Mercedes Benz celebrates 130! Years of Innovation at the newly renovated Cycle & Carriage Bintang Georgetown Autohaus

Mercedes Benz Malaysia celebrated 130 years of Innovation over in Georgetown earlier today. The celebration pays tribute to the brand's heritage and history, especially the invention of the automobile (by Mercedes Benz) in 1886. It was held over at the newly renovated Cycle & Carriage Bintang Georgetown Autohaus over in Penang. 

SUPERCAR NEWS: A new exhibition is unveiled at the Enzo Ferrari Museum

In celebration of Enzo Ferrari's birthday (il Commedatore would be 118 if he were alive today), a new exhibition will be unveiled at the Enzo Ferrari Museum in the Ferrari capital of Modena. The theme of the new exhibition is titled ' Red Carpet and as per the name, it is a tribute to Ferrari on the silver screen and Hollywood. 

Volkswagen Passat B7 to be the official car for Le Tour De Langkawi 2016

L – R : Mr Emir Abdul Jalal, CEO of Le Tour De Langkawi and Mr Roland Ooi, Sales Director of Volkswagen Malaysia.

The official car for the upcoming Le Tour De Langkawi will be the Volkswagen Passat . A total of 190 units of this large sedan will be used for Malaysia's premier cycling event. It will be used throughout the race by the riders and their team personnel, safety marshals and also the police. 

Cars We Still Adore: The Honda Prelude, especially the third generation BA series

One car that I wish Honda would bring back is the Prelude. The Honda Prelude is a two door coupe that was produced by Honda from 1978 until 2001. The two-door coupe was developed from the Honda Accord and spanned five generations.

Motorsports: RED BULL RACING & PUMA REVEAL NEW TEAM LOOK

Look closely at the shoes, race overalls, shirts and t-shirts in the photos herein. All are PUMA. Then take a look at the new Red Bull Racing Formula 1 car. New colour scheme. New team look. 

Note that this year there would be no more Infiniti as a main sponsor.

Ford Everest Achieves ASEAN NCAP’s 5-Star Safety Rating

I have written about the Ford Everest's perormance in the ASEAN NCAP earlier when it was announced by MIROS, the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety, together with a few other cars (the Hyundai i10, Toyota Innova, Nissan Grand Livina  and a few others). Now we have a video from Ford explaining how the Ford Everest can achieve the 5 star rating a little further.

PROTON ANNOUNCES SERVICE FIX IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVES FOR ITS TURBOCHARGED ENGINE MODELS

The Press Release below is the official statement by PROTON cars on the recall of its turbocharged engine models. PROTON has taken precautionary step to provide a Service Fix on the Oil Cooler Hose in all its turbo-charged powered models. The models involve are the Proton Exora, Suprima S and Prevé. This initiative is undertaken as part of our brand new promise and our continuous commitment in engaging with the customers.

Hyundai wins 2016 Kelley Blue Book Cost to Own Awards

Over in America Hyundai was named overall brand winner in the 2016 Kelley Blue Book 5 year Cost to Own Awards. The automobile manufacturer was ranked first among mainstream brands for lowest projected ownership costs over a five year period. Some of the models driving Hyundai’s success include the 2016 Accent, Elantra, Sonata, Tucson and Veloster. We do not get the Accent here in Malaysia but we do get the rest. 

Newly Upgraded Cycle & Carriage Bintang Mercedes Benz Autohaus unveiled

Mercedes-Benz Malaysia Sdn Bhd, together with authorised dealer, Cycle & Carriage Bintang Berhad (CCB), today unveiled the all new, upgraded CCB Autohaus in Petaling Jaya. This is the one strategically located Lot 19, Jalan 51A/219, Off Federal Highway, 46100 Petaling Jaya, Selangor. You cannot miss it as it is quite a familiar landmark if you're on the Federal Highway.

Happenings: First Renault track day for 2016 at the Sepang International Circuit

Last 4th of February,  Renault distributor for Malaysia TC Euro Cars held a track day session for Renault owners at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC). A total of 30 Renault Sport owners attended and drove their Megane RS and Clio RS cars round and round the circuit. Hopefully to their hearts content.

Renault plans to revive the Alpine brand by starting with the beautiful Vision Alpine prototype

Renault have announced plans for a new Alpine sports car. This is very good news to me. The last Alpine was sometime in the 1990s and they were like the French's answer to a Porsche 911. They had their engines like the Porsche, slung way back at the rear behind the axles. They looked good too, but this new one takes after one of the earliest and nicest looking model, the Alpine A110 - which I happen to think as one of the nicest small sized coupe ever built. Aside from some small, tiny, obscure Italian Fiat Abarth,  an Alpine A110 in French Racing Blue is awsome. Too bad they are showing it in white.

Ah...here's a proper pic of it below....

2016 Proton Perdana - Teased and previewed. An opinion.

And so, after unveiling their latest plan in order to make PROTON successful again, Chairman Tun Mahathir and CEO Dato' Abdul Harith showed us the new 2016 PROTON Perdana in top spec 2.4liter form. All of us who attended the press conference were forced to put away all forms of camera when they showed us the new car. Of course, they have already been teasing us with bits during the presentation - like the headlights above and in the presentation slide below. So there will be no full pics here but an writeup on what I think about the car after viewing it for the first time.

PROTON unveils new logo, new service assist, new aftersales initiatives and the It's in the Drive campaign + Opinion

CEO Dato' Abdul Harith Abdullah explaining to the media the new plan for PROTON

In order to bring back confidence in the Proton Cars brand, Proton Holdings Berhad held a press conference unveiling a new look (and logo), its transformation plan and its promise to provide a much better experience to its customers. 

Spotted for Sale: 2005 BMW 318i 1.8 (A) SPORTS UNCLE CAR - Yup. The E46 can be considered an UNCLE CAR

Usually when we say the car is an 'Uncle Car' it means that the car is super dull looking. Something like a two generations ago Toyota Camry or the A33 Nissan Cefiro. These are super boring to look at cars and usually driven by slightly elderly people who are as super dull looking as the car. However, sometimes even a somewhat interesting car like this E46 BMW 318i  gets called  an uncle car by the people trying to flog it off.

Ramblings on a Sunday - The upcoming Proton-Suzuki Ertiga collaboration model and what might have been

Imagine if Suzuki had brought this into Malaysia in 2012.....

I had recently heard that one of the first few collaboration vehicles under the Proton-Suzuki joint venture is the Suzuki Ertiga small SUV. Recent in this case was about a week or so ago but since it was Chinese New Year and I had opinions and news about other things to write about I have now decided to say a bit more on what I think the of this Suzy MPV and some background stuff about Suzuki in Malaysia.

An English lesson: The meaning of 'Grand'....but when it comes to cars....

The Suzuki GRAND Vitara....

Recent test results of the ASEAN NCAP has got me thinking. Not about the results but about cars that use the word 'GRAND' in their name.

grand
ɡrand/
adjective
1.
magnificent and imposing in appearance, size, or style.

ASEAN NCAP Results for Quarter 1, 2016 - Hyundai i10, Ford Everest, Toyota Fortuner, Nissan Grand Livina results

 Ouch!!!! The 1st generation Hyundai i10 with some crash test dummies....and a flying side skirt.

 MIROS / ASEAN NCAP recently performed several crash tests on the 1st generation Hyundai i10, 3rd generation Ford Everest, the current Toyota Fortuner, the Nissan Grand Livina and the Toyota Innova. 

Road Safety: Shell Malaysia partners MIROS on iRAP Programme to improve road safety in Malaysia

Shell Malaysia together with the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) will be partnering through the International Road Safety Assessment Programme (iRAP) in order to improve road safety in Malaysia. The partnership was marked with a signing ceremony witnessed by YB Dato' Sri Liow Tiong Lai, Minister of Transport Malaysia. Also present were Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, Chairman of MIROS, Datuk Seri Hj Saripuddin Hj Kasim - Deputy Secretary General Ministry of Transport Malaysia, Datuk IAIN Lo - Chairman Shell Malaysia, Mr Rob McInerney - CEO of iRAP, Datuk Azman Ismail - MD of Shell Malaysia and Prof Dr Wong Shaw Voon - Director General of MIROS.

Now, iRAP is an international award winning charity organisation dedicated to creating a world without high risk roads through research and evidence.

Spotted For Sale: 2001 Nissan Cefiro 3.0 Auto A32 - VIP dirt cheap...road tax is the only issue

The thing about large capacity cars in Malaysia is the road tax. The annual cost of road tax climbs steeply after 2,000cc (RM380 at 2,000cc) with another jump after 3,000cc (3000cc costs around RM2,130) which actually makes 3.2liter car's road tax cost RM3,030. So cars that are over the 2.5liter barrier are usually shunned unless they are collectible sports cars. Even so, if you can spare about RM2,100 worth of road tax per annum, you can start playing with entry level big bruisers and cruisers like this dirt cheap 2001 Nissan Cefiro 3.0 Brougham here.

Kahn Design releases photos and a video of their upcoming Vengeance supercar

Kahn Design of the UK, who are famous for modding Range Rovers and Land Rovers will unveil their latest car called the Vengeance. I believe it is based on the Aston Martin DB9 with a different front and rear end. The front end has a very toothy evil grin and the rear reminds me of a Ferrari. The overall effect seems to be close to a Zagato Aston Martin actually. But with a tad less flair than the Italian Coachbuilder. But I think this will be opinion dividing. Of course, controversy is sometimes a very good marketing tool. More people talk about it, the better.