Motor Show Report :
HONDA at the KLIMS-2006

The Kuala Lumpur International Motor Show (KLIMS) 2006 is on and will run for a total of 10 days till June 3^rd next week. This three-years-once motor show is being held at Malaysia's Putra World Trade Center (PWTC) and is promised to be the 'premier' motorshow in the ASEAN region.

My previous KLIMS (2003) report was done as a regular show visitor but thanks to the support of readers and of Honda Malaysia, I was able to move forward once again and am now reporting this show as part of the media. As a result, I was able to attend the media-only preview day. So there will be a few reports on this year's KLIMS, covering various angles which will hopefully give readers an idea of what to expect from the show if they decide to attend it, including what I feel are particularly worthwhile exhibits to make an effort to go after. This is the first report for the show, obviously focussing on Honda/Honda Malaysia's booth and their exhibits. Unlike the last show which was a quite subdued affair, Honda Malaysia have a very impressive booth this year, featuring exhibits which in my opinions are very worthy for the enthusiast to check out.

Motorshow exhibits in general can be divided into 3 categories. They are Special Concept Cars, Show Concept Cars, and General Displays. Special Concept Cars are those one-off creations manufacturers love to make for motorshows, mainly to show off their creativity. These cars are almost always super futuristic in design and features exotic technologies or ideas. These kind of cars makes for spectacular viewing but are always frustrating because they are extremely attractive to us enthusiasts but are also always 'not intended for production'. Show Concept Cars on the other hand are based on actual production cars but specially done up for a motorshow. They always feature great-looking bodykits and often mechanical upgrades as well; engine and suspension mods and so forth. Show Concept Cars are a bit of a mixture, sometimes frustrating, somethings exciting. Obviously when the manufacturer tells you that the car is 'just for (the) show' only (literally !), then it is frustrating. Why can't Mugen launch their Civic Dominator for sale will probably be the most appropriate illustration of this feeling ! On the other hand, sometimes manufacturers will show off pre-production versions of cars they intend to sell in the near future and of course these are the times Show Concept Cars will be exciting (like the new Civic Type-R in the Geneva Motor Show) ! Finally the General Displays are of course normal units you can already see in the dealer showrooms, being put in the show booth for the public to check out. While one can argue that these kind of displays are pointless, we do usually get a chance to check out the latest models in a motorshow, including getting our hands all over the car. General Displays often comes fitted with all the optional accessories.

So Honda's KLIMS booth contains a good mixture of all three types of cars. One last thing to touch on before we get on to the cars themselves. Motorshow cars are usually displayed in one of two general formats. The first format is 'pedestral' where the car is literally put on a pedestral, usually an elevated rotating platform and with a motorshow model (girl) in attendance. Actually I hate these kind of exhibits because they put a clear differentiation between the show-car and the spectators, more or less putting the car in an exclusive area and leaving the spectators, the people whom the manufacturer is targetting the car at in the first place, gawking from behind restraining ropes. I much prefer the second method of exhibit, where the car is placed on the general booth area and visitors can check the whole car out. Even then manufacturers often locks the doors, preventing visitors from checking out what is actually the most important part of the car - the interior cabin. Again, Honda's exhibits in the KLIMS takes on both forms.

Special Concept Cars

With the lengthy explanations out of the way, now it’s time to get on with the Honda cars on display at the KLIMS. We start with the Special Concept Cars. While the previous Honda Malaysia CEO believed that whatever is showed in motorshows should be ultimately attainable by the visitors, the current CEO Mr Yasuhide Mizuno believes in following the well tested approach of show-casing Special Concept Cars as the main feature for the show. So for the KLIMS 2006, Mr Mizuno had two special concept cars specially flown in from Japan as his show-case for the show. These are the Sports-4 Concept and the FCX Concept.

The Sports-4 Concept was shown in last year's Tokyo Motor Show and represents Honda's concept of 'the sports car of the future'. The key ideas in this concept is that everyone should be able to enjoy the experience of driving a 'high performance' vehicle, not just 'expert drivers'. Further to this, the enjoyment of the car should not be limited to just the driver alone but the passengers as well. So the Sports 4 Concept (car) is a 4-door sedan, obviously taking domestic family needs into consideration. The exterior design features bold sharp 'sports car' lines with a low and sleek look, large tyres and huge flarring fenders. Finally, true to Honda's emphasis on all the occupants of the car (not just the driver), the interior cabin features a 'luxurious' design exploiting a combination of metal, wood, leather and other 'exotic' materials. The driver is of course given ample attention as well with dashboard featuring displays and controls for 'at-a-glance' recognition and 'intiutive control'.

The car is a firm 4-seater, true to its name, featuring four individual bucket seats as well as 4 dedicated 'sky-roofs' (meaning one sky-roof per person). Finally to enhance the performance aspect, the Sports 4 Concept comes with Honda's new SH-4WD which features an electronically controlled continous distribution of torque amongst the 4 wheels that adapts to road conditions for maximum traction. Between the front pair and rear pair, torque/power distribution varies between 70:30 to 30:70 while the rear pair itself additionally features a left-right distribution that varies between 100:0 to 0:100. This system is meant to offer the most superior implementation of the four wheel drive system, intelligently adjusting for optimum traction in all conditions and delivering superior driving stability, handling and response.

The FCX Concept shows off Honda's next generation of their famous FCX Fuel Cell Vehicle (i.e. hydrogen engine cars). In design, the FCX Concept reminds me heavily of the KIWAMI concept car that was shown in the 2003 Tokyo Motor Show that I had the good fortune to attend. As the next generation model, the FCX Concept features a more compact engine that delivers more power from the same amount of fuel (hydrogen and oxygen). To complement its 'Special Concept Car' stature, the FCX Concept comes with a futuristic cabin featuring new fancy dashboard and interior as befitting a true concept car speciallly created for a motor-show eventhough in this case, my personal opinion is that the mechanicals in this concept car should be seeing production in the near future.

In an effort to make fuel-cell vehicles more accessible, Honda also introduces their Home Energy Station which is effectively a hydrogen and oxygen generation plant for the domestic home. Besides generating fuel for the car, the HES also generates electricity as well as recovering the heat generated in the process for use in domestic water heating (i.e. emulating a water heater).

Show Concept Cars

Honda Malaysia features three of what can be considered show concept cars in the KLIMS 2006. All three are based on a current production model, in this case, all three on the new 8th Gen Civic.

While strictly speaking not really a 'concept car' as it is currently being sold in other countries, Honda Malaysia decided to show the new 8th Gen Civic Hybrid as a Show Concept Car in their booth. This move is probably because hybrid cars in general are not being promoted in Asia as country governments do not seem to feel a need to encourage conservation of energy and the environment and thus generally do not provide laws that encourage the sale of hybrid cars. Thus in Malaysia for instance, while diesel cars are subjected to a different road tax structure, hybrid cars are lumped together with the regular gasoline cars and thus a Civic Hybrid which has to be fully imported from Japan will cost significantly more than a regular Civic 1.8S or 2.0S. Here we are talking about a 30% price premium or even higher.

The dark-blue Civic Hybrid in the Honda KLIMS booth was an 'official car' that was used in last year's Indy 300km race of Japan. It comes fully decked out with a bodykit and accessories and is put forward as the Civic Hybrid Sports Concept.

The most talked about Show Concept Car in the Honda booth will surely be the Honda Civic MODULO Concept. This is the Honda Access designed concept Civic and comes with a full complement of Honda Access Modulo parts. Most of the items that are held dear to the enthusiast have been upgraded to Modulo status. The front end features a new grille, new bumper with moveable slots that responds to speed and LED foglights, and new headlights. Wheels are 18-inch aluminium Modulo wheels with aerodynamic wheel covers. The rear end features a new bumper with rear 'diffuser plate', new Modulo LED tail-lights and a Modulo spoiler.

Of particular interest is the side-mirrors which are tiny and molded as part of the front fenders. These side mirrors features LED turn indicators as well as an integrated side camera. Side skirts complements revised doors that with flared bottom halves and conspicious wheel arches. The base car is the JDM Civic 1.8.

My photography session of this car was however spoiled by locked doors which prevents me from taking photos of the interior cabin. I tried several friends in Honda Malaysia, explaining to them that this is the one car that should get their new Civic customers talking. All of them tried hard but tried in vain as they couldn’t get the keys. I contemplated taking a photo of the dashboard through the driver's door window but Honda Malaysia had heavy tints on the glass which reflected very clearly the words 'Mercedes Benz' from the adjacent booth. So it doesn't make sense to have a photo of the Civic Modulo Concept dashboard with 'Mercedes Benz' plastered over it ! It's a pity as the Civic Modulo Concept features a new NAVI system that integrates navigation, audio and cabin controls. Furthermore the dashboard features some interesting detailing that are quite pleasing to the eye. Nevertheless, TOVA readers who make it to the show should be able to get a good view of the interior if they check out the car live even if I can’t give them any photos to see.

The third Show Concept Car in the Honda booth is a special 'endurance race concept car' that Honda Malaysia is actually preparng for their challenge in this year's 12-hours Merdeka Millenium Race. Honda Malaysia had an extremely successful campaign in this, the premier endurance race in the region and is actually going in as the three years undefeated defending champion for Class A (production and sports-cars). It is already well known that Honda Malaysia will be fielding the latest 8th generation Civic this year and judging from the car in the show, this one looks to be the fastest one yet. Their MME champion trophies from the past three consecutive years (2003, 2004, and 2005) are also on display in the show.

Normal Display Cars

For the KLIMS 2006, Honda features both the MMC Honda City and the new 8th Gen Civic 2.0S. Both of them are fully equipped with standard optional accessories (full bodykit), the Civic 2.0S being actually the same unit from the launch and Civic test-drive event at CyberJaya and which was featured as a TOVA feature car last month. Both of them also has a fully equipped interior cabin as well.

Special Guest Appearance

Specially flown in for the show is also the lastest and most advanced Honda Asimo robot. Now a tiny 1.2 metres tall, this unit features the latest Honda 'i-Walk' technology which has more or less completely make ASIMO walk exactly like a human. This includes a particularly impressive demonstration where ASIMO balanced itself automatically on a platform which was then tilted by a hydraulic jack. Also featured is the famous ASIMO dance sequence, this time doing a Hawaii hoola-dance.

ASIMO will be here for the duration of the show and Honda will be holding shows featuring ASIMO at all days. Four shows will be held from Monday to Thursday with five shows held on Friday and the weekends. Show-Times for Monday-Thursday are 12:30pm, 2:30pm, 4:00pm, 6:00pm and 8:00pm while Friday will feature an extra show at 9:00pm. During the weekends, the show schedule is different with show-times at 11:30pm, 1:30pm, 3:00pm, 4:30pm, 6:00pm and 8:00pm. So if visiting the show, some planning will be needed if one is interested to catch at least one of the scheduled ASIMO show-times. Each session will not last very long actually, with two motorshow girls introducing ASIMO and then interacting with 'him' to show off his abilities. The whole show lasts around 5 - 10 minutes only.

Rest Of The Show

This then concludes the highlight of Honda's exhbit in the KLIMS 2006. Nobody visits a motorshow just to check out one single manufacturer's booth of course but to any TOVA readers who are planning to go for the show, I would put the Honda Malaysia booth as a must-visit, worth all the effort to check out. A word of warning though as the PWTC is I feel actually quite dated in design and really not suitable for an international motor-show. So the exhibutors are spread out over as many as 5 halls. Honda Malaysia's booth is in the Merdeka Hall which is actually located on Level 4 and would be one of the last halls you will visit should you follow the flow laid out (more like forced upon you) by the show organisers. So you will more or less see all the other manufacturer's booth first before you arrive at the Merdeka Hall where you can check out the Honda booth. Just bear this in mind, for time-management reasons as you won't want to spend all your time in the first half of the show exhibits and then have to rush through the other halls, especially as they hold not only the Honda Malaysia booth but most of the major manufacturer's booth as well - Mercedes Benz, Toyota, and so forth.