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By now, Malaysians would know that the Movement Control Order (MCO) will not expire on April 14 but continue till April 28, 2020. The reason is to give more time for the effects of social distancing and restricted movements to slow down the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus and ‘flatten the curve’. The latter refers to a graph which projects the number of infected cases and the ‘flatten to curve’ will keep the number lower so that our medical facilities can cope.

In Europe and America, the number of cases has gotten so high that hospitals cannot cope and lives are being lost because of insufficient life-saving equipment and even beds. We do not want that to happen in Malaysia and it seems that the MCO has worked to some extent although the Health Ministry’s Director-General says that more time is needed.

Understanding that the restrictions, which have included closure of most businesses, has seriously affected the economy and put increasing pressure on workers, the government will permit certain sectors to operate in what we hope is the final phase of the MCO. The sectors involve industries such as machinery and equipment, social health services, construction, aerospace, optical shops, laundry shops and barber shops. Earlier, hardware shops had already been allowed to operate on certain days and within certain hours.

Proton

Some sectors of the auto industry are also allowed to operate in the coming weeks. These are plants and companies which are involved in the assembly of vehicles for exports (production for the domestic market is not allowed). This would mean brands such as BMW, Mazda, Perodua, Peugeot, Proton and Volvo, along with the companies which provide parts to them.

It’s good news but might not be as helpful to the companies as it seems. There are still parts and systems that are imported from not just other ASEAN countries but also Japan and Europe and with many production facilities shut down, it may not be possible to finish assembly of the vehicles. Just one part not being available means the vehicle cannot be completed although there might be a small stock of the parts.

Assembly

However, most automobile factories today operate on a just-in-time system where a minimum stock is kept to reduce storage space requirements. Under normal circumstances, the supply chain from overseas is constant and that’s fine. Now with many sources shut down and also local restricted movements for which exemption will be needed to get the parts out from the ports, it will be a challenge for the assemblers.

Then there’s the matter of whether importers in other countries want new vehicles. Vehicles from Malaysia are exported mainly to ASEAN countries as the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) agreement allows them to be imported duty-free. But Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines are all under similar crisis conditions and sales would be down.

Service centres allowed to open
When the MCO was first activated, all service centres had to close. The only allowance was for emergency services to tow disabled vehicles or change batteries, but no work was to be done at the premises. If a car was towed there, it would remain there until the MCO was over before any repair work could start.

Service centre

Now, it has been announced that ‘aftersales activities’ will be allowed to resume from next week (provided approval is given to the company by MITI). This is taken to mean that the service centres can operate and receive cars for servicing. So far, it is not known if the companies will open their service centres and we’ll only know after Monday when applications are submitted.

The manager at a company selling a leading brand said that there is also concern about their own people getting infected and whether it is worth the risk for now. Furthermore, with the 10-km range imposed under the MCO, there may be vehicle owners who may be beyond range to reach the authorized service centres.

The personnel at roadblocks have been instructed to be stricter and many people have been charged with disobeying the regulations, which means a RM1,000 fine or 6 months in jail (higher penalties might be considered).

Roadblock

Basically, for private motorists, besides the 10-km range from your home that you can travel to buy essential items or for emergencies, only one person can be inside the vehicle. You may be required to show proof of residence which, if not the same as what is on your MyKad, can be shown with TNB or water bill for your current place of residence. You are not allowed to wander around after making your purchases and should return straight home.

As everyone from the Prime Minister to the medical personnel at hospitals has appealed: STAY AT HOME. This is how you can do your part in the War on COVID-19. It may be frustrating and for many, a worrying time as it creates uncertainties about the future but we need to make the sacrifices so our lives can return to some normalcy (although things will be different for sure).

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Parents who have run out of ideas to keep their children occupied in this #stayathome time may like to consider encouraging them to enter the ‘Young Designer Competition’ that is being run by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. The competition is an extension of an event which is run annually at the Rolls-Royce employees’ Family Day Celebration in England and is now open to a worldwide audience.

For this competition, Rolls-Royce is calling on aspiring designers up to the age of 16 to design their dream Rolls-Royce of the future. The competition enables designers of the future to let their imaginations and creativity run free, even while they remain bound to their homes.

Rolls-Royce

The carmaker hopes to ‘stimulate design talent, inspire greatness and provide a welcome distraction from self-isolation and social-distancing measures being adopted by many countries around the globe.

The marque’s Design team will judge all entries and select an overall winner, who will receive a rendered illustration of their design – a true once-in-a-lifetime, money-can’t-buy prize – as well as a chauffeur-driven journey in a Rolls-Royce Phantom for their first day back to school, with their best friend. Runners-up will receive a hand-signed certificate from Torsten Muller-Otvos, CEO of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

Greenpower
Electric cars which can be assembled from kits supplied by Greenpower.

Two additional prizes will be awarded to one lucky UK entrant: Travel to school in style in a chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce once the UK’s own coronavirus countermeasures draw to an end. A new Greenpower electric car kit will also be donated to the recipients’ school, thereby enabling participation in the Greenpower Challenge – the UK’s number-one motorsport competition for schools across Britain.

Let’s see our young Malaysians take on the challenge! Entries need to be submitted by May 18, 2020  and for more information on the competition, go to rolls-royceyoungdesignercompetition.com.

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With the Movement Control Order (MCO) in force, people cannot go to car showrooms as they are closed and movement is also restricted. This will be the case until April 28, 2020, the new date for expiry of the MCO which was announced today.

This presents a challenge for many companies, including those selling new vehicles. Virtually all companies have websites to present information to customers and now a number are also setting up ‘showrooms’ online.

Nissan Showroom Online

The latest is Edaran Tan Chong Motor which has today launched its Nissan Online Showroom.  While the website at www.nissan.com.my has comprehensive information, the complementary Nissan Online Showroom is more focussed on addressing customer enquiries relating to vehicle purchases.

Ar the Nissan Online Showroom, interested customers can submit an online form to make further sales enquiries or request for vehicle booking arrangements with just a few simple clicks. Within 24 hours of submission, a dedicated Nissan sales representative will be in contact with them.

Nissan Online Showroom

What this means is that many of the processes of buying a new vehicle can be done during the MCO period so that when it is over, it may be possible to get the new vehicle quickly.

Additionally, doorstep test drive appointments can be made and will be carried out when the MCO ends.

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The Movement Control Order (MCO) has been extended. Originally set to end on April 14, it will now end on April 28,2020. Announcing this extension, the Prime Minister said that the government would also tighten border controls to ensure movement was monitored closely.

The lengthy period of restricted movement which has seen most companies, other than essential ones, ordered to be closed has been very challenging for businesses. In the auto sector, although workshops can operate, they can only provide emergency services and not normal servicing. Obviously, sales of vehicles have come to a standstill and even though some companies are providing ‘online purchases’, customers would still not be able to take delivery of their vehicles since the registration process cannot be done.

Car showroom
With car showrooms not able to operate for almost the whole month, April will be the worst month ever in the industry for both new and used vehicle sales.

However, the government will allow certain sectors to operate with specific conditions to protect the workers. It has already relaxed the restriction on places like hardware stores and shops selling vehicle spare parts, permitting them to open from 8 am to 4 pm on Mondays and Thursdays. Other types of business that can operate will be announced in due course.

The extension of the MCO takes it into the fasting month and as stressed by the National Security Council, as long as the MCO is in effect, there can be no Ramadan bazaars and gatherings for prayers are also forbidden. This is to prevent close contact which can allow transmission of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

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Before 1980, mention of ‘4-wheel drive’ referred to vehicles like Land Rovers, Jeeps and Land Cruisers, with all four wheels being powered to provide maximum grip on all kinds of surfaces. These vehicles were mainly intended for off-road use in rough conditions. Performance on highways was not their strong point and in any case, they didn’t go very fast either.

Then Audi came out with a system which it called ‘quattro’, bringing the concept of all-wheel drive to roadgoing vehicles which could provide superior grip on any road surface in dry or wet weather.

Audi quattro system

The idea of quattro stemmed from the desire to mass-produce cars with traction to all four wheels, with Audi engineers first developing a lightweight all-wheel-drive system based on the fundamental traits demonstrated by the Volkswagen Iltis off-roader in the 1970s. The technology was then advanced under the Audi brand in 1980 with the first production quattro all-wheel-drive system.

The superiority of the quattro system was very quickly demonstrated when Audi entered the World Rally Championship and started beating everyone, bringing the brand numerous titles. Following that, it also helped Audi win IMSA and Trans-Am races in America with sedan models. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that all-wheel drive was a game-changer, a performance-enhancer which became a feature of high-performance models.

Audi quattro system

Audi quattro system

The quattro evolution
The quattro system defines Audi in many ways and remains its unfair advantage on the road and racetrack.  Today’s quattro system builds on the 40 years of experience, with several different types available in various applications. But before getting to today’s drivetrains, it’s important to understand how earlier quattro systems worked.

The first quattro system used three mechanical differentials to distribute torque between the front and rear wheels. Via a vacuum-operated switch, the driver could select to lock the centre differential to lock the front and rear differentials together, causing them to turn at the same speed without slip.

Audi quattro system

Ordinarily, the differential — a set of gears driving the wheels at each axle — are fully open to help compensate for the difference in speed each wheel travels. Think of taking a corner, for instance: the inside wheel will rotate far less than the outside wheel. Locking the rear differential helps ensure power gets to both wheels equally, which is needed when driving on slick surfaces or traction-limited situations but also to maximize grip in any condition. The front does not have a locking differential because of the need to turn.

Audi quattro system

In the first major update of quattro in the late-1980s, a Torsen (short for torque-sensing) differential that automatically split power 50:50 from front to rear replaced the original manually-operated centre differential. A rear differential lock switch remained; some larger models were available with a rear Torsen differential as well.

The Torsen differential housed a pair of helical planetary gears. The gears were held in tight-fitting pockets inside the housing and splined together through spur gears at their ends. These spur gears did not allow the planetary gears to rotate in the same direction. However, when an axle would lose traction, the spur gears would help channel torque to the wheels with traction. This could allow up to two-thirds of the vehicle’s torque to be sent to either the front or rear axle.

Haldex – not averse to being transverse
Medium and large Audi models have a longitudinal engine, with their transmissions and differentials sitting behind the engine. Starting in 2000 in the USA, smaller models like the Audi TT came with their engines sitting in a sideways or transverse orientation. As a result, their transmissions took up space practically underneath the engine, necessitating a different sort of quattro system.

Audi quattro system

This is where the Haldex coupling came in as an answer to the packaging needed for this sort of application. In a Haldex application, a propshaft runs from the transmission to the rear differential. The end of the propshaft connects to the input shaft of the Haldex coupling. The end that connects from the Haldex coupling to the differential is called the output shaft. On a slippery driving surface, one or more wheels may have reduced traction. As a result, the Haldex coupling senses a difference in speed between the input and output shafts and takes action.

Sensors reading engine speed, accelerator pedal position and engine torque also participate in the activation of the rear differential. In addition, Electronic Differential Lock utilizes the ABS system to control loss of traction at each individual wheel.

Audi quattro system

Today’s quattro system
Today, Audi offers 5 unique quattro technologies, all based on the same fundamental understanding of how quickly an all-wheel-drive system needs to respond — and with how much power to each wheel — for maximum grip and performance. The systems are as follows:

quattro all-wheel drive for medium and large models using the MLB evo architecture (8-speed Tiptronic (torque-converter automatic transmission) and 7-speed S tronic (dual-clutch automatic transmission)

quattro all-wheel drive with ultra technology (7-speed S tronic) using the MLB evo architecture

quattro all-wheel drive for transverse applications using the MQB architecture

quattro all-wheel drive for the Audi R8 using the MSB architecture

e-tron electric quattro all-wheel drive (shown below), using electric motors on each axle

Audi e-quattro system

Fundamentally, quattro all-wheel drive for Audi medium and large cars works similarly to previous systems with three differentials. Now, it is mechanically as well as electronically activated, and it distributes torque to wheels based on steering angle sensors, traction and stability control, yaw sensors (measuring how weight shifts left or right around its centre of gravity) and wheel sensors.

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