The BodyMindSoul Festival which is currently taking place all weekend long (29 November 2019 – 1 December 2019) at the Setia City Convention Centre (SCCC) in Setia Alam and Edaran Tan Chong Motor Sdn Bhd (Nissan Malaysia) is conducting the Nissan Nurtures Nature (NNN) campaign as part of their efforts to ‘reconnect’ back with nature. (more…)
There’s a new marketing campaign for the all-electric Mercedes-Benz EQC and what a way to kick things off than by doing a collaboration with one of the hottest music acts today, The Weeknd. The teaser video was released a few days back gives us a taste of their full campaign which will start today on their website, www.mercedes-benz.com. (more…)
The Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (FOMCA) and Child Passenger Safety Malaysia (CPSM) have raised several issues pertaining to the recently launched child restraint system (CRS) guidelines by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS).
The two organisations say the guidelines are confusing to the consumers with regard to a MIROS QR Code being present on approved childseats sold in Malaysia. Upon checking by FOMCA with the Road Transport Department (JPJ), it was found that a component type approval (CTA) by the JPJ is enough to show that a child safety seat is approved as per safety standard. This leads to the question of the necessity of the QR code.
Parents hesitant about making purchases
There are currently no known child safety seats sold in Malaysia that come with the QR code and this is making parents hesitate about making purchases. “It is a counter-intuitive measure to introduce the QR code now when Malaysia is still at its early stage of introducing this new law and promoting the use of child safety seats,” a statement issued by CPSM said.
Nur Asyikin Aminuddin, a Senior Manager from FOMCA (above), deemed the guideline as misleading as it does not portray the views from stakeholders including independent bodies as well as the consumers. “MIROS, as a research body, is not a certification body. I hope that Standard Users will intervene with this issue as they are the national accreditation body,” she explained.
She added that JPJ and Ministry of Transport (MOT) should be the responsible bodies to endorse and make any guidelines and official announcement related to child safety seats. They should also publish the list of approved brands and models on their website that succeeded in getting the JPJ’s CTA and thus meet the required safety standards.
The MIROS collaboration with Lazada Malaysia
Another issue raised by FOMCA at a press conference yesterday was the collaboration of MIROS in the LAZADA Car Seat Assurance Program. FOMCA says that the collaboration is violating the Competition Act 2010 as it breached the rights of consumers, which is the right to choose. The program is restricting the market when it should be an open market. Crash-worthy child safety seats should be made available not only through one online platform.
The press conference was held after the graduation ceremony of 19 new certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians (CPST) yesterday. This number brings the total CPSTs to 66 in Malaysia, with the majority of them from retailers and distributors. The certification program, which started in 2018, is an annual training program with Safekids Worldwide as the certification body and CPSM as the co-organiser.
Creating greater awareness of CRS
The aim for the program is to increase the number of skilled and knowledgeable persons who will become the resource centres in their communities to relay updated and correct information with regards to selection and usage of child restraint systems.
Malaysia is in dire need of more personnel certified by a proper certifying body to cater for the growing awareness among the public. With that being laid out, competency of the agency in conducting any certification such as the Child Occupancy Safety Advisor (COSA) program was also being asked as the proper channel should be directed at utilising readily available resources such as Safekids Malaysia which is also in partnership with Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).
CPSM, in agreement with FOMCA’s concerns, are both supportive of the new law. However, MOT was urged to provide clear direction and roles for its agencies in order to execute the law efficiently.
MIROS and Lazada Malaysia to work together on Child Restraint System Awareness
We’ve seen a lot of cool police cars from around the world (especially Dubai) but we never thought that someone will use a Ford Ranger Raptor for their country’s police-ing needs. That’s all about to change in the UK as police forces across the country are set to test out the Ford Ranger Raptor police car. (more…)
Following a 3-day group test in Sweden against 4 other nominees, the Ford Ranger emerged victorious in the challenge for the International Pick-up Award 2020 (IPUA). The latest Ranger with its technical and safety advancements, was up against the Mitsubishi L200 (Triton in Malaysia), revised Nissan Navara and Renault Alaskan, and Toyota Hilux. The Ranger, manufactured in Thailand, previously won the IPUA in 2013.
The fifth running of the biennial International Award for 1-tonne Pick-up trucks ‘was a very close run competition’, according to Jarlath Sweeney, Chairman, International Van of the Year Jury. Voted by 18 members of the International Van of the Year jury, just 6 points separated the top two contenders in the final tally. The Ranger scored 78 points to the 72 received by the Mitsubishi L200, with the Toyota Hilux coming in third.
“Jury members adjudged the Ranger to be the best all-rounder and noted that it’s a bestseller too, as the previous version together with this revised model dominate the European marketplace with almost 30% share of the IPUA 1-tonne segment. So the public recognize its merits also! Marks were allocated on each vehicle based on powertrain efficiencies, load volume and capability, driver and passenger comfort and safety aspects, as well as low total cost of operation from a business point of view,” added Jarlath.
Commenting on the ongoing success of the Ranger from both the press and public, Hans Schep, General Manager Commercial Vehicles, Ford of Europe said: “We are delighted that the Ford Ranger has been recognised by the IPUA jury for a second time, which is a testament to the enduring appeal of Europe’s favourite Pick-up. With its all-new powertrain and enhanced capability – not to mention the exciting new Raptor model – the Ranger is now moving the game on once again.”
Previous IPUA winners have been the Volkswagen Amarok V6 (2018), Nissan NP300 Navara (2016), Ford Ranger (2013, and Volkswagen Amarok (2011).
To test-drive or know more about the Ford Ranger that won the award, visit www.sdacford.com.my.
Like Mercedes-Benz with AMG and BMW’s M, Hyundai Motor also has a high-performance sub-brand which it calls ‘Hyundai N’. The first association of ‘N’ with Hyundai was when the carmaker presented its N 2025 Vision Gran Turismo concept car for PlayStation’s Gran Turismo videogame series in 2015.
In that same year, Hyundai brought in Albert Biermann, the former head of BMW’s M division, to spearhead the development of the N sub-brand and create a line of high-performance production cars.
Born in the WRC
To introduce the N brand as well as to give Hyundai engineers a development environment that was high pressured and extreme, Hyundai Motorsport, based in Germany, was tasked with participating in the World Rally Championship (WRC). In WRC events, rallycars compete on rough terrain and roads of gravel, tarmac, snow and ice, pushed to the limits by their drivers. Thus WRC is considered the ‘cradle of the N line-up’ where Hyundai’s high-performance concepts were first tested.
Besides the ‘WRC testing ground’ which is global, Hyundai engineers also used the Nordschliefe at the Nurburgring circuit for durability testing and tuning. In fact, since September 2014, the carmaker has had a permanent presence at the circuit, having established its European Test Centre there.
What does Hyundai N mean?
The ‘N’ in Hyundai N stands for Namyang, home to Hyundai Motor’s global R&D Centre in Korea since 1995, and also for Nurburgring, where N models are tested and developed further. The close connection between Namyang and the Nurburgring created the foundation for N, aiming to build on the company’s motorsport experience to bring winding road fun to customers who love cars. The ‘N’ logo itself embodies this idea, as it symbolises a chicane.
Measured in BPM, not RPM
The first mass production Hyundai N high-performance car, the i30 N, was launched earlier this year, Instead of focusing on pure numbers, Hyundai has chosen to emphasise driving pleasure and the emotional impact on the driver’s heartbeats per minute (BPM), rather than simply measuring revs per minute (RPM). When the driver hits the throttle and shifts through the gears, the Rev-matching function increases torque and acceleration.
Based on three cornerstones under the theme ‘Fun to Drive’, the i30 N is referred to as a ‘Corner Rascal’, and has proven its racetrack capability. It can be used for racing on weekends and driven to work on Monday.
The i30 N TCR
The i30 N TCR represents Hyundai Motorsport’s first steps into circuit racing (while continuing with the WRC), and entrance into one of the fastest growing categories in motorsport. The design phase of the i30 N TCR project began in September 2016, with the first completed test car running in April 2017. In 2019, Hyundai Motorsport increased its TCR offering with the launch of the Veloster N TCR.
The TCR project continues the expansion of Hyundai Motorsport, with both cars built and developed by the Customer Racing department at the team’s headquarters in Germany. Since its debut, the i30 N TCR (priced from €128,000, equivalent to RM588,000) has secured wins and championships around the world, including the inaugural WTCR titles in 2018.
2020 Hyundai i30 N for sale on Lazada! 20 units only – RM298,888
Since being established in 1984, Prodrive has built more than 1,100 race and rally cars, from the first Porsche 911 SC RS to the latest Aston Martin Vantage GT cars. These cars have won titles across a range of motorsport events, from World Rally titles for Subaru with Colin McRae, Richard Burns and Petter Solberg, to world sportscar and Le Mans titles with Aston Martin and Ferrari; as well as British Touring Car Championships with BMW and Ford.
“Many of these cars are now appreciating classics with immense value to their passionate owners,” said Paul Howarth, Prodrive’s Head of Motorsport Operations. This has led to the formation of Prodrive Legends, a new operation dedicated to the authentication, restoration and support of these cars.
“With the formation of Prodrive Legends, owners can now bring the cars home to the same company – and even many of the same people – who originally designed and built them and took them to multiple wins,” said Howarth.
The creation of Prodrive Legends is a direct response to a significant rise in requests from vehicle owners to verify the provenance and then restore race and rally cars that Prodrive has constructed over the last three decades. There are also an increasing number of opportunities to race historic competition cars and a dramatic rise in values, especially for vehicles that have won high-profile events, fuelling the market for historic cars.
The programme, which only covers Prodrive vehicles, includes a ‘fixed price’ authentication service that will verify whether a chassis is a genuine Prodrive car; factory specification engine rebuilds in Prodrive’s new powertrain centre; and whole-vehicle work from servicing and race preparation to ground-up restorations to the original Prodrive specification. All restoration work, including chassis, engine, transmission and bodyshell preparation, is carried out in-house at the company’s world-class engineering facility in Banbury, England.
Over the years, Prodrive built more than 700 Subaru rallycars, including nearly 100 Impreza and Legacy Group A and 160 Impreza World Rally Cars. In the 1980s, the company also built nearly 40 BMW E30 M3s and, more recently, nearly 50 Aston Martin racing cars based on the DB9 and a further 180 on the previous generation Vantage.
For owners of ex-Prodrive vehicles or those considering purchasing one, utilising the expertise of Prodrive Legends offers numerous benefits, as Howarth explained: “Quite simply, there is nobody in a better position to rebuild a Prodrive car – we literally know them inside out and many of the people we have on the Prodrive Legends team built the cars originally.”
“What’s more,” he added, “we have all the original build data and also hold the rights to reproduce key parts of the cars, while sourcing genuine components that are notoriously hard to find doesn’t pose an issue thanks to the network of contacts we have established since the early 1980s.”
“The level of our work pays dividends for customers who wish to compete with their car and those that lean more towards seeing it as an investment. Some owners choose to run their cars in less demanding exhibition events or merely show them, but any car that leaves us will be turnkey and ready to run competitively,” Howarth said.
Moe information on the services offered by Prodrive Legends can be found at www.prodrive.com.
McLaren together with TUMI has announced a new partnership where TUMI now becomes the official luggage partner. This will also include catering to the world-famous race team, McLaren Racing, as well as the McLaren Automotive company itself. Time to step up your travel game, fellow hype beasts and enthusiasts? (more…)
Hyundai-Sime Darby Motors (HSDM) has finally unveiled the latest 2020 Hyundai i30 N for sale here in Malaysia and the variant that we’ll be getting is the top-end i30 N Performance five-door hot hatch. But there’s a catch; only 20 units are available, and it’ll go on sale during the Lazada Malaysia 12.12 Grand Year End Sale. (more…)
The Renault Mégane R.S. Trophy-R has been on a record-breaking rampage in the past few months and the latest one was set at the legendary Suzuka Circuit of Japan. With Laurent Hurgon again behind the wheel, they’ve successfully set a new front-wheel-drive record of 2:25.454 which is more than three seconds faster than the previous record!
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