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Nasimuddin Wins Automotive Man Of The Year Award
teamcar - Tan Sri S.M. Nasimuddin S.M. Amin, group managing director of the Naza Group of Companies, has been named the Automotive Man of the Year at the NSTP-Ambank Car of The Year Award 2006 Wednesday.
Nasimuddin, who won the same title when the Car of The Award was initiated in 2002, received the title for his outstanding achievement in the Malaysian motor vehicle industry.
Minister of Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development, Datuk Seri Mohd Khaled Nordin, presented the award to Nasimuddin.
Last year's winner was Datuk Frank Steinleitner of Daimler Chrysler Malaysia.
Meanwhile, Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd has won the overall Car of The Year Award with its Honda Civic 2.0 model which also won the family car category.
EON dealers want Govt to drive merger with Proton Edar
teamcar - CAR dealers under Edaran Otomobil Nasional Bhd (EON) want the Government to push for a merger between them and Proton Edar Sdn Bhd so that they could better deal with the weak market.
Already, in the first 10 months of the year, 80 dealers out of 100 under EON were not making any money, EON Dealers Association of Malaysia (EDAM) president Datuk Ismail Din said, citing a survey.
Only 20 per cent are seeing sales of 20 or more units a month."We are open to anything, if you want to make EON the only distributor we will agree, if you want to make Proton Edar the only distributor also we will agree, we just want all the dealers to be under one management."
"Whatever the decision has to be done fast," Ismail said. The association has been trying for the last three years to make the merger happen but nothing has been done.
Once they merge there should only be 250 outlets to cover the whole of Malaysia, so that all dealers will be able to make a living.
There are now 400 Proton Edar and EON outlets in Malaysia.
Students pin hopes on car built for Aussie contest
teamcar - With a racing car built from scratch and the Malaysia Boleh spirit, 11 engineering students will be going Down Under to pit their model against other cars in a competition involving 80 campuses worldwide.
The students, representing Universiti Teknologi Petronas near here, had slaved since last year on their project without any prototype to guide them.
They hope to make waves at the Formula SAE Australasia 2006 competition at Victoria University in Melbourne from Dec 14 to 17.
The competition provides motor-sports fans a chance to use their imagination and knowledge of F1 racing to design a car that is one-third the size of a Formula 1 car.
Team leader Mohd Faizan Ahmad Zuhdi, 22, said 47 students from various faculties worked together to construct the car, with only advisory help from lecturers and experts.
At the competition the car will be judged on its dynamic aspects, which include a tilt test, autocross race, endurance race, acceleration and braking as well as static aspects such as design and costing.
Motorsports/A1GP World Cup: Win will see Team Malaysia at summit
teamcar - A HOME win in the Malaysian A1 Grand Prix of Nations Championship at the Sepang International Circuit this weekend could propel Team Malaysia to the top of the championship standings.
Mexico lead the standings on 24 points from Germany (22). Malaysia (17) dropped to fifth after failing to score a single point in the last race in Beijing on Nov 12.However, Malaysia’s Alex Yoong cautioned against reading too much into the standings at this stage of the season.
"It is still early in the season and I would not read too much into the standings," said Alex yesterday."If we make the podium in Sepang it would be great. We’ll try to win the race although no team has yet to win its home A1GP race.
" In Beijing, Alex made his way from 14th on the grid to fifth before he crashed into a wall resulting in his car breaking a rim two laps from the finish of the race held for the first time on a street circuit.
However, Alex will be in more familiar surroundings in Sepang where he will race both the sprint and feature races on Sunday.
Automotive market declines further in October
teamcar - Malaysian vehicle sales in October declined by 37% year-on-year to 35,563 units, local newspaper The New Straits Times has reported, citing the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA).
Alado bringing in 4 new Chery models
teamcar - Alado Corp Sdn Bhd, the sole importer of Chery vehicles in Malaysia, plans next year to introduce four new models, of which one would be a 1.3-litre model in the QQ range currently being sold in the country, executive chairman Tan Sri Cam Soh Thiam Hong said.
The estimated combined sales of the four models would be 5,500 units, comprising 2,500 completely-built-up (CBU) units and 3,000 completely-knocked-down (CKD) vehicles, he told Malaysian journalists attending the Chery Automobile business conference here.
A Chery multi-purpose vehicle (MPV), V5, would be available in March, while the Chery A1 sedan, Tiggo sport utility vehicle (SUV) and 1.1-litre and 1.3-litre versions of the under RM60,000 QQ6 were expected to be available in June or July.
The QQ manual transmission is priced at RM39,888 on the road while the automated mechanical transmission (AMT) QQ costs RM42,888. Alado sold more than 100 QQs last year and more than 400 this year, he said.
Malaysia says only talking to VW, Peugeot on Proton
teamcar - PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (Reuters) - Malaysia is talking only to France's PSA Peugeot Citroen and Germany's Volkswagen on a possible collaboration with state automaker Proton Holdings, a government minister said on Monday.
Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop did not give details of the talks, but they follow statements he
made on Nov. 10, that the government was talking to many potential partners, including Peugeot and Volkswagen, over a Proton stake sale.
Proton, long state-protected due to affirmative action policies aimed at giving the country's ethnic Malays business and employment, is fast losing market share and struggling to boost exports in the face of South Korean and Japanese rivals -- which analysts say can be solved by striking a partnership with a global player.
"We are engaging both Peugeot and Volkswagen in this exercise," Nor Mohamed told reporters, adding that he had met officials from French carmaker Peugeot, but no date had been set for the next round of discussions."There is an interest to collaborate and to work together," Nor Mohamed said.
The statements dampen speculation that there could be other immediate offers from other foreign carmakers. They also pour cold water on reports in the local media that Peugeot could present its bid for Proton this week.
"We are talking to make sure that whatever we implement is in the interests of Proton particularly and of course, the interests of the nation."
DRB-HICOM has plans for Proton: COO
teamcar - DRB-HICOM Bhd, which has made a bid for Proton Holding Bhd shares, yesterday said it could help the national carmaker in distribution and component manufacturing, a senior executive said.
DRB-HICOM chief operating officer Mohd Shah Redza Abdul Wahid said the group had stated the amount of shares it wanted to buy in the proposal. He declined to disclose the figure."Historically, we used to be an owner of Proton.
Therefore, we look with interest the developments in the company. I think we can assist Proton in the distribution and components side," Shah Redza told reporters at the group's Hari Raya open house in Subang, Selangor.
"We have certain ideas," he said, when asked to elaborate on DRB-HICOM's strategies to help Proton if it got the Government nod to buy the shares.Shah Redza was commenting on DRB-HICOM's announcement to Bursa Malaysia on Tuesday that it had submitted an initial proposal to buy part of the Government's share in Proton.
"It is a preliminary letter of interest. It was submitted a few weeks ago. We are waiting for the response from the Government," he said.
Volvo Car consolidates operations in Malaysia
teamcar -Volvo Car Corporation (VCC) has consolidated its two non-industrial operations - Volvo Car Malaysia Sdn Bhd (VCM) and Volvo Car Asia (VCA) – into one operational headquarters for Asia.
VCM is the national sales company while VCA the regional management office, provides management services to its commercial operations in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia and Brunei, VCA said in a statement on Nov 13.
The latter also forms a liaison between Asia and the worldwide headquarters located in Gothenburg, Sweden.
“The move to consolidate these two entities is both a clear recognition of the increasing maturity and development of Volvo cars’ in-market team to support its operations locally and across the region and of Malaysia itself as a commercially appropriate hub form to manage businesses throughout Asia,” VCA said.
VCA said the consolidation of local and regional teams into one operational headquarters for Asia would also further enable considerable experience from around Asia to be brought in.
Premier Automotive Group Asia (PAG) president Dr Alexander Klose would take up a joint role to include the position of president Volvo Car Malaysia Sdn Bhd (VCM). PAG is the management division of Ford Motor Company operating its luxury brands including Volvo.
VCM managing director How Wei Thing will take up a regional business development position to review Volvo’s footprint and associated business structure in the South-East Asian region.
Malaysia May Give VW A Controlling Stake In Proton
teamcar - Malaysia is currently considering a proposal from VolkswagenAG to allow the company a controlling stake in national car maker Proton Holding’s manufacturing operations, the government said Thursday.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said letting Volkswagen own 51 percent of Proton's manufacturing operations is one option under consideration, but no decision has been made.
Company officials from Proton and Volkswagen could not immediately be reached for comment.
Proton was ditched as a possible equity partner early this year by Volkswagen after the Malaysians refused to relinquish management control. Volkswagen is now believed to want to purchase a controlling stake in Proton's manufacturing operations, instead of the holding company.
Through this arrangement, the Malaysian company would control sales and distribution, while Volkswagen can access Proton's assembly lines.
Proton is struggling to remain profitable and is fast losing its market share to local and foreign car makers. It also has spare capacity that a foreign automaker can use to build cars for the Southeast Asian market.
VW Cars aims to steer marque into top spot
teamcar - VW CARS Sdn Bhd, master dealer of Volkswagen (VW) vehicles in the country, will spend RM100 million by the end of 2007 to market and establish the German marque in Malaysia.
The company has mapped out "big" long-term plans for the business, including one to eventually assemble VW cars locally and market them regionally.
"We want to work with our principal beyond 20 years," VW Cars executive chairman Datuk Ilyas Mohamed told Business Times yesterday.
The company is bringing in seven VW models, including the Touareg, Passat, Golf, Golf GTI, Beetle and Polo, and has received bookings for 30 to 40 units.Ilyas said the company has invested RM40 million in setting up showrooms and service centres to date.
"Eventually, we will spend RM100 million. (Another RM60 million) will be spent in the next 12 months," said Ilyas, who previously imported BMW vehicles for about 17 years before calling it a day last December.
Ilyas and VW Cars marketing and corporate affairs director Wan Ahmad Wan Abas are confident that VW will become the number one European car brand in Malaysia after five years.
China eyes ASEAN for car assembly, export
teamcar - Chinese automobile manufacturers have targeted the ASEAN markets as one of its major destinations for investment and car export.
"China and ASEAN are both rapidly-developing auto markets. Cooperation between China and ASEAN will be a win-win situation for the two sides and make their car production more competitive," said Gu Xiangdong, deputy secretary-general of China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
The Zhejiang Geely Holding Group plans to set up a joint venture with a local
car manufacturer near Jakarta for assembling Geely cars to be sold in ASEAN countries.
Ten major auto companies from China, including Dongfeng Group, FAW-Vollcswagen Automotive Company Ltd, King Long Motor
Ltd., and Jinbei Automotive Company Ltd., have set up booths to showcase their latest cars at the China-ASEAN Expo that opened Wednesday in Nanning, Capital of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Nissan vehicle sales fall in 3rd quarter
teamcar - Nissan/Edaran Tan Chong Motor Sdn Bhd's (ETCM) third quarter sales fell 13.5% to 4,756 units, from 5,496 units in the second quarter.
Nissan/ETCM said in a statement yesterday total sales for the first nine months of the year declined by 18.5% to 16,435 units compared with 20,148 units for the same period last year.
The company said despite the current challenging and competitive market, its key models
remained significant market leaders. “The Sentra still dominates the non-national 1.6 litre (petrol) passenger segment with a 72% share and the XTrail leads the non-national 4x4 station wagon 2.0-2.5 litre (petrol) segment with 48% share,” it said.
It said the XTrail NISMO Limited Edition won the mid-sized sports utility vehicle (SUV) category in the Autocar Asean Car of the Year 2005/2006 Awards.
“The XTrail won the Autocar Asean Car of the Year 2003/2004 Mid-sized SUV category ,” it said.
teamcar - With a racing car built from scratch and the Malaysia Boleh spirit, 11 engineering students will be going Down Under to pit their model against other cars in a competition involving 80 campuses worldwide.
teamcar - VW CARS Sdn Bhd, master dealer of Volkswagen (VW) vehicles in the country, will spend RM100 million by the end of 2007 to market and establish the German marque in Malaysia.
teamcar - Nissan/Edaran Tan Chong Motor Sdn Bhd's (ETCM) third quarter sales fell 13.5% to 4,756 units, from 5,496 units in the second quarter.
