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New Vehicle Sales Summary – only marginal sales increase in August

Key Points:

♦ The Total Industry Volume (TIV) rose marginally by 1% or 295 units month-on-month compared to the TIV for July.

♦ 46,802 passenger vehicles were registered during August, but this number does not include pick-up trucks which are classified under commercial vehicles.

♦ The same month in 2018 saw a significantly higher TIV due to the surge in sales as a result of no GST being charged. 65,550 vehicles were registered in August 2018, 22% higher than the TIV for August in 2019.

SALES TREND — *Source: Monthly reports of Malaysian Automotive Association*

♦ Cumulative sales from January to August 2019 reached 398,335 units but during the same period in 2019, it was 423,615 units (6% higher).

♦ Production-wise though the gap is closed – 380,940 units for the first 8 months of this year versus 383,498 units in 2018.

♦ The Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) expects the TIV for September to be similar to that of August due to the number of holidays reducing the selling days available. The severe haze may also distract people from thinking about buying new cars at this time.

This weekend’s MYPerodua Nation event postponed

Perodua today announced that it has decided to postpone the 2019 MYPerodua Nation carnival until further notice. The decision was made due to the worsening haze situation nationwide.

The third edition of the popular carnival was to take place this weekend (September 20 – 22) at the Setia City Oval Lawn in Setia Alam, Selangor, and Perodua was looking forward to it having the biggest attendance ever.

Haze — *Conditions in Kuala Lumpur and other parts of the country are worsening and companies having events this week are considering postponements.*

“The Air Pollutant Index (API) in the vicinity has been reported to be in excess of 200, which is very unhealthy. Perodua cannot, and will not, put the health and well-being of its valued customers, visitors and staff on duty at risk,” said Perodua’s President & CEO, Dato’ Zainal Abidin Ahmad.

“We apologise whole-heartedly for the inconvenience and disappointment caused by the postponement of MYPerodua Nation. We are studying all possible alternatives and will revert on the event’s status in due course,” he added.

For updates on the situation, the public can check Perodua’s Facebook page or call 1-800-88-6600.

Get your kids their very own Star Wars Landspeeder!

Ever wanted your very own Star Wars Landspeeder piloted by one of the franchise’s most iconic characters, Luke Skywalker? Well, you can’t! But there’s still hope for your children and it is all thanks to the folks from Radio Flyer. (more…)

2019 Isuzu D-MAX 1.9 officially launched! From RM80,149

It was only less than two weeks back when we went all the way to Thailand to test drive the new 2019 Isuzu D-MAX 1.9 and today, the new pickup truck from Isuzu Malaysia has been officially launched for the Malaysian market. (more…)

VBOX Touch – First in a New Generation of Vehicle Data Loggers

Racelogic, established in 1992, originally began producing GPS data loggers for vehicle testing but over time, its devices have also become popular in the motorsports community. This led to the development of its first VBOX (Velocity Box) in 2001 that gave racers extensive real-time insights into how their cars was running. 7 years later, videocameras were added to give visual information with a graphic overlay.

VBOX MOTORSPORT — *The motorsports community also found the VBOX to be a useful tool for racing as it could help improve driving performance with real-time insights into what the car was doing.*

The company continues to develop more advanced devices and the latest is the VBOX Touch. This is the first in a new generation of highly flexible, enhanced accuracy GNSS data-loggers using the very latest technology available.

The hardware can be used in many types of diverse automotive tests such as acceleration, braking, speed verification, tyre temperature monitoring, lap-timing and durability, to name a few. The VBOX Touch comes preloaded with a sophisticated Performance application which covers many common use cases and other applications (available free of charge from the company’s online library). Racelogic can also write custom scripts based on customer requirements.

Class-leading accuracy
The VBOX Touch has a daylight-readable 4.3-inch colour touchscreen, 10Hz GNSS engine, wifi, Bluetooth, twin CAN ports, serial port, digital input and four multi-colour LEDs. A high accuracy 2-cm RTK GPS version is available, which uses the very latest dual frequency GPS, GLONASS and Galileo signals to deliver class-leading accuracy even under difficult conditions. These new signals significantly increase the RTK resilience near trees and tall buildings, providing very precise lap-timing, position triggers and trajectory maps in places where 2-cm GPS has never been available before.

In the development of the VBOX Touch, Racelogic has worked closely with end-users to create a powerful tool to help them deliver results faster and more accurately on the track or open road.

Future Hyundai/Kia models to get additional airbag in the middle

Since the early 1980s when airbags started to be installed in cabin, millions of people have benefitted from the extra protection and experienced reduced injuries during accidents. The contribution of airbags to saving lives cannot be understated and as new technology has been developed, the effectiveness of airbags has increased.

Preventing head injuries
Now the Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) has developed a new centre side airbag, further enhancing the safety of its vehicles’ occupants. This airbag works to separate the space between driver and front passenger by expanding into the space between the front seats to prevent head injuries of the two occupants.

If there is no one in the front passenger seat, the airbag will protect the driver from the effects of a side collision coming from the opposite side. The centre side airbag is installed inside the driver’s seat and will deploy once the impact is sensed.

The new centre side airbag is expected to diminish head injuries caused by passengers colliding with each other by 80%. According to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association’s statistics, the rate of secondary damage caused by these kinds of collisions or from hitting interior materials is about 45%.

Lighter and simpler
The airbag has an internal component called a tether which allows the airbag to maintain its form and withstand the passenger’s weight. HMG has developed a new technology to simplify the design and reduce the weight of components to produce an airbag which is about 500 gms lighter than the competing products. Thanks to the smaller size of the airbag, the design teams will have more flexibility in the type of seat design they envision for future products.

HMG has applied newly patented technology to maintain reliability but reduce the weight and size of the airbag which will be offered in selected models to be introduced in future. Upcoming Euro NCAP assessments are expected to include side impact into its consideration beginning from 2020 and HMG’s airbag is expected to work favourably in such evaluation.