Motoring-Malaysia

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Short Video On The 2017/2018 Malaysia Spec Haval H2 SUV

This is a short video on the 2017/2018 Haval H2. Just a short teaser of something we shot on the fly whilst assisting Malaysian motoring legend Y.S. Khong in his review of the car.

Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia (MMM), the official distributor of Mitsubishi Motors vehicles in Malaysia, has announced that owners of the Mitsubishi Lancer and Outlander, imported from Japan and the locally-assembled ASX which were made during specific periods from 2014 to 2016 come in and get their engine control relay of their vehicles replaced. According to MMM, the affected cars number around 5,000 units.

The New Volkswagen Golf Mk7.5 Will Be Launched Soon - March, Maybe, From The Looks Of It!!!

It looks like Volkswagen Passenger Cars Malaysia (VPCM) is going to launch the new, facelifted 2018 Volkswagen Golf Mk. 7.5 here soon. Their website already has an inquiry form which you can fill up and then you can stand a chance to be the first few who will get to 'discover the new Golf family'.

The Sweden-Southeast Asia Business Summit (SSEABS) was recently held in Kuala Lumpur on the 6th and 7th of February 2018. It was jointly hosted by various Swedish parties based in Malaysia ranging from the Embassy of Sweden, Business Swede and the Malaysian Swedish Business Association (MASBA). There was participation from Swedish companies from various industries, ranging from service, retail and manufacturing that are present in Southeast Asia. We attended the summit on the second day as we were invited by Scania as well as the two other Swedish automakers, Volvo Group and Volvo Car.

Industry News: BMW Group Malaysia Gets A New Managing Director & CEO - Harald Hoelzl Takes Over From Han Sang Yun From March 1st 2018 Onwards

BMW Group Malaysia will have a new person at its helm. Mr. Harald Hoelzl has been tasked by BMW Group AG to take over from current Managing Director and CEO, Mr. Han Sang Yun from March 1st, 2018. As for Mr. Han, he will now take on the role as the new President of BMW Group Korea.

MICHELIN is inviting you Malaysian out there to participate in a social media campaign this Chinese New Year 2018 as part of their "Safe with MICHELIN" campaign. The campaign encourages motorists to maintain safety as top priority as they head back to their hometowns this festive season and while doing so you can win some Air-Asia E-vouchers and other prizes totaling RM7,000.00. #SafeWithMICHELIN.

Hino has started 2018 with a bang. Hino Motors Sales (Malaysia), or just Hino, together with their customer, courier company GD Express Sdn Bhd (GDEX) held a small ceremony earlier today where they announced interesting news for those that are following the commercial vehicle sector. First is the sale of 300 units of their HINO 300 series trucks to GDEX, then announcing their No.1 status in the 2017 vehicle sales category for Light Commercial Vehicle, Medium to Heavy Commercial Vehicle and the bus category. Finally, they presented Certificates to GDEX recognising the reliability of four units of GDEX Hino trucks that have 1 million km mileage without the need for any engine overhaul.

PROTON, has decided to respond to the recent issue brought up by the people at PEKMA, short for the Bumiputera car dealers association. The group basically wants PROTON to go back to what it was before whereby PROTON need not ask their dealers to upgrade their sales centres from 1S to 3S/4S, to maintain whatever sales margins given, keep super extended credit terms like before and also not allow PROTON to ask vendors to cut their prices. Of course, even I think that this isn't the way to go.

Commercial Vehicles/Trucks: Isuzu Tops 2017 Commercial Vehicle Sales In Malaysia

Isuzu Malaysia had announced that they have managed to maintain their market position as the number one selling commercial vehicle brand here in Malaysia. Isuzu have held the spot for four consecutive years now and this time around, they have managed to capture 13% of the market share in the pick-up truck segment and they have also recorded a 20% increase in sales of their after-sales parts. This shows a new trend for customers to keep servicing at authorised dealership rather than going elsewhere.

BMW Malaysia has announced its collaboration with Khoon Hooi, a well known Malaysian fashion designer, in conjunction with Chinese New Year 2018. The collaboration aims to usher in the Year of the Dog and it is inspired by the craftsmanship and aesthetics of Khoon Hooi’s latest cheongsam collection. CNY@BMW, the BMW Malaysia theme this Chinese New Year, welcomes health, prosperity and good fortune as well as exciting events, promotions and offers at all authorised BMW dealerships nationwide.

PROTON has reported that it had sold or registered 4,783 units in January 2018. This is a forecasted increase in the total market share for Proton. The company basically sold 1.1 cars out of 10 cars here in Malaysia for the month of January and it is actually up from the month of December, 2017. Proton also mentioned that the Proton Saga, Persona and Exora made up 80% of their total sales. The bread and butter as well as full sized MPV was the choice of customers.

Bridgestone ECOPIA EP150 Tyre is The Original Equipment Tyre For The All-New 2018 Perodua Myvi 1.3

Bridgestone Tyre Sales (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, the people who market and sell Bridgestone Tyres here in Malaysia are extremely pleased to announce that the Bridgestone ECOPIA EP150 tyre is the tyre fitted to the 2018 Perodua Myvi 1.3liter variant. The Ecopia tyre is a tyre that has been engineered by the people at Bridgestone to be for the cost conscious and eco-conscious driver in mind. It can save the whales and at the same time, save some money too.

Mitsubishi Motors and Dealer Esperance Motors Opens Their Newest 3S Centre in Sungai Buloh

Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia (MMM) together with their latest dealer, Esperance Motors, have opened a new 3S centre in Sungai Buloh. The brand new 3S Centre (Sales, Service & Spare parts) will now enable Mitsubishi customers from the surrounding area to have an official outlet close to them thereby increasing customer access points for a better brand experience.

The Raptor moniker has been used successfully by Ford for its flagship in the large F150 series of pick-up trucks. The name that is used for the most powerful F150 now makes it way to the Ford Ranger as Ford has launched the first ever Ford Ranger Raptor. The new off-road, performance pick-up truck was recently unveiled over in Thailand and everyone is talking about it. Because of that, we are talking about it too.

The New Mercedes-Benz A-Class (W177) Is Unveiled - More Grown Up with More Technology

The W177 series Mercedes-Benz A-Class has been launched. The baby Benz looks like it has grown up a little, both outside and inside. This time it seems Mercedes-Benz has stuffed it full of cutting edge technology like its bigger brothers. It also looks more luxurious and unique inside whilst the outside takes on a cleaner look to it.

UMW Toyota Launches Another Avanza Variant - The Toyota Avanza 1.5X

There will be a new variant of the affordable Toyota Avanza MPV here in Malaysia. Some of my friends call it the 'Babe Repeller'. This is very true as it is actually transport for mummy, daddy and children or for transporting people around affordably. Babe Magnet it ain't so UMW Toyota, the official Toyota people here in Malaysia have come up with a variant called the Toyota Avanza 1.5X. The 'X'-tra this Avanza gets is that it now gets more crossover-like treatment like its Innova X big brother.

What Car? Publication Names the Hyundai IONIQ as Best Hybrid at the 2018 What Car? Awards

Some Hyundai news. The Hyundai IONIQ Hybrid was recently named as the UK’s ‘Best Hybrid’, while the high-performance Hyundai i30 N was adjudged as the ‘Best Hot Hatch for £20,000- £30,000’ at the 2018 What Car? Awards. Judged by members of the What Car? road-test and editorial team, the IONIQ Hybrid was chosen for its cost, equipment and drivability and the all-round performance capability of the i30N made it the best hot hatch at the price mentioned above. So Hyundai Sime Darby Motors, we already got the very nice to drive IONIQ, it's time to bring in this hot hatch into Malaysia...

We are now just heading into February of 2018 and Perodua are already making waves. Based on their internal sales estimation, the Malaysian compact car maker sold 17,693 units for the month of January 2018. This makes it to be Perodua's highest-ever monthly market share of about 40% of the total industry volume (TIV) of 43,930 units. Malaysians are embracing the brand, especially the newly launched Perodua Myvi wholeheartedly.

Okay folks, MINI Malaysia recently announced that they are offering limited edition MINI hatchbacks called the MINI Urbanite and the MINI Amplified. This is in conjunction with the upcoming Chinese New Year which is the Year of the Dog this time around. Woof, woof!! The MINI Urbanite is based on the MINI Cooper 5 door while the MINI Amplified is based on the MINI Cooper S 3 Door variant. Woof!!! Again.

MyMotor Preview of Their Parallel Imported Toyota C-HR 1.2 Turbo - Now on YouTube Video

This is a short video recording about the MyMotor presentation on their parallel imported Toyota C-HR 1.2 Turbo - the news report is here. It has been on YouTube for a few days already. We've been so busy with lotsa stuff so we may take some time updating our various online media platforms. So subscribe to our YouTube channel folks!!!

Motoring Malaysia is Now On Instagram @motoringmalaysia - Do Follow Our Pursuits Over There, On FaceBook & On YouTube

This is a short update to inform you folks out there that we are finally on INSTAGRAM as @motoringmalaysia. We shall be posting lots of photos here and hope that you will join us over there also. Give us some Follows.

Bentley Kuala Lumpur Previews The All-New Third Generation Bentley Continental GT For The First Time In Malaysia

Last Friday marked the Malaysian preview of the all-new Bentley Continental GT. This is the third generation of the Continental GT and it ups the game even more than before. This Grand Tourer is now even more luxurious, even more sporting and a statement of modern technological luxury. This new Continental GT is estimated to be priced at RM1.9million before all the taxes and options are included. It may cost up to RM4 million with the 'correct' options. Of course, if you do walk in and ask how much....

VW Club Malaysia Wins Goodyear Malaysia's Battle of The Clubs

Recently, Goodyear Malaysia concluded the six-month Battle of The Clubs series by naming the VW Club Malaysia The Best Car Club 2017 at the Final Show Down event. The six month long Battle of the Clubs (BOTC) started in June 2017 and VW Club Malaysia managed to come up tops after competing in all the back to back team challenges against seven other local car clubs. The club won RM5,000 worth of club funding, a trophy and exclusive Goodyear merchandise.

Volvo Car Malaysia's newest dealer, SISMA Auto has announced that its brand new Volvo Authorised Service Centre is now open. The service centre located in Glenmarie, Shah Alam, is designed to offer the unique Volvo Retail Experience to customers, and now complements SISMA Auto's new showroom in downtown Kuala Lumpur.

After their earlier announcement on their upcoming luxury experience event here, BMW Group Malaysia will present the BMW Luxury Excellence Pavilion for the very first time in Malaysia. This one of a kind fascination programme will also preview the BMW Concept 8 Series luxury coupe for the very first time in South East Asia. So come the 22nd of February, 2018, lucky Malaysians will be the first to see it outside of Europe.

Jaguar Land Rover's Ingenium Petrol Power Engine Gains Recognition As One Of The 10 Best Engines For 2018 By WardsAuto

One of Jaguar Land Rover’s newest engine, the 250PS 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder Ingenium petrol engine has been recognised as one of the 10 Best Engines for 2018 by WardsAuto, the people that keep track of the automotive industry. The Ingenium engine technology was first introduced in 2015 with the 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel engine with petrol engine variants entering production in April 2017.

UMW Toyota Motor Sdn Bhd (UMWT), the official distributor of Toyota and Lexus vehicles in Malaysia, has announced a Special Service Campaign (SSC) to inspect and if required, replace the airbag sensor of certain units of the Toyota Corolla Altis, Lexus NX and Lexus RX (above) models which are in Malaysia. This affects cars manufactured bewteen June 2015 to January 2016 distributed and sold by UMW Toyota and Lexus Malaysia. If you are an owner, do take note of the details herein.

Porsche have done extremely well in the Porsche Asia Pacific region in 2017. The sports car company delivered three times the number of cars in 2017 compared to the previous year. 5,390 Porsche cars reached customers last year with Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam as its largest and strongest markets for 2017.

This year Michelin Malaysia is pretty generous, folks! In conjunction with this year's Chinese New Year celebrations Michelin is offering an Air Asia e-voucher worth RM88 together with an exclusive Michelin luggage tag to customers who purchase four Michelin tyres at any of their dealer outlets throughout Malaysia.

GRAB Malaysia and Maxx 'N Go Becomes Partners With Co-Branding Initiative - Grab Partner Drivers Get To Service Their Cars At Special Prices

Grab, Southeast Asia's leading ride-sharing or ride-hailing company has a new partner here in Malaysia. Grab Malaysia has teamed up with Maxx 'N Go, which is under the Maxxoil brand. Both have their similarities where Grab utilises smartphone apps for people to hail rides whilst Maxx 'N Go uses smartphone apps to hail oil change servicing for vehicles.

Mercedes-Benz Malaysia Commercial Vehicles Records Sales Totaling 2,469 Units in 2017 -

Mercedes-Benz Malaysia, Vice President, Commercial Vehicles, Mr Albert Yee, attributes MBM CV’s resilient performance to placing customers at the centre of its initiatives.

The commercial vehicle arm of Mercedes-Benz Malaysia sold 2,469 vehicles in 2017. Mercedes-Benz Malaysia Commercial Vehicles (MBM CV) had its market penetration for Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicle increased by 13.06% even though the total industry volume (TIV) for vehicles in Malaysia has actually dropped by 7.9%. MBM CV's portfolio of vehicles includes FUSO light-duty and heavy-duty trucks as well as Mercedes-Benz trucks and vans.

BMW Malaysia Is Coming Up With Something Innovative, Luxurious and Desirable On The 22nd of February 2018 - Stay Tuned Folks!

BMW Malaysia, has just announced in a very short statement that there will be coming out with a "One of a kind fascination programme from premium automaker to focus on desirability,exclusive experiences and progressive luxury". This is set to be unveiled on the 22nd of February 2018. I can't wait!

But I have to wait.

Another five PROTON dealers will be upgrading their dealerships to 3S and 4S centres respectively. This piece of news comes a few weeks after the recent announcement of the dealership revitalization plans and the initial signing ceremony of the first few dealers who are doing so.

UMW Toyota is adding more stuff into the 2018 Toyota Vios as well as tweaking the styling of the car a little. The official distributors of Toyota in Malaysia have announced that the Vios compact sedan now offers better value for your money with a better drive experience.

Recently Lexus Malaysia, announced that you can now buy the LX570 SUV at a lower price throughout Malaysia. There is a massive RM70K plus drop in all Malaysian markets for the gargantuan SUV, which is a favourite among many people especially over in Sabah and Sarawak. If you are a timber tycoon, this is the car to be seen in. And it's cheaper now. Relatively cheaper, that is.

UEM Edgenta Takes Delivery of Proton Cars

UEM Edgenta Berhad recently took delivery of 32 Proton cars consisting of the Proton Perdana and the Proton Persona. The cars will be used by UEM Edgenta's subsidiary companies, Edgenta PROPEL Berhad, which are infrastructure maintenance specialists, where they monitor and upkeep over 2,500km of roads in Malaysia.

Volvo Trucks Malaysia recently put into place a fantastic corporate social responsibility initiative for the people at the Bario Asal Lembaa Longhouse settlement . The Swedish truck and bus manufacturer funded and is building a fire-fighting system for the people of the Bario longhouse and the construction of Eco-Shelters along the 25km ancestral trail to make trekking for the community and also for visitors a little bit easier .

Offers / Promotions: Buy a Haval H1 or H2 and Get 5 Year Free Servicing or Up To RM3,000 in Savings

In conjunction with the upcoming Chinese New Year festivities, Go Auto Sales Sdn Bhd (HAVAL Malaysia), the exclusive distributor of Haval vehicles in Malaysia, is running their Ang Pow Prosperity Deal promotion on all Haval models. So, from now until the end of March 2018, Go Auto is offering new customers 5-year free service (or 150,000km which ever comes first) or savings up to RM3000 with ang pow offerings for both the Haval H1 and the Haval H2 SUVs.

Recently, Lexus Malaysia previewed the new Lexus RX 350L and the new Lexus NX 300 to a select few people (selected members of the media, customers and other guests - no idea if there were any gatecrashers) at a nice locations somewhere in Petaling Jaya. The vehicles, which are down for a an official launch in February were the stars of the night.

The new third generation, 2018 Porsche Cayenne has just been previewed here in Malaysia. It was officially unveiled at the end of August last year and it has finally made it here. Ever since the first generation Cayenne was launched in 2002, it has been a worldwide hit and the official importers of Porsche in Malaysia, Sime Darby Auto Performance are confident that this will be another boxoffice attraction for the marque.

Happenings: The Volvo Aurizn Design Challenge at Bon Estates - Grov Design Studio Wins The Interior Design Competition and a Trip To Volvo Car's HQ in Sweden

Volvo Car Malaysia and digital publisher Aurizn (who operate EVOMALAYSIA) together with real estate developer BÖN Estates recently hosted the Volvo Aurizn Design Challenge. This interior design competition invited Malaysian interior design firms to combine the best of Scandinavian design, of which Volvo Car is famous for, with local, Asian influences. Grov Design Studio from Penang had captured the top spot.

Toyota C-HR Turbo Previewed By MyMotor - Parallel Imported C-HR is Now On Sale in Time for Chinese New Year [UPDATED - Video of the Preview]

I attended the a preview event of the Toyota C-HR 1.2 AWD in G-T and S-T variants held by MyMotor, an integrated online portal provider for vehicle ownership here in Malaysia. The MyEG owned company is trying to be the top online search and sales platform for vehicles here and they are now have these parallel import, or grey imported, 2016 and 2017 Toyota C-HR for sale just in time for the Chinese New Year festivities. [updated - There is a video of the preview below]

Sime Darby Auto Performance (SDAP) will be commencing the Cayman GT4 Clubsport Racing Experience at the Sepang International Circuit. Another new programme designed with Porsche owners who have some driving experience under their belt. You could say that the Cayman GT4 Clubsport Racing Experience is a unique, intermediate level, half-day track programme where they track with their own road car and later in a track prepared Porsche.

Land Rover Defender V8 70th Edition - 150 Units Re-Engineered by Land Rover Classic for the Marque's 70th Anniversary - Malaysians Can Opt For The Last 12 Units of the Defender Double Cab 2.2

Jaguar Land Rover, under their Land Rover marque, has revealed some special Land Rover Defender in conjunction with the marque's 70th anniversary. Land Rover Classic will sell 150 specially chosen and then re-engineered units of the iconic Defender in V8 form badged as the 70th Edition. This V8 powered Defender is the most powerful and fastest ever Defender created by Land Rover. Imagine a factory built Defender with a 0-60 (96kmh) mph time of 5.6 seconds. Amazing fast for a slab sided 4X4.

PROTON - Discounts Given To The Hokkien Association Not Extraordinary - I Agree As Many Dealerships Do That For Corporate, Bulk or Fleet Discounts

Recently there was some hoo-haa regarding PROTON Cars. The Chinese daily, Nanyang Siang Pau, recently published a story on the 18th of January 2018 highlighting a special promotion of around 10% per car for the Federation of Hokkien Association of Malaysia. Then some parties felt outraged that Proton, was now giving discounts to Chinese of Hokkien descent. People are so easily upset these days... until they forget that ALL car companies give special discounts to corporate sales, group purchases and fleet buyers.

TYREPLUS, the one-stop car care franchise founded by Michelin, have recently launched a new campaign in conjunction with this year's Chinese New Year festivities. For the upcoming festive period, TYREPLUS would like that motorists drop by and take a look at their products, especially their Michelin tyres and get your car looked at by their trained personnel before you take that holiday road trip. They will be giving away for free limited-edition Bibendum collectibles, while stocks last, to customers who purchase a minimum of two Michelin tyres.

Perodua Sold 204,900 Cars in 2017 - Aiming For 209,000 in 2018 - Details and More

Perodua has announced that they've sold more cars than their 2017 sales target of 202,000. The Malaysian compact car manufacturer sold 204,900 units and are now aiming to sell 209,000 for 2018. This is a target of 2% higher than the 204,900 cars sold last year and is based on Perodua's internal predictions where they expect the total industry sales volume to increase to 590,000 units this year.

UMW Toyota has quietly started delivery of the new Toyota Harrier. This comes after its preview at the recent Malaysia Auto Show 2017 which was held in November last year. According to the official distributors of Toyota in Malaysia the first few units have already been delivered to their new owners.

Perodua and Dealer, Yusmanida Auto, Officially Open Their New RM11million 3S Centre in Saujana Utama, Sungai Buloh

Perodua has a new 3S centre in Saujana Utama, Sungai Buloh. The brand new centre is operated by their dealer, Yusmanida Auto Sdn Bhd and was officially launched earlier today. It will cater all of Perodua sales, service and spare part needs of Perodua customers located within the surrounding area.

BMW Group Malaysia has unveiled the all-new BMW 530e Sport. The 2018 BMW 530e Sport (G30 series) is a hybrid vehicle fitted with BMW's eDrive Technology. It is also the fifth BMW iPerformance model to be launch and sold in Malaysia. With this new model, BMW is at the forefront of hybrid vehicles, especially plug-in hybrid models here in Malaysia. Very true as last year, 55% of BMW Group Malaysia's total sales volume was made up of BMW hybrid vehicles with eDrive Technology in them.

I just got back from attending the all-new Volvo XC60 launch event which was held this morning at the Sheraton Hotel, Petaling Jaya. The mid-sized premium SUV was first unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show 2017 and it has now finally reached our shores. The interesting bit about this Malaysian specced XC60 is that the initial 100 or so fully imported units have been fully booked even though the SUV has just been launched. The next round of XC60 will be the locally assembled ones which will take full advantage of the Malaysian EnergyEfficient Vehicle (EEV) regulations and be priced from RM298,888 onwards.

Pages

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Saturday, February 10, 2018

Friday, February 09, 2018

Thursday, February 08, 2018

Wednesday, February 07, 2018

Tuesday, February 06, 2018

Monday, February 05, 2018

Sunday, February 04, 2018

Thursday, February 01, 2018

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Monday, January 29, 2018

Sunday, January 28, 2018

Saturday, January 27, 2018

Friday, January 26, 2018

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Monday, January 22, 2018

Thursday, January 18, 2018