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At many motorshows, there are the major carmakers who display their production and concept models and usually occupy the biggest floor spaces. And there are smaller companies which may have one model – often with a unique design – on display. Some of these small companies may have big plans and are hoping to draw interest from investors so they can commercialize their ideas, or they are hoping to get advance orders (and money) from customers so they have funding to proceed.

While many fade away, some are lucky to be able to get funding and move forward. They are the ‘start-ups’ which often have some new and innovative ideas or ‘disruptive’ strategies which they believe will ‘transform’ the market. And these days, the focus is on electric vehicles (EVs), which can use business models that differ from the traditional auto industry models.

One such company which appeared two years ago at the Los Angeles Auto Show was Alpha Motor Corporation which displayed interesting designs. The company had plans though they were vague and had a few concept models to show but no specific time-lines to provide. Their answers to media queries were also vague but that’s not unusual for start-ups which are just well, getting started. Furthermore, they would also want to keep things secret so rivals don’t know what they are really working on.

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Formula 1 fans will know that Audi will be taking part in the sport for the first time from the 2026 season. Audi will compete as a factory team together with its strategic partner, Sauber. Both parties are now busy developing the power unit for the F1 racing car at Audi’s Competence Centre Motorsport.

It will be some time before the first prototypes start to race around the test track but there is one place where you will be able to see the Audi F1 car in action – and even drive it – long before it starts its first F1 race. Thanks to EA Sports, the Audi F1 racing car will be available in the F1 22 racing game from Codemasters.

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Source: Monthly reports of Malaysian Automotive Association
Note: BMW, Mercedes-Benz and MINI data is only provided quarterly so the cumulative volumes shown are only for January to September 2022.
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In the early years of the automobile, just maintaining control of the car was the most important thing for the driver to do. Knowing how the engine was running and the speed were secondary. Over time, meters and warning lights were added to provide the driver with information that could help him drive better or alert him of problems. The increasing number of meters to display led to the creation of the instrument panel as an integral part of the dashboard, with the area in front of the driver being referred to as the ‘cockpit’, a term taken from aircraft.

In the past couple of decades, the instrument panel has evolved from having mechanical devices to digital graphic displays which allow more information to be shown by having changeable displays. Some information (eg energy flows in a hybrid powertrain) is also shown on the panel in the middle of the dashboard.

Looking at the instruments while driving means the eyes move down and the driver may not be watching the road ahead momentarily, which can be dangerous. One approach to helping the driver keep eyes ahead all the time was to take an idea from fighter aircraft – the Head-Up Display (HUD). This is a display projected on the windscreen ahead of the driver with information such as speed and other warnings.

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Over the many years it has been in business, Lotus Engineering, the consultancy division of Lotus, has done work for many carmakers and in most cases, the scope of their work has been confidential. Of course, enthusiasts would know that vehicle dynamics is a speciality of the company so it’s not difficult to guess the areas that they would have been involved in.

There have been some models where the Lotus name has been associated with the product – like the Lotus Cortina, Lotus Sunbeam and Lotus Carlton/Omega. These were high-performance cars that were developed, engineered and manufactured in partnership with Ford, Talbot and GM, respectively.

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Today’s driver assistance systems help the driver to be aware of dangerous situations as well as act autonomously to prevent accidents. These active safety systems use advanced and sophisticated sensor technology with radar and cameras scanning ahead and around the vehicle all the time.

But as the saying goes, it’s not speed that kills but rather the person behind the wheel. And the next step in driver assistance systems is to look inwards at the driver. Polestar is one of the companies that will be offering a driver monitoring technology by Smart Eye as standard in its Polestar 3 SUV.

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