Methanol fuelled cars

 There is a rumour going around that the electric car incentives in China will soon be removed which will end up driving electric car prices up beyond internal combustion engine cars. China Government's incentive was there to kick start the electric car industry to promote cleaner environment but in reality it only reduced the air pollution but the process of manufacturing the electric cars contribute more environmental pollution than regular gasoline cars. The question now is how many people will really buy electric cars once the subsidies are removed. There is a new rumour going around that the methanol fuelled cars will be the next wave in China owing to the fact that it is cheaper to make than the electric cars and methanol is cheap and produces low air pollution and the cars can be refuelled quickly just like a regular gasoline car.

The Chinese Government have been going around looking for methanol contracts to purchase and they are also trying to ramp up methanol production domestically. Methanol is cheaper than gasoline and the internal combustion engines can be adopted to run on methanol. It will be interesting to see if this will become a reality soon. If the methanol cars will be introduced the gas stations can easily be modified to offer methanol at the pumps without massive infrastructure works like electric charging stations.

It is quite obvious that there are numerous benefits of using methanol compared to electricity. If this starts in China it won't be long before other countries may follow since electricity production is some countries isn't cheap and some countries struggle with the present electricity production which will add more stress on the power grid to charge electric vehicles. The countries that will benefit from this will be India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines and Myanmar. So far there is no solid new on methanol cars being launched any where in the world but if China takes the lead things may change very quickly.

BMW lost the plot with their new designs?

 In the recent years BMW launched a flurry of new models including the new 8 Series, the 1 series, the 4 series and X7. Every one had the signature double kidney front grille. Over the years the size of the kidney grille grew in size and it has been often laughed at by industry observers for growing in size. The new models designs are no longer classy or sexy as it once were. Mercedes which was traditionally more conservatively designed have since caught up and over taken BMW as the sporty brand with the current C-class and the A-class.

BMW's gradual evolution in design have become too out of date and it needs design refresh to keep up with Mercedes and Audi. BMW's X4 and X7 look strange and is not sporty nor sexy. On the other hand Mercedes' GLA and GLB have grown in appeal and is stealing more sales from BMW.

In the horsepower race BMW is also falling behind. BMW once upon a time made the best engines in the industry with its M engine but now have been over shadowed by the AMG 45 and AMG 63 engines which is full of character and are incredible power units. The M engines are no doubt still very good.

The BMW 1 series is also now front wheel drive which is the first for BMW. The design of the car is nothing spectacular and the M135i cannot compete with the AMG A45 which is over 120hp up on the M135i. BMW may need to relook at their design philosophy and inject some new design blood in order to bring the brand back to the front. Some drastic design changes will yield some excitement back into the brand if not it will gradually fall further behind Mercedes.

Why do American car brands struggle so much in Asia (apart from China)

American car companies such as GM and Ford struggle like mad to make money in Asia (apart from China). The volume of American cars sold in Asia is laughable with only Ford making a tiny impact with its Ranger pick up trucks. The real reason behind the struggle is down to the poor model selection available to the buyers in the region.

Ford and GM design their cars mostly for the American market and they don't appear to suit the taste of Asian buyers. The design of the models don't appeal to the Asian tastes and the after sales network is very weak. However, this is a catch 22 situation where you cannot expect to have a strong after sales network if you don't have sales and if you don't have good after sales network you cannot expect to sell a lot of cars. The brands also do not project a high quality or strong reliability image in Asia which leads to little confidence in the brands.

Unlike Japanese car makers who have design studios in Asia to cater to Asian tastes, the models offered are more suited to the local needs and the price points help tremendously to allow more people to be able to afford the cars. With more cars on the road the consumers is able to gain confidence that since there are plenty of Japanese cars around the after sales service should be good and the reliability of the car should also be good.

The American car companies are like lumbering giants and are too slow to react to market demands and changes. The American car companies also do not cater to the needs of the local market. What sells well in America does not mean it will sell well in Asia. Companies like Ford and GM need regional offices that can research and study the demands of the market and feedback the information to the head quarters advising them of new product development for the region. Without such market information Ford and GM cannot expect to compete in the region. A good example is the recent exit of GM from India and Ford is also in the midst of shutting down its operation in India. India is now the top 5 automotive market in the world and to shut or exit the market means that GM and Ford got their strategies very wrong. In comparison with Honda and Toyota who entered India late, they have steadily gained more market share and is growing year on year.

Honda and Toyota offered models that catered to the local tastes and have made GM and Ford look like chumps. If Ford and GM want to be a true global player in the automotive industry they need to change their strategy. If their strategy continues this way both Ford and GM will see their global sales volume drop further and companies like Hyundai will soon surpass them.

Ford and GM have the capability to make a come back but they need to re-think their strategy about product planning for each region and come out with some creative ownership campaigns that will attract back the buyers. Ford and GM needs to think global and stop thinking American. The world is your oyster... why not grab your pearl!

Porsche Taycan

Leading up to Porsche's launch of the new Taycan EV there was a lot of hype and speculation surrounding this car. It is Porsche's first full electric car. It had a lot to live up to since the benchmark set by Tesla was extremely high and no other mainstream car maker has even come close to matching Tesla's performance. Jaguar made an attempt at it with the iPace but it was not quite as fast as the Model X or the new Model Y. It also didn't offer the same driving range as the Tesla.

Porsche took a bit of time to develop their Taycan and made sure that it was able to match Tesla and exceed it in some areas. The two models available at the launch were named the Turbo and Turbo S. There is obviously no turbo since the car is an EV but since Porsche has used the name Turbo as part of the model line up indicating the premium specced versions Porsche decided to keep the name since it is easily recognised by many Porsche enthusiasts. The Turbo model offered 680hp and the Turbo S model offered 761hp. These two models are very quick and is the first EV in the market that came with 2 speed gearbox that allows for better cruising efficiency. Both models are extremely quick with 0-100km/h times of under 3 seconds but is still slightly slower than the Tesla Model S P100D. The main difference with the Taycan is its ability to repeat hard acceleration launches unlike the Model S which needs to cool down and need some time between launches. The Taycan is also able to hit higher top speed thanks to its 2 speed transmission.

Prior to the launch there was so much interest registered for the Taycan that Porsche received over 30,000 bookings. To achieve so many bookings prior to the launch says something about the hype around this car. Porsche is taking the fight to Tesla and have even posted the fastest production EV lap record around the Nurburgring.

The Taycan is by no means cheap and anything that carries the Porsche name is never cheap. the prices start at US$150,000 for the Turbo placing it above the Tesla Model S. The Model S is getting a bit old since its on the market since 2012. The Taycan brings a fresh look and new capability to the market. The interest for the Taycan is not likely to die down for a while since the lower models such the Taycan, Taycan S, Taycan 4S and the GTS will eventually be introduced to cater to a wider audience. It is expected that the Taycan and Taycan S will be the most popular models as the prices will be cheaper. A cross over model will also be introduced in the next 12 months.

It is a bold move by Porsche to launch this model but has been speculated for over a year that this model was to be launched in 2019. The special 800 volt charging system is also the world's first that allows charging from 5% to 80% in 30 minutes. All other car makers who have an EV model do not have such fast charging capacity. The closest is Audi with similar charging capacity taking 40 minutes.

With more EV models hitting the market the EV industry will get more interesting. Tesla made EVs interesting and shook the stigma of EV's being like a big golf cart. Now Porsche made is exciting with fast, sporty and stylish.

Watch this space for more things to come in the EV world.

Proton's resurgence

At the end of 2018 Proton introduced its first ever SUV X70 which was a Geely sourced model that was tweaked to suit local Malaysian market. The sales of this new SUV was moderate upon launching but have since gained a lot of momentum. It is currently the top selling SUV model in Malaysia now and have gained the confidence of local buyers. The car is decent looking with good interior design as well as advanced infotainment system that is not found even in cars costing 4 times more. The initial response was a good but not great as many buyers were concerned about the quality and reliability of the car since it was a China derived model. The sales surged 3 months after the initial launch when many X70 units were seen on the streets. This gave a more confidence to new potential buyers coupled with many good motoring reviews of the car.

Proton then took 3 old existing models like the IRIS, Persona and the Saga and reworked them heavily as part of the facelift exercise. Geely sent numerous engineers from China to help with the facelift project which saw the quality of the car improve in the areas of NVH and build quality. when the facelift models were introduced numerous motoring journalists raved about the improvements which spurred more sales for Proton.

Proton has now capture the 2nd spot for car sales in Malaysia. This second place was lost to Honda in 2018 and now Proton is able to be competitive once again. Proton plans to launch a smaller SUV called the X50 which is based on a Geely model. This X50 is to be priced between RM75,000 to RM90,000 which is cheap and will affect the sales of Honda's BRV and HRV as well as the Toyota Rush and Vios. The X50 will come with a 1.5 litre turbo with a 6 speed direct shift gearbox, something unheard of in a car in this price range.

Geely plans to utilise more of its models for Proton to capture a greater portion of the car market. Companies like Nissan, Honda, Toyota and Hyundai should be worried, especially Toyota since its model offerings are either outdated model that have been revised or models using outdated technology. Proton's target market will no longer be for budget car buyers but will cater to a wider audience with its upcoming product offerings.

What all this means is that with the right injection of capital, models and engineering a company like Proton can be turned around. Prior to its acquisition by Geely, Proton was floundering and lost. The engineering team was lost and had no direction, the company was riddled with corruption and the dealership network was a complete mess. With the right management the company can return to profit and introduce exciting new models that people will want to buy.

EV or hybrid?

The automotive world is moving towards electric power but there are still some companies that still strongly support the internal combustion engine such as Mazda who firmly believe in the internal combustion engine. The rest of the world have either started their EV line up or have a hybrid in their current model offering.

The question now is which is a better option, the EV or the hybrid?

Many argue that the hybrid gives better flexibility in terms of usage since it does away with the range anxiety issue that is common with EVs. However, the hybrids of late have been plagued with problems stemming from the relays, power delivery switch module and battery itself. These problems are not isolated to the new hybrid adopters like BMW, Porsche, Mercedes but it also have appeared on Toyotas. There have been numerous reports on the Camry hybrid giving problems when the car's mileage hit 60,000km which is quite surprising since Toyota's record for reliability is the best in the industry.

The EV's problem is charging infrastructure, range anxiety, charging time (now much faster than before), and cost of battery replacement. Not everyone lives in a landed property that can facilitate EV charging and there aren't enough public charging stations. This is truly an inconvenience for EV owners. EVs are also more expensive to buy than regular cars due to their smaller production volume. In countries like Norway the emphasis have been on EVs and the government have put a lot of money into building the charging infrastructure to support it. In other countries the adoption is far slower as the cost of building the infrastructure is high.

there is no right or wrong option for these 2 types of cars but one must weigh out the pros and cons of both before committing to the purchase. Seeing that many countries have announced bans on fossil fuel cars by a certain year, it is very likely that the EV will be choice. The question is when is the right time to make the switch? In countries where the geographic area is huge and the distance between cities or towns is far the EVs will struggle to sell until there is sufficient charging infrastructure installed. Countries like Australia where the distance between cities can be over 1000km there are no EVs that can exceed 600km on a single charge, the driver will need to make at least 1 stop. Even with a rated 600km driving range the real world driving range will be at least 20% less due to the use of air conditioning and other electrical functions in the car. This means that the driver will need to stop twice for the same journey while the hybrid owner can just make just one quick stop for fuel.

From what is observed, the EVs make a lot of sense in highly populated cities to cut air pollution and since the required driving range isn't very far the EVs will be very suitable.

Audi recently made an announcement claiming that they have pioneered the technology to convert CO2 to fuel which can have a massive impact on the automotive industry. The conversion of CO2 into fuel can reverse the amount of carbon in the air and essentially kill the EVs. Many things may change in the next 10 years. It is too early to say what will happen and if governments will reverse their ban on fossil fuel cars.

Is Toyota becoming lazy?

In recent years Toyota has started to introduce car models that are not made by Toyota themselves. It started off with the GT86 which is designed and made by Subaru. In the US there is the Toyota Yaris sedan is actually Mazda 2 or a Mazda Demio (in Japan) and now there is the new A90 Supra which is designed and made by BMW. What is going on with Toyota? Are they taking short cuts now?

In 2013 Toyota worked with Subaru to have the GT86 / BRZ built. Subaru built a better car of themselves (the BRZ) with the profit they earned from building the GT86 for Toyota. The biggest difference was the BRZ had slightly better handling and used better materials for the car's interior. Saying all this, Toyota's GT86 sold more than the Subaru BRZ due to Toyota's wider dealership network and greater access to more markets.

In 2015 Toyota rebadged the Mazda 2 and sold it in the US as the Toyota Yaris Sedan. It is was a joke since Toyota didn't even bother to make any changes to the car apart from swapping the badges where applicable. The infotainment system was 100% mazda and even had the same i-loop and Skyactiv system in the car. This was downright a lazy effort on Toyota's part.

This year Toyota introduced the new A90 Supra which was designed and built by BMW. Toyota didn't hide the fact that the car was essentially a BMW claiming that BMW makes the best inline 6 cylinder engine and they wanted such and engine without having to develop one themselves. This time Toyota did put in some effort and changed the styling to create its own unique exterior.

With all this model borrowing and rebadging what is really happening to Toyota? They are a big company that is capable of developing cars on their own and do they really need to ask other car companies to make cars for them? Toyota isn't like Proton where the R&D team (previously before Geely took over) were made up of morons! Toyota has a massive R&D budget and have the capacity to make some very good cars. They were in fact right on top with new car development in the late 1980s and 1990s. It is very unlike Toyota to have other car companies make cars for them. It is common practice in the automotive industry where car companies share car model platforms and parts to save on cost and enjoy economies of scale. Toyota is one that was very good at this but they didn't share parts and platform with other car companies except for Daihatsu which they owned.

If Toyota keeps up the trend of borrowing models from other car companies soon it will lose its identity and Toyota fans may move to other car brands. it is pointless to buy a car that is rebadged when you can get the original for less money unless the rebadged version is a lot cheaper. In smaller car companies it is common to just rebadge models from bigger car companies but doing it the other way round is just shocking.

One would never expect Toyota to do this and when they first introduced the GT86 Toyota claimed that it was a technical collaboration with Subaru. Most people would have thought that this is acceptable and was probably a one-off project. When Toyota took the Mazda 2 and rebadged it as the Yaris Sedan that was just wrong!

hopefully this trend will stop soon. It is very strange to see such a top 3 car manufacturer do this.

New Toyota A90 Supra

The Toyota Supra is finally out after such a long hiatus. It is good that Toyota can finally inject some excitement into the brand. Yes! the car is made and designed by BMW. It is not such a bad thing since BMW do make the best straight 6 engine that is capable of some serious performance and is highly tunable which is something the after market guys will love.

The recent years Toyota has been stuck with the GT86 which is again built by another company Subaru. The GT86 was a very mild sports car to say the least and many enthusiast were craving for more performance but Toyota refused to make a faster version of the GT86. The Supra's launch was highly anticipated and created a lot of interest in the brand again.

Ever since the previous A80 model stopped production in the late 1990s many Toyota fans were waiting for a replacement model. Several concepts were teased at various motor shows but nothing as produced. The new Supra is more grown up and more comfortable than the previous model and carries over many parts from BMW apart from the engine and gearbox. The interior infotainment system is BMW, the centre console is BMW and the switches are also BMW. Toyota spent more time tweaking the suspension and other minor parts to try to set it apart from BMW.

Despite being down on power compared to its sibling the Z4, the Supra is supposedly faster accelerating than the Z4 (with 50hp more) which is hard to understand how this is possible. The only way this is possible is better traction from standstill. The car is much heavier than the GT86 by over 300kg but it makes up for it with the far superior power and torque.

Handling wise the car is not as nimble as the GT86 due to the extra weight and the brakes will fade after 5-6 laps of hard pounding on the track. Tuners are already starting to get ready after market tuning parts for the Supra and it will be the hot topic in the 2020 Tokyo Autosalon. Many tuning fans are already tired of the GT86 / BRZ since it has been in the market since 2013.

The sales of the Supra has been very encouraging with many first shipments sold before the cars were available in several countries. Having multiple variants do help with the sales as the entry level 2.0 turbo caters for the buyers who are buying it for the look rather than performance and with a small budget while the premium model caters for the buyers who want more luxury.

Depending on how this model sells over the next few years hope that Toyota will continue to build or introduce more sports models for the enthusiast. Toyota shouldn't ignore the enthusiast market and focus solely on making boring economy cars, MPVs and SUVs.

Driving behaviour in different countries

Driving behaviours vary from country to country. It also have a lot to do with the mentality and attitude of the drivers. In developed countries like Japan, UK and Germany the drivers obey the laws and will often follow a certain etiquette when it comes to driving. This behaviour varies tremendously and can sometimes be very shocking.

Lets break it down by several countries that I have observed:

- China (Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Beijing) : Car ownership is still relatively new and having a driving license is also new for many people in China. In the earlier years (around year 2000) the driving behaviour was atrocious as the drivers had zero respect for traffic laws, often drove against the flow of traffic to save time or to take a short cut. The accident rates were extremely high and resulted in high number of road fatalities. Ever since the Chinese Government's move to install millions of CCTV on highways and on city streets and impose heavy punishment on bad driving or breaking traffic laws the accident rates dropped significantly and the drivers now behave themselves and observe traffic laws.

- India (new Delhi & Bangalore): due to bad town planning and narrow streets the traffic is always bad in all major Indian cities. A two lane wide road will end up having 5 cars squeezing across the 2 lanes. The drivers still try to find short cuts even if it means driving against the flow of traffic. The driving speeds are generally very slow due to heavy congestion but the behaviours of the drivers don't help he situation. Seeing an already congested intersection the drivers will still drive their cars into the congested intersection to make it worse instead of waiting for the next traffic light change. The road conditions and the presence of cows on the road makes situation worse. Badly maintained heavy vehicles and trucks that regularly break down further amplifies the already terrible situation.

- Manila, Jakarta & Bangkok: In cities like Manila where town planning is bad due to prior corruption of politicians the traffic situation will never improve and it is like a perpetual traffic jam every day. The presence of Jeepneys (modified mini bus) that stop randomly makes traffic problem an endless ordeal. There is little to no chance of driving fast and the impatience of the drivers don't help the situation. The traffic police can do little to help the situation since the town planning is the biggest cause of traffic problems.

- Turkey (Istanbul) : by far the most dangerous place to drive. Almost every person driving a car is holding on to their phone texting another person or talk on the phone while the other hand is trying to steer the car or change gears (manual transmission). The drivers are very aggressive and drive extremely fast in narrow streets without fear of hitting pedestrians and have zero navigation planning. They would start driving and then try to find their destination on their phones instead of finding the destination on their phone's GPS before start driving. The cars would meander from lane to lane as the driver is too distracted with their phone to drive safely. Many cars have some sort of accident damage. It is evidence of how bad the driving conditions are in Turkey. The drivers are aggressive and are always in the hurry. Driving against the flow of traffic is common in Istanbul. the drivers have little to no regard for traffic laws.

- Dubai - It is like an Arab driving syndrome. They are always in a hurry, drive very aggressively and are always talking on the phone. The drivers are always distracted and never focus on driving. The accidents are usually big. Despite having big wide road with near perfect road surfaces the drivers are still crazy and all think they are Formula One drivers. Breaking the speed limit is the norm and way of life!

- Singapore : The punishment for bad driving is severe in Singapore but that doesn't stop the drivers behaving like buffoons when they cross over to Malaysia. Whenever they spot a foreign registered car driving in Singapore the Singaporean driver will want to cut off the foreign car. It is like a game for them. The Singaporean drives will get fined heavily when caught speeding or running red lights but they happily do it in Malaysia thinking that they won't have to pay for traffic offences in Malaysia. It is like a caged animal being let loose again!

Electric cars and the demise of the fossil fuelled cars

Ever since Tesla's model S was introduced the evolution of the electric car industry has been the talk of the automotive industry. Prior to that electric cars were thought of as a glorified electric golf cart. When Tesla unveiled the Model S many industry observers and several American car makers were laughing at Tesla and said that Tesla won't survive more than 5 years, that was in 2011. Fast forward 8 years and Tesla is leading the way with its electric car technology and no other car maker until today have caught up with it. Those American car giants had to swallow their words and admit that electric cars are the way forward. These car makers are also scrambling to design competitive electric cars to take on Tesla if they don't want to be left behind.

With more countries announcing the ban of gasoline and diesel engine cars, this push towards electric cars just got a lot stronger. Companies like Ford and GM cannot laugh at electric cars and it appears that they have lot of strong competition in this field. China car makers have embraced electric cars because in the eyes of the Chinese automakers it allows them to springboard forward and catch the other long established automakers in this field. China electronic industry and battery industry is one of the most advanced and for them to put together an electric car is not difficult.

China's attempted at making a world class electric car has started with few new comers such as Lynk & Co, Nio and Byton. The designs are not ugly nor are they mundane low rent looking cars. They have current design flair to it and have the technology to compete with the likes of Nissan (leaf) and Chevrolet. 

Some industry observers thought that Tesla was starting to rest on its laurels but every year they introduce something ground breaking like the first electric semi truck capable of 500 miles on a full charge and possibly one of the fastest electric sports cars with the Tesla Roadster 2 which claims a 0-100km/h time of under 2 seconds! Tesla keeps moving the yardstick further and further ahead making it difficult for many car makers to catch. Name such as Mercedes, Audi and Porsche have invested billions to develop their own range of electric cars which aim to compete head to head with Tesla. BMW also just announced their upcoming range of electric models starting in 2021. 

It is exciting times ahead and there will be a lot to look forward to in the electric car industry. The question remains if the older fossil fuel cars will still be relevant in the next 20 years in developed countries. The adoption of the electric car will be faster in developed countries but in poorer third world countries where electricity supply isn't as stable and charging infrastructure is poor it will be difficult to see electric cars over taking gasoline or diesel cars. Among the developed countries Japan seems to be slow to move toward electric cars. The car makers like Toyota, Honda, Subaru and Mazda don't seem to be bothered with full electric cars. Toyota is still sticking to its hybrid technology and Mazda is still championing their combustion engines.

Countries like Indonesia and Philippines will see slow adoption of electric cars, similarly with India and African countries. The reason for the slow adoption is the geographic nature of the country. Indonesia and Philippines are made up of hundreds of small islands while India together with many other developing countries like Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and many South American countries don't have stable electric power systems. This makes moving to electric cars very difficult.

Shifting to electric cars will be a painful challenge for some countries where charging infrastructure will be the biggest problem. Some countries struggle to generate enough electricity for regular use let alone charging a car which can take an additional burden. In countries like India, during summer the electricity usage spikes which causes often power outages. Charging an electric car in such situations will not be a huge problem. Then there is also the problem with charging in highly populated cities where even charging in one's home is also difficult since most of the population live in apartment buildings and having a charging point is not always an option.

Managing the development of the charging infrastructure will be vital for a successful conversion to electric cars.

Evolution of the BMW M3

BMW's M3 model is by far one of the most popular among the M cars produced by BMW. It is sporty, fast and is one of the best handling cars in its category. It has evolved from the sporty, sharp handling little sedan in the form of the E30 with just over 200hp but today the upcoming variant in the G80 boasts 480hp! The power output has more than doubled in the last 30 years!

The competition in the category is fierce with the Audi RS4 and Mercedes C63 offering equally capable models. The interesting thing to note that the upcoming G80 M3 will have as much power as the Porsche 997 Turbo!

One would never imagine that the power hikes can really be this much over 3 decades. The very popular E36 M3 Evo pushed out 321hp from a 3.2 litre engine which was one of the best engines of its time. Then came the E46 M3 pushing similar power before the E90 4 litre V8 made a big jump to 400hp. After that the F30 M3 came with 3.0 litre twin turbo pushing out 420hp.

The competitor from Audi had over 440hp and Mercedes's C63 had 500hp! BMW was under pressure to produce a monster capable of beating these two cars. On paper the horsepower was on but on the track the M3's handling was the best of the lot allowing to easily keep up or be faster than the other 2 cars on the track.

As the evolution of the model goes one will wonder how much further the engine power will increase. It is the same for the M5 which started off with the E39 model pushing out 300+hp while the latest variant pushes out over 600hp!

All these sports models from BMW have made sports cars look slow and forced the sports car makers to seek for more power. The terms sports cars is no longer exclusive to 2 door low slung sporty looking cars. The sports sedans are now deemed as a better choice since it can carry 5 people, have decent luggage space and is more comfortable to drive but yet have the performance when you need it. The term sports car is now just a blur!

Cross over models are they really practical?

Cross over models seem to be the popular among car makers these days with Mercedes, BMW and several others introducing their new cross over models. The trend started with BMW with the first generation X6. The car was an odd ball design that didn't quite seem practical in my opinion. Unlike a traditional SUV where the real trunk has a boxy design which is convenient to load luggage or cargo but the design of the SUV is not very sporty looking. Enter the X6 which had a swooping rear roof line and made the car look more sporty and coupe like but at the expense of rear trunk space.

The rear trunk space of the X6 was easily 30% smaller than the X5 and couple that with the swooping roof line it meant that loading tall items a real challenge. Mercedes then thought that they wanted to join the party and introduced their GLC couple and GLE coupe models. Both are similar in look but only difference is the size of the car. Both had swooping roof lines which meant that the rear trunk space would be compromised to some degree.

The question now comes: are the cross overs really practical? I find that the Mercedes GLC and GLE coupes are very odd looking and same goes for the X6. These cars are neither sporty to look like a sports car and it is not practical enough to be as good as a SUV. It is kind of caught in the middle. It is not the best of both worlds, in fact it is a failure to be either one. Some people like it and prefer these cross overs to SUVs because the SUVs are boxy looking and the cross overs have a sleeker shape. The cross overs do offer higher ground clearance compared to normal cars but most of them don't have really good off road ability nor will they be taken off road.

It is unlikely that these car makers will stop making cross overs as one of the best selling models are the SUVs or cars with higher ground clearance. This trend is so strong that Ford have stopped making traditional sedans and focused only on SUVs, trucks and the Mustang. I wonder if any other car maker will follow Ford's footsteps but at the moment it seems unlikely. Toyota, VW, Honda, Nissan and Renault have enough sales volume from normal sedans to justify the continuation of selling sedan models.

the ever increasing size of BMW's front grille

With each new model of BMW 7 series the front grille gets a little bigger. It is quite ridiculous that this keeps increasing in size. I wonder how much larger will it get in the next 20 years! If one looks back over the last 4 models it is very clear to see the gradual size increase. The car is no doubt evolving forward with the design and features but it is undeniably strange to see the grille grow over each generation.

Some people made memes of the car's front grille that it will grow to ridiculous proportions! I am wondering if BMW realise this or whether this is intentional.

On another note, the BMW interior is looking aged in comparison to Mercedes, Audi and Porsche. The recent updated interior of Mercedes have made it look a lot younger and would definitely appeal to the younger buyers. Audi has always been leading the way with innovative interior designs with the virtual cockpit and the interesting centre console design. BMW seems to be stuck in a time warp  and the interior design barely changed since the E60 model. The evolution is ever so slight and despite the new features such as touch screen iDrive and the gesture motion control, the car's interior still looks very early 2000. It does not feel 2019!

A classy or futuristic interior will attract buyers. Porsche had to up their game with their interiors as well and do away with the airplane cockpit style button layout in the centre console and introduce the touch sensitivity buttons that are black in colour. The wider high definition touch screen also make the car look current. I like how the new 992 model utilise a special analog tachometer in the middle of the instrument cluster to bring back the retro feel but yet the other cowls are digital to keep it in the modern era.

The most impressive of all are the new China designed cars. Their cockpit design can give many Japanese and Korean car makers a run for their money. The BYD models and NIO models have cool looking virtual cockpits that display a tonne of information and is customisable to suit the driver's preference. watch out for the upcoming EV models from china. it may surprise some people.

Why do French car makers struggle so badly in South East Asia?

French car makers like Peugeot, Citroen and Renault have been around for more than 60 years and collective have decent market share in European countries and South America but they struggle badly in South East Asia. Peugeot is the only car maker that performs better than the other 2 brands in Malaysia but is practically non-existent in Indonesia, Philippines and thailand. Renault struggles badly in Malaysia despite heavily promoting the Captur and Koleos models. The cars are priced competitively against German rivals VW and Japanese rivals Honda and Toyota. Combined the monthly sales volume seldom exceeds 100 cars which is not enough for a mass market brand to survive.

The struggle of the these French brands are mainly due to the lack of after sales support and poor reliability in the past. The earlier distributors did not offer good after sales service and parts support leaving many owners in a lurch when the cars had problem. It also compounded the problem when the cars were not reliable and was not topicalised to suit the humid climate. Having a bad reputation for poor reliability and bad after sales service the brand image took a big punishment making it very difficult to sell present models.

Used car dealers are reluctant to accept cars from these brands as it is slow to sell and very few customers would look to buy a French car.  All these factors make it an uphill battle to promote the brand. Renault may be actively in F1 but it does nothing for the brand in Asia. Renault tried to promote the sporty models like the Megane R.S. hot hatch but it was too niche and only enthusiasts would buy it. For the average buyer who had such a budget for a hot hatch they would either buy a VW Golf GTI or a used Mercedes A45 AMG. These two cars had much better residual values and could easily be sold in the second hand market.

Citroen recently tried to make a come back with the DS models. The cars look good but again the brand image has been damaged. The brand only appealed to the enthusiasts or the buyers who previously owned a Citroen. It was difficult to convert buyers from Honda, Toyota or Mazda to switch. Even if the buyers from the main stream Japanese brands would buy a European model it would most likely be a BMW, Mercedes or Audi.

The problem is the brand image of the French cars are stuck in limbo. It is neither low end or luxury. It is stuck in the middle to compete with the Japanese and Koreans which are often the preferred choice due to reliability and after sales support and also residual values. I believe it will take many more years before the French brands can make any head way in South East Asia unless they are willing to invest heavily in setting up production bases and reduce the prices significantly to capture market share. Renault did this in India and succeeded so this same formula is needed if it were to succeed in South East Asia.

China's new EVs will be a force to be reckoned with in the near future

I just returned from a business trip to china and all I saw was many hybrid and EVs on the roads and on display in shopping malls and in impressive car showrooms facing the main streets. What does this mean? China's foray into the EV market is growing by leaps and bounds unlike the information that is published in the western media. According to some local Chinese industry observers it is rumoured that 1 in every 3 cars sold in Shanghai alone is either a EV or a hybrid. Fuel prices in China is higher than in South East Asia but it is not as high as in Europe or Japan. The Chinese Government have been giving incentives to local car makers such as BYD, SAIC, Geely and many others to develop more EVs to help reduce air pollution. China's megacities are by far among the worst in the world in terms of quality and reducing the amount of smog by using EVs seems to be working.

The development of the EVs in China have been impressive. The Chinese car makers acknowledge that it will be a huge task for them to catch up to the Europeans or Japanese in terms of combustion engine technology so they shifted their focus to EVs which is easier to develop and also the most critical point is that all the materials needed to make the EV is readily available in China. China is the largest battery producer in the world and is the electronics manufacturing hub of the world. Accessibility for the required components is easy. Having said that many ex-Tesla engineers were also pinched by China car companies to help with the development of their EVs. This basically allows them to leapfrog the other car makers and be able to play at the front of the EV market.

Tesla is too expensive for many of the average Chinese buyers but a locally developed and produced EV with similar size and perhaps 60% of the performance capability of the Tesla at half the price would appeal to a big number of Chinese buyers. The incredible thing about the EV development in China is not just about creating the car but the infrastructure they have planned for it. For the new car company NIO that only produces EVs (and currently makes the fastest EV to lap the Nurburgring) they already have a battery swapping network in place across China. They claim that they can swap out a battery in under 5 minutes and replace it with a fully charged unit. This is as quick as refuelling at a gas station for a regular combustion engine car. This is solving a few issues that have been concerns of potential EV buyers. The range issue is solved and the battery life problem is also solved.

The design of the cars now look modern and come fully loaded with functions such as voice command, lane departure warning, traction control, blind spot warning system, interactive infotainment system and many more.

The car shown above is the Roewe Marvel-X which is owned by SAIC. this mid sized SUV comes in 2 variants, a basic 2WD and fully loaded 4WD version. On paper it claims to offer a 500km driving range when cruising at 60kph but in reality I would expect a realistic driving range of 380-400km since when you run the air conditioning and audio system and lights it will reduce the driving range. The car is capable of 0-100kph in 4.8 seconds. It is impressive to say the least and the expected selling price in China before subsidies is RMB200,000.
It claims to be able to achieve 80% charge in 40 minutes from a fast charger. This is good since many other Japanese EVs take much longer to charge.

Next comes the NIO ES8 SUV. This SUV is much larger and capable of seating 7 people. It has a driving range of 350km but the battery swap takes just 5 minutes. This car comes fully loaded is expected to cost US$60,000. The interior design is very cool and the build quality is top notch with nice materials used.

From what can be seen in China it can be said that the yardstick for the EV market just moved much further than I expected and I would also say that the Japanese car makers need to wake up and play the catch up game. The current offerings from Japan fall way short of what China has to offer. If the big guns in Japan remain asleep they will soon find themselves out of the game altogether. While the Japanese car makers still use the out of date Nickel metal hydride batteries for the EV, China is already using Lithium ion and soon lithium polymer batteries. I personally feel that the Japanese car makers have fallen far behind the EV industry. They will need something amazing to close the gap.

China and the European car makers are really pushing the development of EVs to a new level. It won't be long before China's EVs hit the world market. So far the EVs are only being sold in China but once the cars gain sufficient popularity in China the car makers will start to venture to other countries.

2018 Kuala Lumpur International motorshow

The Kuala Lumpur International motorshow 2018 (KLIMS) just opened today and it is the first time in 5 years the motorshow has been held. The motorshow had lacklustre turn out from visitors in previous years prompting the organiser to delay organising the motorshow by several years hoping that the long hiatus will create some interest from visitors to turn out in greater numbers. The fundamental part about any motorshow is the number of car companies that will participate and exhibit their new models or concept cars.

Sad to say the KLIMS 2018 is very pathetic since it could only attract less than 50% of the car companies present in Malaysia to participate. As expected the usual participating car companies would be Perodua, Proton, Kia, Hyundai, Toyota, Ford, Honda, Lexus, Peugeot, Mitsubishi and Nissan. As you can see many of the bigger names such as Mercedes, BMW, Audi, VW, Suzuki, Land Rover, Jaguar, Volvo, Mazda, Subaru, Renault, Alfa Romeo, Chevrolet, Maserati and Porsche were missing. One would accept if supercar makers such as Ferrari, Lamborghini and ultra luxury brands such as Rolls Royce and Bentley were missing. KLIMS consisted of 2 halls, one on level 1 and the second is on level 2. Level 2 housed Nissan, Petronas a several tinting brands and car care product retailers.

In short the motorshow is barely a motorshow when so many car manufacturers are not represented. A true motorshow would at least cover 75% of the brands that are currently sold in Malaysia. I can understand that brands like Alfa Romeo or Chevrolet is not represented since Alfa no longer has a distributor in Malaysia and Chevrolet's distributorship was just terminated with Naza.

Walking around Hall 2 where the back section was for accessories or automotive related products it was clear to see that the number of companies willing to exhibiting at this motorshow was very low. Many industry players such as major tyre companies, lubricant companies or mobile electronic companies were missing. Left were just a handful of window film suppliers and car care chemical suppliers. At the rate this event is going it is unlikely that there will be another KLIMS for many years to come.

Many visitors will feel that it is not worth spending RM20 to enter to see a handful of car makers exhibiting their cars. Unlike other international motor shows in other countries, the KLIMS is seriously a waste of time. The Bangkok motorshow which is held yearly has more to offer.

It was rumoured that in the past BMW and Mercedes were given false information about the competitor participating promoting BMW and Mercedes to participate but when one did not participate the car maker felt cheated and from then on they would not participate ever again. According to sources in BMW they would prefer to spend the marketing budget in smaller exhibits in major high end shopping malls which they can interact with buyer and receive immediate bookings for the cars without having to face their competitors.

Recently Hong Leong bank organised a premier banking event where they invited customers to test drive 10 different cars for free together with free lunch and drinks. The event was held over several days and received a great response from the customers which resulted in many of the car companies selling cars at the event.

I personally feel that motor shows in Malaysia is dead! The average salary earner with 2 or 3 children will not want to pay RM60 to visit a motorshow to see a handful of car companies exhibit their cars but they would pay RM30 to visit a car culture or motoring culture show like the Art of Speed. The visitors see more value when they can get up close to interestingly tuned cars or motorcycles and buy innovative bespoke merchandise.

those who still want to visit KLIMS, be warned!

making fuel from carbon dioxide and hydrogen

A company in Australia recently published a video about a technological break through that allowed them to create a carbon neutral clean burn fuel that can be used in any fossil fuel engine. This is amazing if it truly works. It basically combines the CO2 in the air and fuse it with hydrogen to make the liquid fuel that results in clean burn with zero emissions from the car's exhaust system. This is revolutionary as it will be like creating the perfect cycle in the fuel / combustion system. Whatever the car's exhaust puts out can be recycled into fuel to feed the car. This in the past is nothing but a dream but it appears that one company managed to do it.

This could mean that the electric car's future is numbered and may no longer be relevant. With this technology fossil fuel powered cars will be here to stay. This will open up further development of the combustion engine and motorsports. The electric cars will be a forgotten fad that never really took off. It will be interesting to see if any oil giant will buy up the patent for this technology or capitalise on it. So far there is no news about any investors stepping up to grab this technology. If the patent was open to all players it could very well help the motoring industry move forward.

Many electric car detractors still think that electric cars are counter productive in the carbon reducing effort which to some degree is true. The electricity used to power the electric cars are usually produced using fossil fuel or coal or nuclear power, only a tiny amount is actually from renewable energy such as hydro power, wind or solar power. This basically means that the electric car's source of power is polluting and it not much difference from a combustion engine car that produces carbon monoxide.

The CO2 to fuel concept will be way of the future if it is proven to work. According to the promotional video the cost of producing the fuel is cheaper than extracting crude oil and refining it into gasoline or diesel. This could mean cheaper fuel and cheaper transport costs which could lead to cheaper cost of food.

Driving a car using the recycled CO2 as fuel may be something in the future but it is definitely an interesting piece of technology that could alter the future of the automotive and transport industry.

Malaysia's 3rd national car

The rumours are buzzing again about the third national car and this topic does not seem to want to go away. This time round it appears that there is some sort of confirmation that it will be a private entity and the Malaysian Government will not be involved like how it was with Proton. However, the rumour is that the third national car will not be an electric car like how it was rumoured previously. It is strange that this new company would want to move into conventional cars since the future is electric with so many countries announcing that it will ban all fossil fuelled cars from a certain date in the future. Being a new entity with no prior history it should venture into electric cars as it is a fresh start and neither Proton or Perodua have any electric models.

The Government and Dr. Mahathir have been copping a lot of flack lately due to this topic as it appears to be his ego trip once again. He seems adamant to create the third national car since Proton failed and is not under Geely's control. His excuse is that it will create jobs and improve the industrialisation and engineering capability of Malaysia. He is also the one that does not want to admit that Proton is a failure.

The third national car can be introduced but not at the expense of other car makers. Dr. Mahathir in the past have allowed Proton to survive through protectionist policies which imposed heavy taxes on foreign car makers. The Malaysian public is sick of such actions and being deprived of buying foreign cars just to protect a poorly managed car company that produces substandard quality cars. The technology partner for the third national car is still unknown and if they were to introduce their first car in 2020 the company needs to be registered and the technology partner formalised. It is takes at least 24 months to develop and assemble a car from ground up. Seeing that the third national car is new it is likely that they will just do some rebadging like what Proton did in 1985!

Building a car from ground up is incredibly difficult and time consuming. It is not easy feat and to do one that the public will want to buy is a tall order. Even big companies like Toyota try not to introduce completely new models, they evolve a current model and improve it in critical areas and alter the exterior looks and call it a new model. It is rare that a large car company will create a brand new model from ground up unless it can see the business potential.

For one, I am not sure if this third national car will survive or even see the first model launch in 2020. With so little time and insufficient local engineering knowhow it looks like a long shot.

Mercedes EQC, Audi E-tron and Jaguar i-pace

The big luxury car manufacturers are now finally able to boast about their electric cars. Tesla's model S have been in the market for over 6 years now finally it faces some competition. This competition could seriously impact Tesla's business since Mercedes, Audi and Jaguar have a much larger sales network. All 3 manufacturers also have supercharging capabilities which allow faster charging than Tesla which is very important.
The biggest 2 problems with electric cars is the range and the time taken to charge the batteries. Mercedes' EQC can charge to 80% capacity in 40 minutes while the Audi can charge to 80% capacity in 30 minutes. This really helps especially when the driver needs to utilise the vehicle for long journeys.

The 3 models will take a chunk out of Tesla model X's sales since it is cheaper and more accessible. Tesla currently sells its cars on its own without appointing distributors or dealers. This basically limits its reach and coverage. In countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India and many other developing countries Tesla is not present while Mercedes, Audi and Jaguar already have a dealership network.

It will be a matter of time before BMW, VW, Toyota, Honda and Nissan introduces a flurry of electric cars. The question is how much will this impact Tesla. Will Tesla be able to survive when these giants get into the game. Tesla's trump card will be the gigafactory which aims to produces majority of the batteries for electric cars. The plan for the gigafactory is good but the construction is taking far too long and now China's BYD is teaming up with several battery manufacturers to building their own gigafactory and it appears that the construction have already begun and it progressing at a very rapid pace.

Tesla may have had the edge over the major car manufacturers but it seems like the competition have stepped up a notch and it won't be easy for Tesla to compete unless it changes its strategy. Since numerous Tesla engineers left for other car manufacturers so many new players have emerged making competition very stiff all of a sudden.

The EQC, E-tron and i-Pace may not be as quick as the Model X but it is good enough to rival the Model X and it has gained significant public interest. The electric car industry is really starting to heat up and will be exciting to see how it shapes up.

Proton X70 SUV

Proton finally launched the rebadged Geely Boyue as the Proton X70 SUV. This is the first time Proton offered a SUV in its line up. The entry model price is set at RM85,000 which is affordable for a SUV of its size. It is very likely to affect the sales of Honda's HRV and BRV which are priced at RM99,000 and RM85,000. The X70 holds a big advantage since it is larger than both the HRV and BRV and comes with a 1.8 Turbo engine.

Geely put a lot of effort into launching this car in a big way to capture a large slice of the market. The car comes in 4 levels of specification ranging from the basic 2WD to the top of the range 4WD version with a long list of accessories and functionality. For a so called local car it is unheard of to have such high level of specifications. Geely went all out to impress the local buyers to gain confidence for their ability to product decent cars at affordable prices. This of course is the long term strategy to build an image and move to exporting their cars to neighbouring countries such as Indonesia and Thailand. China cars struggle in Indonesia and thailand at the moment with Toyota, Honda and Daihatsu being the kings in these 2 countries. Geely through Proton wants to penetrate these markets.

Prior to the acquisition Proton was in the duldrums with its ageing models and dropping sales. The Malaysian public was sick and tired of the poor quality cars Proton produced and it was right timing that Geely came into the picture.

There is speculation that the Geely Borui sedan model could be introduced as early as mid 2019 to add to the Proton model line up. Proton desperately needs a new sedan model to boost its sales. The X70 will get the momentum going but the next sedan model will definitely boost the sales. It is rumoured that Geely already has plans to introduce 4 models over the next 2-3 years and increase their market share. The important thing now is to restructure the service centres to provide sufficient after sales support. Proton's service centres are notoriously poor in terms of service quality and it is about time that it is revamped to boost customer confidence.

In comparison to Perodua, Proton's after sales service cannot match the service quality of Perodua. the Japanese developed system of Perodua's after sales service is among the best in the industry and Proton needs to emulate this quickly. Selling many new cars is one thing but offering after sales service to meet the demand is just as critical. It will be exciting times ahead for Proton with many new models coming in.