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Kia Grand Carnival to be launched soon

We’ve known for sometime about the impending launch of the all new Grand Carnival, and now Naza Kia Malaysia Sdn Bhd, has confirmed that it will be sometime soon as it has just opened bookings for its people carrier.

A refresh of the original Grand Carnival is a welcomed addition to the rather stagnant MPV market, and by the looks of things, it could spice things up quite a bit. The new vehicle, looks very different from the one it replaces as Kia sought to fuse decent looks with family carrying capabilities. Kia says that its engineers spent extensive time designing the interior to offer decent legroom and ample luggage space even when fully loaded with eight occupants.

Other than the extensive redesign both inside and out, some of the more notable features of the Grand Carnical are the leather seats, power sliding door and tailgate, 3rd row passenger easy access system, push start button and HID head lamps with Daytime Running Lights. Kia didn’t skimp on safety either as the vehicle comes equipped with 6 airbags, electronic stability control and hill-start assist system. It also boasts receiving a 5-star rating based on the crash tests conducted by the ANCAP (Australiasian New Car Assessment Program) and NHTSA (National Highway Traffice Safety Administration).

Kia managed to bag a number of awards including JD Power Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) award, Top Safety Pick from the U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and the 2015 Ward’s 10 Best Interiors award.

Speaking of the new Grand Carnival, Dato’ Samson Anand George, Group Chief Operating Officer, Automotive Group, Naza Corporation Holdings Sdn Bhd., said, “Despite 2016 being a challenging year for Kia in Malaysia, we managed to contain a better percentage than the national total industry volume’s negative growth. For 2017, we have foretasted our sales volume to increase by 25% and the All New Grand Carnival will play a pivotal role in achieving this target.”

Under the hood of the Grand Carnival is a 2.2-litre CDRi turbodiesel engine with a variable geometry turbo. It produces 190bhp and 440Nm of torque, which should prove useful when lugging the family around and especially when its to Genting.

Potential buyers can make their bookings at any Kia dealership in Malaysia including those in Sabah and Sarawak. So, if you are interest a Peter Schreyer people mover, head on over to your nearest Kia dealership.

Chevrolet Malaysia offer Double Bonus promotion for Colorado

Naza Quest Sdn Bhd, the sole distributor of Chevy vehicles in Malaysia has launched a new sales promotion called the “Double Bonus”.This promotion provides a rebate of up to RM6,000 and 3 Years/60,000km complimentary Parts & Labour Service for all variants of the new Chevrolet Colorado. Buyers are eligible for the deals from 1st March 2017 onward.

Chevy’s high spec Colorado is offered with a 2.8-litre Duramax VGT engine that produces 190hp and 500Nm of torque is priced at RM112,788. The variant offered with the 2.5-litre engine on the other hand develops 180hp and 444Nm of torque and is priced at RM90,188.

Features for the various variants of the Colorado include Engine Remote Start, 8-inch infotainment touchscreen system with four speakers and compatibility with Apple CarPlay, Traction Control, Front Collision Alert, Lane Departure Warning, Tire Pressure Monitoring System and 3 airbags (Driver, passenger and knee).

Chevrolet Malaysia is also offering a comprehensive 5 Year/ 200,000km warranty and 1 year complimentary Chevy Assist Membership on all variants of the new Colorado as part of the manufacturer’s Complete Care programme. Visit your nearest Chevrolet dealership to learn more.

Nissan Leaf Black Edition goes on sale in UK

The ever popular all-electric family hatchback may have received some added appeal. Nissan has launched a new variant of this ev, dubbed the Leaf Black Edition. As enticing as the name plate maybe, there don’t appear to be any performance upgrades for this variant over the standard car.

The Black Edition receives a number of exterior features such as 16-inch black alloy wheels, LED Headlamps, black door mirror caps and black rear spoiler. Inside, the only notable addition is the blue-stitched mats on the floor which is said to offer a more “premium” finish.

As it is with the rest of the line up, the Black Edition receives Nissan’s latest innovative technologies as standard including the NissanConnect EV telematics system and intelligent Around View Monitor.

Speaking of the latest edition to the Leaf family, Gareth Dunsmore, Director of Electric Vehicles of Nissan Europe, said “The new LEAF Black Edition perfectly showcases Nissan’s commitment to making smart, premium quality products accessible for all. This stylish black number combines dynamic styling, with Nissan’s innovative zero-emission technology to offer customers a city-savvy intelligent mobility solution. Its sleek design compliments an exciting drive, delivered through high-class engineering, demonstrating that you don’t have to compromise on style or performance when purchasing an electric car.”

Unveiled in 2010, the Nissan Leaf was the first mass-market electric family car and as of today, there are 250,000 them on the road. Powered by a 30kWh battery pack, the Leaf is able to travel 250km on a single charge, which should be more than adequate for most city dwellers.

Ford issue safety recall for Mustang in North America

The Blue Oval has decided to issue a safety compliance recall for about 6,000 of the 2017 Ford Mustang cars made, for an inspection of the left interior door handle return spring. Apparently, cars affected by the recall may have had their left-hand door handle built with a disoriented return spring which could increase the potential for the return spring to become unseated.

According to the company, if the return spring does become unseated, during a side-impact crash, the impact experienced by the interior door handle may cause the door to unlatch and inturn increase the risk of injury.

As of now, there are no reports of any accidents or injuries that are related to this issue. There are about 5,470 affected vehicles in the United States, 20 in Mexico and 266 in Canada. These vehicles were built at Ford’s facility at Flat Rock Assembly Plant from January 13, 2017 to January 31, 2017.

Baby Driver: A must watch movie for car fans!

It’s very rare that true driver enthusiast movies actually do grace the silver screen. Movies like Bullitt, Vanishing Point and Gone in 60 Seconds (1974) were the select few where great emphasis was placed on realism when it came to the plot, cars and the driving physics. Their story lines may not have been nail-biting or edge of your seat stuff, but the action scenes, the screeching tyres, realistic collisions and spectacular explosions made them some of the all time best car movies.

These days thanks to CGI and over the top Hollywood gimmicks, most car movies lack the appeal of those from yesteryear. But every now and then, a true gem comes along worthy of being called “noteworthy” and one such movie is Baby Driver.

Slated for release towards the end of 2017, Baby Driver’s cast features some big time hollywood actors including Kevin Spacey and Jamie Foxx. The movie’s main protagonist is a young getaway driver, named Baby played by Ansel Elgort, who you may also know as the guy from the movie The Fault In Our Stars. Baby is part of a crew headed by Kevin Spacey, that go on carefully planned heists in the city.

Baby, despite his rather boyish demeanor, is a skilled driver of a Subaru Impreza WRX who is quite adept at handling high-speed getaways albeit the WRX’s driving dynamics did lend him a helping hand. Based on the trailer, and like a number of such movies, baby decides that after several missions, he no longer wants to be involved with this line of work. However, that is easier said than done as the team view him as a very valuable asset. Well, we aren’t going to ruin it for you, so take a look at the trailer and you be the judge.

But we think that the action sequences depicted in the trailer are pretty amazing and should make for one awesome movie when it is eventually released.

Fiat Fullback Cross launched at Geneva

Italian automotive giant, Fiat, has added a new variant to its pick-up truck stable called the Fullback Cross. The company says that the latest addition is meant to “further broaden the appeal of the Fiat Fullback with lifestyle users”. As such, it come with a slew of upgrades and enhancements.

The exterior upgrades include a new grille fitted with matte black ingots, a satin silver skid plate and revised larger side steps. An exclusive add on for the variant is a textured black sport bar which lends a space age look to the vehicle’s silhouette. The truck also comes with a new all-black car cargo space which features a Fiat logo, in case you forget who made it. Fitted as standard are Bi-Xenon headlights, front fog lights and LED daytime running lights.

Inside, Fiat has fitted this pick-up with leather upholstered seats, steering wheel and gear knob. It has also been kitted with automatic dual zone climate control and heated front seats which offer six-way electric adjustment on the driver’s side. Gracing the centre stack is the 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system that offers DAB CD/MP3 Radio, Bluetooth and USB port. The system is also integrated with the vehicle’s rear parking camera and satellite navigation.

Fiat’s Fullback Cross is offered as a double cab and comes fitted with a 2.4-litre commonrail turbo diesel engine that produces 180bhp and 430Nm of torque. Buyers can choose to have either a six-speed manual or five-speed automatic transmission which offers a sequential mode and dashboard commands.

As for safety features, the Fullback Cross comes with ABS with EBD, TSA (Trailer Stability Assist), LDW (Lane Departure Warning), seven airbags and cruise control, which should make it a very capable truck.

Fiat says that the truck will be launched later this year and prices will be announced closer to the launch date.