The king of online scoop news, autoincar.com have just posted some images of the Vios Minor Change, Japanese speak for a facelift model.
Update : Follow-up entry here. No specific info on local individual ASEAN countries introduction timing but mid-2010 is a good guess. So expect some good bargains and discounts for the current 482L Vios by the 2nd quarter of this year.
Earlier, we have seen the minor change version of the Belta, the Japanese domestic market equivalent of the Vios. We wrongly anticipated that to be the Vios MC. But after looking at all the various different versions of Belta-Vios-Yaris sedan sold all over the world, it is apparent that TMC adopts a different grille and minor variations in the front bumper design for different markets. In Japan, the Belta is targetted at young urban ladies, while in ASEAN region the Vios has to appeal to a very broad spectrum from fleet taxi users in Indonesia and Thailand (base model J-spec) to the urban yuppies in Bangkok and KL - the sporty Vios GT Street in Thailand and TRD Sportivo in Malaysia. In USA, the Yaris sedan is among the cheapest car you can buy, usually sold to college students.
Below are the different variations of the Belta-Vios-Yaris sedan. Japanese market Belta
The range topping Vios GT Street from Thailand
The left hand drive US market Yaris sedan. Note the US federal regulation required amber turn signal lenses and 5mph bumper.
I was away for a week, snorkeling in islands off the Indian Ocean, unplugged from everything, and came back to find my RSS feeds filled with Toyota recall related news. First Toyota assured owners that there was nothing wrong with the cars despite many angry online postings by disgruntled Toyota owners, and remained adamant that sudden accelerations were caused by "driver error." Then a family of 4 were killed in runaway Lexus ES and that's when shit has hit ceiling and caught the Toyota's runaway cars media's attention. Toyota then issued a press release that the company traced the problem to use incorrect / improperly fitted floor mats, and that only North American market Lexus and Toyota models are affected. Then Consumer Report revealed that Toyota and Lexus models lacked a crucial "brake over-ride" feature that is common amongst most equivalent German models, a feature that could have pre-empted many crashes caused by malfunctioning drive-by-wire controller / accelerator pedal.
Consumers remained dissatisfied with Toyota's answer that the floor mat is the cause. It's hard to believe that the gas pedal can get stuck under a floor mat under normal circumstances. Drivers who have experienced sudden acceleration were adamant that the floor mat played no role as the accelerations happened during partial-pedal / low speed conditions.
This week, Toyota issued another press release, stating that the company will halt production of 8 models (sold in USA) and shutdown 5 plants in USA until the problem is rectified. For every single day sales are halted, Toyota dealers, the principal and plants are bleeding cash. The financial repercussions is very serious and share prices of Toyota have lost 16.7% in just 5 days of trading. The news in USA was quickly followed by news that Toyota has finally admitted that Toyota cars sold in Europe and China were affected as well. It was revealed that Toyota Motor Europe has received reports of faulty accelerators since 2008. This of course goes against Toyota's earlier statements that the problems are limited to American domestic market models. In USA, 2.3 million cars have been recalled. Reuters report that Toyota Motor Europe will be recalling 1.8 million vehicles while another 75,000 will be recalled by Toyota's China offices. UMW-Toyota have assured local owners that the recall does not affect our local models, but didn't Toyota said the same for its European and Chinese market models months earlier? Readers will remember that Toyota have earlier ran into some troubles with the Chinese consumer safety regulators from ASQIQ.
Just when you thought that with the recent woes at Toyota, that Honda should be the new bastion of Japanese quality, we hear about Honda recalling 646,000 units of Jazz / Fit and City in Europe, North America, South America, South Africa and Asia for a faulty power window switch that in a worst case scenario, could cause a fire. Oddly the recall does not include Japanese domestic market models. The City, sold in Japan as the Fit Aria is exported from Thailand. Last year a South African baby girl was killed when the Jazz she was sitting in caught fire. Her mother was unloading grocery bags to their house while she remained seated in the car. Her mum was preparing a birthday party for her. Her mother had reported a faulty power window switch to a Honda dealer but technicians could not repair the fault immediately. Honda Malaysia would not comment on the recall. (Update : Honda Malaysia have just announced that the City and Jazz will be recalled). But this is to be expected as the company is very concerned about any PR repercussions from any public announcement. None of the ASEAN car market have a very strong consumer safety legislation in place to force car companies to admit product defects. Plus, the Asian mentality does not view very positively of admitting a mistake and thus, local consumers could be even more distressed with a public announcement, rather than reacting positively to it and be aware that no manufactured goods can ever be 100% defect free. This forms a vicious cycle where product defects are often covered up by companies. How many are aware that early models of Perodua Myvis have problem of fuel vapors entering the cabin? As you might be aware, petrol fumes are not only flammable but toxic substance.
Back in the States, competitors to Toyota have been very quick to capitalise on the wounded Big T. Many have called Toyota the new General Motors in terms of experiencing quality glitches, over-expansion and the proliferation of new product models. While Ford Fusion and Chevy's new Malibu have been raking up many awards and thumbs up for value and quality. GM launched the first strike by offering $1,000 or zero-percent financing for up to five years for Toyota owners who traded in for a GM vehicle. You can't help but be wowed by the pace of their decision making. Hyundai and Ford are offering $1000 incentives for Toyota trade-ins while Volkswagen is said to be "observing" the situation very closely but rather than engaging in a price war, VW is looking at rapidly increasing their ad spending to target Toyota owners / purchase intenders. A very wise move I think as competing on price and incentives will only hurt your brand value in the long term.
Toyota is rumoured to target to resume production of the 8 affected models by the third week of February. If you are looking for quality, this blogger's advice is to look towards one of those Japanese / German underdogs, i.e. Mazda, Suzuki, Audi. The tension between chasing after sales volume and maintaining quality will always remain the paradox of the manufacturing industry. When you have too many models, made by too many plants spread all over the world, with an ever decreasing model life cycle, something has to give. And it is always the engineer's time in road validation, parts stress testing and manufacturing process improvements that always gets squeezed. But the typical top management will assume that if you whip the workers hard enough, somehow, magically, via some mythical industrial gods, the sales and production numbers will be up and quality will actually be improved.
Think the Malaysian government meddles too much into Proton's business affairs? Consider the recent sparring between Renault and the French government. The President of France Nicolas Sarkozy as well as Industry Minister Christian Estrosi have reportedly given the board of Renault, including CEO Carlos Ghosn quite a earful for their decision to move the primary production site of the next generation Renault Clio 4 from its current French location in Flins to Bursa, Turkey. Earlier last year, the French government have provided over 3 billion Euros in state aid to recapitalise Renault. Sarkozy was quoted “We haven’t invested all this money supporting our carmakers just to see all the factories moved overseas.”
After a high powered meeting involving the French President and Industry Minister with the board of Renault, Ghosn reiterated Renaults stance to continue production of the Clio 4 in France, saying it will produce "similar numbers" as that of the Turkish plant, but stopped short of confirming that Flins will continue to be the main production site for the Clio 4. The current Clio is the 3rd best selling car in France, after first placed Peugeot 207 followed by Renault Megane. Following the meeting, the French government later suggested that it should increase its stake in Renault. Currently the French government have a 15% stake in Renault. Industry Minister Estrosi was also quoted saying "When a French car is destined to be sold in France, it should be made in France" as well as "We have decided that the state as shareholder will be on the strategic committee for the future industrial policy of Renault."
Even from a social point of view, Renault's decision is not that bad for the country as the government thinks. The Clio 4 is a pretty basic car European standards, and the high wages of French workers as well as the overly rigid French employee protection laws are adding a lot of cost to the car. And the Clio 4 competes in the compact hatch segment where margins are thin and the increasingly tough EU crash safety and emission as well as end of life cycle regulation is rapidly increasing the cost of the car with each successive generation. Renault intends to move production of low tech models like the Clio to new European Union entrants like Turkey, which has a much lower cost base, while the current Flins plant will be retooled to manufacture higher technology electric vehicles, like the forthcoming production version of the Zoe. electric vehicle concept. The close proximity of Flins to other suppliers of higher end automotive components makes it an ideal location to move the Flins plant "up the value chain." But as usual, government politics is a sum of the lowest common denominator - which more often than not is driven more by emotions and the stupidity of the masses rather than objective review. Sometimes one wonder whether is China really the Communist state or is France the communist state?
The Zoe electric concept was co-designed with L'Oreal Luxury Products and features a "battery quick swap feature." Though the press release did not mention it, the battery swap feature is an obvious reference to Renault-Nissan's EV project partner Project Better Place.
The French government's pressure on Renault has attracted the attention of European Union competition watch dogs in Brussels. EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes has stated to the press that there was an "apparent contradiction" between the French government's latest move and promises it made last year that subsidised loans to national car producers would not affect their freedom to move their operations. Sarkozy's latest move could be interpreted as an attempt of the government to subsidize French company's business operations or an indirect means to protect France from competition, which of course goes against the whole idea of free trade. A classic example of white men telling developing countries to open their markets but continues to protect their own local market.
Actually, France's recent action has been anticipated since last year when the aid package was released to Renault. Back in Feb 2009, The European Union have already warned France against protecting French jobs as a condition for the loan. The EU competition spokesman Jonathan Todd was earlier quoted "There are indications that car-makers will be obliged to maintain their centre of production in France as a condition for government support. If there were any conditions which would mean that aid would be subject to conditions that violated the principles of the internal market then the aid would be illegal."
Just as a reference, when the US Federal government bailed out the GM and Chrysler, the US Federal government did not demand for any seat / stake in the company, but instead demanded a "shake up" of the current management. But of course this is just a reference. France and US can never be compared side by side. There are no two countries within the OECD group that is anymore different. One is a winner takes all, greed is good state that taxes the poor more than the rich, a developed nation whose people can be bankrupted or thrown out of hospital if they do not have medical insurance while the other is a very extreme example of a failed welfare state, whose workers strike more than they work, and protest against any measure by the government to expose them to the outside world and competition.
If left unchecked, the recent actions by the French could set a dangerous precedent where other EU member governments could retaliate with similar actions of their own.
Back in July 2009, Daihatsu ceased its automotive marketing activities in China, due to very poor sales. It handed over all automotive marketing and retail responsibilities to its local partner Tianjin FAW, which also has a separate joint venture with Daihatsu's parent company Toyota. Since the withdrawal of the Daihatsu brand in China, FAW has proceeded to rebadged the Daihatsu Xenia (aka Toyota Avanza) as the FAW M80.
Even after the withdrawal of Daihatsu brand in China, Daihatsu's JV with FAW in a body parts manufacturing plant, FAW Daihatsu (Jilin) Body Parts Co continued to remain active, until now that is. Today DMC announced that it will dissolve the JV by selling the company's 50% share in FAW Daihatsu (Jilin) Body Parts Co. back to FAW Jilin Auto. This effectively meant that Daihatsu have completely ceased any involvement in the China car market.
Actually Daihatsu weren't always performing this bad. Daihatsu was one of the early pioneers in China, even earlier than parent company Toyota. In the 80s, a rebadged version of the Daihatsu Charade sedan and hatchback, known locally as the Tianjin Xiali was a very popular model in the fleet taxi market. But oddly for a Japanese car company, Daihatsu couldn't keep up with the competition. Newer more sophisticated models like VW's Santana (early generation Passat), Jetta and Hyundai Elantra (previous generation Avante model) models now dominate the fleet taxi market and by 2007, the Xiali was pushed out of the fleet taxi market, losing a very large chunk of sales volume. A Tianjin Xiali taxi, a rebadged version of the Daihatsu Charade
The fact that Daihatsu continued to offer outdated models in China did not help matters. The Chinese customers were certainly more sophisticated than Daihatsu expected and the Chinese certainly did not react well to Daihatsu selling cheap third world country models to them. Did you know the first generation Terios (known to us as the Perodua Kembara) was until very recently still sold in China as the Daihatsu Dario Terios?
But to be fair, the entry level MPV segment in China is not an easy nut to crack. A large bulk of the top selling MPVs in China are of the larger more expensive variant, lead by Buick's GL8, Jianghui Refine and Honda Odyssey. For the price of a Xenia in China, most would not bother with a cheap MPV and go for a far more sophisticated VW Jetta instead. Those that need a cheap people mover will simply go for one of those offerings from Changan, which if you ignore the brand, the interior is really not that much more spartan compared to the Xenia. Chang'an MPV
Between January to November 2009, only 2198 units of the Xenia were registered in China, a 40% reduction from the same corresponding period last year.
In 2007, Daihatsu also had to withdraw from Vietnam, again due to very poor sales. Which odd considering that both Hyundai and Toyota are raking in huge sales volume from Vietnam. While everyone from Ford to Hyundai-Kia and VW is trying to get into developing markets, Daihatsu's history suggest that the minicar specialist doesn't really have much luck outside Japan, let alone in developing markets. Daihatsu's current largest overseas market is in Indonesia, where it has a local JV with P.T. Astra International, supported largely by the Xenia which is still very popular there.
With new safety regulations by both the US Federal government and European Union mandating Electronic Stability Control (ESC) as mandatory for all cars starting from 2011, automotive electronics giant like Continental is set to cash in the new development. The ESC market is largely dominated by the twin German giants of Bosch (which patents their ESC solutions under the ESP name) and Continental. Besides USA and the EU, Australia is also mandating ESC as compulsory for all cars including SUVs from 2013. The Aussie government is also considering to extend this requirement to commercial vehicles like utes, which are hugely popular in Australia and is often use for dual-purpose (private and commercial).
With the eventual wider adoption of ESC, Continental revealed that it is working to lower the cost of ESC (expected by observers to be a ten fold reduction) to enable them to be included in "affordable" cars, defined by Continental as cars costing less than 10,000 Euros (USD 14,350). The hardware of Continental's next generation ESC solutions will be one-third smaller and one-third lighter but the company stop short of providing anymore specifics. VW is Continental's single largest OEM customer, so expect the company's direction to hint at future developments of VW. As we have seen earlier, a Polo sedan is in the plans to penetrate developing markets of India, China and ASEAN.
The next item that Continental is seriously looking to reduce cost is adaptive cruise control (ACC), which slows down the car automatically depending on traffic conditions ahead, guided by a milimeter wave radar mounted behind the front grille. ACC is currently a feature under the preserve of luxury cars. And most ACC currently operate using the 77-GHz spectrum. Continental is said to be working on a lower cost solution that works using 24-GHz spectrum. Dynamically, the only difference is that the 24-GHz systems works at speeds up to 150km/h, rather than 200km/h limit that 77-GHz systems can operate at. For regular sized vehicles like a Ford Focus and VW Golf, the system's operating range is acceptable.
This next phase in ACC development is long overdue. The reason for this delay is summed up by Ralf Cramer, Continental's President of chassis and safety division, as "German engineers engineer for German requirements. We will stop that. It's wrong for the rest of the world markets." (LOL!) Cramer was commenting that German engineers tend to design systems to work under the famed German autobahns where the average speed is around 130km/h, with a fair number of stretches that are deregulated and cars regularly travel in excess of 180km/h to 200km/h.
Not sure if this is for real, but according to autoincar.com, the next generation Serena will once again be assembled in Malaysia. Previously we have heard of rumours that TCMA will snap up Ford's former AMI plant which has since been left idle ever since Ford Malaysia packed their bags and handed over the distribution business to Sime-Darby AutoConnexion. Most people are wondering why the need for additional capacity given the general state of over capacity in the industry, speculation includes CKD operation for Teana sedan and that TCMA's current plant in Segambut will be liquidated.
The first generation Serena was an early pioneer of affordable mainstream MPVs in the local market, before the Toyota Unser came along and created some mini-explosion in the MPV segment. The current 3rd generation never made it into this region due due to high tooling cost. If the rumour is true, it will give the upcoming Honda Freed a good run for its money.
We know that VW have made its intention to control 10% (from its current less than 1%) of the Indian car market very clear. Part of this plan include a major expansion of its dealer network, to 200 outlets (from the current 40 outlets) over the next 2 or 3 years. The first product to sustain this push is the Indian made Polo. Indian market regulations states that to qualify as a "small car" which attracts a lower excise duty, cars must have engine sizes that are less than 1.2-litres and an exterior dimension of less than 4-meters. The Polo measures 3.97m and is available as a 3-cylinder 1.2-litre petrol and 1.6-litre petrol. A 1.2-litre diesel is also on the way, given that India has the largest diesel passenger car market in Asia Pacific.
The Polo is expected to be the core model for VW India, which is a car market dominated by compact hatchbacks, mainly those made by Maruti Suzuki, a brand which of course is now part of the greater VW family. To drum up demand, a one-make race series featuring the Polo is also in the plan. The VW Polo Cup, is one of the many one-make junior feeder race series supported by VW in Germany, the other being the Lupo Cup. VW have even established a sub-division called Volkswagen India Motorsports. You can almost draw parallel to the one-make race series Toyota did with the Vios in Thailand. An indication that VW intends to make Polos as synonymous with India as Vios (and Altis) is with Thailand?
VW have also revealed that a Polo sedan will be introduced by 2011, also produced in India, with more 75% of the components to be sourced locally. The car is expected to be sold in developing markets, including Thailand. India and Thailand have both signed the Thailand-India Free Trade Agreement (TIFTA). allowing the Indian made Polo to be exported to Thailand (eventually). Things are still unclear for the rest of ASEAN markets though. This will not be the first Polo sedan, the first generation Polo was at one time available as a sedan, mainly produced in China but also exported to markets like Australia. The model however was discontinued in the second generation Polo.
Remember the earlier post about our very own Lancer Evo police pursuit cars? Well according to CBT, apparently 2 units have since been totalled beyond repair. While there is a very little information on what happened, so let's not make any rash conclusions. But personally however I don't have a good experience with these so called Unit Helangs.
Not long after the first post on the Lancer Evo pursuit vehicles were made I had a short encounter with 2 of these cars. It was an early Saturday morning, around 7.30am and traffic was very light. I was on the fast lane of Federal Highway doing close to 140km/h. I don't smoke and I don't lecture anyone about the ills about smoking so how about giving me the skip for not keeping to the 90km/h limit (like I said traffic was very light) alright? Very soon a white car with HIDs blazing appeared in my rear mirror, I immediately realised it was the famed Unit Helang cars. It switched on its blue beacons for a moment, so I promptly moved over. It didn't look like it was interested in booking me but more interested in passing. At my speed I can't be pottering in the middle lane, so once the first "Unit Helang" passed I turned on my indicators, checked my mirrors and shoulder and moved back right out. But to my surprise, the Unit Helang ahead of me switched off its blue beacon lights, and then on again when it meet traffic. Very soon another one of these bastards turned up in my mirror again and I had to repeat the same. I kept up with them at a safe distance well behind for a while to watch their antics and the two continued the same, switching their blue beacons on and off to bully cars in their way. Too bad I didn't have my camera with me.
So what's the deal with these two Unit Helang cars? Those blue lights are switched on so cars will move aside for them to have a go at each other? They certainly don't like they are carrying out official duties or rushing to a particular crime scene, looking at their on-off beacon lights.
I have many other bad encounters with police escorts for royalties (the Sultan of Johor to be specific) as well as local politicians but that's another story.
We have previously talked about Toyota's upcoming LCC (low cost car), known internally as the EFC (emerging market family car), which we know will be launched in January's New Delhi Auto Show. Today, some photos taken during setup were leaked out, apparently it is of the Toyota Etios. Early info suggests that the Etios will be unveiled in India as a Concept car but looking at it, this seems very close to the series production version. Available in both hatchback and sedan in major developing markets around the world.
"AutoIndustrie," the German word for auto industry, is a part time project of a former auto industry executive in Asia. Intrigued by the world and the way things work, he is just as interested in the business of making and selling cars as well as fast exotics.
He can be contacted at autoindustrie[at]gmail[dot]com
"When it comes to cars, everybody (thinks he) is an expert", Lee Noble.
He can be contacted at autoindustrie[at]gmail[dot]com
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