Article - Clarkson offends another nation (good man Jezza!).

mike65

Clarkson earns wrath of a nation by smashing up Malaysian car
By Ian Herbert
Published: 07 April 2007

By his own undiplomatic standards, Jeremy Clarkson's reaction to half an hour behind the wheel of the cheapest new car on sale in Britain was almost modest.

He simply attacked the Perodua Kelisa with a sledgehammer, hung it from a crane and blew it up, describing the vehicle as a "piece of junk" that sounded like a disease and was "built in a jungle clearing by people who go to work in shoes made from leaves".


When Clarkson took a pop at Manchester last month, ("You usually think, 'I'll keep my wipers on now' and keep right on going to somewhere better," he declared) the city knew better than to respond. But for Malaysia, a country less accustomed to outbursts from motormouths, Clarkson's attacks on the Kelisa in one of his videos have become an issue of parliamentary significance.

One of the country's government ministers, Abdul Raman Suliman, stood up in the Kuala Lumpur's Dewan Rakyat (parliament) this week and likened Clarkson to a football commentator who couldn't play football.

There had not been a single complaint from British owners of the Kelisa, pointed out Mr Suliman, who considered the presenter's stunt to be a cheap way of shifting more copies of BBC Top Gear magazine.

The finer points of Clarkson's attack on the vehicle might well have been lost on Mr Suliman. The interior was "tackier than Anthea Turner's wedding" the Top Gear presenter insisted in one review. "It's the cheapest car to run. Fine, but the cheapest house is a small tent," he added. "It has a top speed of 88mph but takes so long to reach it that no one has ever lived long enough to verify the claim."

With published titles such as The World According to Jeremy Clarkson as well as And Another Thing behind him, Clarkson discovered long ago that there is jolly good money in causing offence. But his verdict on the Kelisa - which will set back new owners a mere £4,699 if they settle on the entry-level EX model - is out of kilter with many who are looking for value and environmental credentials, rather than turbo-charged style.

The Independent's James Ruppert found the Kelisa "quite fun to drive around town" and at 55 miles to the gallon could not complain about the economy while in The Times, Vaughan Freeman pointed out that for the price of a Ferrari Superamerica, you could run a fleet of 42 Peroduas. Granted, the Ferrari wins in a number of departments in that contest (top speed 199mph, against that 88mph). But with power steering, electric front windows and a heated rear screen, the car provides value, even if its unattractive grey and black plastic reveals serious cost-cutting.

Clarkson has not elaborated on his comments - which were made last year but have prompted a response now because an opposition member of the Malaysian parliament drew attention to them.

For once, it meant the verbal traffic was all heading in his direction, as the Malaysians pointed out that the Kelisa, launched in 2001, was named the best compact car last year by a US marketing firm. In all, 7,813 Kelisas have been exported so far, of which 31 percent were sold in Britain. In Malaysia, more than 161,000 Kelisas have been sold, mostly to young working adults.

In the circumstances, Clarkson is unlikely to find himself on a test drive in Kuala Lumpur soon but Perodua's managing director, Hafiz Syed, had some suggestions for him, if he does. "His testing method often goes beyond the standard testing required by the regulations, more for a dramatic end rather than anything else," he said.

www.carenthusiast.com/perodua/perodua_kelisa2003_10_250.jpg

Mike.

Volvoboy

The interior was "tackier than Anthea Turner's wedding" the Top Gear presenter insisted in one review. "It's the cheapest car to run. Fine, but the cheapest house is a small tent," he added. "It has a top speed of 88mph but takes so long to reach it that no one has ever lived long enough to verify the claim."

LOL!!:D

AFAIK he did the stunt a year ago why are they making another statement only thing they are doing is giving Clarkson more coverage and giving me a giggle.



-VB-

That Guy 901

He knows exactly what he's doing! More power to him! lol

neacy69

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf3Rw8VW3aE
nice one jezza

Jurassic_chili

what a hero:D :cool:

Mahatma coat

to be fair to Clarkson Ithought he gave a fairly reasonablereview of the car, he's right it was designed as a whitegood by a comittee, TG is not against cheap cars,just badly designed cheap cars that look tacky, have a look at their review of the Renault Logan, the car costs about the same but is a thousand times better value

_Kaiser_

Looks like a rebadged old-model Micra to me.

Plug

The interior was "tackier than Anthea Turner's wedding" the Top Gear presenter insisted in one review. "It's the cheapest car to run. Fine, but the cheapest house is a small tent," he added. "It has a top speed of 88mph but takes so long to reach it that no one has ever lived long enough to verify the claim."

Thats one of the most funniest things he has said!


Then he bet the car up with a sledge hammer, i would have said thats a cute little car for the price, it even has an airbag and a cd player:(

zilog_jones

Kaiser2000 wrote:

Looks like a rebadged old-model Micra to me.

Close enough - it's a rebadged Daihatsu Cuore

eamon234

Didn't Captain Slow review the same car a while back - apparently he quite liked it - so did Hamster as I recall!

deman

Come on, Jezza offends a different country every week... and that's what most people love about him.... his lack of PC. In a world today where PC is utmost, it's light relief when somebody just tells it like it is.

For once, it meant the verbal traffic was all heading in his direction, as the Malaysians pointed out that the Kelisa, launched in 2001, was named the best compact car last year by a US marketing firm.

I can imagine Jezza's response to this..

"Well, that says it all, doesn't it?"

At least he only offended the car and its makers. Remember what he said when they did the drive from Miami to New Orleans? Hilarious

duridian

zilog_jones wrote:

Close enough - it's a rebadged Daihatsu Cuore

That's like rebadging dirt as mud.