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Same model but different generation that caught fire isn't it ? Also..do you have a side hustle setting questions for local quiz shows or something ?

Elephant 🤣 Cant remember there was a black, Silver and a red if memory serves right.

your hints are becoming outrageous by the day the car that caught fire was white wasn't it? so a white______ .

Didnt one of these catch fire in Colombo? Nellie was never dry in the double O movie of spy who loved the main character. A certain tower with a retail company should just about put the answer.

Here’s the next pic Saw this again on insta, car seems to have some other aftermarket mods. Spoiler still looks pretty iconic tho

Yes this is a problem the way to navigate would be to appoint aftersales dealers - as in take current workshops in selected areas and tie up with them for transfer of knowledge and equipment and then work from there. I believe this is what the Chinese are thinking right now. This is the problem with the Sri Lankans they look at price vs quality of work, so many instances I have seen where they bring to the agent after the 'maka baas' screws them and expect the agent to untie the knots in the wool ball immediately. Problem is there are learned people who think they can do a better job than the agent and have started their own workshops with zero experience in the new EV's. For god sake EV tech has moved on from the old Leaf and i3's that they are familiar with, they will take another 2-3 years to understand the new tech unless they have people who are trained in the new EV tech. The correct way would be to have the network in place and to educate the general public (if they are willing to listen) then start importing EV's slowly. We have people driving plug in hybrids who dont want to charge their cars at home saying its inconvenient and that they didnt know, how do you think they will adopt when forced to use a full EV? Having the network in place even if you dont import EV's will be ok as new tech would be similar on the hybrids (plug in hybrids) so you are not losing on your investments and it is better for the public. As you rightly said we need to sort out our charging infrastructure before we import EVs on mass scale, to do that you need proper systems and regulations in place so that people investing in them will not be at a loss with all these plug types etc etc.

In a country like Japan establishing a network is easier said than done. It is a HUGE investment. Property prices alone are staggering unless it is LITERALLY in the middle of nowhere (in which case you can buy an entire huge mountain for like 20,000USD...not kidding here !). So unless there is a huge investment, it ain't happening, and without knowing what the market would be like, no one seems to want to invest. Most of our garages are literally shacks with grease monkeys who learned the trade through trial and error. Properly trained technicians with equipped garages cost money, which translates to higher rates. Most Sri Lankans would not be willing to spend high rates, especially when there is a monkey with a wrench and a sweet smile stating he can solve the world's automotive problems for half the price. So....does one first build up the market and then establish the support network (like with Hybrids) and let the unwitting early adopters absorb the risk or does one take the risk and invest in the support network first and then hope for the best? Then, with EVs, there is the added complication of charging infrastructure, which we simply don't have. True...we have many marketing their charging systems, but still, it simply has not taken traction. Let's not even talk about the upkeep of this infrastructure which can be a hit or miss.

I think thats the problem they have, first they should have the network in place rather than just trying to flood the market. You have a problem and if you have to go 100s of kms to get it sorted and if they are not competent enough you are sadly straddled with a non working vehicle. This is the reason why Sri Lanka should have the infrastructure in place, get agents to invest in developing staff and dealer networks. We have worked it the other way, we got people to import EV's just because some one wanted to make money but conveniently forgot that cars need to be maintained. We have Hummers, Lotus's, BMW's, Mercs, Audi's, Nissan's, Tesla's, Toyota's, Volkswagen's and a plethora of Chinese brands which came on the permit scheme. Except for the ones that the agents support how will you do your maintenance? Are every other garage equipped with the latest technology with trained technicians who knows what they are doing? Or is it going to be on trial and error basis because it is the first time some people will come across complex electronic systems? This is why I am of the view that you cannot just tell people to change overnight and import only EV's, there should be sufficient time given for the rest to change and get to terms of the technology. Being in the industry I know as to how many technicians (specialists) have left the country and how hard it is to bring the next gen to train and get knowledge because the moment they get the experience they also leave because of better opportunities.

True one can only hope and pray that they keep to their strengths and become a stronger brand. Maybe its a British thing to change because of the popular beliefs. Have seen a lot of brands going with vegan interiors because there are vegans and vegetarians who doesnt want to sit on leather from a cow or whatever, when you can have fabric or wool like on a Toyota Century which is like a RR.

When you look at what the Jaguar Marketing Director has been saying and see his ideologies you understand how and why Jaguar got led down this path. Yes...they are taking a different path...one can only hope that the demographic they are trying to appeal to are actually car buyers. One can only hope that they actually did some old-school market research before they started marketing their newfound ideology.

BYD is good. After all, even Toyota is teaming up with them for EV/Battery tech. In the past there was noticeable quality differences in what they sent to Europe and what they sent to developing markets like ours. I hope that is no longer the case. As for BYD in Japan....there have been quality issues (apparently) and the issue for BYD is that they simply do not have the network to actually take care of their vehicles. Hyundai would have the same issue, but the Japanese seem far more forgiving towards the South Koreans than the Chinese brands. As for my personal feeling about BYD...drives okay...but something feels a bit off in terms of fit and finish and the touch and feel is a bit less refined compared to the Hyundais (and even the Leaf).

Very true, and our people are flocking to see what brand they can get agency for without thinking of the longevity of the brand. They have four or five main manufacturers who have many umbrella brands under their name, I would say those are fairly risk free but other unknown brands I would wait and see. On the BYD, one good thing about them is the fact that the older gen BYD's have been rather forgiving in terms of issues and build quality. Yes the first gen BYD e6 (kangaroo Cabs version if you have seen) were not well built and rusted badly but they are still running around in SL. In China they have done more than 500,000kms as taxi's so that means they should be well put together. Not promoting BYD but then again it is known in Europe for building most of their hybrid buses. With them going mass market, wanting to expand and with so many models coming out (one whole line for China and whole line for export) maybe the quality might drop, but I what I have seen are mostly good reviews.

Yes the TATA Nexon. A few of them came to Sri Lanka in 2018/19 period. The pic is from the launch On the Jaguar yes I think they have gone down a different path to what they were on. They tried very hard to make it a premium car but fell short, funny story is Jaguar would not be there today if not for Land Rover. When Ford was in trouble they wanted to sell Jaguar but no one wanted a loss making company although with some Brit heritage so they coupled it with Land Rover (who were making good profits at the time) and sold for a high price to TATA.

It says the make is DATSUN but the model is N/A. yes it seems so, I just checked the bluebird 610 and they do look similar at first look. umm I don't know if this is a daily runner and other details as I have no idea to whom this owns.

Tata Nexon? Jeez yeah, idk what sorta woke culture Jaguar is trying fit into I honestly don’t know why they thought this was a good idea, ofc sales might not have been as good as they expected, but I still think their current range they had over the last decade still remained true to their brand ethos. Dunno why they decided to throw away their whole heritage for nothing

Toyota premio gearbox

Car

@trinitywhatever happened with this car? Did you end up picking it up?

Here's the next one. A small crossover, which claimed to be the first crossover by this brand, although they have been around for close to 70 years. Brand is well known across the globe and one of its affiliate brands have been getting a lot of hate recently which the company tried and failed miserably to justify. You can say they have become a joke in the industry.

I vaguely remember a white one for sale a year or two back. So Datsun 710 is what the RMV says is it? The 710 was smaller than the corresponding Bluebird 610 of the same era and has similar headlights. Fun fact I nearly bought a 610 as my first car, but that so long ago. The one in the pic seems to have a fairly straight body work and in good order, is it daily driven?

Yes it is said this 710 series (1973-1977) was branded as Datsun 710 in US. Since you are the winner this round, it's time to claim your prize. 🙂🚗

I believe the USA got the N brand later in 1980's vehicles. Manufacturer was same it was just the branding was different based on the markets. N brand was more of a top of the range brand for them at the time and the D brand was more mass market budget friendly brand at the time. If you run the registration number on the DMT website you will know as to what it was called in Sri Lanka. For Example the famous 510 was sold as a Bluebird, a 1600 and also as a Sunny if I am not mistaken.

Well this means you got it correct. But the story told in Wiki is, the color of this generation was made by the son of NIS originally and marketed in some regions as a son of DAT. But we're not new to this rebranding no? 😉

With heavy to above average traffic I average about 16.5 (when wife drives it is about 16-16.5 and when I drive it is about 17-17.5 ....and I drive with a much heavier foot). With no traffic I get about 21-22kmpl in the city and on the highway touching 27ish. Over the last few months of the car being here the tabk seems to have averaged about 18kmpl across mixed driving and idling conditions. Mind you the fuel seem to make a huge difference. It is so inconsistent over here. The logic is different so the system provides more Hybrid assist and sits in EV mode much more happily at high speeds as well. I have no idea how this compares to the previous Hybrid as this is the first Hybrid I have owned on a long term basis. One thing that is drastically evident is that it is much more smoother going in and out of Hybrid mode and doesn't have that dead braking feel. I think it is going to be a matter of cost. The Corolla now comes with a 1.8L Hybrid. So the taxes are going to be high. Same with the Prius, in fact, the non-business, higher trim levels come with only the 2L Hybrid. Then there is the cost. On average, a 1-2 year-old Hybrid Corolla with low miles can cost around 2.4mil yen. The Prius is nearing 3mil yen (unless you go for a low-spec one with high miles). So that just leaves cars like the Yaris, e-Note, and maybe the Aqua (which is now pricey... the downfall of it being based exactly on the Yaris). So that just leaves the kei cars along with these small hatches. So, for the average car owner, these brands may seem to offer less than what the Chinese makers would offer. If the market shifts towards these Chinese vehicles, en masse I believe the most to suffer would be those in the market for used vehicles in about 5 years or so onwards, as their choices would be limited. None of these Chinese brands have a reputation for being robust and long-lasting. Those who can afford a proper sized Japanese car would probably opt for a Euro. Someone brought up the fact that a Civic is the same price as am A3...so why not go for the premium badge than the Japanese one? Well...soon, there won't be an option other than Hybrids and EVs. Even if you take the Corolla as it is....the Hybrids are outselling the petrol variant in Japan (apart from the fuel saving gains, it is also because the petrol variant is less refined in many aspects, e.g., torsion beam rear suspension versus IRS, adaptive steering and throttle vs. static, etc..). Last I heard, Toyota was stating the next gen of models will only come in Hybrid form and gasoline vehicles will be for sports vehicles and special purpose vehicles (which I am not sure about as they also have been touting the next-gen gasoline engines that are extremely efficient...no one seems to know if these engines will be purely gasoline or if there will be Hybridadized variants as well). The only thing that is rational about Sri Lankan car buyers is that they are simply illogical and extremely price focused. They want the bright and shiny things that will impress and woo, the cheaper it is the better. The logic of practicality only comes after purchase and use. The Leaf was not practical back then (nor is it now?) but people went and bought them by the ship load, or more than they should have, because it was cheap and the advertised running costs were low. That is one of the huge risks. The cheap models are being supplied by all these smaller unknown companies that we have no idea if they will survive or not. If these make it to SL we are all right royally screwed. Irrelevant factoid: BYD started pushing its brand in Japan. It created a bit of a stir, and people were interested. But they soon ran away from it. The general consensus was that the cars were nice and luxurious but didn't feel like a solid car. The Japanese seem to like the Hyundais more. (Eitherway no one is selling that many EV cars in Japan).

By saying efficient vehicles you must be referring to EV's and Hybrids. For me it works in two ways, I dont see a lot of people buying EV only if its going to be their main vehicle (atleast till we have solutions for fast charging and charging points across the country), I would say a hybrid would be a better bet for people. True in real world you will look at how much of electricity you use etc etc and compare that with a petrol or diesel vehicle, in a hypothetical world that is ideal and much cheaper, but is it true when it comes to Sri Lanka? Carexpert in Australia did a real world driving test on a 7 series (3.0l) vs a i7 and got a lot of hate messages from the EV crowd. But for me those were real world figures after all it is the same model to model, the question you need to ask is even with a range of 600kms can you justify the time you take to go from point A to B on a long run and is the price worth it? We must remember that whatever said and done the most expensive component on most EV's are their battery and that would offset your savings on fuel and servicing. Its kind of like having a Prius or a Aqua and saving on the fuel and then when battery or the ABS (common faults in Sri Lanka) go you spend a lot of money to replace them. Also do we have battery disposal means in Sri Lanka? Hybrids also have the battery issues, but at least they wont be as expensive as the big EV batteries and you dont have to have the range anxiety, if you run out of battery you can still pump petrol and keep running. On your second point, its hard to say. All depends on the price, I know for a fact that the EU cars will be quite expensive compared to the Chinese EV's, but the Japanese should be just around the same kind of price point. Problem with the Chinese is that there are way too many brands around (more than 100 maybe) and they just pop up and then vanish. They had this hyper car called the HiPhi I think and that car company went bankrupt, then more recently Neta is having trouble. I think its mainly to do with the high competition in China for vehicles they have to innovate quickly and offer tech cheaper and all the whilst being relevant in the market. But they did scare the German brands, and VW is still trying to recover. I can tell you one thing though in the next 10 years the automobile market that we know of will change and just like how the Japanese and the Koreans took over the Chinese will take over. Chinese brands will be the first name you will say when you talk of vehicles just like a Toyota would be the first vehicle people would mention first.