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CARSOME Now Has Own Service Centres For Aftersales Support

Aftersales support – providing regular maintenance and availability of replacements parts – is an important part of the auto business. Authorised distributors of new vehicles are expected to provide aftersales support to customers to ensure that they have a good ownership experience.

Buying a used vehicle is a different thing and aftersales support is not mandatory. This is, of course, to be expected and for most owners, there are many independent service centres (as well as the authorised ones handling the brand of their vehicles) to go to for periodic maintenance and repairs.

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More EV-related Incentives To Be Provided In Revised Budget 2023

Thirteen years ago, the government removed all taxes on hybrids and electric vehicles (EVs) as part of an effort to reduce Malaysia’s carbon footprint and also to try to attract carmakers to make Malaysia the ‘hybrid/EV hub’ of the region. That didn’t work as all it really did was to give a limited group of car-buyers a chance to get duty-free cars.

One company – Honda Malaysia – did follow up and assemble a hybrid model locally, receiving continued incentives for its initiative. However, the removal of the tax-free incentives after a few years saw interest in electrified vehicles lost as their prices became expensive again. Nevertheless, hybrids did start to appear though this was more to do with carmakers themselves switching to hybrid powertrains.

Last year, the government removed all taxes again – but only for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and not hybrid models (assemblers still get incentives in other ways). The incentives have encouraged importation of many different BEV models, with new brands coming from China. Though the prices remain around RM150,000 (with the exception of the ORA Good Cat), there’s been good demand and for now, there are no units sitting in the stockyard waiting to be sold.

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Stellantis Reveals New HYBRID Powertrain To Be Used in Peugeot Models

‘Electrification’ is a term that the auto industry has been using a lot of in recent years. Basically, it is a transition that will see internal combustion engines being replaced by electric motors. That transition began a few years ago with commitments by some to sell only ‘electrified’ vehicles by the end of this decade.

However, the transition will not see the switch to only electric motors occurring so fast. In the coming years, there will also be another partial electrification with hybrid powertrains which still use a combustion engine but with an electric motor also helping. The technology for this has been in mass production models since the late 1990s when Toyota introduced the Prius and is less costly than fully electric powertrains at this time.

Models with hybrid powertrains can therefore be offered at lower prices, making them more widely adopted and achieving at least partial reductions in CO₂ emissions. To wait for everyone to use a fully electric car will take time as economic circumstances in many regions may not make it possible for people to buy electric cars.

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Younger Drivers Show Strong Pace in Opening Round of GR Vios Challenge Season 6

The opening round of the GR Vios Challenge, part of the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Festival, got off to a great start for Season 6 at the Sepang International Circuit over the weekend. Besides being able to watch the races live at the track, spectators from all over the online world also got to follow the excitement with live streaming on the two days.

In total, more than 3.5 million viewers watched the races which also featured a line-up of five new celebrities, 6 new rookie drivers and a grid of 45 cars.

After 5 seasons, the GR Vios Challenge now sees a diverse mix of newcomers and veteran racers, youngsters from a new generation that grew up with simulators and karting and the older drivers who have the experience of numerous races over many years. It was apparent during the weekend that the new generation has an impressive pace, in spite of less years of racing.

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Motorist Has Possessions Stolen While Asleep In Car

Road safety experts usually advice motorists to pull over and take a break when they are tried, especially on long journeys. It’s very important as drowsiness can lead to ‘microsleep’ which can occur for just a few seconds – even when driving. Just those few seconds of being ‘asleep’ with the eyes closed could be fatal as the car can go out of control and crash. So stop and rest when necessary, for your own safety as well as others on the road (or in your car).

A motorist by the name of Nor Izwan Izzat followed that advice and pulled over to the side of the Federal Highway in Selangor to park and sleep. It was around 3 am and he decided on the break as he felt too tired. According to his post in Twitter, he had parked between the PETRONAS and Shell stations near Batu Tiga.

However, perhaps being tired, he had forgotten to lock the doors and while asleep, someone came to the car and was able to open the door. Fortunately for him, he was left to sleep and not harmed. Instead, the intruder removed his bag with many of his important documents – MyKad and ATM card included – and even his house key, but did not take his mobilephone.

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Rahul Raj Mayer Returns To Racing After 8-Year Break

Having retired from an illustrious career in karting and single-seater racing, Rahul Raj Mayer is once again putting his helmet back on after an 8-year break. Rahul, 26, has been competing in the Super Sporting Class of the sixth season of the GR Vios Challenge one-make series this weekend and will race during the entire season.

With his long experience in motorsport, Rahul is in the Super Sporting Class for elite and professional drivers. In 2007, at the age of 11, he began karting and the following year finished 3rd in the Yamaha SL Cup (Junior) series. Two years later, he was 2nd in the Asian Karting Open Championship (Formula 125 Junior Open). In 2010, he finished 2nd for the Yamaha SL Cup (Senior) and 3rd for the Rotax Max Challenge Malaysia (Junior) series.

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Police Cripple Syndicate Stealing Cars From Workshops, Valet Parking Services And Carwash Shops

The PDRM (Royal Malaysia Police) have crippled a syndicate which has been stealing luxury car models with the arrest of 14 persons during a raid recently. The suspects arrested were aged 22 to 43 and included the mastermind of the group.

PDRM Secretary DCP Dato’ Hjh. Noorsiah Mohd Saaduddin said that during the raid, 5 luxury vehicles were also seized and they were believed to have been stolen.

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Sixth Season Of GR Vios Challenge Starts This Weekend

The GR Vios Challenge has been a very successful series which has contributed to the development of the Malaysian motorsports industry. Over the past 5 years, UMW Toyota Motor and TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Malaysia pumped in a lot of money and incentives to make it a leading motorsports event. Incorporated in the TGR Racing Festival for most years (except when the pandemic prevented public gatherings), the series attracted more than 15 million spectators and viewers (both on-site and online via live streaming).

This year, the GR Vios Challenge will enter its sixth season and as in 2022, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Malaysia will also run the GR Vios Sprint Cup, GR Vios Enduro Cup and participate in the Sepang 100KM endurance race.

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5 New Toyota GR And GR-S Models Launched!

The Toyota GR range of high-performance models began in 2019 with the launch of the GR Supra. At the same time, UMW Toyota Motor (UMWT) also introduced the GR Garage concept, with Malaysian being the first country outside to have it. Since then, GR models and GR parts have been sold through GR Garages which are located at a selected number dealerships around the country.

Since 2019, the range has grown quickly and has been joined by a sporty GR-Sport (GR-S) range which are based on popular models and receive some tuning to improve their dynamic performance. It’s been an open secret that this year will see UMW Toyota Motor widening the GR range of high-performance models substantially. With teaser ads of ‘The Beasts Awaken’, the number of new models will be five and tonight, they are revealed…

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Mitsubishi Motors To Produce Minicab-MiEV In Indonesia

While Nissan is credited with having introduced the world’s first mass produced battery-electric vehicle (BEV) in 2010, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) also launched a BEV model around the same time which was intended for mass production. Known as the i-MiEV, it was smaller than the Nissan LEAF but still highway-capable.

In developing the i-MiEV, MMC had decided to go beyond hybrid technology which had, by then, been dominated by companies like Toyota and Honda. According to the late Osamu Masuko, who was MMC’s President then, the company chose to aim further ahead and focus on developing full EV technology.

Since then, the i-MiEV concept has evolved and advanced and has been used in the Minicab-MiEV. This model, launched in 2011, is the only BEV model in the commercial Kei-car class in Japan. It is popular with delivery companies because of its efficient powertrain and compact size.

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