car to ride: Asia

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Daihatsu and Toyota Launch Ayla and Agya Twins at Indonesia Motor Show

Daihatsu has been quiet the busy bee at this week's Indonesia International Motor Show having brought along three concepts, including the D-R, D-X and UFC concepts, and the new Ayla, which will launch in the local market.

Daihatsu's Indonesian subsidiary Astra Daihatsu Motor (ADM) has prepared a concept vehicle never seen before for visitors to this week's 20th Indonesia International Motor Show in Jakarta.

The brand new study is named UFC - and no, it doesn’t stand for Ultimate Fighting Championship but Ultra Functional Compact. ADM says it designed the crossover model after it "carefully studied customers’ needs in Indonesia".

Despite Honda's recent announcement that the facelifted version of the CR-Z compact sports hybrid would make its premiere at the Paris Auto Show, the Japanese automaker pulled a fast one by unveiling the new car at the Indonesia International Motor Show in Jakarta today.

External changes include a redesigned front grille, which loses its vertical bars, revised front bumper, HID headlamps with LED daytime running lights, new fog lamps, reshaped door mirrors and rear diffuser, LED rear lights and new 17-inch alloy wheels.

The 20th Indonesia International Motor Show that takes place in the capital city of Jakarta from September 20 to 30, saw Toyota's subsidiary, Daihatsu displaying two concept roadsters at its stand.

The D-R and D-X, first seen at the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show, represent two different styles in the small roadster segment, with both cars based on the same chassis and powered by a 660cc (0.66-liters) two-cylinder turbocharged engine with direct-injection technology.

The P1 design study for a modern day F1 may be all the talk these days, but McLaren has another new model up its sleeves, one that will be unveiled during the Singapore Grand Prix this weekend.

The new car is the limited run MP4-12C "SGP Edition", of which only three examples will be built, each carrying a price tag of S$1.28 million or about US$1.05 million / €800,000. While that may sound like a lot of cash, the folks over at TeamSpeed reported that two cars have already been spoken for leaving only one up for grabs.

Most of the times, it’s the bad apples and their reckless actions that hog the limelight on the internet, so for a change, here's a dashcam video that records the actions of a kind hearted driver, or to be precise, a scooter rider.

The young woman riding on the scooter with her young child sitting at the front (both wearing their safety helmets), was waiting for the green light in front of a pedestrian crossing when she saw an old man trying to cross the street.

What begins as another one of those dishonest attempts to fool a road user into thinking (or at least not being able to prove otherwise of his or her innocence) that the driver or rider is to blame for a pedestrian accident and which have been caught on camera, takes a very strange twist.

This incident reportedly occurred on the roads of Honk Kong where we see a motorcycle rider zipping through traffic before he slows down to allow a pedestrian wearing a construction worker's yellow hard hat (you can't say he wasn't being careful for his well-being…) to cross the street.

Alright, let's all get ready for another…facepalm. Coincidentally or not, for the second time in the past couple of weeks, we have a pathetic attempt to fake a pedestrian accident for insurance purposes in Taiwan.

This latest incident was recorded in the capital city of Taipei.

Unlike the previous episode where a young girl threw herself on the hood of a car, this young man simply walked into the middle of the road, crouched down and waited for the oncoming car to make the…money hit.

There are accidents and then there are "accidents". For example, a Nissan GT-R and a L-Plate Perodua Kancil (a rebadged version of the Daihatsu Mira Mk3) training car involved in a crash is something bound to draw our attention…

This incident took place earlier today in the Malaysian state of Johor and resulted in a heavily damaged GT-R and an overturned Kancil.

Our tipster Calvin Goh explains:

"The collision is with a locally manufactured car, the Perodua Kancil. This car is widely used as a learning car (manual transmission) for first time drivers in Malaysia"

This has to be one of the most bizarre accidents we have ever seen captured on a dashcam – and mind you, it did not happen in Russia but in Asia, in the small town of Caoya in Taiwan, if our translation of the video description is correct (if it isn't, tell us and we'll fix it).

In the footage, we see a passenger car turning on the street behind a large truck carrying a crane.

Minor fender-benders happen all the time on busy city roads, and in most cases, it's more of an insurance hassle than anything else.

We don't know why the driver of the grey-colored, older generation Honda Civic depicted in this dashcam footage wasn't paying attention to the road, but whatever the reason, he slightly steered off his lane and touched the corner of the Chevrolet Cruze's rear bumper that was in front of him at a relatively low speed.

Most people know Red Bull’s owner, Dietrich Mateschitz, the Austrian entrepreneur who has made a fortune out of the energy drink and among other things, owns not one, but two Formula 1 teams and a couple of soccer clubs.

What is not so widely known is that Mateschitz had a partner in establishing his empire. His name was Chaleo Yoovidhaya and up to his demise earlier this year at the age of 80, had built up a sizeable fortune of around US$5.4 billion, which put him on the 205th place in Forbe's list of the world's billionaires.

On September 3, Bangkok police announced that they had arrested Yoovidhaya’s grandson, Vorayuth Voocidhaya, for allegedly being involved in a hit-and-run accident that resulted in a police officer’s death.

Most Lamborghini supercars in a drivable condition are out of reach for most people, even more so if we are talking about one of the most expensive models to come out from Sant'agata, the $2 million Reventon.

Being the son of a humble farmer from a rural area of China's eastern Jiangsu province, doesn’t help either, but when a man has a dream, nothing can stop him, which is the case for Wang Jian.

The 28-year old mechanic built himself a replica of a Lamborghini Reventon using whatever parts and materials he could get his hands on.

Once upon a time, not too long ago, you could easily find yourself in lots of trouble if some dastardly individual wanted to pull an insurance scam, let's say, by pretending to be hit by your car since it could be difficult to impossible to prove your innocence.

Nowadays, with the right equipment, which by the way, won't cost you an arm and a leg, frauds of this sort can be easily identified and resolved.

Take for example this Asian youngster who came running towards a vehicle and jumped on the hood acting as if he (or she) was hurt. What the scam artist didn't know is that the driver had fitted a camera on the dashboard that recorded the entire incident.

Looking for a parking spot in a crowded city can be a nightmare, and even though this problem can be solved by buying or renting a space for your car, one upscale apartment building in Singapore is really stepping up the ante by offering buyers a special treat with garages connected to their homes.

Enter the pricey world of Singapore's Hamilton Scotts 'Sky Garage Apartments', which includes one elevator for residents and another for their vehicles.

Evidently, being a traffic officer in Taiwan can be quite hazardous for your health – and we are not talking about the air quality or the stress caused by this line of work.

For a second time in a few months, we have video footage of a Taiwanese cop hit by a reckless driver in broad daylight and even though the yellow markings on his vest made him stand out like a giant glowing star in the night sky.

For the first time in its history, the BMW Group, which includes the BMW, MINI and Rolls Royce brands, delivered over one million vehicles (1,036,088 units to be precise) in the first seven months of the year recording a 7.6 percent increase over the same period in 2011 when it delivered 962,493 cars.

The German company also reported its best-ever sales result for July with a total of 135,537 deliveries, up 5.0 percent compared to last year.

One way to draw car buyers into showrooms is to organize some meaningful events and show off your vehicles, which is what Toyota and its in-house tuning shop TRD (Toyota Racing Development) did in Phuket, Thailand.

The Japanese automaker brought along a race-spec GT86 (Toyota's version of the Scion FR-S) and a professional drift driver who took several event-goers for a slippery ride around the circuit.

Cross over the break to take a look at the video from the event.

Bruce Wayne has all the money and free time in the world to build the ultimate Batpod, but what happens when your resources are extremely limited? Well, as always, this it means it's time for your imagination and creativity to take over.

This one-of-a-kind replica of the Batpod in the Dark Knight Rises film is said to have been imagined into reality by the young Vietnamese man you see riding the bike in the video after the break. Too bad he skipped on the Batman costume.

Last week, Reuters reported that the ever-expanding Volkswagen Group is considering to place a new bid for Proton, which owns the Lotus brand, some five years after the Germans failed to form a tie up with the Malaysian carmaker as it seeks to extend its reach in the southeast Asian markets.

Today, DRB-Hicom, which acquired a 42.7 percent stake in Proton earlier this year, said that it had received an offer from an unnamed foreign company to buy Lotus for £1 (US$1.6 / €1.3) and take over the British company's debts that amount to more than £200 million (US$311 million / €257 million).

car to ride

Daihatsu and Toyota Launch Ayla and Agya Twins at Indonesia Motor Show

New Daihatsu UFC Concept Doesn't Have a Fighting Chance to Enter Production Anytime Soon

Refreshed 2013 Honda CR-Z with Some Extra Ponies Makes Surprise Debut at the Indonesia Motor Show

Daihatsu Exhibits D-R and D-X Roadster Concepts at Indonesia International Motor Show

McLaren to Reveal $1 Million MP4-12C "SGP Edition" at Singapore Grand Prix

This Scooter Mom's Act of Kindness Should Serve as a Lesson to us All

Pitiful Insurance Scam has an Unexpected Outcome [Updated]

Watch One of the Worst Attempts to Fake an Accident for Insurance Purposes

Nissan GT-R Gives L-Driver of a Perodua a Tough Crash Lesson in Malaysia

Freaky Accident: Crane Hooks Up Car on the Road and Takes it for a Wild Ride!

Bet You Didn't See this Honda Civic Rollover Accident Coming

Red Bull Heir Accused of Killing a Police Officer With His Ferrari FF and Running Away

Chinese Man Builds Himself a $9,500 Lamborghini Reventon Out of Old Car Parts and Iron

Asian Pedestrian Fakes Car Accident, Little Does he Know that he's Being Filmed…

Awesome Singapore Apartments Let You Park Your Rides High Up in the Sky Next to Your Living Room

Another Taiwanese Traffic Cop Struck by a Careless Driver

BMW Group Tops One Million Sales Since the Start of the Year, Sets New Record

Toyota Offers Drift Rides in a Specially Prepped GT86 in Thailand

"Poor Man's" Batpod Prototype Discovered in Vietnam

DRB-Hicom Declines Offer for Lotus, VW Reportedly Interested in Parent Company Proton