2014 Tokyo Autosalon

It is Autosalon season again and this year the show is as big as last year's! so many crazy tuned cars and so many bodykits on display. The show organizers did cut back on the number of Toyota GT86 and Subaru BRZ on display. A better variety of cars were on display with some serious bizarre looking vehicles which look totally unrecognizable.
As usual there were plenty of girls to grace the cars and also big collection of new wheels on display with a massive 32" set of wheels put on a Lexus GS model. Some of the cars were wrapped in extreme graphics and new textured wraps. It is amazing to see how creative some of the tuners get when they have unlimited budgets.

The up and coming tuner, Liberty Walk was on display with their ultra wide body Ferrari 458 and several other models. Subaru took the chance to display their new upcoming Levorg model which is similar to the upcoming WRX wagon. Not sure if Levorg is the name that will be used in Japan only but the car looks good nevertheless. It is definitely a big improvement over the previous Subaru models. Nissan also took the chance to display their new X-Trail and Skyline which also looks much better than previous models.

There were also American muscle cars on display such as the Hennessey Corvette C7 and the HRE Ford GT. Over the 3 days, the Autosalon easily attracted over 250,000 visitors cover all 11 halls. The show's support came from car makers which now recognize the Autosalon as a major automotive show that they cannot miss.

Many tuning companies and parts suppliers also displayed their product for all to see. Racing teams also took the opportunity to show their race cars for 2014.

Motorshows in Asia

Motorshows are always fun and exciting events that show case new, future and current cars. The big named car makers will take the chance to display their technology and new concepts to tease the public on what will come soon. Of course we cannot forget the beautiful models that are also part of the motorshow.

In Asia the best motorshows to visit are Tokyo (because of all the new technology and numerous concepts on display), Thailand (being the Detroit of South East Asia), Shanghai (China car companies take the opportunity to show how far they have come and their new models due to be launched) and Korea (Kia and Hyundai have made great improvement in terms of design and technology it is worthwhile checking out their latest cars). These motorshows bring an element of excitement to the motoring industry. These shows are so popular that over one weekend over 100,000 visitors will flock to the shows.

On the opposite end of the scale, the worst shows to visit in Asia are the KL International Motorshow in Malaysia and the Singapore motorshow. Both of these shows are a complete waste of time as 30% of the major car makers are absent from the show leaving the event somewhat disappointing. Missing big names is one issue but showing mostly current models that are already sold in the showrooms really means that the visitors have nothing new to see at the show. To makes matters worst, the cars are locked and visitors are not permitted to open the doors to view the interior!

If you happen to be in Tokyo, Bangkok, Shanghai or Seoul during motorshow season, make sure you don't miss out and spend half a day to visit these shows. On the other hand if you happen to be in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore during Motorshow season.. don't bother wasting your money. you can see the same cars at car dealerships for free!

evolution of Chinese made cars

China made cars are playing the catch up game and the rate which they are catching up is scaring other car companies in Japan and Korea. Recently Chery hired a top designer from Porsche to design their new car. They followed the route which Kia took by hiring the Audi top designer. The result is obvious the new Chery car looking European and with a modern look.

The car's appearance is no longer boring and square. The new design makes the car look sophisticated, elegant and modern. Kia enjoyed tremendous success doing this and Chery looks set to see more success in the near future.

Other China car companies have also invested a lot to play catch up by hiring German engineers to help develop engines and drivetrains. Great Wall Cars recently introduced their 1.5 litre turbo engine pushing out 150ps which is commendable for a first effort. The history of Great Wall Cars is relatively short in comparison with Proton and yet it took them less than 8 years before coming out with their very first turbo engine while Proton took over 20 years!

Big names such as Borg Warner, Getrag, Monroe, Bosch and Delphi are now heavily involved in China to develop cars with China car companies. The technology transfer and collaboration is moving at such as fast pace that with each passing motorshow, so many new models are hitting the showrooms. Each model looking better than the previous and more technology being used.

It won't be long before China cars will be able to give Hyundai and Kia a run for their money and soon after that the Japanese cars. China car companies are cash rich and are able to buy technology to close the gap. The next step is to see the improvement in build quality and reliability.

It still remains a mystery if China car companies will enter motorsports to develop their technology and build their brand but with the high sales figures in China domestic market alone, they may just need to keep buying technology to move forward. Motorsports and racing may just not be necessary.

future of motorsports in Malaysia

The future of motorsports seem very bleak in Malaysia with numerous events calling it quits after 2013. The Super GT from Japan had its last event in 2013 with the organiser losing more than USD1 million, the Formula Drift Asia is also destined to end since the 2013 event was rained out and the organizer was not paid the sponsorship money causing the company to close down. The KL International motorshow also did not perform well with 6 car manufacturers missing from the event. Some of the reasons why the events have come to an end is to do with the cost of organizing the event where Sepang F1 track owner (SIC) charging a large sum for certain event making it not financially feasible for organizers to hold events that can make any profit.

Speedcity in the south of KL has also closed down bringing an end to a drift venue for grassroots drifters to practice and compete. 

The Youth and Sport Ministry which is suppose to be in charge of motorsports has done nothing for motorsports. The KL Motopark which was suppose to be a scaled down race track meant for circuit racing and drifting had the ground breaking ceremony many years ago but nothing has happened since then. It is unsure if the project ground to a halt due to political reasons or someone has siphoned off the money.

Malaysia is in need of 2 more small tracks with about 3km in length that is suitable for touring car racing capacity. A track similar to that of Tsukuba in Japan will suffice and encourage the development of motorsports in Malaysia and also keep the street racers of the city streets. Motorsports fans are yearning for more events and would like to see the development of the motorsports industry. There is definitely no shortage of motorsports fans but due to limited venue and events, it seems like the future of motorsports is remain bleak for the foreseeable future.

Direction of the Automotive industry in Malaysia

The automotive industry in Malaysia looks almost certainly lost in the sense that the Malaysian govt has been procrastinating about their National Automotive Policy. When they first mooted the tax exemption for hybrid cars it opened pandora's box and a flurry of hybrid cars entered the country at much lower price due to the tax exemption. This of course meant that the govt earned less tax from these cars. The Malaysian Govt did not anticipate the sudden surge in sales for hybrid cars which affected the sales of local cars.

There is rumour that the govt will end this exemption for all hybrid cars and only allow locally assembled hybrid cars to enjoy the hybrid tax exemption. This means that only the Honda Jazz will benefit from the exemption. The sales of the locally made cars especially Proton has seen a decline as more and more Malaysians are shying away from buying Protons in search for better quality cars. Proton has not made any improvements and their latest Suprima S model only received lukewarm response.

The Govt is trying to make a balancing act by protecting Proton while trying to encourage investment from foreign car companies. The constantly changing automotive policy has left many car companies guessing and most has lost confidence in investing more than they should in Malaysia. The knock on effect of this minimal or no growth for the automotive industry in 2014. With the already high taxes imposed on cars and the constantly rising cost of living, it is unlikely that we will see any growth at all.

supercar benchmark

Every new supercar is claiming to produce more power and torque with the aim of beating their rivals to the coveted title of being the best and the fastest. It seems that in the last decade there has been a massive paradigm shift with the supercar development. From the 500hp level supercar to now 900+hp. the jump in power figures has been tremendous. The new Mclaren P1 is pushing the technology envelope with electric power assist and Porsche's 918 is also using hybrid power. this has started to make the Bugatti Veyron look old when comparing technology.

The Americans have also jumped on the bandwagon and took fast cars and made then ridiculously fast. Hennessey took the GT-R and made is push out over 1400hp and also made the Venom (based on the Lotus) with more than 1000hp. Both of these are capable of making Lamborghinis look slow.

The question remains with where will this development taper off? at 1500hp? 1800hp? or 2000hp? Are the tyre companies able to make tyres to cope with such speed? And with the road getting more congested each day, will anyone really have a chance to push these cars to their limit outside of Germany?

The effort and technology is truly admirable but is it really useful?

Toyota GT86 experience

There was a lot of hype about the Toyota GT86 as the car that was expected to re-introduce some excitement into Toyota's model line up. It was definitely a fresh look at something sporty rather than the typical bland old Toyota cars.
The promised a lot in terms of handling and it certainly performed well in this department.
Toyota kept the weight of the car low with the much preferred front engine rear drive layout. The only sad point about this car is the power or lack of it. At 200ps the car seemed flat and was not able to really perform like one would expect from the good exterior looks.
Handling alone will win it many fans but most of the owner yearned for much more power. The car had a flat spot at 4,000 rpm which can be annoying to drive especially if the driver needed to down shift the car to overtake.

A whole flurry of tuning parts have hit the market to boost performance and handling. Being an affordable sports car in many countries the Toyota 86 has sold reasonably well. It is the new toy car in Japan as can be seen in numerous car magazines from Japan.

Toyota should consider a more powerful version to cater to the demands of enthusiasts. It will definitely revive the Toyota brand in the right direction.