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5G And How It Will Impact Automotive Technology From Now On

For most people, ‘5G’ – the fifth generation of cellular connectivity technology since 1979 – is associated with telecommunications. Since the deployment of 5G networks in South Korea in April 2019, the technology has been adopted in many countries. Malaysia launched the network at the end of 2021 and by December 2022, 50% coverage of populated areas nationwide was achieved, according to Digital Nasional Bhd.

While 5G may seem to be mainly applicable to mobilephones and internet connectivity, it actually has a far wider scope of application which includes the auto industry. While cars already have connectivity to the internet (and therefore the World Wide Web) and can receive software updates ‘over the air’ (OTA), the much faster speed of 5G transmissions will expand the capabilities of cars in not just driving but also safety.

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F1 (Round 1): Preview & Starting Positions Of 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix

After much anticipation over the past few months, a new Formula 1 season has started. Bahrain again has the honour of being season-opener where it used to be towards the end of the season and it was Australia that started the season.

Apart from the new cars, there are also three new faces – Oscar Piastri with the McLaren F1 Team, Logan Sargeant with Williams Racing, and Nyck de Vries with Scuderia AlphaTauri. While the first two drivers are making their debut in F1, de Vries (who also raced in Formula E) actually made his unplanned debut last year at the Italian GP. He took over Alexander Albon’s place in the Williams team when the Thai driver had appendicitis and could not race. 27 years old then, the Dutch driver did well to ninth position, scoring points on his first F1 outing.

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Proton Maintains Positive Upward Trajectory In Growing Market

With the car market continuing its steady recovery, helped by two festive seasons that will occur during the first quarter of the year, sales for Proton have been booming. Compared to the same month in 2022, the February sales volume this year was 52% higher with 14,033 units (domestic and export) delivered.

The volume was 20.1% higher than January while for the first two months of the year, the year-to-date volume has increased to 88% to 25,714 units. Where market share is concerned, it was estimated to be 22.7% as the official market data has not been released by the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) yet.

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Honda Civic Hybrid Fuel Test: 29.4 km per Liter Is Astonishing!

It is common knowledge that today’s prices of goods are not what they used to be. Fifty cents could get this writer a lunch meal in school back in the late 90s, but today fifty cents does not even get an MRT ticket nor a bottle of water.

According to the website worlddata.info, RM1,000 in 2010 was worth RM1,234 in 2020. And that just goes to show that it is quite normal to pay more for something after a few years thanks to the magic of inflation.

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Dinamikjaya Motors Launches New Kia Sorento As Second Locally-Assembled Model

When BAuto took over the Kia franchise in April 2021 and established subsidiary Dinamikjaya Motors to handle the Korean brand, local assembly was already being planned. Unlike some other new brands where the carmaker may want to wait a while and see how fast their volume grows, Kia Motors had already decided to use Malaysia as a regional production hub and wanted local assembly to commence as soon as possible.

They revealed a 5-year plan which showed the models that would be assembled for the Malaysian market, and the chart showed that the first two models would be the Carnival and Sorento. The Carnival started rolling out of the Inokom plant in Kedah in July last year and now comes the Sorento.

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Grecale GT Hybrid Joins Maserati’s SUV Range in Malaysia

As Maserati heads towards a fully electric model range by the end of the decade, it is passing through a transitional stage of electrification where hybrid powertrains will be offered. The first hybrid model was the Ghibli saloon in 2020, followed by the Levante and then the Grecale GT Hybrid.

Following the launch of the Grecale in Malaysia last year, Naza Italia has now added the GT Hybrid version to the range with a price of RM598,000 (inclusive of duties but excluding insurance). The price includes 3 years warranty coverage with no mileage restriction.

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