Proton-Perodua merger, a no go.

Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said yesterday the Government will not force through a merger of both car companies and any solution or proposal needs to be agreed to by both stakeholders.

“We cannot force them to make a decision as there is a long spectrum. At one end is loose cooperation and at the other, a merger, which has yet to be decided,”

We told you so, right from the beginning that a merger between Proton-Perodua can never possibly take off. The mainstream media however, loved to publish whatever headlines that sell, doesn't matter if it makes any sense. Financial houses welcome the prospect for the obvious boost to the stock value under their portfolios, And the two work together to convince the public that something serious is going on. Don't you think that there is an obvious conflict of interest for someone who manages a fund with interest in any particular stocks to issue buy / sell recommendations and predicts share prices?

Intellect is not a forte of our government or even the rest of our cabinet, so they tend to talk first, think later. Mahatir has an amazing capability to think of fancy ideas on the fly, and still has the charisma and influence to actually realize them! Not so sure if that's a good thing in the long run. And the senior management of Proton will have to toe the line.

Common sense, do not underestimate the poverty of common sense in this time and age where information is plentiful. Tell people something often enough, and they will believe it. The story spun by the media and "industry analysts" were so convincing that even some fellow contacts all the way in Japan were almost convinced that something is brewing. Nowadays, I've learned not to believe what I read on the news anymore. Once you learn how the media works, how the business is run, you'll realize that there can never be such a thing as a neutral media organization, or even a neutral motoring publication or neutral motor journalist. Each will steer readers to a particular view, either by their own implicit background that the writer / context that the publication is coming from, or from something as blatant as who funds them or who are their main advertisers. Hence, don't trust what everything you read.

The whole merger-talks on the media - utter waste of everyone's time, not to mention the unnecessary work done by underpaid minions in these companies or financial houses or even the media.

Cars of Transfomers 3 : Part 1, Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Speedster Concept

Transformers 3 Dark the Moon official trailer.

The third installment of the Transformers movie franchise will premier on 7th July 2011. We have blogged a new Transformer character in the form of a Ferrari 458 Italia will be included in the upcoming Transformers 3 Dark The Moon. More on that at another time. For now, our focused will be on a speedster version of the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Concept.


In the previous Transformer 2 Revenge of the Fallen, there was an autobot character named Sideswipe, who appears in the form of a Corvette Stingray Concept in coupe bodytype.



The Stingray Concept was first unveiled in the 2009 Detroit Motor Show as the 50th Anniversary Corvette Stingray Concept, a homage to the original 1959 Sting Ray Racer Concept which would eventually inspire the second generation C2 Corvette, also known as the Corvette Sting Ray. Note that many people confuse the name Stingray and Sting Ray. The single word nomenclature actually refers to the third generation C3 Corvette, also known as the Mako Shark, as the design of the C3 Corvette was first previewed in the Mako Shark II concept car. The Stingray name however was dropped by the next model change. Under GM's product placement deal with Michael Bay, the Corvette Stingray Concept earned a starring role for Transformers 2, although screen time was very limited for this character.

1963 Corvette Sting Ray Coupe


1959 Corvette Sting Ray Racer concept car


The Sting Ray in coupe and convertible body type, with the Sting Ray Racer concept that inspired their creation in the background.










While the coupe Stingray Concept is no stranger to the automotive press and the public, the speedster body type version of the Corvette Stingray Concept however, has never been acknowledged by GM. But pictures taken from film shooting sites of the Transformer 3 confirmed rumours of the existence of a convertible Corvette Stingray Concept. A convertible Corvette is one of the most iconic sports cars in American motoring history, so it won't be surprising to see that a convertible version of the Stingray Concept to appear next. Officially however, GM is mum about plans for a new Corvette or its design direction.


A speedster body is slightly different from a regular convertible - at most, a speedster only has a very rudimentary soft top that needs to be manually installed and can only be driven at low speeds. That is, assuming that the car even has any top at all. While convertibles, even at its most basic (or high performance lightweight package) form will have a foldable fabric top that can be easily pulled up, either manually or electrically and still be able to drive a reasonably fast speed.

A little unknown fact to most petrolheads however, is that the Corvette Stingray Concept, stunning as it seems, was not designed by an American, but a Korean. Sangyup Lee was born and raised in Korea but received his post-grad education in transportation design in Pasadena, California. Thereafter, he have had stints with Porsche AG and Pininfarina and is currently employed by the VW Group as of the Chief Designer of Exterior at the Volkswagen/Audi Advanced studio in California. The current C6 Corvette is also penned by Sangyup Lee.

Sangyup Lee and the result of his work

Sangyup Lee's sketch for the Corvette Stingray Concept

The Corvette is not the only iconic American sports car that was given a new lease of life by non-Americans. The Mustang had a Vietnamese as its chief engineer; Hau Thai-Tang. It just goes to show that nationality, or even race should never be a criteria as long as the individual gets the job done really well.

Hau Thai-Tang, chief engineer, Ford Mustang.

The Stingray Concept retains the most iconic (and controversial) feature of the original Corvette Sting Ray cars - a split view rear window. Later models of the Corvette Sting Ray however had regular one piece windows, for obvious practical reasons. The Corvette however is not the only car with a split view rear window. Classic car fans will know that the original VW Beetle also came with a split rear window.



Get ready to book your tickets for Transformers 3 this July!

Ford Vertek Concept and the case of a global car

Ford's Vertek Concept unveiled to the public at the 2011 Detroit NAIS is a thinly disguised replacement for the next generation Ford Escape and Ford Kuga. In line with FoMoCo CEO Allan Mulally's One Ford strategy, both the Escape and Kuga will be harmonised as a single global model. Presently the Escape is an American-Asian-Australian model while the Kuga is only available in Europe. The Escape is a legacy from Ford's Ford-Mazda Alliance era, its sister car is the Mazda Tribute.

Contrary to the popular perception, Ford wasn't being stupid by making two different crossover type soft SUVs for different markets. Short of making a very long academic post on the merits and demerits of a global car, in short, it is extremely costly to build global car (again contrary to common perception), mainly due to highly fragmented vehicle regulations adopted by the world's main car markets. The UNECE Transport Division runs a World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations tasked to gradually harmonize these differences but it is one very tall order. There are actually very few examples of a successful global car. Toyota's Corolla being most obvious example. VW's Golf may be considered as a global car but it is hardly a commercial success outside of Europe. Even the Civic, supposedly another global car, has at least 3 different models for different markets, as is the Camry, which has 2 different models.

There-in lies the main problem with a global car - trying to build a one-size fits all solution. Even taking the example of a Corolla, when examined closely beyond the obvious, there are actually very little similarities between an American market Corolla, European market Corolla and a Asian market Corolla. Japan imposes tax based a vehicle's dimensions while Americans like their cars big. How do you find the sweet spot without hurting sales in either market? Well you can't, that is why there are two different main Corolla model line; one for Japan and the other for overseas. Plus, the US adopts a different safety standard - with minimum height for headlamps, bumpers that resist 5mph shunts with no deformity, minimum size for rear view mirrors, airbags that work even with drivers not belted.

And then there are the emission standards, Europeans favour diesels coupled with manual transmissions while modern diesels, even in its current form is still illegal in many US states (due to diesel engine particulates and NOx emissions) and not all gas stations in the US carry diesel fuel. It's a similar thing in Japan. So on top of the structural and safety legislation engineering issues, powertrain development is now far more complicated, with engine and transmission electronics work to accommodate a far wider range of engine and transmission options. In the US, you would shove in a gasoline V6 or a V8 with a standard automatic transmission and that's it.

On top of structural and safety engineering comes chassis tuning to meet those horrible cobbled roads of old Europe, especially in France, Belgium, Germany and UK. The car has to be neutral enough to be safely driven by grandmas in the Scandinavian snow, but still provides sufficient feedback and proper handling to satisfy those ultra picky German drivers, while being soft enough for the lazy Americans cruising along at 55mph on the Interstate. And don't forget the cupholders must be large enough to fit American supersize cups.

Thus, some organizations find that it is more logical to have regional model than to try to produce a global car, hoping that it would eventually sell in numbers large enough to justify the business case. Ford's organization is a fragmented one - with considerable autonomy granted to their individual operations in North America, Australia and Europe. It was actually more cost effective for each of the individual main regional markets of Ford to run their own independent product developments by sharing parts / components already available in other regional Ford models, than to a global effort to meet the polarizing needs of the Europeans, Asians and Americans. In the pre-Mulally Ford, the organization is just not structured to push things along when it comes to product development on a global scale. Being fragmented is not always a bad thing. Organizations sometimes grow too big to be managed centrally, as Toyota found out with its recall-gate. Information just don't get sent to the right people on time. There are some instances when granting autonomy would be better. VW for example allows its Chinese and South American operations (VW's two largest outside of Europe) to pretty much do its own thing, away from much interference from Wolfsburg. However compared to Ford, VW still exercises more control over its regional offices compared to Ford's Detroit HQ to its Australian or European offices.

Allan Mulally's new vision is to model itself against Toyota's global operations. The new Fiesta, the next generation Ford Focus and most recently, the Vertek concept are the new models that will spearhead his "global cars" plan. However, under Mulally, Ford has now emerged as the strongest of the American domestic Big-3 car makers.

The Vertek will be Ford's first global SUV, set to replace Ford's existing monocoque body small-mid SUVs, the Escape currently sold in America, Australia and Asia and the European market only Kuga. Expected launch date will be end 2012. Body-on-frame SUV models like the Everest however will remain as an independent model within the T6 Ranger-Everest model programme.










Read more about the design story of the Vertek Concept here.

Test Drive Review : Ford Fiesta 1.4LX MT, Long Termer Y01M01

The problem with conventional test drive, irrespective of whether is it done by yourself with a showroom test drive unit or by a motor journalist with a press car is that they don’t give you a true picture of what is it like to actually own the car, to do the school run, the Ikea and Tesco run, carving through urban traffic in the day, night, rain or sunshine, and they certainly can’t tell you what is it like to actually maintain one over the next few years. A car may have won numerous accolades from various organizations / car magazines, but that simply means that journalists or judges (not actual owners) like the car very much, and more often than not those are results gathered from a series of fast driving in the sweeping back roads, certainly not the way you are going to use the car most of the time. We are trying to close this gap by tracking the experience of a few owners of different cars, starting this week with a Ford Fiesta 1.4LX. Below is owner FiestaBoy's experience so far.

Make: Ford
Model: Fiesta
Variant / Trim package: 1.4 LX Manual
Purchased price (OTR): RM 69,888
Country of origin: Auto Alliance plant, Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate, Rayong province, Thailand.
Outlet purchased from: SimeDarby AutoConnexion PJ (03-7718 1200 / 03-7718 1256)
Date of delivery: Dec-2010 (2 months waiting period)
Freebies (at point of purchase): Free tinting, 3-years free maintenance (service interval is 10,000km / 6 months) inclusive parts and labor cost covering spark plugs, shock absorbers, engine belt and hoses, brake pads, wiper blades, engine oil and filter.

Owner’s profile
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Occupation: IT
Previous car: Proton Satria Neo 1.6 Hi-line

Purchase reasons: Low price, decent standard equipment, decent space for a hatchback, Gen-Y looks, ride and handling

Other models considered: Kia Forte, Suzuki Swift, Mazda2, Toyota Vios 1.5J,

Having previously owned a Satria Neo, my expectations in terms of ride and handling is quite high. The Neo maybe far from perfect, but handling is where that tiny Proton shines through brighter than a supernova. That little hatch sure handles and grip like no other on this side of the budget RM100k budget. You would need to spend at least 2.5 to 3 times more on the sticker price to find another car to match the Neo’s handling.

Thus, dropping the Vios was the easiest decision, as the Vios not only looks really odd in my opinion but has the handling composure of a boat.

The Suzuki Swift was little pricey but has the right image. However it was also quickly dropped because the Suzuki sales person was pretty cocky and thought his car was too good for me and wouldn’t even bother to offer me a test drive. Whatever.

The Mazda2, sister car to the Fiesta had an attractive exterior but stepping inside the car was a major letdown. The interior has the plasticky feel of a Mattel toy. Even the instrument clusters look like it’s lifted off some infant toy.

The Kia Forte was the most considered car however the car’s ride and handling was a letdown (compared to my Neo). Those huge 17-inch wheels will surely hurt when it comes to tire replacement time and they don’t do any favor to the Forte’s already unimpressive ride. The car looks tout and handsome but is a little on the large side and has that middle age clout around it. I am not even 30 and would like a younger Gen-Y looking car.


The Fiesta’s right combination of good handling, decent space, a low sticker price but yet still includes a pretty decent kit level, and throw in the bonus of having a manual transmission, it’s almost no-brainer. In fact, when I placed an order for the car, I wasn’t even actively looking to replace my existing ride. But one test drive later and I was sold.

Delivery process:
Aside from some delays, generally the service was very good. Initially the sales advisor informed that the car will arrive in about a month’s time. However this was further delayed by another month. The excuse given was that it takes about 3-weeks for custom officials to clear the vehicle’s importation documents.

The actual vehicle delivery process was very fast. The day before my car was delivered to me, the bank (Public Bank) called me up to sign a couple of documents. Next day, Dec-29, my sales advisor called to inform that my new ride is ready for collection. A few signatures later the car key is now in my hands.

I was told that a 3M window tint will be thrown in for free. However there isn’t any 3M logo there so I am not sure if this is the real deal. After few days then I realize the tinting was not done properly. There was a strand of hair stuck in between the tint and the window. I’m going to go back to the SC to get them to redo it.

The Fiesta comes with a 3-year manufacturer’s warranty. Part of the vehicle delivery documents are the warranty coupons. However these were not ready when I took delivery of my car. SDAC mentioned that I will receive it in about 2-weeks time. It almost 2-weeks now so we will see.

The SA advised that the Fiesta’s auto door lock will come on when the keys are removed from the ignition and driver’s door opened. So be sure to not leave your car keys inside the car.

Fuel economy
The engine has only clocked less than 1,000km to date. So it is still very tight and fuel consumption figures taken at this point are inconclusive. Presently, the Fiesta’s best reading is 11.3km per liter (mixed urban-extra urban) while the worst reading taken was 9.3km per liter (urban, in heavy traffic – start of school week LDP and Kota Damansara traffic), which is not too bad, considering its low mileage. We should see improvements by the 10,000km mark. I shall update more on my ownership experience in the coming weeks. The fuel consumption results were calculated manually as base 1.4LX model misses out on the trip computer available in the higher 1.6 variants.

Accessories
The OE floor mats don’t seem up to task to deal with the dirt and grime from everyday use, so I bought one of those “Maggi Mee” like floor mats from Brother Peter (opposite Papa Rich) at Damansara Uptown for RM280 (for 5-pieces in total).


Next up in the upgrade list will be the wheels. The current steel wheels with wheel caps look pretty pathetic, but as it is only an aesthetic item, I am taking my time to shop around.

Maintenance

According to the owner’s manual, the first service is only at 10,000km. I am bit conservative when it comes to oil change, especially the first scheduled service, and believe that it certainly won’t hurt the car to do an oil change earlier. I am planning to have the oil change at an independent garage, as this unscheduled service won’t be covered under the Ford Extended Service Plan, and thus I will have to pay for this.

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Repairs to date: None
Repair cost to date: None
Maintenance / servicing cost to date : None

For more information on the Fiesta, visit Sime Darby AutoConneXion or the Fiesta in Malaysia Facebook page.

Toyota pokes fun at Bob Lutz at Prius v launch

By now, most people would have seen pictures / read about the new Prius variant - the Prius v (as in 'vee' the alphabet and not the Roman numeral). More on that later. What I find amusing however is the way the public unveiling, at the 2011 North American International Auto Show (also known as Detroit Motor Show), was done.

When Toyota Division Group Vice President and General Manager Bob Carter unveiled the new family of Prius models / concepts, a slide poking fun of Bob Lutz, the former vice chairman of GM Global Product Development was flashed to the public, along with his famously quoted public remarks on the Prius - calling the Prius "a PR stunt" and "an interesting curiosity."

Image from Car UK.

Despite the recent recall-gate scandal in 2010, Prius continues to lead the hybrid sales chart in the US. Toyota Motor Sales, Big-T's US sales division closed the year 2010 with 140,928 units of Prius sold, and still remains the best selling hybrid in the world. It is one of the few bright spots for Toyota in the US, as other core models like Camry and Corolla took a serious beating, with Camry sales dropping 8.1% while the Corolla dropped 10.4% compared to 2009. Prius however still held its ground and extended 0.9% from 2009. Hyundai (up 23.7%), VW (up 20.9%) and Ford (up 19.5%) were the biggest gainers for 2010.

Toyota is known for its political correctness, its corporate events are impressive but very formal. So this sudden bout of witty humour is surprising, and may I add a rather positive surprise. It's not all doom and gloom for Toyota. Contrary to what certain factions of the American media are predicting, it would take a lot more than recall-gate to topple Big-T. Did Toyota took a big hit, yes. Will it ever recover its lead, certainly yes. Time will tell.




What is it?
While the company's teaser ads hint to a MPV type vehicle, its 5-seatear layout makes it more station wagon / estate than anything. Or if you want to follow those catchy new marketing talk - a crossover. But we understand that a 5+2 layout (2 'emergency' seats) is also in the plans. But don't expect it to be a proper 7-seater.




Power comes from the same 1.8-litre Atkinson cycle petrol-electric hybrid powerplant, with NiMh traction batteries.

When does it go on sale?
Q3 2011 in the US. Prices are expected to be similar to the Venza, however the two models are targetted at different group of buyers.

Sale on this side of the world?
Prius v shown in NAIAS is made in the context of the left hand drive American market. There have been talks about manufacturing Toyota hybrids on the State side, but this has been put on hold. We will need to wait for news on right hand drive models to be made in Japan (or maybe Thailand, which also assembles the current third generation Prius)

How big?
Prius v has an 80mm longer wheelbase, and is also larger on every dimension, with 50% bigger cargo space than a Prius.

Toyota and Mazda are the most reliable cars - TUV Report 2011

TÜVs (Technischer Überwachungs-Verein), short for Technical Inspection Association in English, is a German quality and safety approval body. For ease of typing on a standard UK keyboard, I am ignoring the umlaut German vowels. In Germany, all registered vehicles must go through regular vehicle inspection to assess their road worthiness. Else the vehicle cannot be insured. It is not exactly similar to UK's MOT, or Singapore's LTA inspection, and certainly not like our Puspakom, in a sense that it is a lot more strict. It shares more similarity to Japan's Shaken inspection, which is probably among the most strict AND costly compulsory vehicle inspection. Depending on the vehicle age, German vehicle inspection intervals vary between 2 to 3 years. TUV, along with DEKRA are among the main bodies authorised by the German goverment to carry out vehicle inspections. It is so strict that minor rust spots are sufficient grounds to fail an inspection.


Each year, in partnership with Autobild, Germany's most influential automotive publication, TUV releases an annual TUV Report which shows results of average number of problems detected in any particular vehicle model of cars inspected by the body. It is by far one of the most reliable vehicle dependability data and is used as a main reference for German used car buyers.

Between June 2009 to July 2010, TÜV analysed 7,253,709 mandatory vehicle inspections. Out of these, the Toyota Prius was found to have the least defects, followed Mazda2, Smart fortwo, Porsche 911 all tied in second place.

Click to enlarge

Top 10 most reliable cars.


Porsche should be commended for being the only supercar brand to make it to the top-10 most reliable list. It further reinforces the perception that the Porsche 911 is the only supercar that you can use daily. It is if I may put it, the present day interpretation of the Honda NSX, the most usable supercar. It may not have the flair and charisma of a Ferrari or a Lamborghini, but it more than makes up for it by never letting you down / stuck. Like how actor Hugh Grant found out when his brand new Ferrari California broke down on the A256 motorway in UK.



Bottom 10 least reliable cars. Populated by the usual suspects. Avoid anything French or Italian.


Prius referred to here is the second generation model.


Mazda2

The top scores achieved by the Toyota Prius should bury any further doubts on reliability of hybrids. Another pleasant surprise is the Mazda2. In fact, Mazda has more cars in the the top-10 most reliable list than other Japanese big names like Honda, or even Nissan. Both the MX-5 and Premacy consistenly appear among the top-10 in all vehicle age categories. Mazda's achievement is even more astounding once you realise that the Mazda2 is the cheapest car in the top-10 list (starting at around 12,000 Euros). Plus, there was a clear year-year improvement in the quality of the Mazda2. The little 2 was ranked 9th, 6th and jumping to 2nd spot in the 6-7 years old, 4-5 years old and 2-3 years old category respectively.

The Honda was only represented twice in the top-10 list, by the Honda Jazz and Honda CR-V, only in the 6-7 years old and 8-9 years old category. Mazda was represented 7 times in all 5 categories by 3 models while Toyota had 17 representations by 6 models in all 5 categories.

The most unreliable car of all - the Kia Carnival (known to Malaysian users as the Naza Ria), both the the first and second generation models included. Much have been said about how the current offerings from Kia boasts of quality that rival the Japanese. Well, as far as TUV is concerned. That's not translated to the Carnival. To be fair, the Carnival, even in the current second generation guise, is quite an old model, the last of the traditional Kias, that was developed by the Kia of old rather than the current rejuvenated Kia.



The Mercedes M-class is not only the most unreliable Mercedes, but is also the most unreliable SUV in the German market.


But as we have always said, when it comes to hard data, the data is only as good as the person who reads it. The TUV report only shows defects uncovered during mandatory vehicle inspection. It does not consider repairs made earlier, warranty claims, recalls etc etc. So this could only mean either one or a combination of the possibilities listed below :
a) Toyota cars are built very well
b) Toyota owners are very meticulous in their vehicle maintenance
c) Toyota service centers are excellent

Without looking into greater detail, we will leave it with a simple conclusion - that if you are in Germany and are in the market for a used car, your best bet is a Toyota Prius or a Mazda2.

Another highly ranked Toyota model is the Toyota Corolla Verso. While the Corolla mentioned in the 6-7 years old category is similar to the Japanese market Corolla, which was briefly sold in Singapore. Germany's largest car maker VW Group managed to get its Golf Plus (not available locally although VGM sold a small number of pre-owned units briefly), Polo and Audi A8 to the list. Clearly behind Toyota but it is clear that gradual imporvements have been made, especially amongst VW Group MPVs like the Sharan and Seat Alhambra which are featured at the bottom of the list, but only in the 6 years and above categories.

When asked about vehicle quality / reliability related data, most people think about JD Power IQS. However, we have previously explained why we think there are some flaws with the JD Power methodology. First being the conflict of interest because JD Power is on the payroll of car manufacturers. We are not implying that the results are rigged, but rather, the survey methodologies are tailored to the needs of car manufacturers rather than the needs of consumers. Secondly, JD Power IQS surveys owners of new cars less than 90 days old (manufacturers more interested in how their new cars fare than their discontinued models). Just what sort of problems does JD Power hope to uncover from 90 day old cars? Thirdly, subjective items like the driver control interface (i.e. i-Drive), small of cupholders are considered as "problems" alongside objective quality issues like engine / electrical faults encountered.

Because of the short period of ownership, JD Power's IQS tells us almost nothing about the long term reliability of cars and is not very helpful for the used car buyer (or even a brand new car buyer!). JD Power has tried to address these criticism with the Vehicle Owners Satisfaction Survey (VOSS) and Vehicle Dependability Survey (VDS). But these are not available in ASEAN bloc, neither is it available in all EU markets. TUV on the other hand, is not paid by car manufacturers but by actual car owners, hence its impartiality.


Oddly, in the 2010 JD Power Germany Vehicle Ownership Satisfaction Study (VOSS), the Dacia Logan was ranked as the 2nd most reliable car in the small car segment. In the TUV report however, it is ranked at the bottom 6 least reliable car. So this could mean either one or a combination of the following conclusions:
a) Dacia Logans are very unreliable once the mileage piles on
b) Dacia Logans lead a very hard life
c) Dacia owners don't care much about their cars
d) JD Power's results are rubbish

In the US, the Kia Sedona (as the Carnival is called in US) was ranked second for 2007 JD Power IQS van category. Go figure on the huge discrepencies. The cars may not be made in the same plant but if a manufacturer allows any of its plants to have such wide discrepencies in their quality between one plant to another, surely it can't be a very good car, irrespective of where the car is assembled in. That, or sometimes the owners may not be the best person to answer questions on whether are there any defects in their cars, probably out of ignorance. This is because JD Power compiles survey responses from vehicle owners while TUV Report is the vehicle of vehicle inspections. Or as we have explained earlier, the period of ownership is just too short for any serious issues to crop up.

The full TUV report can be obtained here. For more information on the Toyota Prius in Malaysia visit www.toyota.com.my. For info on the Mazda2, available in both hatchback and sedan form, visit www.mazda.com.my