Geely, the parent company of Proton, has recently announced an agreement with WeChat’s Tencent. The automotive and tech giants will work together in the digitalization field, intelligent cockpits, autonomous drive, and low carbon development. Both parties will work together in developing the next-generation intelligent vehicle cockpits by integrating both Geely and Tencent ecosystems. As Tencent is more than just WeChat, we can imagine that a unified Geely and WeChat user interface could do wond
Jan 19, 2021
The Court of Appeal has upheld a lower court ruling that the management of a car park is liable of negligence rendering disclaimers of exemption clauses posted by the car park non-viable. Sunway Parking Services Sdn Bhd was ordered to pay about RM 117,000 of damages to Euro Rent A Car Sdn Bhd in the case where the rental car company’s vehicle was stolen from the premises. This means that car park disclaimer notices posted at various locations of a parking lot informing visitors that the manageme
Dec 8, 2020
The 1951 Nash Rambler is on display at Publika (Ends Sept 16), in KL. If you are in KL, then you should seize the last chance to the Hari Malaysia and Publika Art Show to see rare national artefacts! The Hari Malaysia exhibition is a collaboration between Publika and the National Archives of Malaysia. Among all, the 1951 Nash Rambler is particularly eye-catching. The car exhibited was used by Tunku Abdul Rahman to announce the country’s independence in Melaka on Feb 20, 1956. The story behind th
Sep 16, 2019
Results are in for the annual Japan Car of the Year awards and the winner is the Toyota RAV4 with 436 votes, beating out the Mazda 3 (328 votes) and BMW 3 Series (290 votes). The new Toyota RAV4 is still not made available in Malaysia, although we are expecting the SUV to finally make its return into the C-segment SUV market in 2020. According to sources familiar with the matter, the Toyota RAV4 will be introduced in this region next year, with Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia on the list. Sourc
Dec 11, 2019
Malaysian used and recon car dealers and their 50,000 plus workforce are at risk of being laid off should the Covid-19 crisis prolong for more than 2 months, according to a report by New Straits Times (NST). While dealers have braced for the impact of the Movement Control Order (MCO), the practically zero sales which leads to higher inventories, poor consumer sentiments on the economy, and high fixed operational cost are taking their toll. President of the Malaysian Association of Malay Vehicle
Apr 14, 2020
Honda Malaysia has collaborated with SoCar to provide 50 units of Honda City for Honda customers working at the frontlines in the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak. Frontliners (who are also Honda owners) who are unable to access their vehicles during this period will be able to use these Honda Citys for 1 month as a temporary mobility solution for them to carry out their duties. The fleet of Honda City will be provided by SoCar, the car-sharing platform, and all rental charges will be borne b
Apr 23, 2020
Renault has been named Malaysia Car Subscription Company of the Year at the 2020 Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific Best Practices Awards for its Renault Subscription programme, a year after the programme celebrates its first anniversary. Launched in August last year, the programme was designed to offer an alternative to vehicle ownership beyond the traditional hire-purchase model as well as car sharing and rental options available. “We are delighted to have received this prestigious accolade from Fr
Aug 24, 2020
It turns out that it wasn’t just used car sales that saw an increase throughout the past few months, used car dealers in Johor Bahru are reporting an increase in car owners trying to sell their vehicles after the Movement Control Order (MCO) ended in June. One second-hand car shop manager Chang Keng Keong told The Star that there has been a 30 percent increase in the number of people who came to his shop enquiring for information about the disposal of their cars. This was especially apparent in
Nov 25, 2020
BMW Group Financial Services Malaysia introduces the i-Renewal digital service for the BMW MINI Comprehensive Motor Insurance Programme. The new service is a simplified programme that allows customers to renew their motor insurance with just a few clicks at any time of the day. The new i-Renewal service is provided in collaboration with Allianz General Insurance Company (Malaysia) Berhad. It is part of BMW Malaysia Group’s efforts to further improve the convenience of the ownership experience. A
Dec 1, 2020
An economist has called for the government to consider ending Malaysia's protectionist measures for the automotive industry by lifting import and excise duties on imported completely built up (CBU) cars. Barjoyai Bardai, a lecturer from the Universiti Al-Madinah, told Free Malaysia Today that the protectionist measures will ultimately have to come to an end one day. The government should take this opportunity during the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) to make a trial run. Under the presen
Jun 23, 2020
2019 hasn’t been a good year for the Malaysian Ringgit as it is now among the poorest performing currencies in the Asian region. The Ringgit is currently trading at around RM4.15 to 1 US Dollar. Five years ago, it was trading around RM 3.20 for most of 2014, before depreciating rapidly towards the end of 2015, and it has never recovered since. Forecasts by Fitch Solutions Macro Research group say that the Ringgit is expected to weaken further to RM4.25 to 1 US Dollar in 2020, before rebounding i
Dec 20, 2019
It’s a frantic start of the week for many staff at car companies. Following Friday’s announcement by the Prime Minister that locally-assembled cars will be exempted from paying 10 percent sales tax while imported vehicles will see the rate reduced by half, many car companies are swamped by calls from their dealers and stakeholders asking for details on what’s the next step. Without the necessary paperwork, the Accounts/Finance division at car companies are unable to proceed or give any answers.
Jun 9, 2020
Established on 15-November 2000, Honda Malaysia will soon be celebrating its 20th year anniversary in Malaysia. As of 2019, Honda Malaysia had sold a cumulative total of 928,271 cars since 2001. The majority of the sales were contributed by locally-assembled (CKD) models. We can expect the Pegoh plant to hit its cumulative 1 millionth CKD car milestone within the first half of 2021, nearly four years after the company hit its 600,000th car milestone in March 2017. Honda Malaysia sells very littl
Oct 7, 2020
A 35-year-old insurance agent has been arrested on suspicion of conspiring with vehicle owners in multiple insurance scams. The suspect is linked to 3 cases involving 8 vehicles burnt to the ground worth RM 190,000. According to the Head of the Crime Investigations unit, Senior Assistant Commissioner Nik Ros Azhan Nik Ab Hamid, the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) believe that the cars were intentionally set on fire after they were doused in kerosene. The first case was reported on 9 June 2020 invo
Nov 23, 2020
Malaysia is known for having one of the world’s highest taxes on cars. Sales of new cars and spare parts for motor vehicles are the single largest contributor in import and excise duties collection, eclipsing tobacco and alcohol products. How much taxes do car sales contribute to the Malaysian government? The government doesn’t provide a breakdown of its tax collection by industry, but it is safe to estimate that the automotive sector contributes well over RM 10 billion in taxes every year. So i
Jan 30, 2020
Buying a used car can net you quite a fair bit in savings, as depreciation is a painful reality for new car buyers. But ask anyone who has recently purchased a used car and the general consensus is the same – the listed price isn’t always the same as the price they paid. The main reason is very simple; used car dealers have a nasty habit of excluding hidden 'processing fees' from the listed price of their cars. As such, one can expect to pay an extra RM 4,000 to RM 5,000 more when buying from a
Jul 5, 2020
The Hyundai Sonata might be the representative icon of Korean cars but you might be surprised to know that Korea’s best-selling car for 2020 is not a Hyundai Sonata, or any SUV. Instead, Korea’s No.1 selling car for 2020 is the Hyundai Grandeur. Hyundai sold 145,463 units of the Grandeur in 2020, making it the No.1 selling car in Korea, ahead of second-placed Hyundai Porter truck (95,194 units) and third-placed Hyundai Elantra (87,731 units). The Kia K5 (84,550 units) and Kia Sorento (82,275 uni
Jan 25, 2021
The actual cost of owning a car is a lot higher than just your monthly instalments, and we’re not talking about insurance or maintenance, itself already a big chunk of a car’s total ownership cost. Beyond maintenance, depreciation is the biggest ‘cost’ for a car owner. However, very few see it that way because it’s not something that you feel until you have to sell your car. It’s like losing money on stocks; it’s paper loss until you actually sell it, which you have to at some point. Remember th
Sep 12, 2020
It is no secret that Malaysia is known for having one of the world’s highest car prices, as elaborate in our earlier post. But how much more do Malaysians pay for a new car compared to other countries? Well, after doing some comparison, here’s what we found. For starters, let’s take the Toyota Hilux. To keep things consistent, we opted for the closest variant we can find from Australia. In Malaysia, the Hilux 2.8G costs RM 139,888, while Australians need to fork out RM 147,548. Keep in mind that
Apr 2, 2020
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin has announced a new assistance package known as Perlindungan Ekonomi Dan Rakyat Malaysia or Permai for short. The new assistant package includes several special aids for drivers of taxis, buses, e-hailing, and even tourist vehicle drivers. “To alleviate the burden faced by taxi and bus drivers, the Government has agreed to provide a one-off financial assistance of RM500 to 14,000 tourist guides as well as 118,000 drivers of taxis, school buses, tour buses,
Jan 19, 2021
The first shipment of Malaysia-assembled Peugeot 3008 is expected to arrive in the Philippines at the end of this month. The export business is an important milestone for the Naza Automotive Manufacturing (NAM) plant in Gurun, Kedah, which now counts Groupe PSA as its joint venture partner. The plant is now Peugeot’s export hub for the ASEAN region. In February 2018, Naza Corporation Holdings and Groupe PSA signed a share sale and joint venture agreement to officially establish shared operation
Jul 23, 2019
Proton’s management have told its investment bank partners that the company will be launching a new Geely-based model in 2021, according the latest investor’s newsletter by RHB Research. The research house didn’t mention any specifics on which Geely model that Proton’s management was referring to. However back in 2018, Geely Automobile Holdings, the parent company of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, which owns half of Proton, signed an agreement to license three Geely models to Proton for CNY 1,344
Dec 7, 2020
The wait for the all-new 2020 Toyota RAV4 is almost over, as UMW Toyota Motor has released a teaser image of the upcoming C-segment SUV. Set to go against the popular Honda CR-V and Mazda CX-5, at least one variant of the all-new RAV4 could feature the anticipated Dynamic Force powertrain, meaning that it could be the first Toyota model sold by UMW Toyota Motor to feature this powertrain. Furthermore, the upcoming 2020 RAV4 is expected to feature Toyota Safety Sense (TSS) ADAS suite, just like t
Jun 2, 2020
Penantian bagi pelancaran model baharu Toyota RAV4 di Malaysia bakal berakhir kerana UMW Toyota baru saja memuat naik imej teaser SUV segmen C tersebut di laman rasminya. SUV ini akan bertanding dengan model popular seperti Honda CR-V dan Mazda CX-5, dan kemungkinan besar satu varian akan hadir dengan enjin Dynamic Force. Ini bermakna, model RAV4 ini mungkin menjadi model pertama Toyota yang dijual oleh UMW untuk datang dengan enjin baharu tersebut. Tambahan pula, Toyota RAV4 baharu ini dijangka
Jun 2, 2020
Today, Bermaz Motor announced a supply agreement with Petronas Lubricants Marketing Malaysia (PLMM) for the supply of Petronas Syntium full-synthetic engine oil to Bermaz Motor dealership “For customers, Bermaz's agreement with PLMM represents another milestone in our pursuit of enjoyable and hassle-free ownership experience. Petronas Syntium full-synthetic engine oil will replace our current use of semi-synthetic engine oil at our Bermaz Motor dealerships. Beginning next month, the use of full
Jun 15, 2020
It’s time to sell your car. You’ve already figured out how to get the highest price and how to clean the interior, but how do you sell your car without going through a used car dealer? Assuming that you’ve somehow managed to find for a buyer that’s willing to buy your old car, there are some steps to follow before you can sell off your old car. Also Read: Selling your car soon? Here's how to ensure you get the highest price If it’s a cash sale and there’s no outstanding loan, it’s pretty straigh
Apr 6, 2021
Yesterday night, the citizens of Johor were treated to a real show of Fast and Furious as 17 Honda Civic police cars were deployed to chase after a Toyota Corolla Altis driven by a drug dealer. After chasing the suspect from Johor Bahru, the police finally managed to stop the car with the help of lorry drivers in Kluang. According to South Johor Bahru (JBS) Assistant Commissioner Mohd Padzli Mohd Zain, police first came across the Altis in Taman Sri Tebrau, Johor Bahru, where the patrol departme
Jan 27, 2021
Bermaz Auto, the distributor of Mazda vehicles in Malaysia is expected to add the C-segment CX-30 into its model line-up this November. Positioned between the CX-3 and CX-5, the CX-30 is a closer rival to the dominating Honda HR-V, which the Mazda 2-based CX-3 couldn’t match because it was just a little bit too small. The CX-30 will be part of Bermaz Auto’s 3-model SUV introduction blitz that will kick off later this month with the turbocharged CX-5 variant, followed by the seven-seater CX-8, an
Sep 16, 2019
In another act of U-turn, the Ministry of Finance has just announced that there will be no additional interest on hire-purchase (HP) loans for those who took up the 6-month moratorium. This overrules the earlier statement by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) that the 6-month moratorium will incur interest charges. Borrowers who took up the 6-month moratorium will continue to pay the same monthly installment as before as stated in their HP agreement with their respective banks. The 6-month moratorium is
May 6, 2020
Less than two years after losing the right to distribute imported Nissan vehicles in Vietnam, Tan Chong Motor Holdings (TCMH) appears to be on the brink of losing the distributorship of locally-assembled Nissan vehicles in Vietnam too. Tan Chong’s Nissan business in Vietnam is structured under two related companies. ETCM (V) Pte Ltd runs the imported Nissan vehicles business - Nissan Navara and Nissan Terra, both imported from Thailand – an agreement that will expire by September this year. Mean
Aug 7, 2020
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