Jeremy Clarkson has defeated Hollywood legend Steve McQueen to be crowned screen’s greatest automotive icon. This is the finding of a study by Hyundai Motor which surveyed 2,000 people in Britain recently.
While McQueen is known as ‘The King of Cool’, thanks to his effortless style and tough guy persona, Clarkson has been ridiculed over the years for his dedication to stone-wash denim. But it’s the ex-Top Gear presenter who topped the list.
Clarkson has been involved in some of the most impressive (and outrageous) TV moments over the past 25 years, whether it was driving to the North Pole or riding motorcycles from Ho Chi Minh to Ha Long Bay in Vietnam.
Steve McQueen and his Ford Mustang in ‘Bullitt’.
McQueen, meanwhile, starred in films such as Bullitt, The Great Escape,Le Mans and On Any Sunday. And in his films, the memorable action scenes were actually done with real cars and motorcycles, not by using CGI.
Fast and the Furious leading man, Vin Diesel, beat 007’s Sean Connery, with the tough guys making up the top five.
GREATEST AUTOMOTIVE ICONS 1. Jeremy Clarkson 2. Steve McQueen 3. Richard Hammond 4. Vin Diesel 5. Sir Sean Connery 6. James May 7. Paul Walker 8. Daniel Craig 9. Sir Roger Moore 10. Jason Statham
“The best cars and films are always the subject of fierce and fun debate and thanks to the internet and streaming services, there is no shortage of shows and websites to keep us occupied,” said a spokesman for Hyundai.
Best car film – The Italian Job in 1969
The very best car film, according to the 2,000 people surveyed in Britain, was The Italian Job, followed by Steve McQueen-starring Bullitt and the Fast and the Furious series. In addition to being named the greatest car movie, The Italian Job also features the most popular car chase to ever appear on the big screen.
Aston Martin DB5 and Sean Connery who, for many years, played the role of James Bond, agent 007.
James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 was named greatest movie car ahead of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the De Lorean from Back to the Future.
Following our earlier report about Proton producing face shields for frontliners, the carmaker has started shipping out the first batch of 8,000 units to Kelantan and other East Coast states.
The face shields are an initiative by the company which designed and tested prototypes as well as obtained feedback from end-users to ensure the final product met their needs. While that process was underway, a project team planned for a production line that was both safe and efficient to meet with health protocols.
50 people, picked from a pool of volunteers, work on an assembly line in the factory at Shah Alam, Selangor, which had been quiet since March 18 when the Movement Control Order (MCO) started virtually all factories and businesses had to cease operations.
Up to 3,000 face shields can be produced in a single day, and Proton is expected to take approximately 20 days to produce the 60,000 units it has committed to deliver. Face shields are part of the Personal Protective Equipment frontliners need to protect them when attending to COVID-19 patients. They have to be constantly replaced and the Health Ministry said that at this time, the stocks available can last for 25 days.
Contributions from other companies
While Proton is responsible for the assembly and distribution of its face shields, the company has received contributions from its vendor community who are eager to get involved. One such contributor is Pos Logistics Sdn Bhd, one of the biggest logistics service providers in Malaysia, which supplied over 2,000 large carton boxes to pack the face shields. and make it easier to transport them.
Automotive component supplier, HICOM-Teck See Manufacturing Malaysia Sdn Bhd, contributed 1,500 kgs of polypropylene, one of the main components in the car bumpers which it makes, that will be used to produce the frame of the face shields.
The original design for the face shield was contributed by Universiti Teknologi MARA (UITM). The designers at Proton Design then developed the frame based on feedback from users and also added the slogan ‘STAY STRONG! We will get through this!’.
“Proton is humbled by the response received both internally and outside of the company to our face shield project. The number of staff volunteering their services was overwhelming, despite inherent risks involved in leaving home and coming to work. Therefore, we have taken steps to ensure everybody is kept safe by providing Personal Protection Equipment and maintaining a minimum distance between each workstation to maintain social distancing,” said Dato’ Radzaif Mohamed, Deputy CEO of Proton.
With activities in the auto industry having come to a standstill and people in many countries having to remain at home, it’s a good time for car enthusiasts to find out more about the history of their favourite companies. For Honda fans, there is ‘Honda Origins’, which retraces the life of company founder Soichiro Honda through an animated series combining Japanese-style manga cartoon drawings, audio and historic photographs.
The audio-visual journey from the beginnings of Honda through to its achievements and legacy is presented over 6 episodes each lasting between 10 and 20 minutes.
The series uses the original manga comic ‘Honda Soichiro Hon Den’, published by Shogakukan Inc., to interweave the founder’s life and unique philosophy on life and business with the evolution of the company from its origins to the successful multinational that it is today.
A story to pass on
The first episode of the series, ‘Bouncing Back’, tells how Soichiro Honda began after the Second World War to found the Honda Technical Research Institute in 1946 in the city of Hamamatsu. His journey towards motorisation started with a generator engine attached to a bicycle. This venture, together with Takeo Fujisawa, his partner, became the Honda Motor Company two years later in 1948.
The other chapters (A Dream is Born; Crisis on the Way to the Isle of Man Declaration; American Advance; Veni, Vidi, Vici: We Hate to Lose) describe key moments of his life and values, and the history of the company, making special reference to Honda’s commitment to motorcycles, cars and racing.
The last chapter in the series (Epilogue) recounts the company’s beginnings as a multinational through its expansion in the USA, and ends shortly afterwards with the joint retirement of the company’s two founders on the same day.
What is ‘success’?
One of the most important values highlighted in the series is perseverance and learning from failure; this is embodied by a quotation from Soichiro Honda that defines the spirit of the company: “’Success’ represents the 1% of your work which results from the 99% that is called ‘failure’”.
With its latest ‘Renault Relax’ campaign, TC Euro Cars (TCEC) is offering its customers savings to on two important wear and tear parts: tyres and batteries. The tyre deal which offers a 25% discount is valid for Captur and Fluence owners, while the battery deal offers a 10% discount.
Owners who make a ‘lock-in’ fee of RM100 from April 15 to May 15, 2020 will be able to secure the promotional price of RM345 per tyre. Redemption for the deal can be made anytime from May 15 to August 31, 2020. The lock-in fee will be deducted from the total invoice at the point of redemption. The promotion applies only to ContiEco Contact 5 205/55R17 tyres. Limited stocks are available on a first come, first served basis.
You can get new tyres for your Captur at RM345 each, 25% cheaper than the usual price.
Additionally, during the campaign period from May 15 to 31 August 2020, all Renault customers will receive free tyre balancing for two tyres and above.
As for the battery deal, the offer is until June 30, 2020 and is only for Atlas BX batteries. The savings would be welcome if your vehicle’s battery cannot be revived after the period of under-utilisation during the long Movement Control Order (MCO).
Book using the Renault E-Store
But the MCO is in effect, so owners can’t go to the showroom or service centre. Not a problem as there is the Renault E-Store at www.renault.com.my which can accept booking and payment online.
During the MCO, the Rencare team will also continue to support customers who need emergency assistance. The team is contactable at 1800-88-8663 (24 hours, 7 days).
Deferred servicing/warranty extension
Renault owners who have had to defer their vehicle servicing due to the MCO need not worry about non-compliance which can affect their warranty. TCEC is providing additional time for servicing until May 28 2020 for all vehicles that were due for periodic servicing between March 18 and April 28, 2020. All service appointments will have a 30-day extension to catch-up on their service intervals.
There is also a 30-day extension until May 28, 2020 for all warranties that expire during the MCO period.
Customers can use the Concierge Service to request for door-to-door delivery within Klang Valley (within a radius of 30 kms from the service centre). This delivery service, previously available only to new and subscription customers, is now being offered free of charge for pick-up and return of serviced vehicles, during and after the MCO period.
Customers can now also schedule their service appointments online by registering for a Renault E-Store account and then use the Concierge Service feature or call 1800-18-8663 (8 am – 8 pm daily).
With many countries having lockdowns or restricted movements, traffic levels have dropped as people travel less. Waze data shows that across the world, Waze users are driving 60% fewer kilometres compared to the February daily average for a 2-week period (February 11 – 25 2020).
In Malaysia, which has had a country-wide Movement Control Order (MCO) since March 18, Waze users are driving significantly less (80% fewer kilometres), compared to the same February daily average.
Waze data shows the sudden and significant change when the Movement Control Order came into effect on March 18.
Despite the overall decrease in the number of people on the road, there are still essential journeys that need to be made every day, such as purchasing necessities, seeking medical care, or to perform official duties for those under essential services.
Understanding that there are places, eg Malaysia, where the authorities are using various measures such as roadblocks to ensure compliance with the regulations, Waze Map Editors and the Waze Crisis Response team are currently working with 58 countries (and counting) to add region-specific relief efforts including road closures, red zones, and more, to the map.
This crisis response will help those who have the travel for legitimate purposes to get to their destinations promptly and home again safely.
The change in distances motorists in Kuala Lumpur have been travelling while the Movement Control Order has been in force.
Waze has also launched a COVID-19 Landing Page asking governments around the world to contribute data on medical testing centre and emergency food distribution centre locations to help improve its maps for users. Once the data is received, Waze will validate and add the details to the map, and then inform drivers accordingly.
Another initiative that Waze has quickly rolled out is support for drive-throughs and curbside pick-up to help provide users with minimal contact access. This will help compliance with social distancing guidelines. With new Location Personalities badges and search features, businesses which need to update their information can do so in a few simple steps or contact Waze’s support team for help.
For more information about Waze and its community as well as partners’ COVID-19 relief efforts, click here.
The 760 is remembered as the model that saved Volvo and allowed it to exist up till today. Though the company had line of smaller models (the 300 series) from its Dutch subsidiary, it still needed a large volume-seller to take over from the aging 240/260 that had done well before the world got hit by the first of the oil crises.
When the first plans for the 760 were formulated in the mid-1970s, the automotive industry in general was experiencing a lot of difficulties. The first oil crisis had just passed and increasing concerns about air pollution caused by exhaust fumes had brought on stricter emission-control regulations, requiring new engineering solutions at extra cost. It was also a very difficult time as production costs increased and currency issues also made exports more expensive.
The 760 had taken a longer time to develop because it was a crucial model and not just a successor to the 200-series. It was to take Volvo further into the premium segment for the first time and had to be able to attract customers who usually considered the BMW 5-Series or the Mercedes-Benz E-Class (W123 at that time).
The car that was launched in 1982 was entirely new with a design that epitomised the Swedish obsession with ‘function having priority over form’ and it was taken to an extreme. Elegant in some ways, it was also slab-sided – at a time when car designs were ‘softening’ with rounded edges and more curves.
Some thought the looks were rather ‘American’ and that Volvo’s designers wanted to appeal to that market where the company sold the most cars but that was never admitted. Jan Wilsgaard, then Volvo’s head of design, said the car looked the way it did because ‘of function and space optimization’.
Apparently, the finance department wanted a design with straight and flat surfaces, as well as angular lines, preferably 90 degrees, in order to reduce the production costs as much as possible. This led to Volvo’s looking rather boxy for a long time and it would only be in the mid-1990s, with the C70 Coupe that Peter Horbury, who was the design chief, could declare that Volvo had finally gotten rid of ‘the box’.
Wilsgaard’s proposal somehow satisfied the different groups within the company: the rear end was somewhat like a stationwagon with straight body sides and with an abruptly cut-off boot. This led to having almost vertical rear screen and boxy rear section. Designers were in pursuit of ever-lower drag coefficients by making shapes sleeker and it was pointed out that the 700’s Cd of 0.29 was as good as the Porsche 928’s and 10% better than the 264.
The 760 was conceived in a time when conditions changed almost daily and in the company, there were many strong and different opinions regarding the new car. There was no Internet to surf in order to understand consumer thinking but Volvo designers made use of the best possible tool available at the time, a very thorough analysis of the surrounding world.
Very valuable during this process was the use of product clinics which Volvo used for the first time and at which people’s reactions regarding the new car were studied without revealing any details like the brand of car or its origins.
No, this wasn’t from a James Bond movie. It was a dramatic film demonstrating the car’s strength by dropping it from 3 storeys.
Besides safety, it was decided that reliability, fuel efficiency, longevity, serviceability, low noise levels, design and performance – in that order – should guide the development work on the new project which was given the code ‘P31’. It was also decided that rear-wheel drive should be employed, and that the wheelbase should be 10 cm longer than that of the 264 which was Volvo’s flagship then.
The car was also to be somewhat shorter than its predecessor but had to be the same width. Volvos were still being viewed as ‘tanks’ because of their bulk and weight but Volvo was never discouraged by that label though the engineers were told that the 760 should be at least 100 kgs lighter than the 264.
Constant-track rear suspension with subframe in the middle.
What people saw of the exterior was entirely new but Volvo didn’t have the financial resources to develop a brand new platform for the car. So the powertrain and chassis were carried over from the 264, the primary engine being the 2.8-litre ‘Douvrin’ V6 engine which was jointly developed by Volvo, Peugeot and Renault and built at one plant for all of them.
The B23ET turbocharged engine used in the 740 Turbo.
There was also a 6-cylinder turbodiesel unit supplied by Volkswagen and tuned to Volvo’s specifications. It was the quickest diesel car at that time. Later on, Volvo would also offer the 760 Turbo which had unusually quick performance – 8.5 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h – which was very quick for a Volvo in those days.
Prior to the launch of the 760 in 1982, Volvo previewed the new shape as a stationwagon concept car at the 1981 Frankfurt Motorshow
Volvo also examined the idea of shutting down cylinders selectively when a high power output was not necessary. This was a fuel-saving strategy but it was very crude in operation and it was only some 2 decades later than Honda would be able to get the concept refined enough for use (GM did introduce such an engine in some of its models but it failed to catch on).
The 760 became a turning point for Volvo, product-wise and financially, and formed the basis for the continuation of the company. Like the later Galaxy project which saw Volvo moving into front-wheel drive cars with the 850, the P31 project was a massive industrial undertaking.
Longevity was also evident in the platform which continued to evolve up till 1998 when the last model with its roots in 760 technologies ended production. Records show that 221,309 units of the 760 were made (1,230,704 if the smaller-engined 740 is included) before it was replaced in late 1992 by the 960.