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Infiniti posts record first quarter in 2017

Infiniti has announced that it has recieved record sales in the first quarter of 2017 by posting sales of 67,367 vehicles worldwide for the entire quarter, which is said to be an 18% percent increase compared to the same period last year. In March alone, the automaker shifted 28,406 vehicles which a 14% increase from last March.

Roland Krueger, President of Infiniti Motor Company said, “It is gratifying to see that customers around the world continue to appreciate the design, performance and quality they expect from Infiniti. The Infiniti team, and in particular our retail partners, can be very proud of the record first quarter and record month, following our record year in 2016. Our momentum is of course led by new products, with the Q30 and Q60 now on sale in key global markets. The momentum continues next week when we unveil the QX80 Monograph full-size SUV design study in New York, and the QX50 SUV crossover concept in Shanghai the following week.”

In the USA, Infiniti had the best quarter by selling 43,561 vehicles which is a 33% increase. Further up north, in Canada, the automaker sold 2,800 vehicles but in March alone, 1,292 vehicles were sold. It was a similar story in China too, with the Japanese giant selling 10,000 vehicles and posting a 4% increase in sales for the quarter. For markets in Asia and Oceania, Infiniti has also achieved record sales in countries such as Australia and Taiwan.

Whether the automaker can maintain this momentum for the remainder of 2017 remains to be seen, and all we can do is wait and see.

Ford to introduce latest Ranger in China

Ford will be introducing its strongest selection of pick-up trucks for the Chinese market. After extensive market research into the needs and wants of the average Chinese customer, Ford determined that despite the perception of pick-trucks being reserved for utilitarian work, exposure to western movies and the internet, that is slowly changing.

The Blue Oval will introduce the stalwart Ranger along side its bigger and meaner sibling, the F-150 Raptor in China. Currently, pick-up trucks make up only 2 percent of the vehicle market, but its market share grew to a respectable 14 per cent last year, prompting Ford to launch another one of its most cherished vehicles in its fleet. Released under the Built Ford Tough tagline, the new vehicles should help Ford’s bottom line somewhat.

“We’re very excited to bring Built Ford Tough, one of the world’s best loved and most successful brands, to customers in the world’s largest auto market,” said Mark Fields, Ford president and CEO. “We see a significant white-space opportunity with Chinese buyers increasingly looking for more capable, more refined and more stylish pickups.”

The Ranger, is Ford’s best selling midsize pick up truck in Europe, South Africa and New Zealand. It is also the second best selling truck outside North America. The F-150 Raptor, is offered in China as a four-door SuperCrew model and combines military grade body construction with advanced Ford technologies.

“The F-150 Raptor has created a lot of buzz among Chinese customers since it was revealed for the first time last year and we are extremely excited to have it arriving in our showrooms in China, ready to be delivered to customers,” said Peter Fleet, vice president, Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford Asia Pacific.

Ford has sold more than 26 million Raptor trucks since 1977 and it has been America’s top selling truck for 40 consecutive years. The one sold in China features a 3.5-litre Ecoboost engine that is mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission. Brute power and the go anywhere capabilities have made the Raptor a sought after vehicle around the world, and how well it does in China remains to be seen.

Mercedes-Benz posts record sales for 2017

Mercedes-Benz has had an extraordinay start to the year by posting record sales figures for the first quarter of 2017. March was the strongest month for the automaker in terms of sales figures, as it posted a growth of 14.8% with 228,296 vehicles being delivered globally.

Overall, Mercedes-Benz sales increased to 16% in total for this quarter by selling 560,625 vehicles so far. So strong was the demand for its vehicles that the company has even gone so far as to say that during the same period, the company was considered the premium-segment market leader in a number of countries including Germany, UK, France, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada and Mexico.

“The E-Class Saloon and Estate continued along their successful path in March with growth of around 65 percent. The bestselling model series of Mercedes-Benz has now been completed with the new E-Class Cabriolet, which we presented to the public at the Geneva Motor Show, right on time for the start of spring,” stated Britta Seeger, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG responsible for Mercedes-Benz Cars Marketing & Sales.

In Europe, the Stuttgart based automaker posted a 10.8% growth for the quarter with 233,329 vehicles sold. For the Asia-Pacific region, a sales growth of 27.4% was seen with 219,418 vehicles sold. In China alone, Mercedes-Benz managed to shift 49,871 vehicles in March which is about a 30% increase in sales. Though it didn’t disclose any specific figures, the company also said that it posed best ever sales figures for the month of March in a number of other countries such as South Korea, Australia and Malaysia.

In North America, things were just as rosy for the automaker with sales reaching 94,142 vehicles amounting to a 7.1% increase. In fact, Mercedes-Benz even achieved record sales in the three countries which make up the region (USA, Canada and Mexico).

It looks like 2017 has been very good to Mercedes-Benz with its E-Class and GLS being among the most popular models. This news should come as no surprise to most people because over the past few years, the German auto giant has been churning out some of the best looking and best performing premium vehicles in the market. But we shall have to wait and see if the interest in the brand manages to gather more momentum for the remaining quarters of it’s fiscal year.

Subaru Impreza WRX STI fitted with WiFi in the UK

Subaru is known for creating some of the best and handling cars such as the WRX STI as well as producing some of the best boxer engines the world has to offer. The company reserves STI name plate only for its most potent of performance vehicles.

The WRX STI’s rally pedigree is inherited from its fire-spitting cousins which have graced the rally stage since the early 1990s. Today, Subaru UK, has also decided to add more performance to its latest car with the addition of mobile WiFi setup. The system will allow multiple devices to connect to it and also comes with its own battery that enables it to stream for 24 hours. This should keep passengers online for the duration of their journey regardless of the destination.

Subaru’s latest car is the fifth generation of the WRX STI and features a 2.0-litre turbocharged engine that produces close to 300bhp. It features some of the cleverest all-wheel-drive systems such as Vehicle Dynamics Contorl (VDC) Active Torque VEctoring that allow the vehicle to stay under the driver’s control despite meandering at high speed through tight corners.

Now, the STI has the best of both worlds – outstanding performance in both power and mobile connectivity. Visit the automaker’s website to learn more about it as well as its more docile sibling, the standard WRX, which may not offer the same performance, but still retains some of its magic.

Hyundai picks up Red Dot Awards for fourth consecutive year

It’s quite well known that Hyundai vehicles have become far more desirable over the years thanks to the impressive work of its design team and the company’s improved use of quality materials. The improvements haven’t gone unnoticed as the Korean automaker has been awarded with the Red Dot Award for outstanding design for the fourth year in a row.

Winners of the award are picked out by a panel of 21 international design experts, professors and journalists who review over 5,000 product design works from more than 50 countries. The cars that bagged the award for Hyundai were the Azera and i30 in the Product Design category. In previous years, winners of the Red Dot Awards were the i10 and Genesis in 2014, i20 and Sonata in 2015, and IONIQ in 2016.

Criteria that made the Azera eligible for the ‘high design quality’ award were it elegant looking design, the originality of said design its desirability among younger car buyers. , The i30 received an ‘Honorable Mention’ for its competitive looking design. Prior to this award, the i30 had already bagged two other similar accolades from the PIN UP Design Awards and 2017 iF Design Awards.

The Red Dot Awards is organised by Design Zentrum Nordheim Westfalen, which reviews new and interesting works from a wide range of categories to determine each year’s most praised designs.

Over the years, Hyundai has managed to transform itself from being a mediocre econobox manufacturer, to one that makes some of the best looking cars that are within reach of the average Joe. It’s clever use of materials, manufacturing processes and killer designs have attributed to the brand growing in popularity around the world.

New Volkswagen Tiguan launched

Volkswagen has officially launched its all-new Tiguan for the Malaysian market. The new SUV is longer, wider and sits lower than its predecessor. It has adaptive LED headlights and rear tail lamps which are far more prominent than the standard ones found on the previous vehicle. Fitted as standard is the 18-inch “Kingston” alloy wheels and for convenience sake, a keyless entry system and its tailgate can be operated electronically.

Inside, the new Tiguan offers a leather multi-function steering wheel with paddle shifters, Vienna leather seat upholstery, height adjustable armrests, 12-way driver electric seat and climatronic air-conditioning. Rear passengers of the Tiguan have their own foldable tables which should come in handy especially on long trips. VW have even fitted ambient lighting on the door lining and side steps to to make it easier for occupants to exit the vehicle instead of fumbling about looking for the door handle in the dark.

Unlike before, the instrument cluster of the new Tiguan is a 12.3-inch full colour TFT display that replaces the analog style dials and meters found in its predecessor. Drivers can even change its theme with six different options that have been made available.

Seated in the centre stack is a 8-inch infotainment system that offers the usual multimedia connectivity and navigation system. For a limited time only, VW is offering its App Connect function on the higher spec Tiguan at a price of RM699, which is significantly lower than the standard RM1,099. This function will offer smartphone app accessibility for the infotainment system that is compatible with Android Auto, Apple Carplay and Mirrorlink.

Under the bonnet of the Tiguan is a 1.4-litre TSI turbocharged direct injection engine that is mated to a 6-speed wet clutch direct shift gearbox (DSG). It’s power is rated at 148bhp and offers 250Nm of torque from just 1,500rpm. Not that you would be eager to do this often, but the Tiguan has the ability to sprint to 100km/h from a standstill in just 8.9 seconds. This fuel sipping engine is said to deliver a fuel consumption figure of just 6.7-litres per 100km, which has helped earn it the Energy Efficient Vehicle (EEV) certification.

Like most VWs, the Tiguan is loaded with safety tech including six airbags, Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Anti-lock Braking System, (ABS) and Brake Assist (BA), Multi-collision brakes, Intelligent Crash Response System (ICRS), Electronic Parking Brake (EPB) and hill-hold control. For child safety, the vehicle has anti-pinch power windows and ISOFIX anchorage points for child seats.

Buyers have a choice between five different colours which are Pure White, Deep Black, Blue Tungsten Silver and Indium Grey. As of now, there are two variants of the Tiguan that are currently being offered to Malaysian car buyers – the Comfortline which is priced at RM148,990 and the higher spec Highline, priced at RM168,990. Both cars are backed by a 5-year warranty and 5 year roadside assistance service from Volkswagen.

McLaren 720S now available in LEGO form

McLaren’s 720S, which was unveiled at the Geneva Motorshow last month, has been immortalized in the form of a LEGO® miniaturized model. The car joins its its bigger brother, the McLaren P1 in the LEGO® Speed Champions range of model cars that are available for purchase.

Named the LEGO speed Champions McLaren 720S, in the box you get the usual bits that make up the car as well as a car designer mini figure and design studio desk, which comes complete with a coffee cup and original design sketch of the car.

Aimed at supercar enthusiasts aged 7 and up, the model will give young minds some understanding into complexity of assembling a vehicle of this nature. LEGO says that the task of recreating the actual car into a LEGO based model was quiet complex especially when it came to mimicking the actual vehicle’s aerodynamic and svelte body shape. It took a LEGO designer a year to prefect and freeze the design – a lifetime by any kid’s standards.

“The LEGO interpretation of the McLaren 720S reflects the most exciting part of the design process, when a two-dimensional sketch is transformed into a physical, three-dimensional model,” commented McLaren Automotive Chief Designer, Rob Melville. “Building a model like this gives the next generation of McLaren enthusiasts a taste of just how exhilarating that moment is for designers.”

The actual McLaren 720S is a second-generation McLaren Super Series supercar that is powered by a twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 engine that produces 720bhp. Thanks to that power, the car is able to accelerate to 200km/h from a standstill in just 7.8 seconds and reach a top speed of 341km/h.

Well, if you don’t have the means to afford such a car, you can always go for the miniaturized LEGO version and indulge in the joy of building your own McLaren with your bare hands.

Honda produces 600,000th vehicle at Pagoh Plant

Honda has reached another milestone, but this time, its for the production of the 600,000th vehicle at its local plant in Pagoh, Melacca. Besides this, there was more cause for celebration because the vehicle that allowed the automaker to hit that figure, which was a Honda City, also aided Honda in achieving its 100,000th sale of the current fiscal year (1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017).

It has been 14 years since Honda’s Pagoh plant began operations and in the beginning, it only had a single manufacturing line which could only cater to the assembly of four different vehicles which were, the CR-V, City, Civic and Accord. Since 2014 however, the company added a second line at the facility that allowed it to manufacture more models at the same time to cope with market demand.

Speaking of the milestone, Honda Malaysia Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Katsuto Hayashi said, “The addition of the No.2 Line in 2014 has enabled Honda Malaysia to grow at an accelerated rate. We achieved 300,000 production units in just three years as compared to 11 years taken earlier to reach the first 300,000 units. I believe this was achieved through good strategy and strong challenging spirit from the Honda family.”

Honda says that due to these two manufacturing lines at Pagoh, it has been able to shorten the waiting period for vehicles that are in high demand by rearranging the processes to increase capacity where needed. The automaker has even gone so far as to say that for high demand vehicles like the BR-V, the waiting period for any customer to receive his/her vehicle, is only about 1 to 2 months.

The plant has some of the latest technologies such as the automated Smart Welding Machine to produce high rigidity body frames and a painting facility that features Spray Robots and does under body coating. All vehicles that roll off of the production line are put through the 2.1km long test course to ensure that they pass Honda’s quality and safety standards.

Despite the praise that the automaker lavished on its state of the art facility, it also attributed this milestone achievement to the tireless efforts of its legion of dealers, suppliers, employees and partners.

Hyundai unveils Fuel Cell Concept at Seoul Motorshow

At the ongoing Seoul International Motorshow, Hyundai has also unveiled its stab at the hydrogen powered vehicle of tomorrow. Dubbed the Future Eco (FE) Fuel Cell Concept, the car is meant to provide a glimpse at the actual production ready vehicle, which will be launched in February next year.

This unveiling hints at the possibility of realizing the Korean automakers’s hopes of becoming a global leader of manufacturing mass-produced hydrogen vehicles of tomorrow. The new car, when launched, will feature advanced driver assistance technologies and a respectable 800km range on a tank of hydrogen.

Apart from that, the car will also have clever tech to aid occupant comfort, convenience and safety. One such feature is the ability of this vehicle to take the byproduct of its fuel cell process, which is water, and use it for its air humidifier in the cabin. The added moisture should provide occupants with better levels of comfort especially on long journeys.

But that wasn’t the only tech on display, besides the Smart House concept that blurs the line between the mobility of a car and practicality offered by a house, Hyundai’s VR take on the futuristic Ioniq was also intriguing. The automaker had Virtual Reality simulators at their stand which allowed visitors to peer into the abilities of an autonomous Ioniq. The simulator demonstrates how the actual car can behave with advanced auto-piloting capabilities through the use of its many sensors and radar systems.

Hyundai says that the autonomous Ioniq is one of few such vehicles to have its self-driving systems integrated into the front bumper instead of the big bulky ones placed on the roof of some mainstream automakers’ prototypes. The company will be able to accomplish this by integrating the new systems with existing ones which include Smart Cruise Control’s forward facing radar and Lane Keeping Assist cameras.

Expect more from the Korean giant in the future but until then, its most cherished vehicle here in Malaysia is the hybrid Ioniq which blends both electric and petrol power to offer better efficiency and emissions.

Hyundai reveal new smart connected services

At the ongoing Seoul International Motorshow in South Korea, Hyundai revealed a slew of interesting projects that might come to frustration within the next couple of years. Part if its future mobility strategy, the automaker demonstrated a suite of connected technologies that might find its way into its actual vehicles and help to make things a little more convenient of its customers.

“Controlling vehicles via voice assistant is something that could become common-place in the not-too- distant future,” said Seung-Ho Hwang, Executive Vice President and head of Auto Intelligence Division at Hyundai Motor Company. “We are working with various companies in Korea and around the world to ensure that all of our platforms are compatible and that Hyundai customers will be able to interact with the Internet of Things in ways that have never before been possible.”

The company’s in-house developed Connected Car Service Platform (ccSP) will allow owners of Hyundai vehicles to connect ‘seamlessly’ to other Internet of Things (IoT) services making their daily lives just that much more convenient. There are two systems that are at the heart of Hyundai’s platform which are Home to Car and Car to Home.

Home to Car will allow drivers to interact with their vehicles with just their voice. Through voice commands, they will be able to start up their vehicle as well as close and open its doors.

Car to Home on the other hand, will allow them to operate devices at home such as lighting, climate control and audio systems, while in their vehicles and on their journey home. The Home to Car service is slated for a 2018 release while the Car to Home service will be made available the following year.

Besides this, Hyundai also revealed its Connected Car roadmap that outlines a number of objectives that will ensure smart connected technologies offer better convenience and efficiency to their customers. With Proactive Caring, this system regularly monitor’s the vehicle’s diagnostics and allow for the diagnosis of potential problems and even allow for remote proactive maintenance of vehicles.

Then there’s Smart Convenience. A system that provides vehicles with regular updates to ensure that the software being run is of the latest version with all the proper security updates. Connected Efficiency builds upon this service by making sure connectivity-reliant systems are updated at the most convenient time such as when the vehicle is charging. It can also provide guidance, information or warnings to drivers when necessary. It will be able to check on the weather and let you know when conditions will be favorable for you to have your car washed.

Lastly, Cost Efficiency is a system that will provide cost-saving suggestions to drivers. It will analyse driving patterns and fuel economy then recommend the routes that offer the best fuel consumption or battery life. It will also help to provide a more accurate ‘distance to empty’ figure.

Hyundai’s new systems aren’t that far off and are confident that these technologies should find their way into their upcoming vehicles in the next few years.