trying to get a business venture off the ground, the usual work related activities and the usual family matters there have been an onslaught of automotive related events over the past few weeks here in and around the Klang Valley.  A heck of a lot of automotive related companies has decided to make sure their product is launched, made aware of or previewed before the fasting month of Ramadan. 

News: MY E.G launches automotive portal for buying and selling cars

It seems that My E.G, the e-Government services provider has launched an automotive portal www.mymotor.my which offers an integrated online solution towards vehicle ownership. According to MyMotor, one can search their classified, ask for a quote on a vehicle and buy it using MyMotor.  I suppose this is possible because they do offer JPJ services like road tax and insurance renewals (as an example). So technically one could buy a car through this website without even viewing the actual vehicle. You shouldn't. But you could.

For this Ramadhan or fasting month, the first 50 cars successfully purchased through MyMotor will receive RM3,000 cashback subject to approved vehicle financing. Promotion is valid until the end of Ramadhan or for the first 50 cars sold, whichever comes first.

TRIPDA promotes carpooling this college and university semester break

Tripda is an online carpooling platform that connects drivers and passengers heading the same way. They are encouraging students to carpool when they return home anywhere between 19th June to July 5th, 2015 for their college and university semester break. College and university semester breaks are among the travel peak seasons in Malaysia apart from the school holidays and festive seasons, with more than 1 million students returning home for their break or taking road trips around Malaysia as well as abroad (- this explains the slightly expensive airfare prices for this coming weekend when I last checked). 

Don't you just like using file photos? Everyone looks sooooo happy.....but yes! Carpool....save your money in order to get that nice car later on...

All-new Hyundai Genesis achieves global sales targets sooner than anticipated

Slightly intriguing news, this is. Hyundai's all-new Genesis premium sedan has been making waves. This second generation Hyundai Genesis has achieved its sales target 10 months sooner than the previous model and 100,000 of it has been sold since its launch in November 2013, which is just 18 months ago. 

The car was recent launched here in Malaysia in just a few weeks ago and is therefore a new player in the field of luxury cars sold in Malaysia. It has to be quite good as there has been some brand acceptance, especially in the American midsized luxury sedan category (midsized in America is actually quite big here - the Genesis is sized in between a BMW 5 series and the larger 7 Series).

Sisma auto officially opens its new Jaguar Land Rover 3S Centre in Glenmarie

Today is the day before the start of the Fasting month and the last of a slew of events that automotive manufacturers have decided to do before things actually slow down a fair bit (with the exception of some binge eating and drinking of water when it comes to breaking fast). Over the past month or so I have attended numerous launches of vehicles, products and did a few tests. In fact, there have been so many launches until I have a few articles and test drive reviews in the back burner. 

NAZA Italia launches the New Ferrari 488 GTB in Malaysia

L to R - Datuk Wira Hj. SM Faisal Tan Sri SM Nasimuddin, Group Executive Chairman & Group CEO of NAZA World Group of Companies, Mr. Dieter Knechtel, Managing Director of Ferrari Far East,   Mr. Simon Inglefield, Head of Sales ASEAN, Ferrari Far East,  Mr. David Hector Ratnaike, Senior Vice President 2 of 4-Wheels Division, NAZA World Group of Companies

The Ferrari 488 GTB was launched to the media earlier today. The Malaysian launch actually comes just a few months after the international launch at the recent Geneva Motor Show. It actually goes to show that Malaysia is actually an important market for the Prancing Horse.

Proton and Suzuki signed a MoU - What do you think the new JV model could be based on? I think its a.......

DRB-Hicom, Proton Holdings Bhd and Suzuki Motor Corporation signed a Memorandum of Understanding which may pave the way for the production of motor vehicles, whether by means of a collaboration, rebadging or the usage of engine and transmission drivetrains between Proton and Suzuki.

Suzy Celerio...THIS...could be the JV car I think...

As this is only an MoU, it is not actually a binding contractual agreement. MoUs are just something companies like to enter into as it makes its wishes to collaborate with one another seem stronger. But any actual Joint Venture would be more detailed and involve proper and detailed contractual agreements. Even Tun Dr Mahathir, Chairman of Proton, had stated that details of the agreement had not been worked out as yet. It will most likely involve compact and small cars from Suzuki that are currently not sold in Malaysia. The Proton plant in Tanjung Malim will be utilised for manufacturing or assembling the JV vehicles and the earliest model could be launched sometime 2016.

CHEVROLET OPENS NEW 3S CENTRE IN KOTA KINABALU

From L- R, YB Datuk Linda Tsen Thau Lin, Mr Cliff Chong, YB Tan Sri Datuk Sri Panglima Datuk Joseph Pairin Kitingan, Miss Thoo Ai Wuen.

Meanwhile, over in Sabah, Chevrolet, via distributors NAZA Quest Sdn Bhd has opened its latest 3S centre to add more brand presence in East Malaysia..........

Mr Cliff Chong & YB Tan Sri Datuk Sri Panglima Joseph Pairin Kitingan giving Thumbs up to the Chevrolet Malibu - the flagship for Chevrolet here in Malaysia  .

Naza italia opens its newly revamped showroom for Ferrari and Maserati

Naza Italia opened its refurbished Ferrari and Maserati showroom in Petaling Jaya earlier today. The new centre boasts a spacious, well-appointed and equipped showroom with dedicated sales areas, a comfortable and luxurious lounge area, a merchandise area, a configuration area and delivery bays. This would be more than sufficient in providing the best luxurious experience for both luxury Marques. 

Shell's #Lovemyride Festival - 500 motorists get engine oil changes at a carnival

A total of 500 lucky motorists enjoyed the ultimate engine rejuvenating experience for their cars at the first-ever “#LoveMyRide” Festival organised by Shell Malaysia Trading Sdn Bhd over the weekend. Acording to Shell Malaysia,  a total of 378 cars received a free engine oil change on the first day of the festival, Saturday, June 13, 2015, to successfully create a new entry in the Malaysia Book of Records for the ‘most number of cars in a lubricant changing event. The overall target of 500 cars was achieved at 3.17 pm on Sunday, June 14, 2015, when another 122 cars underwent the free oil change. The two day event was held at MATRADE, Kuala Lumpur.

Shell Malaysia MD Tuan Haji Azman Ismail and Shell Lubricants GM Leslie Ng pour Shell Helix Ultra to symbolically open the Love My Ride Festival

Volkswagen officially previews the updated Polo Hatch at the Raya Sales Carnival at Setia City Mall

This continues on the previous posting on the Volkswagen Raya Sales Carnival but more empahsis on the refreshed Polo 1.6 hatch. As a recap, the sales carnical is now on at Setia City Mall this weekend and you get to see the cars Volkswagen Malaysia are pushing with their 0 Downpayment and 0 interest campaign  (Polo, Polo Sedan, Jetta, Golf, Passat, and Tiguan).

What was interesting is that they have Officially previewed the slightly refreshed Polo 1.6 hatch. The car was introduced into dealerships early May 2015. This updated version features cosmetic changes including a classy single upper grille chrome line, sleeker design changes for the lights, increased safety with reflectors on the rear bumper and a horizontal mesh with a lower grille single chrome line on the cars exterior.

BMW launches BMW Safety 360º Program, the new 1 Series for Malaysia and the all-new BMW 2 Series Gran Tourer

Maree Haley, Founder & Executive Director of the Safety Educator on the importance of owning a child seat as she shares significant information from how to secure a child seat to child seat positioning in a vehicle.

BMW Group Malaysia have been busy. They've decided to start the second series of the BMW Safety 360º Program and launched two cars - the 120i M Sport and the all-new 220i Gran Tourer at a go earlier today at Publika here in Kuala Lumpur.

Sashi Ambi, Head of Corporate Communications, BMW Group Malaysia and Alan Harris, Managing Director and CEO, BMW Group Malaysia with the all-new BMW 220i Gran Tourer. 

Raya Sales have started - Volkswagen Sales Carnival Weekend this 12th to 14th June at Setia City Mall

It's that time of the year again. The time when everybody starts marketing their stuff for the Hari Raya Aidilfitri here in Malaysia. This means raya songs have started or are beginning to start at shopping malls and that truly ridiculous Yusoff Taiyooooooob 'kurma' or dates advertisements are everywhere. And its not even fasting month yet!!!!

Anyway, Volkswagen have kicked off their sales carnival over at the Setia City Mall this 12th to the 14th of June 2015. Special Raya Promotion (cars at 0 Downpayment and 0 Interest for their  Polo, Polo Sedan, Jetta, Golf, Passat, and Tiguan - T&C applies of course)

 Details of it are stated below:

The All New BMW 7 Series

I am not too bothered to tell you guys in my own words on what the new BMW 7 Series is except that it obviously replaces the earlier one and sets its eyes on the Mercedes Benz S-Class. The official press release isn't too long a read and I find it tells you most of the relevant details without getting too technical or boring.

What I believe are important to know about the new G11 and G12 bmw 7 Series are that the car is:

TOC launches basic Car Maintenance short course with emphasis on basic car maintenance and road safety

L to R - Mr Allen Cabiles - Director Training TOC, Mdm Adeline Foo -Founder/CEO TOC, Mr Abdul Haris Lakar DDG JKJR, Mr Mohammad Fakhri Mansor Director Selangor State JKJR and Cik Aien Mokhtar- CCO TOC

I was over at The Automotive College aka The Otomotif College (TOC) yesterday to witness the launch of their new half day course called Car Maintenance 101. The course was launched with the aim to increase awareness of the importance of roadworthy car and how it plays a part in road safety today.

The course, Car Maintenance 101 is designed for those who wish to learn about car maintenance, how to save on maintenance and servicing costs as well as basic road safety knowledge. It was officially launched by the Deputy Director General of Road Safety (JKKR) Mr. Abdul Haris Lakar at the TOC campus here in Petaling Jaya.

Touring the TOC facility

Now over the the U.S. of A.....the 2015 Hyundai Sonata wins another award

The current, 2015 Hyundai Sonata has garnered another award over in America. Edmunds.com and Parents magazine have come together and voted the Sonata as one of the 10 Best Family Cars to buy in America. The Hyundai Sonata earned the award for its safety and family oriented features, interior space as well as technology offered.

Volkswagen Pushes for Child Passenger Safety with Association of Registered Childcare Providers Malaysia

In conjunction with Volkswagen Malaysia’s efforts to educate public on road safety with the emphasis on child safety, the car manufacturer has embarked on a nationwide campaign to cultivate children’s safety in cars. In collaboration with the Association of Registered Childcare Providers Malaysia (ARCPM) or Persatuan Pengasuh Berdaftar Malaysia (PPBM), an exclusive Child Passenger Safety Media Workshop was organized earlier today. The Child Passenger Safety Training Module will be rolled out across 280  ARCPM centres throughout Malaysia. Aside from that, some 200 child safety seats would be donated by Volkswagen Malaysia.

And now for some lifestyle comparison: Maruti Suzuki launches the Celerio Diesel over in India

Now over in India Maruti Suzuki, the India subsidiary of Suzuki has officially launched the Maruti Celerio Diesel. Now Maruti have basically a whopping 37% share of the passenger car market in India and the Celerio is a big thing to them. Something like a Proton Saga over here. Or Perodua Myvi. Or vice versa.

 The diesel is powered by a new (Indian designed) 793 cc twin cylinder diesel engine. It delivers maximum power of 47 hp and 125 Nm torque. The claimed mileage figure stands at 27.62 km/l thus making Celerio diesel as the most fuel efficient car on offer in India. It is priced from Rs4.65lakhs - 5.71lakhs or RM27,278.44 to RM33,496.76.  Cheap eh? You do get a lot of hard plastics inside but looks well equipped and decently comfortable. The styling outside is nothing to shout about as it looks like an uglier looking Suzuki Alto (or A-Star in India) due to more space utilisation and that it is specced and built to a low down price - note that even the seats have a one piece, fixed headrest design to save cost.

Hyundai launches its luxury car - the Genesis at its new 3S Centre in KL

Yesterday Hyundai Sime Darby officially launched the 2015 Hyundai Genesis for the Malaysian market. The launch of the Hyundai Flagship sedan coincided with the official opening of their new 3S centre over at Old Klang Road. The centre is the first Flagship 3S GDSI (Global Dealership Space Identity) centre in South East Asia and measures approximately 38,000 sq ft.

The Hyundai Genesis is a full sized luxury car. It is built in the traditional mould of what a luxury sedan is - rear wheel drive, a long bonnet, a rearward four door passenger space and acres of leather with wood trim. It is powered by a 3.8liter GDI V6 petrol engine coupled to an 8-speed automatic gearbox. Power is at 329hp (333hp with premium grade petrol) and 397Nm torque. This is enough to enable the Genesis to have a 0-100kmh time of 6.5seconds.

Some off topic ramblings for you guys to ponder on.

Hello folks. I was away for the weekend and when I got home it was straight to the Ford showroom beside the Federal Highway to collect the recently launched all-new Ford Mondeo 2.0 Ecoboost. As some of you who know me personally, I lead quite an exciting life. From dabbling in trade, some investing, to being a father, a husband as well as a person who maintains two blogs things are pretty interesting most of the time.

So since the school holidays have officially started my family and I decided to take a short break down south to Singapore. I tend to do this often and three hour drives to do so are common. Why I end up there is basically because you can get a whole lot of stuff there which you can't get here. And the motoring scene in Singapore can be pretty vibrant too. Even with the most expensive car prices in the world do not stop them from enjoying them from buying cars they like. I suppose where there's a need, there's a way. In short, they work bloody hard and smart to get what they want. I don't hear most of the population bitch and whine most of the time. They do, but they still carry on with what needs to be done. And do note....they are disciplined 95% of the time in doing so. Compare this to us - we break traffic laws in city driving almost all the time. No signalling at turns, going down the wrong way on one way streets in neighbourhood commercial areas, no giving way to others in traffic,  not wearing your seatbelts most of the time and carrying babies in your laps. This does not happen down south okay. Discipline on the roads helps. It is also carried on in other aspects of life. If you do not have some self control, you will be a poor person. And don't blame others for your laziness and stupidity.

SHELL’S “#LOVEMYRIDE” FESTIVAL TO OFFER FREE ULTIMATE CAR ENGINE REJUVENATING EXPERIENCE

There will be a two day event called #LOVEMYRIDE by Shell Malaysia Trading Sdn Bhd. What will happen is that 500 lucky car owners or drivers will get 15,000 liters of Shell V-Power fuel and 6,000liters of Shell Helix Ultra with PurePlus Technology for FREE.

What you need to do is head over to the event on June 13 and 14, 2015 at the MARTRADE Exhibition and Convention Centre (MECC) Kuala Lumpur from 10.00am till 7.00pm. Each lucky car will be selected from applications received ONLINE at www.lovemyride.com.my

The latest Jeep Wrangler CJ300 by the Chelsea Truck Company and Kahn Design

Jeep was recently re-introduced in Malaysia but we still haven't seen many of them on our roads. I think it boils down to the price. The cheapest one, the Compass costs over RM220,000 and the iconic Wrangler costs over RM260,000. Imagine trying to sell an icon when you have another even bigger (in this ex-British colony) icon called the Land Rover Defender selling for around RM150,000+. You're essentially screwed.

Anyway, let's enjoy some car porn courtesy of Kahn Design. They've fiddled with the latest Jeep Wrangler and made it into their own. In other words, more leather, black wheels and bright paint. At least those of you here would get an idea on how to bling up your Wrangler if you aren't happy with the standard looks.

Peugeot launches the facelifted Peugeot 508 in Malaysia

It must be Peugeot week here. The official distributor for Peugeot automobiles in Malaysia, Nasim Sdn Bhd has launched the facelifted Peugeot 508 and I was there. The new 508 gets quite a major front end revamp. There is a new family grille with new bumper design and a redesigned bonnet too. There are also full LED technology in the car now. Headlights (which also swivel according to steering angle) are LED as are the daytime running lights, fog lamps and rear lights too. The rear bumper also has a redesign also.

The interior gets a 7 inch multimedia display and is fully loaded with audio, reverse camera, driving aids, connectivity and navigation. A whole lot of stuff as well as JBL speakers (which do sound good as I managed to sit in a display unit and cranked it up a fair bit). Aside from the above, you also get every other goodie you can think of. safety systems, keyless entry, push start, electric parking brake, electrically adjustable seats and other stuff too.

Spotted for Sale: Buy these cars and receive FREE ACCIDENT

I love our country. Most of us are bilingual and a lot are tri-lingual. Of course this means English is definitely a second language or tongue to most. As such, advertisements are hilarious. But if you take them seriously, buy these cars and get FREE ACCIDENT. Instead of being 'Accident Free' you get a bonus.