If you are travelling along the Karak Highway tonight (Monday, June 27), be advised that a section of about 500 metres of the highway will be closed. The closure for both sides of the highway will be for 30 minutes from 11 pm tonight and all lanes are expected to reopen to traffic by 5 am tomorrow (Tuesday, June 28).
According to ANIH Berhad, the operator of the Kuala Lumpur – Karak Highway (KLK) and the East Coast Expressway Phase 1 (LPT1), the closure is to facilitate works on the construction of the ECRL (East Coast Rail Link) which will connect Kota Bharu in Kelantan to Port Klang in Selangor when completed in 2027.
According to Radzimah Mohd Radzi, Senior General Manager, Head of ANIH Berhad, the closure is to give access to heavy machinery involved in the construction of the ECRL Genting tunnel. “Both bounds from KM55.35 to KM 55.85 (Lentang) will be closed entirely to traffic to ensure the safety of our users remain top priority. ANIH Berhad would also like to remind our users to plan their journey ahead of time or delay it, if possible,” Puan Radzimah said.
Only the left lanes will be accessible to traffic on both bounds after 11.30 pm tonight and ANIH Berhad is expecting to reopen all lanes by 5 am on Tuesday morning.
Puan Radzimah reminds road-users to drive responsibly and to adhere to traffic personnel on-site and also ensure their vehicles are in good condition before starting their journey.
The latest information on activities at the highways can be found at the official social media pages of the Malaysian Highway Authority/ANIH Berhad on Twitter @LLMTrafik @LPTTrafik and Facebook @Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia @Lebuhraya Pantai Timur. Motorists can also call the LLM Hotline at 1800-88-7752 and LPT-Line at 1-700-818-700.
Additionally, if you want to have an idea of conditions along the highways, you can view CCTV images at Jalanow.com.
The new company formed by the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and the PSA Group will see 14 brands – mainly European – coming under one group. That’s a lot of brands to manage and in an age when economies of scale are paramount, there’s the big question mark of whether some brands will be discontinued. Or if they are retained, will they lose their uniqueness and be just badge-engineered products that are needed for certain regions where the brand has been popular?
Carlos Tavares (currently PSA’s chief), who will be the CEO of the new combined company, has said that no brand will be axed while acknowledging that it will be a challenge to manage so many brands. But these are early days and the new company has not even started business; once the new management starts to look at the numbers and formulates long-term plans, it may be necessary to make the hard decisions and cut off some brands that just cannot deliver revenues.
A struggle to be kept in existence
One brand that many worry about is Alfa Romeo. The sporty Italian brand has a history spanning over 100 years and has a strong following of alfisti all over the world. Fiat acquired it in 1986 but struggled to get it to make money for the past 20 years. When former FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne was alive, he tried to boost the brand but three efforts still failed. His successor, Mike Manley, was less sentimental about the brand and had announced decreased investments for it.
There is a glimmer of hope for Alfa Romeo though, simply because 61-year old Tavares is a true car guy. His first job after university was as a test driver at Renault and apart from a strong personal interest in cars, he also goes racing on many weekends (though that may have to be sacrificed in future). So while he is also known as a cost-cutter like his former boss (Carlos Ghosn), he may well make a decision ‘from the heart’ and keep the Italian brand going somehow.
Carlos Tavares, who will be the CEO of the new combined company, is a real car-guy. And like Akio Toyoda, he also goes racing!
Trying unconventional ideas like the SZ
He may look at unconventional ideas to breathe new life into Alfa Romeo, as Vittorio Ghidella, President of Fiat in 1986, did when he initiated the ‘Experimental Sportscar, 3.0 litre engine (ES30) project. Ghidella specified a puristic coupe with the sporty performance and sensational design as the target for the development contract.
Three teams took care of the second point of the task description in parallel – the Alfa Romeo design department, Fiat Centro Stile and design studio Zagato (responsible for some of the most spectacular and most successful models from Alfa Romeo in racing). This team of three was also given a low weight and the most efficient aerodynamics including ground effect possible, as in a Formula 1 racing car, which was supposed to suck the finished model onto the road through the wind.
The result was an avant-garde design with narrow, square triple headlights, a distinctive wedge shape with a high beltline and a short hatchback. The ES30 was undoubtedly the most radical thing there was at the time as a production vehicle. The coupe corresponded entirely to the aesthetics at the time of Italian design in furniture and fashion.
The elaborate body was made of a glassfibre-reinforced synthetic resin. A new process ensured a particularly smooth surface. A steel skeleton served as the load-bearing structure, which, in addition to high torsional rigidity, also guaranteed low weight. The light metal aluminium was used for the roof skin. The finished car would finally weigh a comparatively low 1,256 kgs.
The drag coefficient of 0.30 was also excellent for the time. Wind tunnel tests indicated a top speed of 245 km/h and a time of 7.5 seconds for the sprint from 0 to 100 km/h. In order to achieve the required ground effect, however, the body had to have such a low ground clearance (around 6 cm) that it would have led to problems with, for example, driveways. The solution was an electrical level control, with the help of which the body could be raised by 5 cm when necessary.
Alfa Romeo 75 technology
As the other requirement was to keep the development costs low, the team used the proven technology of the Alfa Romeo 75. However, the chassis with the gearbox on the rear axle (transaxle design) was in some places know-how the Alfa Romeo racing department adapted to the desired performance. The torsion spring bars on the front axle gave way to conventional McPherson struts, stiff Uniball joints instead of the conventional rubber elements, eliminating inherent movements in the chassis.
The technicians selected the V6 petrol engine with 3 litres displacement from the 75 America model as the drive source. They increased its output to 210 bhp through sharper camshafts and newly programmed engine electronics (Bosch Motronic).
Zagato even developed a racing version of the ES30, which appeared in its own one-make cup in 1993 as part of some Formula 1 races. But the comfortable driving behaviour also proved itself in everyday life, even long tours were a pleasure in the two-seater coupe.
After just 19 months of development, just in time for the planned world premiere at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1989, the ES30 project was ready for production. Since production at Zagato was to take place in the Milan suburb of Rho, the company remembered a legendary combination of letters – SZ for ‘Sprint Zagato’. Despite the relatively high base price, 1,036 cars were sold between 1989 and 1993.
Groupe PSA’s SUV offensive with 13 modelslaunched worldwide by the five brands – Peugeot, Citroën, DS Automobiles, Opel and Vauxhall – drove the Group’s robust sales momentum in the first half of 2018. At more than 609,300 units, SUV sales accounted for nearly 28% of the Group’s sales. The success of these models has made Groupe PSA at the end of May, number two in this segment in Europe, with a market share of 16.9%, and number one in the B-SUV segment.
Peugeot is the leading brand in the SUV segment in Europe, selling more than 339,200 SUVs worldwide (up 26%) in the first half of 2018. Since the beginning of the year, Peugeot confirms the upward trend of the PEUGEOT 3008 SUV, with 144,000 units sold (up 37%); it has also enjoyed strong demand for the new PEUGEOT 5008, which has logged 58,900 unit sales.
The Citroën SUV offensive launched last autumn is being driven by the C3 Aircross in Europe and the C5 Aircross in China, which together represented nearly 80,000 units sold in the first half of 2018, for a total of 135,000 since their launch. The launch of the C4 Aircross in China and the C5 Aircross in Europe in the second half will allow Citroën to accelerate its offensive.
Launched worldwide in February 2018, the DS 7 CROSSBACK, first DS of the second generation is key to growth at DS Automobiles, which came up to +35% in the second quarter. Two out of three customers choose the top-of-the-line versions, and while the DS 7 CROSSBACK offers premium equipment from the entry level, every second customer chooses the DS CONNECTED PILOT option, which opens the way to level 2 autonomous driving.
Excerpt from the full report: China & South East Asia: continued sales recovery…
With sales of 163,000 vehicles in China & South East Asia, up 6.9%, the Group has seen the first signs of a sales recovery. Citroën was the biggest contributor to the improvement, with sales up 50.5%, thanks to its range of sedans and the local launch of the C5 Aircross SUV last September.
The volume mix of the PEUGEOT 3008/4008/5008 SUV family is also improving, representing 40% of the brand’s total sales volumes. DS Automobiles sales are stable in the second quarter of 2018. In China, the DS 7 CROSSBACK was launched at the Beijing Motor Show in late April 2018.
During the first half, the Group made significant progress in strengthening its operations in South East Asia with the creation of a joint venture with Naza Corporation Holdings (Malaysia). The Group has sold over 4,900 vehicles in ASEAN area in the first half of this year. The acceleration in this part of the region is now noticeable.
Naza Corporation Holdings and Groupe PSA have announced the signing of a share sale agreement and a joint venture agreement, officially establishing shared operation of the Naza Automotive Manufacturing (NAM) plant in Gurun, Kedah, as the first manufacturing hub in ASEAN for Groupe PSA. In attendance to witness the event was the Prime Minister of Malaysia, YAB Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak.
Groupe PSA, as a global automotive player and the second largest carmaker in Europe, is confident and committed to the Malaysian and other ASEAN markets, holding majority stake in the business operations of Naza Automotive Manufacturing (NAM). The Naza Group will have sole responsibility for the distribution of Peugeot, Citroën and DS Automobiles in the domestic market and, with Groupe PSA, will explore distribution prospects in other ASEAN markets to address the potential 680 million customers in the region, where the automotive equipment rate is growing.
With this agreement in effect, Groupe PSA and Naza will jointly produce Groupe PSA branded cars for Malaysia and other ASEAN markets. Further opportunities will also be explored beyond ASEAN, with a potential to contribute significantly to Malaysia’s economy.
This strategic partnership will benefit from the strong and qualitative supplier network implemented in the region. The Naza Automotive Manufacturing (NAM) plant has been operational since 2004, has a workforce of close to 450 people and boasts a 50,000-vehicle production capacity, operating in line with the highest international quality standards.
Naza Group and Groupe PSA are now strengthening their partnership, established in 2008, to develop a sustainable and profitable business in Malaysia and in the rest of the ASEAN region. Groupe PSA’s investment in the Naza Automotive Manufacturing (NAM) plant will see the implementation of its EMP2 modular platform dedicated to C and D segments – taking the partnership and Naza’s commitment to another level.
Carlos Tavares, Chairman of the Managing Board of Groupe PSA, commented: “The creation of the ASEAN hub in Gurun, Kedah is a significant leap forward for Groupe PSA which will lead to the development of a profitable business in the region as part of our Push to Pass strategic plan. We are pleased to partner with Naza Corporation Holdings and continue leveraging our historical relationship.”
“We are grateful for Groupe PSA’s support and confidence in Naza Corporation Holdings as we take our longstanding partnership to greater heights. With this collaboration, there is enormous potential for Kedah to be the leading automotive manufacturing hub in Malaysia,” said SM Nasarudin SM Nasimuddin, Group Executive Chairman/CEO, Naza Corporation Holdings.
Together, both Groupe PSA and the Naza Group are poised to achieve a stronger footing in the automotive industry within the ASEAN region.
Peugeot’s little 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol engine has won this year’s International Engine of the Year award for the 1.0 to 1.4-litre category. The winners of these awards are chosen by an international panel of journalists who decide on the appropriate winner based on a set criteria.
This is the third year in a row that Peugeot has won it, which is a testament to the quality and reliability of it’s powerplant. Over 850,000 units of this particular engine have found their way into Peugeot vehicles around the world.
Demand for the engine seems to be growing by the day, and to compensate for it, the French automaker is planning on increasing the number of facilities that are able to manufacture them. It has been stated that if the current trend is maintained, annual production of the 1.2-litre PureTech engine should reach 1 million units by 2019.
Peugeot’s PureTech 1.2-litre engine is a 3 cylinder unit that comes with either a 110bhp or 130bhp power rating and is being utilised in about 90 different models in 70 countries.
Speaking of the award, Christian Chapelle, Vice-President, Powertrain and Chassis Engineering, PSA Group, said, “Receiving this award confirms the exceptional quality and performance of our petrol engines. We are continuing to optimize our internal combustion engines to make them more efficient and ever more environmentally friendly, thereby better addressing the challenges of energy transition.”
Before the end of 2017, Peugeot plans on updating their award winning engine with the following features to boost efficiency, performance and fuel consumption:
introduction of a petrol particulate filter to reduce emissions particles by more than 75%
optimisation of efficiency, due to the combustion cycle evolution and a 250bar fuel injection pressure;
reduction in mechanical friction and introduction of a new turbocharger
making the engine more compact to optimise body aerodynamics
Here in Malaysia, the newly launched Peugeot 208 PureTech is powered by the same award winning engine that we have mentioned in this article. If you would like to know more about it, visit the automaker’s local website.
