New Cars

Chevrolet just unveiled the Orlando at the Paris Motor Show last week, and it is one of the cars debuted that looks like it could have a future here in Thailand.

The Orlando is a 7-seat people mover, crossover, SUV, small 4-wheel drive with no aspirations for off-roading type car. It's actually very similar both in form and function to the Honda Crossroad.

Here is a Thai TV ad for the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport:

Honda Thailand should be very satisfied with how well received the new 2009 Honda City has been. With over 4,500 units sold in the first 2 weeks on the market, this City is proving to be very popular.

Predictably, the V and SV models are the bigger sellers, with 80% of sales distributed between these higher spec models, and the S taking up the other 20%. So, some people can still do without airbags, ABS, EBD and BA.

Honda had prepared around 4,000 units in time for the launch, but don't see any difficulty in delivering the additional 500 sales on time.

The last time I posed a story on the Mitsubishi Lancer was over a year ago. Back then the Lancer was already an old and tired platform, screaming out to be replaced.

The Honda Civic, Toyota Altis, Chevrolet Optra, Mazda3, and Ford Focus, all make the Lancer a very poor looking option in this segment of the market.

Mitsubishi have been using a combination of keen pricing, and a 5-year-warranty period to extend the shelf-life of the Lancer, well beyond it's actual sell-by-date.

Most recently, Mitsubishi Thailand has started to offer a CNG version of the Lancer at no extra cost to the consumer. This sounds like a good deal, and with prices starting at THB 694,000, this could actually be considered good value for a 1.6 litre Lancer. Good, if you don't mind driving around in 9-year-old technology.

This is the first time I get to write about the new Chevrolet plug-in hybrid, as there is finally a Thai connection to the story.

According to the source, GM could bring the Chevrolet Volt to Thailand as early as 2011. The decision to bring the new car to Thailand is not all that surprising, and could eventually pave the way for local assembly in Thailand.

What is this Volt thing?

Unless you've been sleeping under a rock, it's unlikely that you haven't already heard about the Chevrolet Volt. If you simply google the word "volt" you'll get some indication about how important the Volt has become.

Honda finally sorted out their insurance and let me have a go in the new 2009 Honda City. The test drive run was a short one, less than 5 km, but long enough to get a feel for the car.

As always, this sort of test drive report is in no way a substitute for your own test drive experience. That said, here are my thoughts having driven the City, including a comparison to its closest rival..... The Vi.... I mean the Jazz.

This is a quick report on my first experience with the all-new 2009 Honda City. I will have to wait until next week to actually drive the car, just as all other ordinary people in Thailand who are looking forward to their test drive, but I have had a chance to look at the new City up close, get behind the wheel and push, pull, wiggle, open, close, and slam, everything that could be pushed, pulled, wiggled, opened, closed or slammed.

So, I'd like to share some notable observations with you.

If you check through the news postings for the last few weeks, you'll find that more than a fair share of them are relating to the 2009 Honda City. This is partly because there is virtually nothing else interesting happening in the Thai motoring industry right now. But the fact still remains that the City is a massively-important car for Honda.

The all-new 2009 Honda City has been launched in Thailand. So far there is nothing different about the Honda Thailand website, although the Teaser Page for the city has stopped counting down.

Related : 2009 Honda City First Impressions

Honda are building up for the Thai launch of the all-new 2009 Honda City with a teaser video available through their City micro-site.

The video details a launch event between 12th and 14th September at Siam Paragon, although the official launch is still set for 10th September.

According to Honda Thailand, this will also be the world debut for the new City.

Update (28 Sep 08) : Interior image added.

GM recently unveiled the Chevrolet Cruze, which is to be the new global compact car for the auto giant. This is likely to replace the Optra here in Thailand within 2009. It is likely that the car will be called the Optra here.

Updated : New images added.

The 2009 Honda City is one of the most talked about cars in Asia right now. With high global oil prices, the appeal of small cars is obvious.

The Honda City looks set to capture a large chunk of the small sedan market in this part of the world, and with just a couple of weeks left before the launch, there is still some mystery about the details of the car.

Let's have a look at what is known, or can be assumed about the new car, and try to fill in the blanks with some educated guesses. Hopefully we'll get close to reality.

Details on the 2009 Honda City are still hard to come by with just weeks left before the official unveil. Honda sales people are being very secretive, but gradually the pieces are starting to fall together. More credible images are starting to appear, and now the specification is starting to look sensible too.

Now is a great time to buy a new Toyota Vigo, assuming you are in the market for one of course. The reason is that Toyota Thailand are soon to update the Toyota Vigo with a "minor-change" version.

The update will, most likely, just involve a few cosmetic changes, and for those looking for a pick-up truck fashion usually isn't a top concern.

Updated (17-8-08) : Image added
According to Yuatyan automotive newspaper, we could be seeing the new 2009 Honda City as early as the end of August. Honda is hoping that it will boost up their sales in the last quarter of 2008.