New Cars

Paul Tan has popped up a brief post stating some details about the launch of the Chevrolet Cruze in Malaysia. Thailand is still waiting for this car!

Malaysia is not getting much choice in engines, and the car is imported from Korea. Clearly this strategy wouldn't be a success in Thailand, since it would be impossible to compete with locally built alternatives.

Isn't it amazing how little the car has changed? And when you see something like this from Chevrolet, you'd wonder why something so simple hadn't been thought of before now.

The Chevrolet Cruze seems to be turning into something of a pleasant surprise. The strong performance on the Euro NCAP, the interesting design both inside and out, and the seeming good value for money. And then there are little things like this:

British motoring rag Auto Express have travelled to Thailand to test drive the new Nissan March, or Micra as it will be called in the UK market. The interest in the car is obvious, given that this is a global car, with Thailand being the first market.

Toyota has recently update the Corolla in Europe, and considering that the Corolla has so far shared the same looks as the Corolla Altis in Thailand, there is every reason to expect that the Altis will get a similar facelift in the coming months.

As a follow up on previous coverage of the Chevrolet Cruze, the Euro NCAP test result for the Cruze is worth a look. The car performs very well. In fact, it's almost flawless!

Of course when sold in Thailand, the Chevrolet Cruze will not be as generously appointed when it comes to safety specification. Still, the platform looks extremely strong. And hopefully Chevrolet will raise the bar for this segment by offering side and curtain air-bags at least as options.

It seems like years since I wrote this about the Cruze, and ... yeah it was in 2008! So where is it? It seems usual now for the Thai market to have to wait for a car to go stale first. Mitsubishi did this with the Lancer, and it seems that Chevrolet are doing the same with the Cruze.

Fans of the GM brand shouldn't have to wait much longer though, and while we wait here is another glimpse of the car this time in the form of a short promo video.

Honda Automobile (Thailand) Co., Ltd., Thailand’s second largest manufacturer and exporter of passenger cars, today exhibited its Honda New Small Concept, a compact-sized concept model and the U3-X, a new personal mobility device at the 31st Bangkok International Motor Show. Both mobility products, exhibited for the first time in Thailand, are expected to be the main attractions at Honda’s booth this year.

This just isn't even funny any more. On the 31st attempt at hosting an International Motor Show, it is hard to fathom how the event organisers could still get the event slogan so badly wrong. This year, the opening ceremony photo looks even funnier given that there is a British representative present and in massive print in front of the special people is the "sentence": "DRIVING SAVE THE EARTH".

Nissan has taken the covers off the all-new Nissan Micra at the Geneva motor show, and now that we can see what it looks like, I can't imagine there being a lot less interest in it. The only possible way this car could be a success is if it's insanely cheap.

The Bangkok Post has a video posted on their site of the Lotus Evora on Thai roads. The Evora is probably the coolest Lotus in the last 10 years.

Although all the "reviewer" does is confirm that it is a Lotus, and that the steering wheel, and other aspects of the car are "well... very Lotus", I'm posting this because I love the noise this Toyota V6 makes, when they eventually allow us to listen to it towards the end of the "review".

Honda has just unveiled a new small car concept at the 2010 Auto Expo in New Delhi. You'll never guess what they've called it, so I'll tell you: "New Small."

I really hope nobody got paid to come up with that name. But, while the name might indeed be about as imaginative as the title of this article, the car itself is much less dull. In fact, I'd say it bodes well for the chances of the Eco Car's success in Thailand when it is launched next year (2011 people).

Toyota are due to dispaly a new small car in India. The Toyota Etios (apparently meaning "the origin of") at the 2010 Delhi Auto Expo which begins later this week. Usually cars released on the Indian market don't give much insight into the Thai market, but this could be different.

For the auto industry, 2009 will probably be a year to forget. With a few exceptions, the majority of car makers have suffered the worst results ever. The results haven't been pretty either with job losses, bankruptcies, yadda yadda.

So, I've decided to dispense with 2009 news early. Let's look forward to 2010.

The car pictured above is the next generation Toyota Wish, and based on it, I think the we have reason to believe that things will get better in 2010.

Paultan.org has some caught some snaps of a lightly disguised Persona facelift that is due next year. It doesn't look a whole lot different, with some minor changes to the light clusters, and the front end.

Updated (24/11/09): Running Footage Video added.

Regulars here will know that we don't do a lot of talking about premium cars. The fact is that if you are reading this blog, you probably don't have the cash to buy a BMW. But I feel compelled to write a little bit about the new styling direction taken by BMW with the new 7-series and now, the 5.

Simply put, BMW are officially making cool cars again. The pictures speak for themselves. This is a very nicely balanced design. Of course it's still going to be ridiculously expensive, and you'd be much better off buying a few houses, and a Jazz.