The “Jae Fang” gang, according to Thai assistant national police chief Pol Lt-Gen Surachate Hakparn, utilises pickup trucks and lorries to transport items to Malaysia before refuelling at petrol stations there and travelling back to Thailand.
The smuggling syndicate used vehicles with modified fuel tanks to transport hundreds of thousands of litres of fuel to a storage facility at a warehouse in Hatyai, Songkhla, about 30km from the Thailand-Malaysia border.
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Honda’s Type R series of gained legendary status almost immediately each model was introduced. Today, Type R variants of the Integra, Civic, NSX, and even Accord – are much sought-after by enthusiasts and collectors worldwide.
Unusually though, the S2000 was never given a Type R variant in all the 10 years that it was produced. Why Honda never developed a Type R (there were Type V and Type S variants in Japan) has never been clearly explained and some think it may simply have been a case of not having enough potential sales numbers.
Anyway, thanks to Evasive Motorsports, a 21-year old performance tuner in California, there is finally a S2000 Type R. 20 years after the last S2000 was produced, Evasive Motorsports has created its own interpretation of what the S2000 Type R ‘should have been’ with its S2000R resto-mod.
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Having been around for 75 years, Land Rover is a brand name that is recognisable all over the world. Its original Defender model had a highly recognisable shape which is embedded in the brand’s design DNA. It is associated with 4×4 vehicles in the same way as Jeep and in fact, spread further around the world than the American brand.
In spite having periods of difficulty at different times in its history, Land Rover soldiered on like the tough vehicles it has produced. Although it can lay claim to having given the world the first premium SUV – the Range Rover – back in 1970, it only truly entered the premium segment when the 21st century began.
The success of the Range Rover in the premium segment led to the company establishing its name as a brand on its own around 10 years ago. The Range Rover brand would be for the premium models while Land Rover would be for models like the Freelander, Discovery and Defender.
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Many motorists today use GPS route guidance systems like Waze and Google Maps to not only find their way around but also have an idea of the traffic conditions (as well as where they might be stopped for ‘interviews’). The two apps are readily available on smartphones and it also possible to mirror them on the infotainment system in many new cars.
But the apps still remain as part of the smartphone and either you refer to it while you drive or you see it on the dashboard display. Generally, it’s good enough but Volvo has gone one step further by making it possible to install Waze as part of the car’s infotainment system. The app has been added to their in-car library and can be downloaded from today.
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For decades, motorists had to insert a key in the door (or handle) of a car to unlock it for entry. During the 1980s, the key became unnecessary as central locking systems allowed for remote unlocking at the press of a button on a fob.
Then pressing on the fob became unnecessary as a sensor on the door handle could trigger the unlocking process (provided the fob was on the body of the person as an identifier). Today, many cars – even entry-level models from Perodua and Proton – have this convenience of locking and unlocking doors.
Though Japanese in origin, the auto industry practices kaizen or ‘constant improvement’ and constantly looks for better ways of doing things or making things better. So even the unlocking of a car door can continue to undergo innovation and Genesis has introduced an even more advanced way of doing it – facial recognition.
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While the global carmakers often talk of having a global network of design centres so that they can develop products better suited to the different markets around the world, it’s even better if there are designers who grew up in, live and work in the market a product is intended for. They would know best what customers want and needs that may be specific to local culture.
China, being the world’s largest car market, usually gets much attention from carmakers who want to sell as many cars as possible. In order to do so, the cars must be designed to suit local tastes closely. For example, some manufacturers understood that Chinese customers like longer cars and were willing to build long wheelbase variants just for the market.
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