Mobil Rakyat...new cars

[jstar]

One of the most popular cars in the world is not that popular in Indonesia. Guess why.

This is the Plug In version btw. It is fair to say that also in Europe this model is €16.000 more expensive than the regular Hybrid.

 

[Wisnu]

If you’re in the market for a 3-row PHEV (plug-in hybrid), this might interest you.

Chery will introduce the Pro Max version of its Tiggo 8 in Indonesia. It should be able to drive 75 km on the battery and electric motors before the 1,5 liter engine kicks in.

View attachment 4030

In January, I asked the dealer but they can't confirm the timing, even until now, no firm launching date. Similar with other Chinese car manufacturers - was still uncertain with the PHEV market in Indonesia.

 

[jstar]

In the mall today, I saw the third electric car Wuling introduced in Indonesia; the Cloud EV.




It is bigger than its two siblings, the Air and Binguo EV’s. Its length is almost 4,3 meter. Even more important is the 2,9 meter wheelbase, something that has a big impact on the interior space. Esp. electric vehicles can benefit from moving the wheels more to the corners of the vehicle.

The batteries are Lithium Ferro Phosphate (LFP). Manufacturers as Tesla also increase their use of these lithium batteries (from 20% in 2021 to 50% in 2023). The shift towards LiFe batteries from Li-ion is attributed to their use of different materials. Iron and phosphorus instead of the nickel, manganese and cobalt found in NCA and NMC batteries for instance. Of course there are disadvantages too; they tend to have a lower energy density and don’t deal with very low temperatures well. But you can charge them up to 100%.

Still, they announce a range of 460 km. Which in reality will be 370-400 km, since the temperatures never drop below 15° here it should be rather high and stable.

 

[jstar]

I forgot to mention the price: 400 juta.

Which is in fact not bad at all for a car like this. The 50.6 kWh battery can be charged from 30% to 80% in half an hour.

Of course it is a rebadged Baojun. Assembled by SGMW Motor Indonesia (joint venture SAIC-GM-Wuling) in Cikarang. It was the first Chinese car company to build a manufacturing plant in Indonesia. They also produce Chevrolet for exports and shared their production facilities to manufacture MG Motor electric cars (yes a bit like Lotus).

 

[jstar]

The European Union is continuing the high import duties on Chinese electric cars. They start today, the European Commission stated.

The levies should end the unfair competition that China would face by subsidizing its own manufacturers. The penalty charge for BYD cars is 17.4 percent. For cars of the Geely group (e.g. Volvo), and additional 19.9 percent has to be paid, and on those of SAIC (MG) even 37.6 percent. For other manufacturers, the EU charges 20.8 percent, but that can be 37.6 percent in the event of lack of cooperation. Rates are slightly lower than announced. The import tax on Chinese electric cars has so far been 10 percent.

The charges are still provisional. The funds will be set aside, in case Brussels and Beijing do not get to an agreement in the next four months. If the committee decides that China is not improving its behavior, the measures will take effect for five years. This can only be stopped if a a large majority of EU countries votes against it, which seems unlikely for the time being.

The commission, which deals with EU trade, had launched an investigation into electric cars by Chinese companies last October. They benefit from unfair government subsidies, was their conclusion. According to the EU's daily administration, the Chinese manufacturers can easily apply a 20 percent lower price and European competitors cannot compete with that.

Europe was flooded with cheap electric cars from China last year. Due to that fierce price war, many European car manufacturers are losing market share, while their own electric vehicle industry is crucial to make the EU climate neutral, according to the European Commission.

In the past China heavily competed with European solar panel manufacturers, for example.

 

[Balifrog]

The European Union is continuing the high import duties on Chinese electric cars. They start today, the European Commission stated.

The levies should end the unfair competition that China would face by subsidizing its own manufacturers. The penalty charge for BYD cars is 17.4 percent. For cars of the Geely group (e.g. Volvo), and additional 19.9 percent has to be paid, and on those of SAIC (MG) even 37.6 percent. For other manufacturers, the EU charges 20.8 percent, but that can be 37.6 percent in the event of lack of cooperation. Rates are slightly lower than announced. The import tax on Chinese electric cars has so far been 10 percent.

The charges are still provisional. The funds will be set aside, in case Brussels and Beijing do not get to an agreement in the next four months. If the committee decides that China is not improving its behavior, the measures will take effect for five years. This can only be stopped if a a large majority of EU countries votes against it, which seems unlikely for the time being.

The commission, which deals with EU trade, had launched an investigation into electric cars by Chinese companies last October. They benefit from unfair government subsidies, was their conclusion. According to the EU's daily administration, the Chinese manufacturers can easily apply a 20 percent lower price and European competitors cannot compete with that.

Europe was flooded with cheap electric cars from China last year. Due to that fierce price war, many European car manufacturers are losing market share, while their own electric vehicle industry is crucial to make the EU climate neutral, according to the European Commission.

In the past China heavily competed with European solar panel manufacturers, for example.

Another stupid idea....

This was tried in the 70s/80 with Japanese cars, and later with Korean cars..
They are everywhere around now.
Chinese will simply assemble them in an Eastern EU country. Problem solved.
French and German manufacturers do it since long time !

 

[jstar]

Yeah, and companies that produce certain models in China, like Tesla and Volvo, will also be affected.

Not to mention the European car manufacturers for which China is a huge market. They must be getting nervous.

 

[jstar]

The Suzuki Jimny 5-door has arrived. They told me there are only three colors, the apple green, black and red. I like the front / grille of the 3-door much better, not so much chrome.

The prices are going crazy, from the top of the line version they start to approach the 500 juta?!

Some more news from Europe: The Suzuki Jimny will not be sold anymore.

Since July 6, 2022, all newly introduced cars have already had to comply with a package of safety requirements called the General Safety Regulation, but from July 7, 2024 – so tomorrow – those full requirements will apply to all cars that are sold new.

It is no longer worthwhile for car manufacturers to upgrade a model with all kinds of expensive and complex safety systems. See some Porsche models. Previously it became clear that the Suzuki Ignis (which is not sold in Indonesia anymore) disappears for that reason, but now it turns out that you can no longer order the Suzuki Jimny either.

Spesifikasi dan Harga Suzuki Jimny | Gear to Proclaim

Suzuki Jimny 5-Door dan Jimny 3-Door dilengkapi All Grip Pro, Siap Hadapi Berbagai Tantangan!

www.suzuki.co.id

 

[jstar]

Jaguar Luxury Saloon, Compact SUVs & Sedan Cars | Jaguar Indonesia

Visit the Official Jaguar Indonesia website. Explore our wide range of luxury SUVs and Sedan cars. Book a test drive today to find out more.

www.jaguar.co.id

Jaguar is taking a year “break” before it begins with the expansion of its purely electric offering. So now, the brand wants to reinvent itself as a manufacturer of luxury electric cars. Rather positioned as a competitor of Aston Martin than an Audi, BMW or Mercedes which is currently the case.

Such a 'break' of a year is unprecedented and it is still questionable whether the brand can survive at all.

Despite everything, Jaguar Land-Rover hasn't even had such a bad year. It made £29 billion, a record. And it even managed to make a profit of £2.2 billion - the highest figure since 2015. But it mainly does that with three models - all Land and Range Rovers. The Range Rover, the Range Rover Sport and the Defender are the money makers. Jaguars only lost money. Not just last year - it's been like this for a long time.

On top of the ever lasting challenge of having enough volume with Jaguar to get above the profitability threshold, a few 'unfortunate' decisions have been made in recent years. For example, Jaguar Land-Rover (JLR) misjudged the European electrification trend. Although the electric I-Pace was awarded the title 'Car of the Year' in 2019, it turned out to be unable to convince customers. Too expensive and with - as it has now turned out - a questionable quality. At the same time, the brand invested heavily in its own Ingenium engine range and diesel technology, just before the diesel scandal caused by Volkswagen denounced the technology. And as icing on that already heavy cream cake, the engines also turned out to be prone to problems. JLR eventually switched back to power sources of BMW origin.

 

[jstar]

After showing it on the car expo GIIAS, Nissan now offers the Serena e-Power for sale.

It is a larger MPV, bit comparable to Mazda Biante and Toyota Voxy. So if you’re in the market for a bigger people mover and don’t want to fork over a billion for an Alphard hybrid or so, this might be interesting.

The e-Power is a sequential hybrid; it drives like an electric car, but the combustion engine permanently charges the batteries that provide the juice for the motor. Some call it best, others say worse of both worlds.

Its price is 645 juta.

 

[Brian86]

The e-Power is a sequential hybrid; it drives like an electric car, but the combustion engine permanently charges the batteries that provide the juice for the motor. Some call it best, others say worse of both worlds.

The Chevrolet Volt and BMW i3 both had that kind of system and were mass produced for about 10 years each and then both discontinued. Combustion engines are much more efficient when running at a steady load at a constant RPM (very much unlike how gas cars are driven), so using a small one as an onboard generator is a seemingly great idea for a gas-electric hybrid. The engine can be quite small, under 1L displacement, and should benefit from great longevity and low maintenance.

However, it is notable that no other major manufacturers have adopted this format, and Chevrolet and BMW continue to introduce the other kind of hybrid where both gas and electric motors are connected to the drivetrain. One should definitely ask "why?", perhaps the theoretical benefits of the electric drivetrain with onboard generator are not realized in reality.

 

[jstar]

The Chevrolet Volt and BMW i3 both had that kind of system

No they didn’t.

There were certain models of those cars which were in fact BEV’s with a range extender. Which kicks in when the battery is getting empty and which is not exactly the same as this e-Power system.

This serial hybrid has much less battery capacity and the battery power is continuously provided by the combustion engine. It’s more similar to Honda’s system.

 

[centurion]

Some building managments in Jakarta apartments are considering banning electric cars in basement.

Kenapa Mobil Listrik Dilarang Parkir di Basement? Ini Alasannya

Mobil listrik dilarang parkir di basement karena khawatir kebakaran. Berikut tips parkir mobil listrik yang aman.

www.medcom.id

Ini Bahaya Parkir Mobil Listrik di Area Basement

Banyak peluang bahaya karena beberapa alasan, mobil listrik sebaiknya tidak diparkir di area basement

otomotif.katadata.co.id

Buntut Kebakaran EQE di Korea Selatan, Mobil Listrik Dilarang Parkir di Basement?

Buntut dari insiden terbakarnya mobil listrik Mercedes-Benz EQE, pemerintah Korea Selatan akan segera mengumumkan regulasi terbaru.

otomotif.kompas.com

Kantor-Hotel di China Larang Mobil Listrik Parkir di Basement, Demi Alasan Keamanan

Sejumlah kantor, hotel dan gedung-gedung lain di China mulai melarang mobil listrik diparkir di basement.

oto.detik.com

 

[jstar]

It’s -as so often- choosing the easy way out. The only possible problem is that in case of a fire, the branwir (fire brigade) has to apply certain techniques which are different from other fire hazards. Which they obviously don’t master.

 

[jstar]

In the car expo in China, the big theme this year was the eh…… capybara?!

https://fb.watch/zB76YLQrh-/?fs=e

 

[jstar]

Talking about Chinese cars that you see more and more in Indonesia:

In Europe they are not very successful. Couple of reasons, the regime in the PRC, the fact they’re practically all BEV, pricing, and lack of dealer support.

The latter is being addressed by using more and more official importers, which are already representing brands as Toyota, VW, etc.

They are definitely not cheap. Now everybody is convinced they are subsidized by the Chinese government and sell with a loss. That’s not completely correct. The subsidies from the central government are practically all canceled, sales tax discount is ending this year. But locally, every region in China can more or less do what they want so some do give subsidies depending on weight, power, battery capacity, etc. And yes, sometimes that also on brand level.

Now the Chinese found that in Europe it’s smarter to sell plug in hybrids.

Over here there’s a huge influx of brands we never heard of before. Of course everybody knows MG and BYD by now. but there’s many more. Esp. Chery and their sub brand Omoda are doing quite well.

In a local mall they had quite a collection. This Wrangler look-a-like is called a Tank 300 and it’s from Great Wall:

 

[jstar]

A bit weird that the official announcement will take place on the 28th…

…..since I saw this Fronx already in the mall today!

 

[harryopal1]

In the car expo in China, the big theme this year was the eh…… capybara?!

https://fb.watch/zB76YLQrh-/?fs=e

View attachment 4864

I suppose it i meant to look like a cute little creature with eyes. Personally I think it is ugly and seems to have so little ground clearance.

 

[jstar]

I suppose it i meant to look like a cute little creature with eyes. Personally I think it is ugly and seems to have so little ground clearance.

Yeah I guess it’s more of a gimmick, if you open the Facebook link you’ll see multiple examples of the furry version with an irritating music.

Talking about ground clearance, the very popular SUV’s nowadays obviously offer more (>20cm) than the sedan. So you sit higher too, pensioners don’t have to crawl in and the manufacturer can put the additional batteries underneath. All good reasons but I did like coupé and sedan cars from before the hype.

 

[jstar]

Mitsubishi, the car company, is not doing well worldwide. In Europe it’s practically gone and the new cars they plan to introduce, are in fact rebadged Renaults and Nissans.

The Mitsubishi Colt and ASX are Renault's Clio and Captur over which Mitsubishi has poured a mild own design sauce. The brand will soon come with a new Grandis and that too is not completely its own. It will be the Mitsubishi variant of the Renault Symbioz. And the new Outlander? That is -as expected- a sister model of the Nissan X-Trail (Rogue in the US).

Mitsubishi is now announcing the arrival of a brand new electric model but that car also is in fact from someone else. The Japanese automaker has signed a letter of intent with Foxtron. That is a Taiwanese car manufacturer and is a partnership between iPhone manufacturer Foxconn and Taiwanese automaker Yulon. The intended collaboration between Mitsubishi and Foxtron should lead to a new EV for Mitsubishi.

In Indonesia they have two new models in their line-up:

Mitsubishi Xpander: It got a second facelift this month. A hybrid version of the Xpander that is claimed to be more efficient is available in Thailand and seriously considered for the Indonesian market.

Mitsubishi Pajero Sport Elite Limited Edition 2025: Pajero Sport with an exclusive look and advanced features.