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.