A very interesting article about what has been going on in Malaysia to get their FD2R;
http://asia.vtec.net/Reviews/8GCivicRLaunch/index.html
Some points of interest;
- The provision for the Aus spec DC5R at the factory had paved the way for Malaysia to consider a DC5R for their own market, but ultimately, in the 12th hour the pin was pulled. Maybe Malaysia's efforts in building a Malaysian model FD2R at the factory will pave the way for us to get the FD2R, if so, THANKS in advance!
- History about their refusal to accept the AUS spec DC5R in the Malaysian market, despite wanting a "Type R" at the time...although it seems that they wanted the JDM car, or nothing at all. Great attitude! (no sarcasm intended as I believe that you get what you settle for - and we shouldn't settle for a dilution of Honda's best efforts).
- It only took a survey of 6 Type R owners to make up a part of "completely thorough market research"(?!) to serve as a catalyst for the decision to be made to bring the FD2R over there, surely there would be a wider captive audience in Aus if Honda AUS/Japan wanting any convincing that there would be enough interested parties here!.
- There is a domestic series of racing in Malaysia which were campaigning Honda's cars, which is further mileage for Type R awareness. I don't think there is any official (4 wheeled) racing that Honda are involved in in Aus (not that I'm aware of anyway).
- Various mods that were made to comply for Malaysia, thankfully, none to the guts of the hardware.
- Notes about the fuel issues given Malaysia also does not have access to RON-100 fuel.
- Despite the exorbitant cost of these cars in Malaysia (esp relative to the average wage), they estimated that they would only sell 60 per annum. So far, they've sold 50 in the first month, currently with a 6 month waiting list.
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Originally Posted by slipangle
good post
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