Why Honda Malaysia Showing Toyota, Perodua And Nissan The Proverbial Finger Is Good For Malaysia!

Last Friday Honda Malaysia released the first video for the 2020 Honda City and they took potshots at the Toyota Camry, Vios and the Perodua Bezza and we loved it!

If you've not watched the teaser video, check it out below. 

Now for far too long, the automotive industry in Malaysia has only delivered tepid after predictable teaser or launch videos. None really captured the imagination nor left a lasting impression until now. Can you tell me your most memorable car ad from Malaysia? More often than not, our favourite car ads are from the western side of the globe where they're bold, brazen, and in your face. Cases in point below. 

Audi vs BMW: Round 1 

Audi vs BMW: Round 2

BMW vs Mercedes

BMW vs Audi (again)

Subaru chimes in...

Nissan vs Audi

Nissan actually bought an Audi TT and used it to promote the Nissan 370z. Brilliant!

Jaguar vs Mercedes

Credit to Naked Motoring NM for compiling all three videos into one though I'm not so sure about Mercedes' last reply. 

Cheeky, memorable and ballsy. Is it any wonder why most or all of these ads stand the test of time and why in 2020 we still refer to an ad from 2006 as the benchmark for a statement of intent?! Until last Friday, the most memorable car ads in Malaysia were from Petronas or Proton during Hari Raya or Merdeka. They tugged at our heartstrings, made us shed a tear or two till the next Merdeka or Raya. 

Has another automotive player taken a poke at their competition? Has Proton taken the piss out of Perodua? Has Nissan taunted their illustrious Japanese counterparts? Has Mazda taken the game to BMW or Mercedes in their push for premium? Have the top dogs from Germany taken a go at each other? The answer is a big resounding NO! 

Everyone's trying to be politically correct, everyone wants to play nice, stick to the tried and boring formula of a teaser or launch video. So thank you Honda Malaysia! Thank you for having the balls to stick it to your competition, thank you for giving us automotive journalists hope that this may open the door for more exciting content from other manufacturers.

I for one cannot wait to see the response from UMW Toyota, ETCM and Perodua and I hope and pray there is one coming. To Toyota, Perodua and Nissan - stop playing nice, reply, provoke. It would be a refreshing change and inject some much-needed excitement into our local automotive industry. You'll get as much if not more chatter, social media traffic and views if your responses are clever and therein lies your challenge. Especially you Nissan, since we're all eagerly awaiting the 2020 Nissan Almera. 

On another note to manufacturers, if we take your cars for a review and if they're just bad, can we say that without it becoming personal? It's your car, not you we are being critical of and we owe it to our readers to be as objective as possible, no?