A year after officially announcing the end of its production, Volkswagen has produced a final tribute to the iconic Beetle. Taking the celebration of life to the world stage, the ‘People’s Car” is honoured in an animated short film entitled ‘The Last Mile’. It will debut during ‘Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2020’ on an American TV station.
The animated film details the story of a boy whose major life events—from childhood to elderly age—are shaped and influenced by the presence of a Beetle. Fans of the classic-bodied car may recognize details of past advertising campaigns as well as pop culture references such as cameos from Kevin Bacon’s character in ‘Footloose’ and artist Andy Warhol.
A rendition of ‘Let it Be’, the 1970 Beatles song, performed by the Pro Musica Youth Chorus serves as the soundtrack throughout the animation. The film ends with a not-so-subtle wink and nod to Volkswagen’s electrified future.
“The Beetle is easily one of the most recognizable cars in the history of automobiles,” said Saad Chehab, Senior Vice-President, VW brand Marketing. “Honouring it properly required a medium with just as much versatility and universal appeal as the car itself. While we chose the classic Beetle as the star of the animation, additional campaign components in Times Square honour the latter two generations of cars and their place and presence in American culture. We are proud of our past but our eye is on the future – hence our choice of New Year’s Eve to hint at our upcoming long-range EV and the 2020 Atlas Cross Sport.”
The Atlas Sport SUV and the new Volkswagen brand logo.
Complementing the film’s debut during New Year’s Eve festivities in the USA, Volkswagen will adorn New York City’s Times Square with a celebration of films, messages, and hints at its future brand design, including the more modern Volkswagen logo. Utilizing multiple billboards and digital spaces, the future of the brand’s Drive Bigger messaging and images of the 2020 Atlas Cross Sport will be on full display as the clock ticks down to 2020.
PLUS is ready to accept toll payments using Touch ‘n Go’s RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) system from this Wednesday, January 1, 2020. However, the electronic transaction will only be available at its toll plazas which have an Open System. These are for highways where a fixed rate is paid instead of the Closed System which charges by the distance travelled.
Only Class 1 privately-registered vehicles (light vehicles with 2 axles and 3 or 4 wheels except taxis) will be able to use their RFID tag at these toll plazas on PLUS-operated highways:
Jitra (North-South Expressway)
Lunas (Butterworth-Kulim Expressway)
Kubang Semang (Butterworth-Kulim Expressway)
Penang Bridge
Mambau (Seremban-Port Dickson Highway)
Lukut (Seremban-Port Dickson Highway)
Kempas (North-South Expressway)
Perling (Linkedua highway)
Lima Kedai (Linkedua highway)
Tanjung Kupang (Linkedua highway)
Toll payment by RFID tags can also be made at the Penang Bridge from Wednesday.
“The Touch ‘n Go RFID system, which uses an RFID-fitted sticker connected to the Touch ‘n Go eWallet, is the latest payment option that is currently being offered. It enables highway customers to perform online top-ups, eliminating the need to top-up at the designated reload centres,” said PLUS Chief Operating Officer, Zakaria Ahmad Zabidi.
Existing payment options still available
He added that more payment options are being developed via debit and credit cards as well as other eWallets. “Soon highway customers will have the option to switch to more payment modes when these features become available in the very near future,” said Encik Zakaria while giving assurance that the existing toll payment modes via Touch ‘n Go card or SmartTAG are still available on PLUS highways.
Toll transactions using the RFID tag can be done at the remaining 83 toll plazas with the Closed System from April 1, 2020.
He also clarified that the current RFID system at the Sultan Iskandar Building Toll Plaza (JB Causeway) can only be used for Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) payments for Singapore-registered vehicles.
Whichever payment mode is used, highway travellers are reminded to ensure that the balance in their TnG tollcard or eWallet is sufficient to cover the toll charges. Besides the PLUS website, Waze also now provides information on the amount of toll that will be incurred on a chosen or recommended route.
The Petrol Subsidy Program (PSP) due to commence in January 2020 has been postponed. Apparently, according to the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister, Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, the decision to postpone had been made 12 days ago during a Cabinet meeting.
The reason given in a statement issued this afternoon by the ministry is to allow ‘fine-tuning of the implementation process’ by the Ministry of Finance. A new date of implementing the PSP has not been announced but in the meantime, more explanation and clarification will be made so as to ensure people fully understand the PSP.
The minister added that the postponement would also benefit eligible motorists who are registering for the PSP. As is well known in Malaysian culture, doing things at the last moment is a common bad habit and the Finance Ministry hopes this will make things less hectic for them to handle.
The postponement does not have any immediate effect for those who are entitled to receive subsidies since the mechanism would provide subsidies only once every 4 months. Eligible motorcycle and car owners in Peninsular Malaysia will receive RM12 a month and RM30 a month, respectively.
The dedicated site for registering for the PSP seems to be offline until tomorrow.
Meanwhile, all motorists purchasing RON95 fuel (to be upgraded to the Euro4M standard from this Wednesday) and diesel will continue to enjoy subsidies to maintain the retail prices at RM2.08 and RM2.18 a litre, respectively. Hopefully, the postponement also means that the plan to raise the petrol price by 1 sen each week until it reaches levels determined the Automatic Pricing Mechanism (based on factors that include global oil prices) will also be postponed.
The price of RON97 petrol, which is not subsidized, has been be determined by the Automatic Pricing Mechanism (APM) each week. RON100 petrol, available only from Petron, is not under any price control. The last price shown on its website was RM3.10 a litre.
Although the recent developments concerning the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and Groupe PSA have had fans of the Italian brands (under FCA) worried about their future, it’s still ‘business as usual’ for those brands until such time the new management looks at the enlarged single entity. That could take a while and where Maserati is concerned, it will continue its modernisation work at the Modena plant in Italy.
There are also plans a big event in May 2020 when it will be celebrating its roots and its more than a century of history. The business was founded in Bologna in December 1914 and its mechanical workshop began activities in the middle of the same month. The Maserati brothers were passionate about mechanical engineering and loved speed, quite happy to get behind the wheel of a racing car themselves, despite their many technical and commercial commitments.
Maserati Tipo A6
Another brother, Mario, contributed by creating the famous Trident logo (inspired by the Fountain of Neptune in the centre of Bologna) and their brother Bindo joined Officine Maserati in 1932, after Alfieri’s death.
Maserati Tipo 26
The first car to bear the Trident logo was built in 1926. It was the Tipo 26 (pictured above), a racing car which debuted at the Targa Florio that same year, winning first place in the class up to 1.5 L, with Alfieri Maserati at the wheel. This was the first in a long series of successes, including two consecutive editions of the Indianapolis 500 (1939 and 1940), four consecutive victories in the Targa Florio (1937, 1938, 1939 and 1940), nine F1 wins and the 1957 F1 World Championship with Juan Manuel Fangio.
More recently, Maserati returned to its winning ways with the MC12, the car which, between 2005 and 2010, won 6 FIA GT international championships, the highest-level racing category for production-derived GT cars.
Maserati remained in Bologna until 1939. In late September 1939, following the acquisition of the Brand by the Orsi family, operations began for the transfer of the company to Modena, where the Orsi family’s businesses were based, to build new cars, invest in research and innovation and become Modena’s most globally famous brand. The production site where the plant is still located, officially opened its doors on January 1, 1940.
The Maserati plant in Modena in 1958.
The year 1947 marked the end of one era and the start of a new one. The Maserati brothers’ collaboration with the company ended while the brand launched its first road car, the A6 1500. In 1963, Maserati started another new phase of its history: with the launch of the Quattroporte, it created a completely new, previously non-existent market segment, that of high-performance luxury sedans.
After the brief period under the ownership of Citroen (1967-1975), during which the French owners introduced the first modern industrial processes, in the following De Tomaso period (1976-1993), the Modena plant created and sold a model destined to be one of the brand’s best-known, best-selling cars: the Biturbo.
The acquisition by Fiat in 1993 was the start of yet another major new chapter and which led to Maserati coming under the control of Ferrari in September 1997. These were years of major transformations as well as the birth of the 3200 GT (1998), followed by the Spyder (2001), a car which marked the important return to the US market. In 2005, Maserati was separated from Ferrari and returned to the control of the Fiat Group.
2007 was a very successful year, with the debut at the Detroit Motor Show of the Quattroporte (5th generation) with automatic transmission, enabling an important step forward, especially in markets such as the USA, Japan and the Middle East. The same year saw the presentation at the Geneva International Motor Show of the GranTurismo, another milestone in Maserati’s history.
First SUV – the Levante
In 2009, it was the turn of the GranCabrio, followed by other new products that significantly renewed the range: the new Quattroporte (now in 6th generation and presented at the 2013 Detroit Motor Show), the Ghibli (Shanghai Motor Show in 2013) and the Levante (2016 Geneva International Motor Show), the first SUV for the Brand.
After over a century of history, the Modena plant is producing cars sold in more than 70 markets, all which stand out for their luxury, elegance, style, performance and quality. These characteristics have made Maserati a true Italian icon at the global level. With the strength of over a century of history, Maserati is now ready to start a new era in May 2020.
When US-based Genovation Cars talked about developing an all-electric supercar model which would be adapted from the Chevy Corvette Z06 and be powered by two electric motors instead of a 7-litre V8, it set ambitious goals: 700 bhp with 815 Nm of torque and a range of 240 kms.
Since rolling out the first prototype known as the Genovation Extreme Electric (or GXE for short), the company has been setting new records with the car which actually manages to deliver up to 800 bhp and a range of 280 kms. Some are significant world records, including an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for a street-legal electric car with a speed of 190.48 mph (306.7 km/h) for the standing mile.
New speed record
The performance continues to improve and this month, the GXE broke its previous top speed record set in September 2019. The new world record of 211.8 mph (341 km/h), witnessed and certified by the International Mile Racing Association (IMRA) was achieved during Straight Line Aerodynamic Testing at the Johnny Bohmer Proving Grounds at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
“During this December test, we broke our previous speed record that was set in September of this same year. That earlier record run was hampered by strong crosswinds, so we were confident that under better weather conditions, we could improve upon that result,” said Andrew Saul, CEO of Genovation Cars, Inc.
“We are thrilled to be the only electric car manufacturer to not only test our vehicle’s record-breaking capabilities, but to validate and achieve this milestone not once, not twice, but three times. Based on the early analysis of the data generated from the new record, we’re confident that we can gain efficiencies which will result in further top-end speeds,” Saul said, adding that the GXE continues to be the fastest street-legal all-electric supercar in the world.
Although the exterior is adapted from a Corvette, the rest of the GXE was designed from the ground up to have a low centre of gravity and near 50/50 weight distribution, making it a true driver’s car.
Customers can order the supercar with either a 7-speed manual – an all-electric supercar category exclusive – or an 8-speed paddle-shift automatic transmission.
The GXE also comes equipped with a programmable active suspension, carbon ceramic Brembo brakes, state-of-the-art carbonfibre wheels, an ultra-high fidelity 10-speaker JBL stereo, a 10.4-inch custom high definition centre console touchscreen and bespoke exterior and interior.
Philosophy of sustainability
“One of our primary objectives is to reduce the use of petrochemicals and energy used to make our cars. Some of the sustainable parts we intend to use are commercially available off the shelf. These include seats made with soy-based foam. Where traditional tyres usually require up to 19 litres of oil for production, we plan to utilize tyres made from natural rubber infused with small amounts of orange peel oil, a by-product of the beverage industry,” said Saul.
“The batteries we plan to use have the most stable lithium-battery chemistry on the market and are 100% non-toxic. They can be reused for stationary back-up power before eventually being recycled,” he added.
Other areas where Genovation is exploring sustainability are more experimental. Testing on some materials has already been conducted and all potential options will be explored in a carefully conducted and scientific manner.
“We are studying the possibility of using composite materials made from natural, non-toxic and renewable products, such as soy-based resins rather than petrochemical resins and natural fibres made from basalt (derived from volcanic rock), jute, bamboo and burlap for trim pieces and body panels. Customers will have the option to order seat fabric made from wool,” Saul explained.
The GXE will be produced in a limited-edition run of 75 units, with initial customer deliveries scheduled in 2020. Although the price mentioned early during the development was US$330,000, the company is now setting a pricetag of US$750,000 (equivalent to RM3.095 million).
With over 500 confirmed orders – and over 400 having already been delivered – the Proton X70 is set to become one of the official vehicles for Public Sector Super Scale (JUSA) officers. The decision by the Malaysian government and SPANCO (the fleet management service provider for the government) to order the SUV for its fleet is an important achievement for Proton.
The X70’s role as an official government vehicle was strengthened recently when a unit of the SUV was delivered to the Ministry of Finance for Dato’ Shahrol Anuwar Sarman, Statutory Bodies Division Secretary for the Strategic Management Division.
From left: Fazli Hisham Shukor, Director of Proton Corporate Sales, and Hazrin Fazail Haroon, Director of Proton Group Engineering at the handover of the X70 to Dato’ Shahrol Anuwar Sarman, Statutory Bodies Division Secretary for the Strategic Management Division of Ministry of Finance, accompanied by Shaheeran Jalalludin, Operations Head of SPANCO.
While the delivery was of a single unit of the X70, the significance of the event is expected to have far wider consequences. “The Proton X70 has been an invaluable contributor to PROTON’s success in 2019 so we are proud it now plays a formal role for the public services sector. This proves its suitability for a number of tasks including representing various ministries at local and international level events. We are also therefore expecting to receive more orders for the Proton X70 from various government departments in 2020,” said Dr. Li Chunrong, Chief Executive Officer of Proton.
Earlier in December, it was announced a fleet of Proton X70s would be used to support the year-long Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2020 forum. This should provide good exposure for the model as well as Proton at a major international event.
“Proton will continue to work closely with service providers such as SPANCO to ensure we can support the need for official vehicles by public sector agencies and government departments. As a Malaysian automotive brand, we want to continue to show our support for the country and play a role in nation building,” Dr. Li said.
