Home - Piston.my

Weststar Maxus To Absorb 6% GST With Immediate Effect For All Variants

In the Ramadan spirit of giving, and with the Government’s revised GST to zero percent, Weststar Maxus, the sole distributor for the Maxus range of vehicles in Malaysia, has reworked its pricing for the range of G10 luxury “people mover” and V80 commercial vehicles with 0% GST effective immediately.

The price reductions ranging from RM5,000 to RM10,000 will remain in effect until end May pending the reimplementation of the Sales and Services Tax (SST) by the Government. “This initiative is aimed at making the full range of our vehicles more affordable to Malaysians,” says Tan Sri Syed Azman Syed Ibrahim, Group Managing Director, the Weststar Group. “We are now in an expansion phase and want to strengthen our brand and quality proposition to the widest target segments across the country.”

Plans are afoot to open two new showrooms within the next couple of months in Penang and Kota Bharu. Weststar Maxus also opened a showroom in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur, in February this year. “The marquee value of Weststar Maxus has gained considerable traction among family and commercial segments in the last two years, and we are confident that our product range has the price, quality, and features advantages to succeed as a premium brand,” notes Tan Sri Syed Azman.

The Maxus G10 range of luxury vehicles is powered by a 225Hp (165kW) 2.0T turbo-charged direct injection engine pared with a ZF 6-speed automated manual gearbox for smooth power output and swifter response to gear shifting. With a maximum of 345Nm on tap, the Maxus G10 SE delivers a similar power ratio as that of a 3.0L natural aspirated engine, but with 30 percent less fuel consumption. Read more about the Maxus G10 here.

The Weststar Maxus G10 is available at all Weststar Maxus showrooms throughout the country starting from as low as RM130,000. The Weststar Maxus G10 range is available in six colour options – Obsidian Black, Blanc White, Aurora Silver, Weststar Blue, Amber Gold, and Lava Grey. Below are the new prices:

Maxus G10
*G10 Model*	*Current Price*	*New Price On the Road Without GST (OTR without Insurance)*	*Difference*
Base Sport CBU	137,954.85	130,146.08	7,808.77
G10 SE CBU	157,348.50	148,441.98	8,906.52
G10 SE CKD	152,623.30	143,984.25	8,639.05
Executive CBU	179,935.11	169,750.01	10,185.01
Maxus V80
Window Van 12-Seater	130,678.60	123,281.70	7,396.90
Window Van 15-Seater	131,738.60	124,281.70	7,456.90
SWB	90,996.18	85,845.45	5,150.73
LWB	111,129.45	104,839.10	6,290.35

HSDM Announces 0% GST For Hyundai Vehicles, While Hyundai CRADLE Invests in Metawave to Help Develop Smart Automotive Radar Platforms

Hyundai Sime Darby Motors has announced the new prices of its vehicles, set to take effect on 1st June 2018, when the GST is abolished. You can find the new prices in this downloadable document:

Hyundai New Price List with Zero-Rated GST (Hyundai Sime Darby Motors)

Savings of up to RM10,000 are to be had on the Starex soon, and up to RM6,500 on the Ioniq (below).

On the global front, Hyundai CRADLE, Hyundai Motor Company’s corporate venturing and open innovation business, has announced it is investing in the Metawave Corporation to build intelligent radars for autonomous vehicles. Metawave is revolutionizing radar sensing by leveraging adaptive metamaterials (conventional materials using engineered structures with unique electromagnetic properties not found in nature) and artificial intelligence (AI) to create smart radars. Hyundai is closely evaluating new technologies, such as Metawave’s high-performance radar capable of 3-D imaging, for future autonomous platforms.

“Next-generation radar technology can use advanced algorithms for object detection and classification,” said John Suh, vice president of Hyundai CRADLE. “A new radar system that can increase resolution and accuracy with an AI engine will be a disruptive technology.”

How it works…

Three sensors are the fundamental components of the perception system for self-driving cars today: camera, LiDAR and radar. The camera is the highest-resolution sensor but cannot see objects beyond 50 meters. LiDAR extends the range to about 150 meters, with a fairly high-resolution imaging capability. Both camera and LiDAR are affected by bad weather and dirty roads. Radar, by its nature, operates at a lower frequency and “sees” objects at long ranges faster and in all weather and driving conditions. Today’s radar cannot cover wide angles at long ranges and lacks the resolution to differentiate between objects.

It needs a large number of antennae and expensive chips to run the complex digital signals. This type of system takes time and energy, making it inefficient. Metawave’s advanced radar platform, WARLORD uses just one antenna and pushes the complexity of the analog space, using ultra-fast and precise responses. With WARLORD, the antenna itself shapes and steers the beam in all directions using pencil beams, deep learning engines and AI algorithms to recognize objects quickly and send 4-D point cloud to the sensor fusion.

“The investment by Hyundai represents another key company milestone and further proof of our rapid momentum as we bring WARLORD long-range radar with imaging and AI capabilities to autonomous vehicles,” said Metawave CEO Maha Achour, PhD. “With our talented team of mm-wave and metamaterial experts, we were the first to demonstrate Electronically Scanned Metamaterial Array for Autonomous Driving at 77GHz. This technology will be an enabling factor for Hyundai and other auto leaders who are striving to improve the vehicle experience.”

Hyundai Autonomous Vehicle Development…

In January, Hyundai Motor Company and Aurora, a leader in autonomous vehicle technology, announced a strategic partnership to bring self-driving Hyundai vehicles to market by 2021. This partnership will incorporate Aurora’s self-driving technology into Hyundai vehicles, starting with models custom-developed and launched in test programs and pilot cities.

In February, a fleet of Hyundai NEXO fuel cell electric SUVs successfully completed a self-driven 190-kilometer journey from Seoul to Pyeongchang. The NEXOs were equipped with level 4 self-driving technology, as defined by SAE international standards, and 5G network technology.

These NEXOs featured a number of advanced technologies that enabled them to recognize surrounding vehicles more accurately and make better judgments at junctions and at branching roads, navigate through toll gates by accurately calculating the toll gates’ width and position and precisely pinpoint the vehicle’s position on a map by using external sensors fitted for situations when the GPS signal was interrupted, such as going through long underground tunnels.

What is Metawave Technology?

Metawave is building next-generation wireless technology platforms to address major challenges facing the wireless sensing and communications industries operating at mm-wave frequencies. By using engineered metamaterial structures and AI algorithms, Metawave was able to simplify architectures and improve system performance while lowering cost to both providers and consumers using its electronically beamforming and steering WARLORD and SABER technologies. The company is initially focusing on delivering the WARLORD smart radar platforms for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving. In parallel, Metawave is building the SABER^TM (Smart Antenna for Beamforming Electromagnetic Radiation) smart antenna platforms for fixed wireless and the 5G cellular infrastructure to power dense point-to-point, point-to-multipoint and mesh configurations for backhaul and access networks.

The 5G market will benefit from Metawave’s SABER platform by reducing interference and increasing the reach of coverage of their base stations. Instead of the massive numbers of antennae and complex digital processing used in today’s 5G radios, SABER uses one antenna per transceiver port, which is able to focus the signal in narrow beams to extend the reach of base stations and service dense number of users with little interference.

Go Auto Sales Opens New Haval Dealership In Skudai & Announces 0% GST Raya Promotion

Go Auto Sales Sdn Bhd, the exclusive distributor for Haval SUV in Malaysia together with authorised dealer, Ang Trading and Motor Credit Sdn Bhd recently launched HAVAL Malaysia’s newest dealership in Skudai, Johor Bahru, Johor. The authorised dealership is located at Taman Perindustrian Ringan Pulai, Johor Bahru and shall provide easy access to HAVAL customers staying around Skudai and Johor Bahru area.

Speaking at the official launch, Executive Director of Go Auto Group, Dato’ SM Azli SM Nasimuddin Kamal, said, “It’s with great pleasure that we welcome and congratulate Ang Trading and Motor Credit to be part of the growing HAVAL Malaysia family and wish them success in both sales and after sales services. The Company continues to achieve the primary goal to always improved the quality and enhance customer satisfaction.”

“This new dealership adds a total of 7 dealership in South of Malaysia with 4 being from Johor – in total the Company now has 24 dealerships nationwide. Both of our current models are certified as EEV (Energy Efficient Vehicle) which the H1 comes with a seven-year unlimited mileage manufacturer warranty whereas, the H2 comes with 5-years warranty or 150,000km whichever comes first,” Dato’ Azli added.

In addition, with the recent announcement made on 16 May in regards of the Goods & Service Tax (GST) which would be zero rated commencing on 1 June 2018, Go Auto has announced a “NOW or NEVER Celebrating Raya with Zero GST” Promotion. The promotion will be from now until 30 June 2018 offers new and existing HAVAL customers with savings worth up to RM9,500 which will also include rebate up to RM3,000, ‘duit raya’ up to RM1,200 and petrol vouchers worth RM300 in addition to the zero-rated offerings.

Aside from the current promotion, Haval plans to carry out a roadshow nationwide as part of the ongoing “Reimagine Campaign” in Northern, Southern, East Coast and East Malaysia, which will be announced later nearing the event date.

“In line with the recent direction from the government, the zero-rated GST gives Go Auto the opportunity to add-on to the current promotion, we’re definitely excited for this new deal especially with the Raya festivities around the corner – we hope to continue to give customers to own SUVs at competitive prices and to celebrate Raya with a brand-new SUV at the same time,” Dato’ Azli added.

The Ferrari SP38 Is A Stunning New Creation From The Ferrari “One-Off” Programme

A confirmed future classic, the incredible Ferrari SP38 – the latest offering from Ferrari’s One-Off Programme – has been unveiled at Fiorano where, after the ceremonial handover to one of Ferrari’s most dedicated customers, (We weren’t told who, Nick Mason maybe? – Ed.) the car was immediately put through its paces in a series of hot laps.

Designed by the Ferrari Design Centre on the chassis and running gear of the 488 GTB, this unique car reflects the specific vision of a client with a deep passion for racing. The result is a model that can be driven both on road and on track, while at the same time expressing all the beauty and innovation inherent in Ferrari’s road cars.

The all-new bodywork, in a newly conceived three-layer metallic red, marks a radical departure from the language aesthetic of the donor car. The twin-turbo, twin-intercooler set-up of the award-winning 488 GTB inspired the team to reference the mighty F40 as an icon from which to instruct the project’s general direction.

Compared to the 488 chassis, the visual mass of SP38 appears concentrated over the rear wheels as the wedge design sharply stretches towards the front. In plan view, the strongly tapered nose expands towards muscular wheelarches, giving the car potency and agility. Specific inset headlights were designed to be as thin as possible, with the mandatory DRL (daytime running lights) units relocated to add character and functionality to a slim bumper lip reminiscent of the 308 GTB.

On the side, the defining air scoop of the 488 GTB is completely concealed where the sheet metal folds in on itself from the low belt-line on the door and into the rear wheel-arch and three-quarter light.

The effect is dramatic, as it reinforces the importance of the rear volume while, at the same time, maintaining the air flow to the intercoolers at the base of the side window. The dynamic styling continues over the engine cover, which sheds its rear glass and is treated as a flip-up assembly in carbon fibre with shutlines slashing the flanks in a gesture directly reminiscent of the F40’s.

Three transversal slats slash across the engine cover to evacuate engine heat, and the smooth integration of a substantial rear spoiler is a hint at the famous rear wing of the F40. The trailing edge of the spoiler links seamlessly with the wing and with the aerodynamic diffuser at the bottom, to create a suggestive frame surrounding the tail volume.

A full Tailor Made cabin trim puts the finished touches on this truly special Ferrari, which will be on public display for the first time at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este on Saturday 26^th May 2018.