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Redzuan: Malaysia's first-ever flying car to be revealed this year KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): Malaysia's first-ever flying car – driven by local technology – is expected to be unveiled this year, says Datuk Seri Redzuan Md Yusof (pic). The Entrepreneur Development Minister said a prototype of the car already exists. "This year is a realistic target because we have the technology. It is all about the speed of implementation," he told reporters after launching the Growth Malaysia initiative here on Tuesday (Feb 26). He said the car would be safe and capable of flying at low altitude at a reasonable speed. "Investment to build the prototype was slightly over RM1mil," he said. Mohd Redzuan said the flying car project is a way for the government to create an environment that stimulates people to think about new technology. "We are providing the catalyst and ecosystem to stimulate the people to think beyond what we do today," he said. He said the project is also to utilise the country's capabilities in the aerospace, drone, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and automotive sectors. "Malaysia has the skill set to excel in the field of aerospace, drone, UAV and the national car. We need to use our skill set because the bottom line is we want to be a producing nation," he said. However, he said the project is separate from the third national car project envisioned by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. On Growth Malaysia, he said the initiative is led by online to offline platform operator Fave to help Malaysian offline retailers to go digital in terms of payments, marketing, data and financial services. Fave founder Joel Neoh said the initiative aims to help 100,000 restaurants across Malaysia to grow digitally by 2020. He said collaborators for the initiative included Grab Malaysia, Maybank, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, Funding Societies and Productivity Nexus for Retail and Food and Beverages. – Bernama

Coca-Cola announces its first-ever alcoholic drink 3:50 PM ET Wed, 7 March 2018 | 01:22 Coca-Cola is launching the first alcoholic drink in its history with a canned liquor product in Japan. The drinks giant will experiment with a canned beverage called Chu-Hi, made up of distilled Japanese drink shochu, sparkling water and flavoring. "This is unique in our history. Coca-Cola has always focused entirely on non-alcoholic beverages, and this is a modest experiment for a specific slice of our market," said Jorge Garduno, president of Coca-Cola's Japan business unit, in a post on the company's website. Japan is a fiercely competitive market, Garduno added, with Coca-Cola launching 100 products a year in the country. "Experimentation is almost like a day-to-day ritual here. You can't fall behind the rapid product cycle in Japan," he said. The company's sodas only made up about 25 percent of product sales by volume in Japan in 2016, while tea made up 27 percent of Japan's overall beverage consumption in the same year. Coca-Cola also owns Georgia Coffee in Japan, which it claims is the world's highest-grossing canned coffee drink, making more than $1 billion in annual sales. The country has a Food for Specified Health Uses (FOSHU) government certification, in light of its ageing population and fiber-fortified drink Coca-Cola Plus was FOSHU-approved in 2017. Having certain drinks at particular times of day is more of an entrenched ritual in Japan than in other part of the world, said Khalil Younes, EVP of marketing and new businesses for Coca-Cola Japan, in a blog post. People might drink green tea with sushi, but opt for oolong tea with fattier Chinese food, for example. Because of the nature of the Japanese drinks market, it's unlikely Chu-Hi drinks will launch in other countries, Garduno said. "While many markets are becoming more like Japan, I think the culture here is still very unique and special, so many products that are born here will stay here." <iframe src="https://player.cnbc.com/p/gZWlPC/cnbc_global?playertype=synd&byGuid=7000003881&size=530_298" width="530" height="298" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" bgcolor="#131313"></iframe><p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/03/07/coca-cola-announces-its-first-ever-alcoholic-drink.html?__source=cnbcembedplayer">Coca-Cola announces its first-ever alcoholic drink</a> from <a href="//www.cnbc.com/?__source=cnbcembedplayer">CNBC</a>.</p> https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/07/coca-cola-announces-its-first-ever-alcoholic-drink.html