In my recent trip to China I had the opportunity to talk about the car industry with some locals who are in the automotive industry. China's automotive industry boomed since 2002 and it has not slowed down since then. Anyone and everyone wants a car as no one really wants to ride a bicycle anymore.
The interesting fact is that in the recent case of China's spat with Japan over some tiny island off the coast of Eastern China has had a direct impact on the sales of Japanese cars in China. Most of us living outside China had no clue how great the impact was as the news reported are usually not accurate. It turns out that the Chinese are very patriotic and since the news broke out about Japan buying the islands, a lot of Chinese have stopped buying Japanese cars, some have stop going to work at Toyota factories in China and some even refused to go to work at Toyota dealerships in China.
Many Chinese have also started selling off their Japanese cars as they didn't want to be seen driving a Japanese car. The impact of this political tension between the countries have serious consequences for Japan. Japan's economy is already in bad shape and offending a major trading partner like China where almost 40% of all Japanese cars are sold is not a smart move. The repercussions are not limited to cars of course, all other items suchs electronics, food products and etc are all effected.
If no action is taken to resolve the tension between the two countries, Japanese car makers will suffer tremendously. European, Korean and American car makers are now enjoying bumper sales at the expense of the Japanese.
In ASEAN the situation is quite different. Despite Japanese occupation in the 1940s people in Malaysia still love to buy Japanese products. Often the Japanese made cars are viewed as good quality, reliable and easy to maintain with good residual value. Same goes for the Thais and the Indonesians. The political impact is more domestic rather than cross border. There is rumours of an imminent shake up in the automotive industry in Malaysia as the Malaysian people are eagerly awaiting for the upcoming General Election. If the Opposition Party wins, taxes on cars will be reduced creating massive change in the automotive industry. The direct impact will be on residual values and affordability of new cars. Have ridiculously high taxes imposed on cars and having an inefficient public transport system the Malaysian public are basically forced into buy cars. This is often questioned if the inefficient public transport system is deliberate to help the Government generate billions of dollar through tax revenue. We shall see come 2013 if there will be a change.
Tuesday 27 November 2012
Monday 19 November 2012
Driving a Lamborghini Aventador vs Mercedes SLS
While visiting the SEMA show I dropped by Exotic Racing in Las Vegas Motor Speedway to drive the Lamborghini Aventador and the Mercedes SLS. Here is some insight into my experience.
Lamborghini Aventador-
This car is a very sophisticated piece of machinery with 4WD and a massive 6.5L V12 screaming engine. The car's interior is like a fighter jet cockpit with the fancy start button in the middle of the centre console and the LCD instrument cluster. The car itself was very easy to drive as the 4WD system is able to put the power down very efficiently and without too much drama. The real fun began when I well full throttle and push it all the way to the 9000rpm redline. Changing gears at full throttle is violent to say the least. you can literally feel the car's acceleration pause momentarily when the right shift lever was pulled. The handling was sharp as it can ever be with the car being so low on the ground and with massive front and rear tires. The grip was astonishing as you would never imagine a car this big could handle this well. Lamborghini engineers obviously worked very hard to keep the weight as low as possible to help with handling and speed.
The Aventador is very much like a Ginzu knife. It is sharp, agile and precise.
Mercedes SLS-
This car is one of a kind as it is truly a German muscle car. I won't call it a supercar as it does not really behave like a supercar. Most supercars are very sharp, agile and fast. In the case of the SLS it is no doubt fast but it not as agile as say a Ferrari 458. It is however very brutal as its huge 6.3L V8 churns out a tonne of torque that seems endless. Having only rear wheel drive the car is a bit liary to drive at the limits. The big block V8 has one of the best engine notes for a muscle car or a supercar. It is not a screaming engine like the Aventador or the Ferrari 458. It has the real sound of a true muscle car. The deep rumble and roar of the engine is highly intoxicating. The car itself is fast enough on the track but to drive it at the limit requires a bit of skill. Put your right down a bit too early mid corner you will find yourself going sideways out of the corner.
Both cars are a lot of fun on the track. The Lambo is more flashy with it bright color and outrageous V12 engine while the Merc has a more subdued look until you open the fancy gull wing door. Both cars can be driven daily but I think if you like behaving badly from time to time, I would recommend the SLS. It is just a hooligan inside waiting to escape.
Lamborghini Aventador-
This car is a very sophisticated piece of machinery with 4WD and a massive 6.5L V12 screaming engine. The car's interior is like a fighter jet cockpit with the fancy start button in the middle of the centre console and the LCD instrument cluster. The car itself was very easy to drive as the 4WD system is able to put the power down very efficiently and without too much drama. The real fun began when I well full throttle and push it all the way to the 9000rpm redline. Changing gears at full throttle is violent to say the least. you can literally feel the car's acceleration pause momentarily when the right shift lever was pulled. The handling was sharp as it can ever be with the car being so low on the ground and with massive front and rear tires. The grip was astonishing as you would never imagine a car this big could handle this well. Lamborghini engineers obviously worked very hard to keep the weight as low as possible to help with handling and speed.
The Aventador is very much like a Ginzu knife. It is sharp, agile and precise.
Mercedes SLS-
This car is one of a kind as it is truly a German muscle car. I won't call it a supercar as it does not really behave like a supercar. Most supercars are very sharp, agile and fast. In the case of the SLS it is no doubt fast but it not as agile as say a Ferrari 458. It is however very brutal as its huge 6.3L V8 churns out a tonne of torque that seems endless. Having only rear wheel drive the car is a bit liary to drive at the limits. The big block V8 has one of the best engine notes for a muscle car or a supercar. It is not a screaming engine like the Aventador or the Ferrari 458. It has the real sound of a true muscle car. The deep rumble and roar of the engine is highly intoxicating. The car itself is fast enough on the track but to drive it at the limit requires a bit of skill. Put your right down a bit too early mid corner you will find yourself going sideways out of the corner.
Both cars are a lot of fun on the track. The Lambo is more flashy with it bright color and outrageous V12 engine while the Merc has a more subdued look until you open the fancy gull wing door. Both cars can be driven daily but I think if you like behaving badly from time to time, I would recommend the SLS. It is just a hooligan inside waiting to escape.
Nascar Driving experience
I was recently in Las Vegas to attend the world famous SEMA show. Any guy who is into cars should visit the SEMA show at least once in their lifetime. While in Las Vegas I took the opportunity to drive a Nascar at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway with Richard Petty Driving Experience.
After having spent about 30 minutes in the briefing room I was ushered to the track side to get ready to drive the Nascar. Having driven a Formula race car, a WRC rally car and other various types of racing cars I was quite eager to try out the Nascar. Being a non American I seldom seeing Nascar on TV it was kind of interesting to see why the Americans love Nascar so much.
One of the good things about the Nascar driving experience was that the organizer did not water down the experience by giving you a tuned down car. The car I was going to drive was actually a full scale race prepared Nascar with the full 600+ hp with full slick tires and roll cage. Getting into the car itself was a bit of a challenge as I had to climb through the window (lucky I am not a very big guy). Having climbed into the car getting the car moving was simple enough as the clutch on the car was surprisingly soft. Once on the track the aim was to position the car to hit the painted markers on the track surface as this determined the ideal position where the car should be on the track.
Driving the car was actually far more simple than I imagined and required little skill. Going fast in the car was merely to follow the markers, lift off the throttle at the entry of the turn and putting your foot down again mid way through. All of this is done in 4th gear so there is minimal gear changing. Unlike the movies, the drivers do not really shift gears while zooming around the track. The real action is in the overtaking as all you need to do is draft behind another car and wait for the opportunity to overtake on the straights.
The fun for the spectators is in the overtaking and accidents. Being alone on the track is easy but when you have 30 other cars on the track it can be quite crowded making driving fast a real challenge.
I can sum it up as an interesting driving experience but not one that I would repeat as it was rather boring. Having spent so much time in a racing go-kart, the Nascar experience is really just not challenging enough and does not put your driving skills to the test.
After having spent about 30 minutes in the briefing room I was ushered to the track side to get ready to drive the Nascar. Having driven a Formula race car, a WRC rally car and other various types of racing cars I was quite eager to try out the Nascar. Being a non American I seldom seeing Nascar on TV it was kind of interesting to see why the Americans love Nascar so much.
One of the good things about the Nascar driving experience was that the organizer did not water down the experience by giving you a tuned down car. The car I was going to drive was actually a full scale race prepared Nascar with the full 600+ hp with full slick tires and roll cage. Getting into the car itself was a bit of a challenge as I had to climb through the window (lucky I am not a very big guy). Having climbed into the car getting the car moving was simple enough as the clutch on the car was surprisingly soft. Once on the track the aim was to position the car to hit the painted markers on the track surface as this determined the ideal position where the car should be on the track.
Driving the car was actually far more simple than I imagined and required little skill. Going fast in the car was merely to follow the markers, lift off the throttle at the entry of the turn and putting your foot down again mid way through. All of this is done in 4th gear so there is minimal gear changing. Unlike the movies, the drivers do not really shift gears while zooming around the track. The real action is in the overtaking as all you need to do is draft behind another car and wait for the opportunity to overtake on the straights.
The fun for the spectators is in the overtaking and accidents. Being alone on the track is easy but when you have 30 other cars on the track it can be quite crowded making driving fast a real challenge.
I can sum it up as an interesting driving experience but not one that I would repeat as it was rather boring. Having spent so much time in a racing go-kart, the Nascar experience is really just not challenging enough and does not put your driving skills to the test.
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