New CAR Magazine in the market

There's a new car magazine at your nearest news agent, and it is called CAR. The latest publication from Astro Publication is the fruit of the licensing agreement with Bauer Consumer Media Limited in the UK. In UK market, CAR is the premium motoring magazine with 50 years of history and CAR Malaysian edition is the 10th licensed edition of the CAR Magazine in many continents round the globe.

CAR Malaysia is headed by Ahmad Zulizwan and Donald Cheah. If their names sound familiar, this is because they have led other UK-based magazine before, and this is not the first licensed automotive magazine from Astro Publication.

The new magazine will rival the likes of Autocar, Top Gear and Evo, which are the high-ranking UK-licensed magazine. CAR content will mix the selection of local and European news, with the first-grade photography.

The magazine has hit the news agent from 28 November and retailed at competitive RM10. The first Malaysian edition will feature the drive impression of the new Volkswagen Golf, Aston Martin Vanquish, Ford Focus sedan as well the finest superhatch in the Britain's market.

Malaysia Motoring News would like to welcome the latest edition of the magazine to the Malaysian shore. Truthfully, our market is really starving for the healthy dose of automotive magazine. My student time in the UK was certainly a heaven in this aspect, and my trips to Japan has shown the same heaven too. So lets hope these heavenly scenario is not that far off from Malaysian automotive magazine market.

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First real life photo of updated American Honda Civic exterior

We've seen the first shot of the updated interior of the American Honda Civic, now the exterior photos have surfaced out, thanks to the source. These shots were taken at the dealership and it shows clearly the renewed rear end is far more substantial looking than the weedy looking current American Civic.

This is not the best angle to determine the overall outlook of the rear. While it looks more "complete" with larger tail lights with properly sectioned internals and the chromed garnish that make the rear fascia more upmarket looking together with chunkier lower edge of the bumper, from some internet photos, MMN has a suspicion that the rear fascia is a bit angled rear-wards, i.e slightly sagging, which is accentuated further by the contour of the rear bumper upper section. It doesn't have the pert look like the sportier-looking Civic FD. To see side by side how the current Civic differs from the older Civic FD, refer to MMN previous article HERE.

The front end is wholly new, as the changed item covers new bumper and grille assembly and the hood outer panel. Much like the revised dashboard, chrome inserts are featured heavily, prominently inserted around the radiator grille and lies across the car along the lower intake. I however feel that the Asian Civic, especially on its optional Modulo grille looks way better.

It remains to be seen how the rest of the Civic range will look with different trim. MMN is quite keen to see the gear console which we think is a bit understyled compared to the outgoing Civic. We think they won't be any changes there or else this guy would have snap it.

The rest of the photos from the earlier post can be be found after the jump.

First sight on the interior of the updated American Honda Civic

As expected, the refresh that Honda will make for the North American Civic will be extensive, covering both interior and exterior to reflect the critics it received from the press and consumer at that side of the world. We've been officially served with glimpse of the exterior update (HERE). 

For the interior, Honda has retained the main build of the dashboard, but has added the new centre module as well as padding up the area at the front of the passenger. The shape of the air-vent has been changed to almost rectangular and they are trimmed on their surround. The area in front of the front passenger LOOKS padded, but a true judgement still awaits. The previously matte-looking centre console has been taken out and replaced by the glossy panel, with a chromed-laden panel. Air vents and audio buttons are inserted with chromed bits, and the there is also chrome bars running lower down the panel. The climate control panel is now more CRV-look instead of a throwback to the outgoing generation. 

The updated Civic will be reveal during the Los Angeles Motorshow. In addition to the styling enhancement, Honda is expected to increase the equipment level too. 

For the uninformed, North American Honda Civic is an entirely different model to our Asian car. Despite the similar underpinnings, and most of the exterior and interior panel, the specific details are tailored exclusively for each region. For example, the FD generation Civic sports an entirely different front end rear end between Asian and American. Only in certain exception that this fact varies. For example, the FD Civic was rebadged as Acura CSX in Canada where it is truthly just a LHD version of the Asian car. The current model is less so, but with the revised styling, the outlook of the American and Asian cars are now set further apart. With the new rear end that is distinctively American, we won't be hoping that our next update for the Civic will follow the same route. For those who missed the previous update, head down after the jump for the updated exterior photos.

The 4th-gen Toyota RAV4 image leaked

A couple of days before the fourth generation Toyota RAV4 makes its official unveiling on November 28th, a small gallery of the new Toyota SUV made their way to the net. As depicted by the spied camouflaged cars, the new RAV4 does indeed wears the same styling theme as its hatchback cousin the Auris. 

The now familiar Toyota new design language theme is accentuated by the beak-type front snout where the large Toyota emblem resides. The headlight is slim and sharp and join the grille, a transition made seamless using the horizotal "whisker" bar that rooted from the emblazoned beak. Other place of the body is characterized by the crisp character lines as per the Auris, but toughened for the RAV4 by the black-colored  body cladding. The rear light stands proud of the bodywork, increasing the presence of the new generation Toyota RAV4. The side profile meanwhile, looks familiar to the current RAV4, saved for several new crisp lines to inject some excitement into the otherwise conventional soft-roader look.

The interior is best described as typical 2012 Toyota from the shape of the steering wheel, door trim design and the compartment in front of the front passenger. It carries the cues from the freshly-introduced Toyota Auris and Toyota Corolla Axio.

More details are expected to be unravelled over the next two days so stay tune.Some more photos can be found after the jump.

Honda launched Honda Jazz Hybrid CKD & announced R&D Center

Honda has launched the CKD operation for its Jazz Hybrid model, making it the only locally manufactured hybrid car in Malaysia. Currently, Honda Jazz Hybrid is fully imported and enjoys tax exemption hence making it locally, in theory, will results in no cost reduction. However, Honda has thrown in some RM4,900 price reduction, courtesy of some realignment in the specification.

The CBU version of Honda Jazz Hybrid is the EU spec, thus has a left-mounted signal stalks. This is among the changed item, the signal is now on the right, as per most of the Japanese cars. Other realignment include dual airbags (down from 6 airbags), rear drum brakes instead of solid disc, no jack-knife key, re-labelled fuel meter and the deletion of hill start assist, cruise control, auto wipers, paddle shift and steering wheel mounted audio control. Together with 10% localized part, these are parts that contribute to the slight cost savings.

Otherwise, Honda Jazz Hybrid remain similar to the imported model. It is powered by the 1,339cc gasoline engine hooked to Honda's IMA system. The petrol mill produced 88PS and 121Nm while the electric drive contributed further 14PS and 78Nm.

The Alor Gajah assembled Honda Jazz Hybrid is priced at RM89,900. Apart from the slightly reduced price, and the quite sum of reduced equipment, the color variation has been revised too. While the CBU is flourished with the striking Fresh Lime Metallic and Milano Red, these two shades made way for Sparkling Brown Metallic and Polished Metal Metallic in addition to the usual Tafetta White, Crystal Black Pearl and Alabaster Silver which are the usual Honda paint option in Malaysia across all of their models.

Meanwhile, Honda Malaysia also announced its intention to setup R&D Center in Malaysia next month. This is to complement the Thailand R&D Center and will concentrate in developing the parts for Honda cars more suited to the local flavor. Currently, for certain parts, Honda has to pick and match between all the globally available variant in order to create the local specification. Thus, with proper design and development engineer on-site, the development of the new components will be much easier. Just ask any experienced Proton and Perodua engineers!

Many media quoted the R&D Center will be located adjacent to its Melaka assembly plant. However, according to those who has attended the interview (yes people there were job opening recently for Honda R&D Malaysia) the office could be setup in Sungai Buloh. While we are not certain about the location, but we knew they were looking for Japanese-speaking personnel to handle the R&D transition from Japan to Malaysia. 

So for the Proton and Perodua runaways (I know many of you want to run) this is your chance. For the automotive engineering guys in the oil and gas company here (no matter how weird it sound, and I know all of you don't want to run away), this also could be your chance as a fresh alternative which did not exist previously!

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