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Toyota

True love can only be described by those who have experienced it. Such is the case with Romain Saraiva and his red 1976 Toyota Corolla KE35. His interest in cars ran in his family. On family road trips, Romain and his family would play car spotting games.

At a much younger age, Romain, who at the time was still in school, was looking to buy his first car. He wanted something different and with a soul. He stumbled upon a Toyota Corolla Coupe whole on vacation with his family in Portugal. Smitten by the car’s silhouette and uniqueness, when he got back to France, kept an eye out for a similar one. He eventually found one and acting on impulse, bought the car.

Blinded by his love for it, he didn’t realize that the car was in pretty bad shape. It’s previous owner, in an attempt to make a quick sale, made a hash of the repair work. As such, a lot of the work had to be done by Romain to get the car looking brand new again. Watch the video and let him tell you how his passion for his KE35 led him down this complicated path.

Instead of waiting for customers to wander into a Toyota dealership, the automaker has decided to take the showroom to them. Called the Toyota Go 2017 Roadshow, UMW Toyota Motor will be having the roadshow event at seven mall locations around the country this month.

The entire line-up which includes, passenger cars, SUVs, pick-up trucks and MPVs will be on display for for the general public to view and experience. Test drives will be available for customers to experience the vehicles’ full potential and find out more about the specifications and pricing.

The roadshow isn’t just a showroom on ‘wheels’ though, because it is actually meant to serve as a one-stop solution for owners and customers a like. The former will have the chance to find out more about the 10-star benefits offered by the company. It includes the Careplus packages for their servicing needs as well as professional repainting and repairing services at Toyota Body and Paint facilities around Malaysia.

It also serves as an opportunity to find out if their vehicles are part of the Special Service Campaigns. In recent times, the automaker had introduced one to replace the infiltrator module of the Takata airbag system of its vehicles.

Customers can meet with advisers to find out more about the various financing packages for hire-purchase loans. Those who prefer to purchase a pre-owned Toyota can meet with advisors from TopMark, which is a subsidiary of UMW Toyota Motor who will inform them on several pre-woned Toyota models and also evaluate the vehicles of those wishing to trade-in their old cars in order to purchase a new one.

There will also be a race prepared Vios that will be on display for the general public. The vehicle is what will be used for a series of one-make races called the Toyota Vios Challenge. It’s part part of the Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) Racing Festival.

In certain locations of the road show, popular celebrities participating in The Toyota Vios Challenge will also be present. As of now, the automaker has not divulged much regarding this issue, but we will let you know more as soon as we find out.

Besides these events, Toyota roadshow will also have activities to entertain the entire family which include an Outdoor Night Theater and a Petting Zoo. If you are interested, take a look at Toyota’s schedule below and plan your weekend accordingly.

6-7 May 10am – 10pm Central AEON Mall, Shah Alam

6-7 May 10am – 10pm South Angsana Mall, Johor Bahru

6-7 May 9am – 9pm (Sarawak) Boulevard Mall Outdoor Carpark, Miri

12-13 May 10am – 10pm East Coast AEON Mall, Kota Bharu

13-14 May 9am – 9pm (Sarawak) Sibu Gateway, Sibu

20-21 May 10am – 10pm East Coast Stadium Darul Makmur, Kuantan

20-21 May 9am – 9pm (Sarawak) Travillion, Kuching

Toyota’s annual Dream Car Art contest which saw more than 1,300 artworks submitted by talented children from around the country, has drawn to a close. Nine lucky children were chosen as winners at the national level (Malaysia) this year and they will go on to compete at the world level in August 2017. These winners were chosen from three age categories – under 8 years old, 8 to 11 years old and 12 to 15 years old.

The nine winners at Malaysia national level are, Lim Wei Wen, Choo Han Yean, Chew Xin Ni in the under 8 years old category, Lee Pei Lin, Tan Ee Ven, Lim Xiao Yun in the 8 to 11 years old category and Charmaine Lim, Chee Ying Xuan, Lim Yuan Qian in the 12 to 15 years old segment.

UMW Toyota (local distributor of Toyota vehicles in Malaysia) awarded first place winners at the national level the Apple iPad Mini 4. Second prize winners were given mountain bikes will those in third place received two tickets each to the Legoland theme park in Johor.

The artworks of all nine children will be sent to Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan and will be reviewed by a panel of experts along with submission from around the globe for the World Contest phase. Winners at this level win a trip to Tokyo, Japan to attend the awards ceremony in August of this year.

Since 2004, the Japanese automaker has conducted this art contest as part of the company’s social contribution initiatives. According to the automaker, the main objective of the contest is to foster interest in developing ideas on designs of future vehicles.

“The Toyota Dream Car Art contest aims to develop talents amongst children and teenagers to express their ideas on futuristic mobility through art form, by drawing their dream car. I also would like to congratulate the nine lucky winners for their efforts and creativity that made it through to the World Contest”, says the Deputy Chairman of UMW Toyota Motor, Mr. Akio Takeyama.

Toyota conducts contests like this every year as part of its commitment to promote art and develop young minds that may have an interest in vehicle designs. These young kinds may eventually go on to become vehicle designers some day.

If you own a recent model Toyota, this might be of importance to you. UMW Toyota Motor Sdn Bhd (UMWT), which is the offical distributor of Toyota vehicles here in Malaysia, has announced a special service campaign dubbed SSC.

Apparently, the issue is pertaining to the front passenger airbag inflator module in the Toyota Corolla Altis, Vios, Yaris and Alphard manufactured from May 2010 to December 2012 and distributed by UMWT itself. Toyota says that due to prolonged exposure to the humidity, high temperatures and high temperature cycling, degradation could occur to the propellant in the inflator module. The degradation of this propellant, a non-desiccated and phase stabilized Ammonium Nitrate, may cause the module to rupture.

As a result, during an airbag deployment, metal fragments from the ruptured module could pass through the airbag at high speed and into the vehicle cabin. This is a serious concern, because these metal fragments could cause serious injury or even death to the vehicle’s occupants.

So far, the company has identified 42,000 vehicles that are affected by this problem and are working around the clock to source for replacement parts for them. Once the parts have been made available, UMWT will contact respective owners to set an appointment to bring in their vehicles to rectify the issue. Toyota says that it will take 1 to 3 hours to have the faulty part replaced, and all costs for the replacement process will be borne by the company itself.

Some of these vehicles may not be in the hands of the original owners and may have been sold to a second-hand dealership or another buyer. As such, if you have a Toyota that fits the model and year of manufacuture mentioned above, please contact any authorised Toyota service centre or call the Toyota Freephone at 1800-8- TOYOTA (869682).

Alternatively, Owners can visit Toyota’s Special Service Campaign webpage through this link: https://toyota.com.my/aftersales-services/special- service-campaigns to check whether their vehicle is involved, through Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) Checker. To those who have uploaded the Toyota Drive Apps, there is also a link to Toyota’s SSC page and the VIN Checker.

Toyota are also taking a proactive approach to reach owners. UMWT is setting up special SSC booths at Toyota Go 2017 events held in the month of April and May at selected AEON malls throughout the country. Details regarding the locations will be announced at a later date.

UMW Toyota recorded healthy sales figures in 2015 where it sold more than 95,000 vehicles. (more…)

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