Hurrah! A group of talented Malaysian Futsal players will represent us at a global futsal tournament in Brazil!! Good luck and all the best to them! Make us proud.

PRESS RELEASE

Kuala Lumpur - Champs to Rio, a futsal tournament by Naza Kia Malaysia ended at a highpoint today with the announcement of the winning team after two gruelling days of round-robin challenges amongst 40 teams. The champion team, KSL FC comprising six players will represent Malaysia at the Kia Champ Into The Arena tournament in Salvador, Brazil on 4-7 July. In addition to the all-expenses paid trip to Brazil, the whole team will get RM10,000 in cash, a champion cup, champion medals, exclusive jerseys and tickets to the Quarter Finals of World Cup 2014.



Champs to Rio is a local initiative by Naza Kia Malaysia for Malaysians to experience and be a part of the excitement and energy of World Cup 2014, one of the biggest sports events of the year. Naza Kia Malaysia gave away RM20,000 in cash in addition to the six flight tickets to Brazil to the winners today.

The champions also received exclusive jerseys which they will wear in the global futsal matches in Brazil. First runner up Versus 5 FC walked home with RM5,000 in total cash and silver medals, second runner up 1 Malaysia United won RM3,000 and bronze medals, whilst third runner up TOT United A won RM2,000 and bronze medals. Registered teams came from all over the country, even as far as Penang and Terengganu.
Only two countries in the whole of Southeast Asia, Malaysia and the Philippines will be sending a futsal team to Brazil for this initiative. Datuk Hafiz Syed Abu Bakar, Chief Operating Officer of Naza Kia Malaysia said the company sees the global partnership with FIFA World Cup as a great opportunity to deliver the excitement of the brand to football-mad fellow Malaysians.

“Futsal and football are games that unite Malaysians and share a common thread of passion, skill and determination. With Champs to Rio, you get the best of both worlds where the game of futsal acts as a foretaste to the prize of being part of FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

We are pleased to be able to fly the Malaysian flag in Brazil at the global futsal tournament through our champs today. I’m sure you’ll do us proud,” said Datuk Hafiz.

Champs to Rio was open to 38 teams via online registration starting early April 2014. Registered teams started the matches on Saturday, 3 May 2014 at Sports Planet in Ampang. The format of the tournament was LEAGUE-based where 10 teams were put into one group. The top two of each group qualified to Quarter Finals played at the FIFA Pitch. The duration of every match in group stage lasted 20 minutes with 10 minutes for each half. The Quarter Finals, Semi Finals and Finals, each match lasting 30 minutes were held on 4 May 2014 at the same venue, with 15 minutes for each half.

Mohd Zahrin bin Ismail, Captain of the champion team, KSL FC, said his whole team was euphoric after winning this once a lifetime opportunity. They trained continuously twice a week to remain fit and alert. KSL FC, considered an underdog as the team is made up of amateur players, came out tops after beating favourites, Versus 5 FC, 3-2 during the penalty shootout.

“We are so excited to be representing Malaysia and Naza Kia in Brazil. This will be a first time for us in an international tournament and truly a dream come true!” he said.

Champs to Rio sits under Naza Kia Malaysia’s “World Cup Rocks with Kia” campaign which gives ten lucky Malaysians the opportunity to win all-expenses-paid trips to Brazil to watch the FIFA World Cup. Other initiatives under this campaign include Fuleco Friend Search (2 tickets won) and 2014 World Cup RoadShow (2 tickets up for grabs) and Cheer to Kia, a roving viewing party.

Living up to Kia’s tagline “The Power to Surprise”, Naza Kia Malaysia has created extraordinary opportunities at the World Cup in Brazil through Kia Motor’s global partnership as the official partner of 2014 FIFA World Cup. Those interested in getting more information on this and other exciting FIFA World Cup initiatives by Naza Kia Malaysia can log on to www.kia.com or www.facebook.com/kiamalaysia.

Let's just do everything in short little blurbs.

National Automotive Policy
The National Automotive Policy was announced recently and basically there is really nothing for most of us Malaysians to get worked up about. As I've already posted on motoring-malaysia.s Facebook page, the summary is as follows:
NAP2014 in a nutshell...no more cheap imported hybrids after existing stocks run out except for CKD. Which is only one car at this moment- Honda Jazz hybrid.

Malaysia will be energy efficient car producing hub and such cars produced here and sold may get tax incentives. This means cars with hybrid, electric, bluemotion, blueeffiency, efficientdynamics, passmotion, locomotion, etc (see which two i made up).

APs stay the same plan of supposedly getting rid of them and as usual some review on them APs. I.e same shit till 2015.

Excise duty will not be abolished as the government needs it to fatten up its coffers but expect a gradual cut of taxes and duties from now on. Boo...as we're still going to pay huge amounts of taxes but the 'upside' is the fact thst your second hand car resale prices dont plummet like crazy.

Lucky there isnt some STUPID end of life policy in there (just some voluntary inspection request to vehicle owners - which is obviously unnecessary as do you really, really, really see any cars on the road that are disasters waiting to happen? No..there aren't many and notice that most of the accidents are caused by stupidity, carelessness and recklessness) . I'm still reading the text of the speech...will update more if necessary

Ron95 Petrol Subsidy to be given to those that deserve it.

I'm sorry. I deserve it as much as the next person as my cars all state that they should use a minimum of RON95. Anyway, what kind of system should be use to determine whether we are eligible or not for the subsidised petrol price? Would I still get a subsidy if I drove my 1998 Proton Wira instead of my 2012 Mercedes as I own more than one car? Would I need some ridiculous sounding 'Kad Petrol 1 Malaysia' that I would need to show to get the subsidy? Would the subsidy only be applied to Perodua Viva or cars below 1000cc?

Too many variables for something like this to be done properly. Let's just wait and see. Anyway, what was stated by Tengku Adnan Mansor, Federal Territories Minister has already been taken out of context and spun round and around already. The truth of the matter is that the matter is still under discussion and I suppose, with this uproar it'll quieten down for a while and things remain the same for a while longer. Typical.

2014 Toyota Altis Launched.

Same as the All-new Toyota Vios. You get average technology with a badge every Malaysian loves. And decent looks too (which will attract a lot of buyers) Buy the car. Be normal. Be safe. Be just like any other Ah Kau, Ahmad, Arumugam who buys Toyotas. Be a face in the crowd. Don't stand out. No. That Altis with a bodykit does not make it a Lexus LFA okay.

I have written about this car in two earlier posts. Just look for it if you have the time. I just don't have the passion to write about this cash cow of a car anymore. Typically Toyota. reliable as heck, slightly dull but a sure seller.

Facelifted 2014 Kia Optima K5 Launched

This one I quite like. You get LED driving lights in the redesigned front end, a diffuser-like rear bumper for the rear, a new flat bottomed steering wheel (very sporty), 6 airbags (very safe), a whole lot of features and really good looking 18inch alloy wheels (the pre-facelift ones were horrid). All for a RM149,888 completely imported from South Korea. It also comes with 5 years unlimited mileage warranty and most probably free servicing for at leat 3 years too.

I like this new look. Those LEDs and rear diffuser make the car look better. Those wheels however make the car look better. The old disc-like multi spoke ones were cheap looking and made this Korean car look like some...well, cheap Korean car. This one is better. Question is would you take this car over the newly launched Honda Accord or not? 

I heard this piece of news directly from a few journo friends of mine. Their road trip in the new 2013 Kia Cerato (Kia Forte replacement) for Malaysia did not end up too well. I suppose the cars prepared by Kia were not very prepared in the first place.

One car suffered traction control failure making its anti-lock braking system pulse unnecessarily. This of course made forward progress impossible. 


A few suffered under hard braking where the cars would pull to the right. This is very dangerous especially since oncoming traffic is on the right side.

One basically had its automatic gearbox destroyed. Smoke pouring out of its engine bay and transmission fluid leaking out, getting burnt by the heated parts of the engine and exhaust. The car had to limp back after that.

Of course no company would have wanted their new car launch event to be as catastrophic as this. But this is not a car that I'd like to own even though it is quite a looker and being a Korean car - it will have all conceivable option thrown into it . Kia needs to buck up on its quality control of this new car. Or a disaster is on their hands.

Now you may not read about this shitty stuff anywhere else. This is because most magazines and online publications would try to keep their relationship with local car manufacturers spotless. This is so that they can  drink, eat and be merry at the next car launch. I basically don't give a damn. Great isn't it?