Mazda and Ford will invest a further USD 350 million in their Thai joint venture, AutoAlliance Thailand (AAT), to produce the next-generation Mazda/Ford compact trucks scheduled for production in mid-2011. The latest deal pushes the total investment amount in AAT to USD 1.85 billion since 1995, reinforcing Mazda and Ford’s long-term commitment to Thailand, whose government has …Read More

Proton has reported solid earnings for the first quarter of financial year 2010 which ended June 30. Compared with the same quarter in 2009, revenue increased by 23.6 percent to RM 2.29 billion from RM 1.85 billion, while net profit jumped 55.2 percent to RM 84.7 million from RM 54.5 million. The rosy result is attributed …Read More

Proton has done tremendously well in the 25 years since its formation, and has the potential to achieve a stronger presence in the global markets going forward. That is what Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia’s ex-Prime Minister who acts as an advisor to Proton, has to say about our national automaker which he had played a key role in creating. …Read More

Volkswagen Malaysia will most likely be locally assembling the Golf GTI, Beetle and Passat CC, going by the popularity of the three models which, together, represent 68 percent of the total volume of cars sold in the first half of 2010. The Golf GTI accounted for 273 units, the Beetle with 96 units and the Passat CC contributed …Read More

Volkswagen Malaysia will be locally assembling three Volkswagen models by the end of the first quarter in 2011, after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with DRB-Hicom Bhd at the Volkswagen Centre in Singapore. In addition to the production of CKD (completely knocked down) units, the agreement also covers the strengthening of Volkswagen’s local presence through various sales activities. …Read More

Ssangyong Motor, the struggling South Korean manufacturer of Rexton II and Actyon Sports among other mainly SUV models, has named Indian group Mahindra & Mahindra as the preferred bidder. Mahindra has beaten out five other short-listed bidders, including a Nissan-led consortium, South Korean Young An Hat Co Ltd, which owns Daewoo Bus, and Indian PK Ruia Group, …Read More

The Power of Dreams, the famous Honda slogan, should be changed to The Power of Honda. The Japanese brand has hit an all-time high monthly sales record of 4586 units in July—25 percent more than the number of units sold in July last year. With 26,734 units sold thus far this year, Honda Malaysia is targeting to sell …Read More

The automotive world is losing out to the environment. Not long after the demise of Honda Civic Type R sedan in Japan and Malaysia as well as Mazda RX-8 in U.S. and Europe, the Euro-spec Honda Civic Type R hatchback will be phased out after failing to meet the forthcoming EuroV emissions regulations, with production ending in October and …Read More

Toyota is developing an all-new low-cost, compact car aimed at emerging, fast-growing markets such as China and Southeast Asia, which of course includes Malaysia. According to Japanese newspaper Chunichi Shimbun which reported this news, the new car is slated for launch in 2012, costing under one million yen (37,113 ringgit). To lower the development costs, the compact car …Read More

China’s Geely has completed the purchase of Volvo from Ford, marking a Chinese firm’s biggest acquisition of a foreign automaker in a deal worth USD 1.8 billion (RM 5.7 billion).With the transaction now finalised, Geely can turn its attention to restoring Volvo to long-term profitability; The Swedish company may have sold 334,000 units in 2009, but still recorded an overall loss. …Read More

General Motors, the American company behind the Chevrolet brand, intends to play a bigger role and gain more market share in the South-East Asian (ASEAN) region. Thanks to improving economical conditions, GM expects the region’s “Big Three” markets to achieve substantially more car sales in 2010 compared with 2009. For the whole of this year, Thailand is expected to achieve car sales of …Read More

Sisma Auto Sdn Bhd, the official distributor for the Jaguar brand in Malaysia, aims to sell at least 100 Jaguar cars for 2010, a similar figure to the sales achieved for the last two years. With the launch of the new Jaguar XJ large luxury sedan, which joins the current model range including the XF mid-size luxury sedan and the sports car …Read More

Toyota is back to its best with the company’s latest financial result. For the first six months of 2010, Toyota group—made up of the Toyota, Daihatsu and Hino Motors brands—sold 4,165,590 units, a 16.9 percent increase compared to a year before. Likewise, global production numbers rose by 46.8 percent to 4,356,597 units. Toyota …Read More

Mercedes-Benz Malaysia has reported excellent sales performance for the first half of 2010, selling 2417 vehicle units which represent a 29 percent year-on-year increase. The compact luxury C-Class, mid-size luxury E-Class and large luxury S-Class all performed well in their respective segments, giving Mercedes-Benz Malaysia the lead over BMW Malaysia in terms of overall sales numbers. “Our market leading position in the …Read More

Honda is gearing up for a future centred around smaller-sized, smaller-engined cars with a smaller environmental impact. In his annual speech, CEO Takanobu Ito called for “a new growth strategy” which involves offering more models utilising Honda’s IMA hybrid system, the launch of plug-in hybrid and electric cars for the …Read More

In further recognition of the growing importance of the Chinese consumers, General Motors has announced plans to launch a China-exclusive, entry-level brand, the Baojun, which stands for “treasured horse” when translated into English. The new brand will be introduced under SAIC-GM-Wuling, a joint venture between GM China, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation Group (SAIC) and Wuling Motors which has …Read More

UMW Toyota Motor, the official distributor of Toyota models in Malaysia, has announced plans to locally assemble the highly-popular Toyota Camry via Assembly Services Sdn Bhd (ASSB) located in Shah Alam. With an initial capital outlay of RM 100 million, the operations will start in two years, replacing the current Thailand-imported Camry units with completely-knocked-down (CKD) Camry …Read More

Nasim, the official distributor for the Peugeot brand in Malaysia, will be locally assembling a C-segment sedan from the second quarter of 2011 at Naza’s plant in Gurun. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed yesterday by SM Nasarudin SM Nasimuddin, CEO of Nasim and Naza, and Jean-Phillipe Imparato, Director of International …Read More

Perodua, or Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd, expects sales to remain strong for the second half of 2010. Despite the recent interest rate hikes in April and June, Perodua sold 95,000 vehicle units in the first half of the year, which represented an estimated 31.7 percent of the domestic market share, compared to 77,000 units or 30.7 percent market share …Read More

Toyota Motor Thailand has achieved a milestone of exporting one million vehicle units built on Toyota’s IMV (Innovative International Multi-purpose Vehicle) platform. Toyota embarked on the IMV project in August 2004 in Thailand. Barely six years later, the IMV project now involves around 580,000 vehicles produced annually in 11 countries (Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, India, …Read More