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.

Second Tier car rental companies vs Tier 1 car rental companies

In recent years I have rented a number of cars in various countries from major car rental companies such as Thifty, Fox, Enterprise and Sixt; and also from second tier car rental companies such as Green Motion. The biggest difference is in the way the car rental companies deal with the customers and also how they make money. The major car rental companies are more professional and their customer service team appear to have greater attention to detail and offer newer cars while the second tier car rental companies do not have such a large fleet and many are a bit older or have higher mileage. The biggest difference is actually in how they make money. I find that the major car companies do not try to scam you out of paying for damages that does not exist or damage that was already there when the car was picked up.

I had the unpleasant experience of dealing with Green Motion at Heathrow which had a sneaky strategy to milk more money from the insurance or the renter claiming there is damage to the car. Upon checking with other friends who also rented cars from the same company, they too experienced the same thing. The officer who received the cars upon return would inspect the car and try to find scratches or dents on the car body and claim the insurance or claim the access for the damage. The car I rented had no new dents nor scratches but the rental car officer claims a new scratch was on the body work and wanted to charge 400 Pounds for the repair which was ridiculous since I could take any polishing compound and rub it out with a cloth! It was clear that they had the intention of making extra money from the insurance claim or the access. they may offer the lowest rental rate for the cars but they had plans to earn more from this tactic.

Be warned when renting cars from second tier car rental companies. Take a video and photos of the entire car (covering every corner for scratches or dents or any markings) and make sure that the damages on the car prior you collecting the car is recorded so you do not fall into their trap. it is time consuming but in the end it will save you a lot of problems and save you arguing with the officer.

Review of Malaysian automotive policy

Ever since the new Pakistan Harapan government took office the gossip going around is about the potential 3rd national car project. Dr. Mahathir is undeniably sore about losing Proton to Geely and seems adamant about starting another national car maker which is not something the public is agreeable to. Proton has been proven to be a real burden to the public and since the automotive industry has been partially liberalised over the last 8 years the automotive industry has grown steadily. Foreign car makers have made significant inroads into Malaysia and gained market share through compliance with previous automotive policies that required them to increase local content for their cars.

Now that the Pakatan Government is studying the possibility of the 3rd national car there is now the possibility of imposing import restrictions for foreign brands. This has not gone down well with the public and of course this will have a direct impact on the foreign car companies who have invest millions of dollars to setup manufacturing or assembly plants in Malaysia. For the sake of one man's pride and ego, the cost to the public will be tremendous. Naturally, Dr. Mahathir will steer this idea in a different way saying that it is to improve the engineering know-how and improve the industry. Seeing the results from Proton in the past, it is unlikely that the 3rd car company will be very different so long as the management consist of the same bunch of corrupt individuals who ran Proton previously.

In fact, liberalising the automotive industry will attract far more foreign investment that is much needed at this juncture. Even the Malaysian Automotive Association is against the idea of starting the 3rd national car company. Overall the Malaysian automotive industry has improved significantly over the last 8 years and the industry is thriving. Imposing restrictions will just reverse all the work that have been done to liberalise the industry.

The 3rd national car company will not materialise considering the large number of people who are against the idea. Nobody wants another under performing Government linked company that will survive only because of protectionism. The car prices have gradually reduced over the years and it has helped many new buyers. The public wants a level playing ground and have the choice of buying a car they want.

end of the key fob?

There are rumours that some auto makers are teaming up with tech companies to do away with the traditional key fobs. The main reason for this is security. Key fobs have been known to be compromised by thieves stealing security codes or it can easily be replicated with a key fob replicator machine. The idea behind better security is definitely warranted some insurance companies lose a lot of money when cars are stolen. However do away with key fobs is a real challenge. The idea is to use the smart phone to control the locking and unlocking of the car. The big problem is the smart phone is changed or upgraded more often now than before. The average ownership duration of a smart phone is 18-24 months. If the owner of the car changes his or her phone they would have to reprogram the security into the new phone and disable the old phone's function to prevent it falling into the wrong hands. If the car owner loses or damages their smart phone (which is very common these days) it would be highly troublesome if the owner of the car cannot access the car to go buy a replacement smart phone. With the traditional key fob the owner will be given a spare key fob that they can use to access the car.

The idea of replacing the key fob with the smart phone is good but it needs some serious considerations before implementation. I think it is difficult to completely do away with the key fob. I would think it would be better if they integrated the key fob functions into a smart watch and have the smart phone as a back up.

Using the smart phone to access the car doesn't make it much more secure. Smart phones have been hacked and the hackers are getting more sophisticated with their hacking easily bypassing security on the phone. There is no fool proof way of securing a car, smart car thieves will find a way to steal the car.

Car manufacturers have to outsmart the car thieves in order to secure the car. The problem is the thieves are getting smarter and they employ all kind of technology to help.

Electric race cars vs petrol powered race cars

In the recent Pike's Peak race up the hill, the new VW electric race car destroyed the lap record set by  Sebastien Loeb by 16 seconds! this is no joke as the electric car had blistering performance that made the previous Peugeot race car look slow!
Sebastien Loeb is the 9 time WRC rally champion and is one of the best drivers in the world. To have high record broken by a margin of 16 seconds is truly impressive.

The electric hypercar from China NIO EP9 broke the Nurburgring record and no other fossil fuelled cars could come close to beating it. It is obvious that the development of the electric motor and battery is able to jump by leaps and bounds giving car companies the ability to push the overall performance of their cars.

Porsche also showed its prototype electric car in testing mode with former F1 driver Mark Webber behind the wheel. Porsche will be launching their electric sports sedan later this year calling it the Taycan.

Performance electric cars are here to stay and is definitely the way of the future. It will also show in increasing numbers how efficient it can be and will make fossil fuel cars look slow. It is difficult for fossil fuel cars to beat the electric car. The development of the fossil fuel motor is almost at its peak and there isn't much room for further development however with the electric motor and battery the development is still at its early stage and there is a lot more room for improvements.

Tesla made electric cars cool and fast. NIO made electric hypercars super impressive... what's next?

Usable EV driving range for hybrids

What would one consider to be a practical EV driving range for hybrid cars? EV meaning electric vehicle or in the case of the hybrids driving in pure electric mode. Many car makers now have hybrids but some offer EV driving range of 30km while others can go as far as 60km. What would be considered a usable electric mode driving range. The Japanese makers like Toyota who are the pioneers in this technology use it more to improve fuel efficiency but the driving range in pure electric mode rarely exceeds 40km. BMW on the other hand like to use the hybrid system as a performance boost to allow the car to accelerate faster and offer greater driving performance.

Having a longer driving range will mean a larger battery which adds a lot more weight to the car and usually results in having a small trunk since a lot of the car companies like to place the battery at the back of the car. Bigger battery also makes it harder for the designers to package the vehicle's usable interior space. In some cases the large battery pack raises the floor reducing leg room for the rear occupants and in the case of Mercedes and Ford the rear trunk ends up having a strange kink which makes it very difficult to load cargo.

Having tried several hybrid cars from different auto makers the best trade off between EV range and compromise in terms of usable interior space, the Toyota Prius is still the best. The car's battery despite being very old tech in the present era it still works very well. The old fashioned nickel metal hydride battery is not as good as the new lithium-ion batteries but it is very reliable and stable. Toyota managed to package it well that it doesn't look out of place compare to other car models. Toyota designed the car as a hybrid from day 1 compared to other car companies that design their models as a regular fossil fuel powered car and try to squeeze some space for the battery to incorporate a hybrid setup.

A purpose designed hybrid car will always work better than a car that is designed to add on a hybrid model. The new Prius is quite ugly to say the least but the interior space is well planned and the performance from the engine + electric motors work seamlessly. Unlike the system in the Mercedes E300 diesel hybrid, the Prius's transition from combustion engine to electric mode feels seamless and you often don't realise that the car is running on electric mode. The Mercedes system is quite intrusive with the car body shaking when the diesel engine or petrol engine starts. Toyota got it right and the smooth transition in modes really is impressive. Having the car shake when the engine starts up is very annoying. This is the same for BMW hybrids.

In my opinion having an electric power driving range of up to 70km will be the best. Most city driving trips often do not go beyond 30km and with a 70km range one is able to go to the destination and back on electric mode. The battery recharging during braking and off throttle cruising will of course help with the range. Using as little fossil fuel is the aim of the game here.

I believe the newer hybrid models will soon reverse the usage of fossil fuels vs electric power meaning that the main power source that drives the wheels of the car will be electric power and the fossil fuel motor is there as a range extender. BMW have already started this with the i3 model and same for the Chevy Volt which uses a petrol engine as a range extender. I think this concept is very practical and will offer much better fuel economy than the current typical hybrid setup.

Road tax or car registration charges

Every country implements a different system when it comes to charges for annual car registration or in some countries it is referred to as road tax. Some countries calculate the annual registration fees based on the vehicle's engine capacity while others are calculated based on vehicle weight. It is quite common to have the registration calculated based on vehicle engine capacity but this system is highly unfair. This system penalises anyone whose vehicle has a large engine capacity. The make matters worse the calculation is not linear meaning for every cc the rate of increase is not uniform. In Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand the calculation becomes exponential once the engine capacity exceeds 2,000cc. In Malaysia where the fuel is subsidised the Government wants to discourage people from owning vehicles with large engine capacity since it will affect the Government.

In countries like Australia, NZ and US the car registration is a flat fee regardless of engine capacity and hence it is common to see cars with 5 litre engines or larger. It is based on a user pays concept which makes more sense. The fuel is not subsidised and if you have a large engine capacity the fuel consumption will most likely be much more than a  car with 1500cc engine hence the user will end up paying more for fuel. The comparison in types of cars sold in Australia vs South East Asians countries paints a clear picture of the country's policy. In Asia the bulk of the cars sold are small cars with engine capacities not exceeding 2 litre while in Australia it is common to see cars with 3.5 litres or 5 litre engines.

some countries implement a weight penalty for heavy vehicles. This is done to penalise those heavy vehicle owners because most road surface damage are caused by heavy vehicles. Thailand has a system like this to penalise heavy vehicles. Previously in Japan the car's registration is calculated based on the width of the car. This unique because of the narrow streets in Tokyo. This is why we used to see cars with mirrors placed on the front fender in the 1980s. Japan has since stopped using this system.

In my opinion the user pays concept is the best since the buyer is free to choose how big their vehicle's engine is and they just end up paying for the fuel that they use. There will be a more diverse range of cars on the road and also people will have more freedom of choice.

All this will of course change in the not so distant future with electric cars coming in. The question is how will the Governments calculate the registration charges for electric cars? will it be a standard fixed fee or will it be based on the battery capacity?