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.