Proton launches Persona in Middle East

Proton has launched its Persona into the Middle Eastern market - the model was launched both in Saudi Arabia on Nov 22 and Egypt on Nov 24. The Gen2 model was also launched in Egypt. This will be followed by a series of launches in Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Syria market over the next two months.

Proton entered the Saudi market in 2006 when it introduced the Waja model via a smart partnership collaboration with local outfit Al Rashed Al Thunayan Auto Co.

As for Egypt, the company first launched the Waja and Wira models in 2001 and in 2006 brought in the Gen.2 hatchback, with Alpha Ezz Elarab Co being its distributor in the country.

Article and image source : star-motoring.com [Read more!]

Mitsubishi i MIEV coming to KL

Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia will be showcasing the i MIEV electric car at the International Petroleum Technology Conference (IPTC) from Dec 3-5 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

The IPTC is considered to be be one of the foremost technical conferences globally for the energy industry, and issues tackled are in the areas of energy conservation, climate change and alternative energy. Over 4,000 participants from around the world are expected to attend the conference.

MMM hopes that through the showcase of the i MIEV plug-in electric vehicle, it will promote greater appreciation for the superior practicality and environmental viability of such vehicles. The i MiEV’s lithium-ion pack will also be on display.
The battery, which takes about approximately seven hours to be charged using 200V current, gives the i MiEV a 160km range and a top speed of 130kmh.

The i MiEV is slated to be launched in Japan next year; presently, Mitsubishi is conducting fleet tests in cooperation with several Japanese electric power companies.

For exclusive passes to the Mitsubishi i MiEV showcase at the IPCT, please contact Shermaine / Sarah at 03-7680 6688 (admission is only for those aged 15 and above, and on a first come, first served basis).

Article Source : star-motoring.com
Image Source : star-motoring.com [Read more!]

Ford F-150 pickup is king of the mountain

2009 Ford F-150

As the redesigned 2009 Ford F-150 pickup starts rolling into dealerships, Ford marketing executives are eschewing those elaborate TV commercials in which trucks swing by their tow hooks in giant centrifuges, race through gantlets of flying steel pendulums or chatter their brakes to the edge of a precipice while trying to stop a 10,000-pound trailer.

They do need a little updating. Can we see how many unsold copies of the new Guns 'N Roses album "Chinese Democracy" the new F-150 can hold? (Not nearly enough.) Can we see a truck grinding up Pike's Peak pulling a trailer full of deposed congressmen stacked like cordwood? Can two Ford pickups tug Madonna's face any tighter?

A $100 bill weighs 1 gram. The new F-150 has class-leading hauling capacity of 3,030 pounds. It would take a fleet of 181 F-150s to transport $25 billion in bailout money from the nation's capital to Dearborn, Mich. I'll help drive.

I guess these are inauspicious days to launch a pickup. The light-vehicle market has gone China Syndrome; the chief executives of the Detroit Three are groveling in their pinstripes on Capitol Hill; and there is, in the air, a diffuse but real sense of repudiation toward full-size pickups. The F-150, perennially the bestselling vehicle in America, has fallen on hard times. Sales are down 26% this year, and Ford will be lucky to move 500,000 F-150s this year, down from about 700,000 in 2006.

Nearly gone are the high-riding carbon cowboys in their shiny pickups, the all-hat poseurs, the "never-never" buyers (never tow, never haul). Pickup trucks have an ideology and that ideology is conservative, Red State Republicanism.

Pickups just lost the White House.

Yes, Dearborn has its troubles but this is the best pickup truck on God's little acre. Yes, the Japanese have beaten up on the domestics, but Toyota and Nissan only wish they knew how to build a full-sizer as tight, as tough, as well-sorted, as keen and mean as the thing behind the Blue Oval. I mean, people, it isn't even close.

My Car of the Year is a truck.

I don't own a gun rack and I'd like to shoot Toby Keith out of the nearest cannon, so a pickup truck has to go a long way to blow my mind. What the Ford does is simply exceed expectations by a few degrees in every category.

It rides a little more smoothly. It's a little quieter. It's more agile in day-to-day driving and more of a draft horse when you need it to haul or tow. It's better equipped. When you add all those margins up, the Ford is vastly better than anything else in its class.

Take, for example, its bronze-bell solidity. Ford isn't the only truck maker to use hydro-formed, fully boxed high-strength frame rails in the chassis. But it might be the only one that laser-welds the roof seams and body side panels to the truck's superstructure.

Compared with robotic spot-welding, seam welding essentially turns the various welded parts into a single piece of steel. The resulting sense of foundry casting isn't something you can exactly measure, or even describe. You slam the door and nothing trembles or rattles. You mat the throttle on the open highway and what you hear in the cabin is a deep, pleasant timbre. Between the fancy engine mounts, the clever tuning of bushings and chassis mounts, and acres of sound deadening, the F-150 has the noise-vibration harshness of a luxury car.

The pickup proprieties have been observed. Three cab styles, four box styles and seven trim levels are available, including the new Platinum series (electronics galore, 20-inch chrome wheels, brushed alloy trims in the cabin, power-deployable running boards, heated/cooled seats, and loads of mirror-polished metal). The F-150 XL regular cab starts at $21,320, while a loaded Platinum series SuperCrew 4x4 will approach $50,000.

Three V-8 engines are offered: a 5.4-liter three-valve (320 horsepower); a 4.6-liter three-valve (292 hp); and a 4.6-liter two-valve (248 hp). Mileage is up across the line. The 5.4-liter, backed by a six-speed automatic, returns 14 mpg city and 20 mpg highway, largely thanks to the new six-speed automatic (the 2008 F-150 got 14/17 mpg). Ford is also offering something called the Superior Fuel Economy package that, with the help of a friendlier rear-axle ratio and low-rolling-resistance tires, gets 15/21 mpg in city and highway driving, respectively.

Three quick hits:

* The SuperCrew (four-door) configuration is 6 inches longer in wheelbase and overall length, and that extra room is used to enlarge the rear doors and rear cabin. With the rear seat flipped up, the truck has 57.6 cubic feet of enclosed cargo space -- more than a lot of mid-size sport utility vehicles or wagons. The rear seating is the size of a squash court.

* Ford rules the cargo box: Among the many fun features are a deployable side step (to help reach inside the truck); a fold-out tailgate step with assist handle; and a set of slide-out tool trays or drawers built into the lower quarter panel.

Also, Ford is offering a package called Work Solutions. Designed for the truck-based entrepreneur, the system offers high-speed Internet access, navigation, fleet tracking and PC programs such as Microsoft Excel and Word, all built into the dash-mounted LCD display. With a wireless keyboard and printer, you can type out and print invoices right there in the client's driveway.

The system also includes Tool Link: You can put radio-frequency identity (RFID) tags on your tools, and the truck will electronically inventory them every time you start the engine and remind you if a tool is missing. Also handy is a heavy-duty, self-spooling cable lock that keeps tools from walking off.

* Trailering: The F-150 is rated for 11,300 pounds of towing, which is 600 pounds more than a comparable Chevy 1500. Stability control is standard, as is trailer-sway control (the system will null out uncontrolled oscillations in the trailer using selective braking).

Integrated trailer-brake control is also offered, replacing those clunky plug-in modules that you install under the dash. In my half-day test drive, towing a 5,000-pound box of something, the trailer-braking action was far smoother and more integrated than that provided by the usual auxiliary modules. Another option: a reverse camera. Don't back up in the Whole Foods parking lot without it.

Aesthetic and athletic, with tremendous build quality and dozens of fall-in-love features, the F-150 refutes the easy dismissal of American automaking as somehow feckless and inefficient. These days, selling lots of pickups may be harder than swinging in a giant centrifuge or jumping lakes of fire. But I do believe the F-150 will survive just fine.

Source : latimes.com
Image: latimes.com

2009 Ford F-150

[Read more!]

2009 Lancer Ralliart and Ralliart Sportback Now On Sale in Australia

2009 Lancer Ralliart

Mitsubishi Australia has formally announced that the turbocharged, AWD "Baby Evo" is now available from dealerships nationwide. We already told you about the Ralliart's mechanical specs before, so we won't repeat ourselves here. What we will say, however, is that for just $42,490 for either sedan or Sportback the Lancer Ralliart makes a solid case for itself as a mid-range sportscar with loads of potential.

Sure, it might be a couple of G's pricier than its nemesis the Subaru WRX, but it comes with Mitsubishi's excellent TC-SST double-clutch gearbox as standard and is but a turbo swap and a re-tune away from churning out Evolution X levels of power.

It's also reasonably opulent for a Lancer too, with Aussie-spec Ralliarts receiving aluminium pedals, leather trimmed steering wheel and gearshifter, power windows, Smart Key central locking, climate control and automatic headlights and wipers. A 9-speaker Rockford Fosgate stereo system is optional, as is a sunroof. Make mine a white Sportback, please.

Source : Japancarblog.com
Image : Mitsubishi

2009 Lancer Ralliart [Read more!]

New NSX Gets Nekkid?

Honda NSX

British mag Auto Express has come to the fore with what appears to be the first peek beneath the upcoming successor to the legendary NA2 NSX. AE's cutaway appears to be very similar to an allegedly genuine rendering that they published months ago, so this may very well be the real deal.

There's not much to see other than a very Corvette-like intake plumbing arrangement for the NSX's 600hp naturally-aspirated V10 and an interior that appears to be just as cramped as that of an S2000. Like all good supercars, the front suspension is a bona-fide double-wishbone type and we don't see any driveshafts leading into those front hubs, so it's probably safe to say that those rumours of an AWD NSX are just that: rumours.

Source : Autoexpress.co.uk

Honda NSX

[Read more!]

2010 Honda Insight Becomes Clearer at Paris Show

2010 Honda Insight

The new Honda Insight has broken cover at the Paris auto show.The new hybrid vehicle revives the Insight nameplate formerly applied to the two-seat hybrid vehicle that inaugurated the gas-electric class in the United States in the late 1990s. It also bears a distinct resemblance to that other hybrid you might have heard of, and that's a battle set to take place in U.S. showrooms early next year.

Honda says the Insight's shape bears the hallmarks of its larger, fuel-cell-powered FCX Clarity, but it's hard not to see some echoes of the Toyota Prius in its greenhouse--though the front end is quite Civic-like in its appearance. The new Insight seats five, Honda says, and the rear seats fold for improved cargo access.

The important innovation in the new Insight is a much less complex, much more affordable hybrid drivetrain, the company says. It will allow the Insight to be sold for a price significantly lower than today's hybrids, Honda says. The automaker expects to sell 200,000 of the vehicles each year worldwide, with 100,000 heading to the United States from its Suzuka, Japan, factory. Combined with a production version of the CR-Z coupe hybrid concept, the new family of hybrids could swell to 500,000 sales annually.

The new 2010 Honda Insight goes on sale in the U.S. in the spring of 2009. More details to come--stay tuned.

2010 Honda Insight

[Read more!]

Honda FC Sport - Fuel-cell goes funky with Honda's latest green sports car

Honda FC Sport

This concept car was one of the nice surprises at this year’s Los Angeles Show; the Honda FC Sport is a hydrogen-powered three-seat sports car concept that took everyone by surprise on press day.

Using the fuel-cell technology first seen in the Honda FCX Clarity, the Honda FC moves the fuel cell stack, battery pack and electric motor to the mid-engine position for ultimate dynamic behaviour. Peer through the rear window and you can see the two fuel storage tanks that sit on top of all the mechanicals, just like you do on a Ferrari F430. The car boasts a central driving position, with a passenger seat positioned on either side to make it a three seater.

The Honda FC Sport was designed at Honda’s Advanced Design Studio in Pasadena, California, with the original idea being to create the basis for an ultimate Honda sports car that would use existing fuel cell technology. Looks like they succeeded in spectacular fashion in our eyes, lets just hope we see it produced one day.

Honda is fast-establishing itself as a key player in future technologies, with cars that appeal to us as much as those wanting to save the planet - just look at the OSM and CR-Z from recent motor shows.

Source : evo.co.uk

Honda FC Sport

[Read more!]