The facelifted version of the ever popular current generation Perodua Myvi has been launched. In keeping with the usual tradition of Malaysians wanting to get their hands on the latest, and possibly greatest Myvi, 4303 units of the new car has already been booked with deliveries already started.
Takata Airbags have stuck again. This time with passenger car models sold by Mercedes-Benz Malaysia produced between 2004 ad 2016. It seems to be never ending with everything made by Takata during a certain period of time. It also shows human greed and the fact that beneath the polished surface of some large companies, there lies groups of unscrupulous management teams that care only about profits rather than the lives of the people using their products. Another one that comes to mind is Boeing with that 737 Max debacle that also cost many lives. Takata is no exception with deaths related to it involving other brands even here in Malaysia.
So if you have a Mercedes-Benz including the 169 (A-Class), 203, 204 (C-Class), X204 (GLK), 207 (E-Coupé/ Convertible), 212 (E-Class), 164 (ML- and GL-Class),251 (R-Class), 171 (SLK), 197 (SLS AMG) from production period 2004 - 2016, these are those mainly affected.
Hap Seng Star Sdn Bhd, one of the largest authorised dealer of Mercedes-Benz in Malaysia have announced the availability of the new Mercedes-Benz Vito Tourer at all Hap Seng Star dealerships in Malaysia. This is a 10 seater people carrier and the reason why you do not see this at other (non-Hap Seng Star) dealership is that the Vito, unlike the similar V-Class MPV is a vehicle under Mercedes-Benz Commercial Vehicles and not a Mercedes-Benz Passenger Car division vehicle.
Mercedes-Benz recently announced that they have finalized the plans for a regional After-Sales Logistics Centre in Malaysia. The new centre will be located at Senai Airport City - Johor Bahru where Mercedes-Benz has signed a long-term lease agreement for the location. Operations are planned for the beginning of 2024 withTiong Nam Logistics Solutions Sdn Bhd.named as the lead developer of the project. This is definitely good news in terms of investments into Malaysia especially in terms of putting more jobs on the table for Malaysians coming out of pandemic lockdowns.
Some motorsport/Formula 1 related news here. On October 20, 2021 Epicor, an industry-specific enterprise software to promote business growth, and Scuderia AlphaTauri had announced that Epicor has been named the Team’s Official ERP Partner. To those, like me even, who does not have a clue of what ERP here stands for it is not Electronic Road Pricing (which is what Singapore uses for their road congestion charges) but something called Enterprise Resource Planning. This is basically a system which is used by a company to manage key parts of its business such as accounting, manufacturing, sales, and marketing. So here, Epicor's Kinetic cloud based software will be keeping track of a Formula1 team's daily business activities and their logo will make it debut on the Scuderia AlphaTauri car at tje Formula 1 Aramco United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas
Hino Motors Sales (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (Hino) and Rapid Bus Sdn Bhd (Rapid Bus) is continuing trials with the Hino Poncho compact bus. The routes for the new trial run are in more challenging routes in and around Kuala Lumpur and also in Penang. This comes after a successful initial 2 month trial run for routes aroud Petaling Jaya in 2019. The 7-meter low-floor Hino Poncho minibus is Hino's solution for transport accessibility in tight and narrow roads and this second trial in Kuala Lumpur, commencing from early October 2021 to the end of April 2022, will cater to route T180 – from Taman Dato’ Senu to Chow Kit, and route 302,which is from Titiwangsa to KLCC. As for Penang Island, the Poncho will cater to route 11 which is from Pengkalan Weld to Batu Lanchang, and route 201 which caters for Pengkalan Weld to Tingkat Paya, Terubong.
Finally, the re-imagined new Land Rover Defender 110 has arrived in Malaysia. It has taken awhile, namely due to the pandemic dropping in and making life a little bit different from everyone but it is here. Jaguar Land Rover Malaysia launched the new Defender with two variants, namely the 2.0L 300PS Ingenium 4-cylinder Electronic Control, Direct-injection petrol engine and the 3.0L 400PS MHEV (Mild Hybrid Electric Vehicle) 6-cylinder petrol engine.
The asking price of the 2.0L 300PS variant starts from RM798,800 while the 3.0L 400PS MHEV starts from RM998,800 (price is inclusive of 50% Penjana Sales Tax waiver, excluding Road Tax, Registration and Insurance). But if you add the optional roof rack or the optional snorkel ad utility box you see in the car below, its going to be a whole lot more. Yes, the price is nothing like the price of the old Defender 110 when it was offered here but this re-imagined Defender is nothing like the old namesake actually.
I'm back folks! News pieces will come soon as things are finally coming back to normal here in Malaysia as the country comes out of various forms of Covid-19 Pandemic lockdowns. Malaysia has over 95% vaccination rates for adults and this is why I have decided to start writing again. With economic activities opening up again, we can actually see, touch and feel the cars, trucks and whatever modes of transport. With experience, and only with actually experiencing these machines will writing about it make most sense for me to do.
....of course it has curtailed my mood. I am one of those guys who enjoy proper experiences in my life. And since Malaysia is on another round of lockdowns, I have basically put many things on hold from my many dealings as well as this motoring blog. I am still around folks but until things get back to normal, I seem to be enjoying what retired people have been doing. Nothing whatsoever.
It is fun once I had got a few business matters settled as well as getting the recent Hari Raya festivities and the fasting month. Then came the total lockdown and out went my mood for most things too. But eventually I will start things off again.
But for now, just know that I am still around, but things are on a back burner for the moment.
I totally thrive for life experiences ad right now, you don't get many when you're in lockdown.
But do read the Porsche Taycan Experience article I just published down below....that electric vehicle is somehow still very Porsche in its execution.
Recently, Sime Darby Auto Performance, the chaps who are the authorised Porsche distributors her in Malaysia held the Porsche Taycan Experience at the Sepang International Circuit. The event was held to showcase what the fully electric Porsche Taycan 4 door sports sedan/coupe can do. This is quite a good thing as there would still be some of us petrolheads over in this part of the world who still have second thoughts on fully electric vehicles, even more so an electric Porsche.
Hyundai-Sime Darby Motors (HDSM) has launched the facelifted Hyundai Kona compact SUV yesterday (Friday the 16th of April 2021). It features some slightly different exterior styling tweaks as well as some little changes inside together with more advanced features and equipment. But didn't Hyundai just launch the Kona here very recently?
This is a bit late in terms of news but on the 9th of April 2021, BMW Malaysia launched the 2021 BMW 330Li M Sport in Malaysia. Somewhat of an enigma in terms of sports sedans, this is the first-ever long wheelbase variant of a compact premium sedan ever made by BMW and also the first ever compact premium sedan ever to be sold in the Malaysian market. BMW Malaysia calls it a mid-sized premium sedan. But maybe this is due to its length, which is actually quite long - where the extra bit is similar to an average adult's outstretched thumb to their index finger. Or slightly larger than the height of a flagship smartphone. But in car terms, it is like buying a corner lot terrace house compared to an intermediate lot. Not a bungalow mind you but you do get some extra here and there. in its mid-sized premium executive sedan portfolio for the Malaysian market.
Today, the 12th of April 2021, I was invited to witness the official launch of Sime Darby Motors' automotive facility, Sime Darby Motors City. While operating for quite a while already in the township of Ara Damansara in Petaling Jaya, it was only officially launched today due to the many pandemic lockdown issues the country is facing. So after an actual postponement of an earlier scheduled official opening, Sime Darby officially launched the automotive complex today. The complex houses six flagship centres featuring many brands represented by Sime Darby Motors in Malaysia, namely BMW, Ford, Hyundai, Jaguar, Land Rover, MINI, Motorrad, Porsche and Volvo. The automotive centre aims to be an exemplary hub for everything automotive for automotive sales industry.
Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia (MMM), the official distributor of Mitsubishi vehicles in Malaysia, introduced the newest variant of the Mitsubishi Triton Athlete. The Triton Athlete is the flagship model of the Mitsubishi Triton 4x4 pick-up range which replaces the Triton Adventure X. It will be available in three colours which are the Sun Flare Orange Pearl, White Diamond and Jet Black Mica. Aside from the three colours, being the flagship variant, it will come packed with more equipment than the usual variants.
The month of April 2021 could be a good time to buy a Volkswagen Passat folks. Volkswagen Passenger Cars Malaysia (VPCM) is offering those that buy a Volkswagen Passat Elegance or a Passat R-Line a complimentary 2 night stay at the exclusive Pangkor Laut Resort over in Perak. The offer is valid from now till the 30th of April 2021.
PROTON’s bullish start to 2021 continued in March as the company reported that they had not only achieved a new high point for the year but also achieved its best sales month since September 2013. Which seems like a loooong time ago especially in such pandemic ridden times. Proton sold 14,989 units (domestic + export) in March which is equivalent to a 26.2% increase over February and an estimated market share of 23.5%. So yes, the local brands are dominating the market but the thing is that every other established name out there seems to be also selling what they have due to the SST Rebate as well as increased demand for personal transport. No one wants to sit in public transport and get some virus it seems.
Recently Perodua has reported that their1Q21 sales were up 29% as the Malaysian company sold an estimated 57,911 vehicles units with 4,345 of their new Ativa compact SUV delivered. This is also another small achievement as the 4,000 plus units were delivered in under 30 days (because the Ativa was launched in early March actually). One of the good things of having ample stock to be made available prior to the actual launch.
MITSUBISHI MOTORS MALAYSIA (MMM), the official distributor of Mitsubishi Motors vehicles in Malaysia, have reported historical high sales performance of 4,156 vehicles sold during the first quarter of 2021. This is a 135% increase compared to the same period for 2020. During the same period, Mitsubishi Motors is also the top three non-national brand for three consecutive months. Quite an achievement for a brand which is actually one of the smallest in terms of product line-up here in Malaysia actually. Bravo!
UMW Toyota Motor, the sole importer, distributor and assembler of Toyota vehicles in Malaysia, has reported growth in sales for the first quarter (Q1) of 2021. The total number of new Toyota and Lexus vehicles sold in the first three months of the year were more than 17,000 units with a market share of approximately 12.1%, an increase of 62% year-on-year compared to the sales volume for the same period in 2020. This is much like the news that other car makers are reporting even during these pandemic wrought times. Most likely due to the fact that people would rather drive than share public transport.
And the fact that there is still an ongoing SST rebate so the prices of cars are slightly cheaper.
