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90th Geneva International Motor Show cancelled, F1 calendar unchanged for now

With less than a week to go before opening, the 90th edition of the Geneva International Motor Show (GIMS) has been cancelled. Although the COVID-19 epidemic is spreading and increasing in many places all over the world, the organisers may have been debating daily whether to cancel but the decision was made for them when the Swiss government ordered that events with more than 1,000 people would not be permitted to run (at least until March 15, 2020).

“We regret this situation, but the health of all participants is our and our exhibitors’ top priority. This is a case of force majeure and a tremendous loss for the manufacturers who have invested massively in their presence in Geneva. However, we are convinced that they will understand this decision,” said Maurice Turrettini, Chairman of the Foundation Board.

Proton EMAS — The Geneva International Motor Show has been a popular event for manufacturers (though its future has been at risk for other reasons before this virus crisis). Even Proton was present in 2010 to display a concept car called the EMAS.

GIMS was to have opened on March 5 and construction of the stands at the Palexpo venue has been nearly complete and now dismantling will instead have to be organised. The financial consequences for all those involved in the event are significant, especially carmakers which had planned to use GIMS to unveil their new models, among them the new Volkswagen Golf GTI and Kia Sorento.

Geely launched its new ICON SUV last week with an online event in China and some companies may be rushing to do the same thing. Of course, they have already spent a lot of money preparing for GIMS and although they will get refunds, some costs won’t be avoidable, eg payments to contractors building the stands. However, tickets already purchased for the event will be refunded.

Even though there are so far only 15 confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection in Switzerland, the move by the government is aimed at preventing or delaying the spread of the disease in the country in the hope of reducing its momentum. For events with fewer than 1,000 people, organizers are required to carry a risk assessment in conjunction with the authorities to decide whether the event can be held.

FIA monitoring situation but no cancellations – yet
While the Formula E round in Marrakesh will run this weekend, Liberty Media, the company which took over the commercial side of F1 in 2017, is expecting the COVID-19 crisis to impact its revenues by millions for the 2020 season. As it is, the Chinese GP scheduled in April has been postponed and the FIA is monitoring the situation closely and making the necessary decisions in the interests of the participants and the public.

The last time a F1 event was cancelled was in 2011 when the Bahrain Grand Prix, which was to have been the season-opener, could not run due to concerns about unrest in the country.

*First round of 2020 Formula 1 championship will still go ahead in Melbourne on March 15.*

The first round for 2020 is to start in Melbourne, Australia, on March 15, a date that is presently used as an end-date for COVID-19-related measures. Round 2 will be in Bahrain and Round 3 at a new street circuit in Hanoi, Vietnam. Liberty Media wants the races to run and the FIA has so far not instructed any cancellations or changes to the calendar of 22 races, apart from the Chinese GP.

However, there could be a problem for some teams if the host countries become strict on entry or even refuse to allow entry to travellers from certain countries, eg Italy which has the largest cluster of infected persons. This not only affects the racing teams but also companies that support the teams. There are some logistics and hospitality contractors who have bases in China and they not only face increasing challenges to their operations, but movements of their personnel are hampered as some cannot enter certain countries or are stuck in them.

It’s not only F1 that has this critical situation but all sports… in fact, any event where large crowds will be gather in close proximity. These could include racetracks, stadiums and convention centres. It has already been found that one means of transmission has occurred at events where one infected person has passed the virus on to others present. The World Health Organization (WHO) has now raised its global risk assessment of the new coronavirus to the highest level.

No price increases for locally-assembled Toyota models

UMW Toyota Motor (UMWT) is informing customers that there are no planned increases in prices of Toyota CKD (locally-assembled) models at this time. The company is probably making this statement in view of the speculation of prices going up as Honda Malaysia recently announced increases for some of its models.

While it was reported earlier that there will be no price increases for CKD models, this only refers to any effect from the transparent methodology of reporting the Open Market Value (OMV). The Finance Ministry gave assurance that if any CKD model was affected by increased prices as a result of the calculations, the amount of increase would be fully absorbed/exempted by the Finance Ministry during 2020.

Nevertheless, as we also pointed out in the earlier report, it does not mean that prices will not change at all in 2020 due to other factors. Ravindran K, President of UMWT, said that factors such as exchange rates and tax revisions can affect prices. “As far as possible, the company has always tried to maintain price stability by absorbing the increases as much as we can,” he added.

The CKD models in UMWT’s current line-up are the Toyota Yaris, Toyota Vios, Toyota Rush, Toyota Hilux, Toyota Fortuner, Toyota Innova and Toyota Hiace.

For the current prices of the various models, visit www.toyota.com.my or any authorised dealership and UMWT branch nationwide.

Finance Ministry gives firm assurance that new reporting methodology will not increase vehicle prices during 2020

Fuel Prices For February 29 – March 6, 2020

2020 Liqui Moly US Legend Cars Championship postponed due to COVID-19

COVID-19, the coronavirus, is slowly impacting our lives and while we hope that there will be positive changes soon in the spread of the epidemic, event organisers in Malaysia are considering the situation seriously. This is of great importance as there is a risk of infection when large groups gather, as has been evident in other countries. Therefore, some events may have to be postponed or cancelled to reduce the risks.

Motorsports is one of the events which has large crowds of spectators and in view of the risk, the organisers of the 2020 Liqui Moly US Legend Cars Championship have decided that the inaugural championship will be postponed.

The first round of the 6-round championship series was to have been held on March 13 at Perak’s T-City Gopeng Motor Speedway (shown above).

In a statement issued today, the organisers said that US Legend Cars Malaysia is closely monitoring the situation. “Further to this, with various other uncertainties in the country, the management of US Legend Cars Malaysia has deliberated intensely and decided to postpone the championship. The decision was not an easy one to make, especially with much preparation already done,” the statement said.

New dates will be announced at a later date and would be dependent on how the situation evolves.

2020 Liqui Moly US Legend Championship starts first oval racing series in Malaysia

First details and pictures of the all-new Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk. 8

The ‘GTI’ suffix has been used by some manufacturers on their high-performance models, largely inspired by the success and popularity of the Volkswagen Golf GTI that came out in 1976. The German carmaker produced the original ‘hot hatch’ and was so protective of the ‘GTI’ badge that it even took Suzuki to court to try to stop its use on the Swift in the early 2000s. The General Court of the European Union favoured Suzuki, declaring that ‘any visual, phonetic or conceptual similarity” between the two cars was negated by the Swift model name’.

The court also stated that most customers ‘would not assume that all vehicles, parts and accessories come from the same manufacturer simply on the basis of the three letters ‘GTI,’ and accordingly any likelihood of confusion was excluded’.

Still, ‘GTI’ remains very strongly associated with the Golf and with the launch of the 8^th generation of the model line, a new version has been eagerly awaited. The new Golf GTI will maintain its design DNA and character – a relief when you see how Volkswagen is also accelerating electrification of its models.

As before, the new GTI has an understated look which makes it a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’. However, GTI fans will recognise familiar elements like the red pinstripe. The standard LED headlights are positioned low down and dominate the striking front end in conjunction with the radiator grille. A narrow edge below the bonnet, red in colour, reaches across the entire front.

Upon activating the daytime running lights, two continuous LED strips up to the Volkswagen logo emphasise this striking line. This creates the completely new, unmistakable headlight design of the Golf GTI. Just as striking is the large, continuous, air inlet grille at the bottom featuring the honeycomb pattern so typical of this model as well as the integrated foglights.

Output raised to 245 ps/370 Nm
Preliminary information available (the model will have its debut at the Geneva International Motor Show next month), we know that it will have a 245 ps 2.0-litre turbocharged direct injection petrol engine which also produces maximum torque of 370 Nm. The numbers of this latest EA888 engine represent increases of 15 ps and 20 Nm when compared to the GTI of the last generation, and on par with the Performance Pack version of that same car.

The 4-cylinder engine can be ordered with either a 6-speed manual gearbox or 7-speed dual clutch DSG. Volkswagen says that top speed is limited to 250 km/h with a slight improvement in the 0 – 100 km/h sprint.

GTI character, digital capabilities
Although Volkswagen is enhancing the digital and networking capabilities of the eighth-generation Golf to an unprecedented extent, many of the original GT insignia can still be found on board. However, the sports steering wheel of yesteryear has been transformed into a new multifunction leather sports steering wheel with touch controls and an optionally integrated Travel Assist button to allow the powerful Golf to run at a top speed of 210 km/h while Travel Assist is engaged.

The three silver spokes on the steering wheel have been retained the central area having a red finish. The classic checked pattern of the sports seats is also retained, the new checked design now being called ‘Scalepaper’. Incidentally, this pattern was the influence of one of the company’s first female designers, Gunhild Liljequist, who joined Volkswagen’s Department of Fabrics and Colours 30 years ago.

She had gained a lot of inspiration from her travels around England and was always taken by high-quality fabrics with checked patterns. This would lead her to use the tartan design, then known as ‘Clark Plaid’, for the Golf GTI which would go on to become a familiar sight in the hot hatch.

More information will be available when the car is launched and if we’re lucky, we may get to see it in Malaysia by the end of 2020, if not earlier.

Visit www.volkswagen.com.my to know more about Volkswagen products and services available in Malaysia.

Volkswagen and Tarik Jeans collaborate to save the Malayan Tapir

Mitsubishi Triton stays strong in the pick-up truck segment

The all-new Mitsubishi Triton drew a lot of attention with its bold new appearance and those looks (and, of course, its reputation as a very capable truck) must have persuaded many people to want to own one. In fact, sales of the pick-up truck have continued to grow since its launch in January last year (although it was previewed in late 2018 at the KL International Motor Show). It accounted for 71% of MMM’s sales, with the remainder being the Outlander and ASX SUVs.

Although sales of new pick-up trucks in Malaysia fell by 21% in 2019, with the total volume of locally-assembled models dropping by 27.1% as companies scaled back production in the light of reduced demand, Mitsubishi’s Triton registered an increase of 2.4% (compared to 2018) during the year with 5,792 units sold. The higher volume also captured a market share that was 3.8% more at 16.5%.

The momentum has continued into 2020 with Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia (MMM) reporting that its January sales achieved an all-time high market share for the past 10 years at 22.8%. The company didn’t provide the actual sales volume and as the monthly report from Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) is delayed, we can’t determine those numbers.

Additionally, MMM says the Triton was the model in the pick-up segment that achieved positive growth and, with over 4,300 units delivered, expanded its overall sales with a 1.6% increase from April 2019 to January 2020, comparing to the same period last financial year. MMM’s Financial Year calendar is from April 2019 to March 2020.

“We are happy that we closed 2019 and began 2020 strong with the Mitsubishi Triton that has managed to capture the hearts of Malaysians with the DNA of the best handling pick-up truck. With the achievement of ranking number one in JD Power 2019 Malaysia Customer Service Index (CSI), we are committed to deliver top-notch service to all our customers,” said Tomoyuki Shinnishi, Chief Executive Officer of MMM.

The Triton, imported as a CBU (completely built-up) model from Thailand, is available with 2.4-litre MIVEC and 2.5-litre turbodiesel engines. Customers can also choose either a 4×4 or 4×2 drivetrain. Prices start from RM79,890 and MMM gives a factory warranty of 200,000 kms (or maximum of 5 years).