FREE SAFETY CHECKS BY PROTON THIS CHINESE NEW YEAR AT PETRONAS STATIONS

After some slightly depressing mood as regards the increase of Proton car prices after the 15th of February, here is some good news for Proton owners. They can get free 30 point safety inspection at selected PETRONAS stations. Free. The key word here is 'FREE'.

Some light reading for you folks - Ferrari 2015 Financial Results

I've decided to post this 2015 Ferrari Financial Results for you folks. It looks like very good reading especially when you need something to read just before going to bed. This is the nitty gritty details of a car company. Underneath all that glamour and red paint, there are numbers. Lots of numbers. So many numbers. Hello, wake up!

News & Opinion: Proton Cars to increase prices for all models effective 15th February 2016

As expected, Proton car prices will see a marginal increase of RM312 to a maximum of RM2,021 depending on model variants, effective 15 February 2016. This comes after an earlier announcement at the end of last year that they would do so.

Spotted For Sale: 2015 "Ferrari FF 3.0 (A)"

Seriously folks...how the heck did this go through in the car sales section of mudah.my?

Volkswagen Malaysia and Swire Motors officially open the Volkswagen Puchong 4S Centre

Another Volkswagen 4S Centre is officially open for business. Volkswagen Malaysia and Swire Motors is pleased to announce the launch of the latest addition to the Volkswagen network – the Volkswagen Puchong 4S Centre. This outlet is also the country’s third Volkswagen Technical Service Centre.

INDUSTRY & TRUCK NEWS: FIRST BATCH OF IKBN STUDENTS COMPLETE TRAINING AT MERCEDES-BENZ MALAYSIA’S APPRENTICE TRAINING CENTRE

Celebrating the graduation of National Youth Skill Institute (IKBN) students from the FUSO Training Program, a collaboration between the Ministry of Youth and Sports Malaysia, and Mercedes-Benz Malaysia. (sixth from left) Secretary General, Ministry of Youth And Sports Malaysia, Datuk Jamil Bin Salleh; (seventh from left) Minister of Youth And Sports Malaysia YB Encik Khairy Jamaluddin; (eighth from left) Mercedes-Benz Malaysia President and CEO, Dr Claus Weidner; and (ninth from left) Vice President, Commercial Vehicles, Mr Albert Yee, with the graduates.

Mercedes-Benz Malaysia (MBM) today awarded eleven students from the National Youth Skills Training Institute (IKBN) with a certification of completion following a successful training stint of the Mercedes Benz Malaysia-IKBN FUSO Training Program at its Apprentice Training Centre in Shah Alam. The event held earlier today in Kuala Lumpur was attended by  Minister of Youth And Sports Malaysia YB Encik Khairy Jamaluddin, Mercedes-Benz Malaysia President and CEO Dr Claus Weidner as well as the senior management of Mercedes Benz Malaysia, officials from  the  Youth and Sports Ministry of Malaysia and those from IKBN.

Caltex Rewards the First 46 Lucky Winners from the ‘Big Fuel Giveaway’ Promotion - Just in time for the Chinese New Year

Chevron Malaysia Limited (“Chevron”), which carries the retail brand Caltex, announced the first 46 lucky winners of the Caltex Big Fuel Giveaway promotion, which kicked off on 1 December, 2015.

SHORT TEST DRIVE: MERCEDES BENZ GLC 250 4MATIC

A few weeks ago I was invited to try out the Mercedes Benz GLC 250 4Matic SUV at Cycle & Carriage's Mercedes Benz showroom located along Jalan Tun Razak (incidently my favourite Mecedes Benz showroom to visit - free plug here peeps!). The Mercedes Benz GLC-Class is Mercedes Benz's answer to the Audi Q5 and the BMW X3. It is a long time coming as prior to this, Mercedes Benz had no direct competitor, locally or in right hand drive markets. Before the GLC existed, which was sometime 2015, Mercedes Benz only had something called the GLK for left hand drive markets. This was actually a huge mistake and if you noticed, there are lots of Audi Q5s and BMW X3s around. Of course, now with the launch of the GLC in Malaysia, things are bound to change.

All-new Elantra and All-new Tucson Win the Prestigious iF Design Award

It has been over 60 years since the first German iF Design Awards were held.  The design awards have been recognized across the world as a symbol of design and styling excellence across various fields including automobile design. Organized by iF International Forum Design GmbH, the awards recognize outstanding design across various disciplines and categories. The jury awarded the sought-after prize to Hyundai Motor’s All-new Elantra and All-New Tucson following a rigorous judging process, involving almost 5,000 entries from 53 countries Both cars  won the  iF Design Award 2016 in “Product” discipline, under “Automobiles / Vehicles / Bikes”.

TRUCK NEWS: A bit on the recent large order of MAN TGS Trucks to the LTS Group

Hartmut Mueller, Managing Director of MAN Truck and Bus (M) Sdn Bhd (3rd from right) presenting a mock key to Lee Kah Chye, CEO of  the Lee Ting San (LTS) Group of Companies (3rd from left) to mark the handover of 70 units of MAN TGS prime mover to LTS. Witnessing the handover is Mohd Azharuddin Bin Mat Sah, CEO of Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam Darat (SPAD) (2nd from right) and other board members of LTS.

I have to say that this must have been a coup for MAN Truck & Bus (M) Sdn Bhd (MTBM). One of the larger  transportation service provider in Malaysia, Lee Ting San Group of Companies (LTS Group), had recently purchased seventy MAN TGS 19.360, 4×2 prime mover intended for long-haul transport. MAN TGS will make up one third of the logistic specialist’s existing fleet of prime movers. 

The First Volkswagen Stand-Alone Body & Paint Centre Launched in Balakong

Volkswagen via their dealer Win Hin Autohaus Sdn Bhd has opened the first stand alone Body and Paint centre. This center is located close to the Win Hin 3S centre in Balakong, Selangor.  this centre covers services such as minor and major body repairs, chassis realignment, genuine parts, windscreen replacements, body spray and paintjobs while also assisting Volkswagen owners with their insurance claims. 

TEST DRIVE: Volvo V40 T5 Cross Country 2.0 - Probably the most refined premium hatchback in the market

Volvo cars have a long history in Malaysian motoring. They were one of the first European cars warmly embraced by the Malaysian car buying public. In the 1970s, 1980s and up to the 1990s you could see many of them plying our cities, towns and even villages. People who could afford a large sedan bought them for their size and safety. They were box shaped cars that many of those born in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s would remember as the car that their father, uncle, grandfather had and those were sweet memories of being in something safe and secure.

The Lotus Evora 400 is finally introduced to the Malaysian Market

First evora 400 customer key. From left - Head of Lotus Cars Malaysia YM Tengku Djan Tengku Mahaleel, Director of Group Lotus PLC and CEO of PROTON, Dato' Abdul Harith Abdullah, First Owner of Lotus Evora 400 in Malaysia, Mr Patrick Tam, and Chairman of Group Lotus PLC and PROTON, YABhg Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The Lotus Evora 400 has finally made it to our shores. A year after its unveiling at the Geneva Motorshow. Lotus Cars Malaysia introduced the Evora 400 at their showroom along Jalan Damansara. This car is the latest Evora with lots of improvements. Present at the launch was Chairman of Group Lotus PLC and PROTON, YABhg Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed. Also significant at the launch was the handing over of the key to the first owner of the Evora 400, Mr Patrick Tam and that Tun Mahathir himself drove off in a red Evora 400 (a replacement for the original one he had).

Essential Tips to Stay Safe this Festive Season by FORD Malaysia and from Yours Truly

Ford Malaysia has sent me some tips for those of you who will be on the road this Chinese New Year season. I believe it is my duty to share the tips stated below. I also want to add these two tips:

1. PLEASE USE YOUR INDICATORS WHEN YOU WANT TO MAKE A TURN OR OVERTAKE. 

JAGUAR XE SPORTS SEDAN LAUNCHED IN MALAYSIA

Earlier today Jaguar Land Rover Malaysia officially launched the all new Jaguar XE sedan for the Malaysian market. This is the smallest, lightest and stiffest Jaguar sedan ever built to date and it is packed with many ground-breaking features. 

The most eye opening feature of this car is the aluminium intensive monocoque chassis. No other compact premium sedan is built this way for the time being. What this means is that the car is one of the lightest in its class and this in turn usually translates to great fuel economy and a car that is light on its feet, i.e it should handle well.

Truck & Bus News: Volvo Trucks Officially Opens its Largest Dealership to date in Port Klang

I attended the official launch of Volvo Trucks' latest and currently largest dealership in Malaysia on Tuesday, 26th of January. The event was launched by Mr. Bengt Carlsson, Ambassador of Sweden to Malaysia and attended by senior management of Volvo Group and Volvo Malaysia, customers, business partners and the media. I did write about this dealership a month or so ago but that was because that was to announce that the dealership was already open for business. It was only on that day that the facility was officially launched in a very grand way.

From left: Bengt Carlsson, Swedish Ambassador, Christophe Martin, President Asia Oceania, Volvo Group Trucks (in the middle) and Mats Nilsson, Managing Director, Volvo Malaysia getting ready to launch the opening of Port Klang flagship dealership

Porsche unveils the Four Cylinder Porsche Boxster and Boxster S

PORSCHE have introduced the latest generation of their Boxster. Codenamed Porsche 718, the new Boxster and Boxster S is essentially the current Boxster/Cayman floorpan with some exterior upgrades, suspension upgrades and most importantly, smaller flat four engines which replace the flat sixes. Downsizing is again the order of the day.

Ferrari California T gets a handling upgrade option - HS for Handling Speciale

There are those that think that the Ferrari California T isn't a Ferrari that is sporty. Which is one reason why you don't see many around here in Malaysia. When it was first launched I suppose I would agree. These days, after Ferrari did a thorough revision and started calling it the California T, the car looks much better and drove better. Which is usually the case why someone buys a Ferrari in these parts most of the time. Now, the improved Cali is available with a more focused Handling Speciale (HS) option. 

Spotted for Sale: 2006 Mahindra Scorpio 2.0 (M) - Now you can act out your Inspector Sahab dreams properly

This made in India Mahindra is actually pretty cool for the price asked - RM11,000. You get to act out your dream to be a Tamil movie policeman with one of these. Well, it's either you're Inspector Sahab or you're the evil rich landlord with a lot of henchmen that always seem to arrive in a few of these. Do you also realise that every Inspector in the Tamil movie is named Inspector Sahab? Of course lah, 'Sahab' actually means 'Sir'. A polite way to address a ranked police officer.

Proton's "It's In The Drive" Campaign - Test Drive & Win a Suprima S and other prizes

Alright folks. Proton Edar Sdn Bhd, distributor of Proton cars have launched their latest sales campaign. The 'It's in the drive' campaign begins today until the 31st of March 2016. 

This is a roadshow and also a test drive campaign. Malaysians with a valid IC and driving license are eligible to participate in the “Test Drive & Win” contest. This contest will be divided into two eligibility criteria. Customers can head over to any PROTON showrooms nationwide and test drive any Proton models, fill in the test drive form, answer several simple questions and participants will then stand a chance to win a weekly prize. To be eligible to win the Grand Prize, customers who have successfully booked their car during this campaign can stand a chance to win the Suprima S.Selected winners for the contest will have a chance to win weekly prizes which include a 42” LCD TV, electronic gadgets such as mobile phones and iPad minis worth about RM150,000 in total. At the end of the contest, a selected winner will win the Proton Suprima S premium variant for the grand prize.