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Malaysia PM floats new national car project
TOKYO, June 11, 2018 (BFF/AFP) – Malaysia’s newly elected Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad on Monday floated the possibility of a national car project,
despite the problems of a similar endeavour started during his previous term
decades ago.
“We need to go back to the idea of a national car,” he told a Tokyo press
conference on his first foreign trip since his shock election last month.
“Our ambition is to start another national car, perhaps with some help from
our partners in Southeast Asia… we want to access the world market,” he
said earlier, at a forum in Tokyo.
The national car has a troubled history in Malaysia, which from 1983
produced the Proton as part of then-premier Mahathir’s ambitious national
industrialisation plan.
The brand had a reputation for unimaginative models and shoddy quality and
saw its popularity wane over the years in the face of stiff competition from
foreign models.
It 2017 its parent company, Malaysian conglomerate DRB-HICOM sold a 49.9
percent stake to Chinese auto giant Geely, which is seeking to turn Proton
around.
Mahathir appeared to brush aside that history on Monday, saying Malaysia
would “seek support and expertise from other countries” in looking once again
to produce its own cars.
He said Malaysia had “most of the skills and technologies in regard to the
design and production of a new car” thanks to two decades of cooperation with
Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors.
“However there are certain parts of a car which are extremely expensive to
develop. We will want to source some of those expensive parts from other
countries, including of course from Japan.”
– ‘Not a good idea’ –
The Malaysian government cut its links with Proton in 2012, when the
country’s sovereign wealth fund sold its stake to DRB-HICOM, but the company
has continued to struggle.
The prospect of Malaysia taking another tilt at launching a new national
car was met with scepticism by analysts and the public.
“Given the current global industry landscape… it’s not a good idea,” Yeah
Kim Leng, a professor of economics at Malaysia’s Sunway University Business
School, told AFP.
“It’s a highly globalised market now, and unless you have a deep market
(access), the technology and product capability, it would be difficult to
compete.”
Twitter user Emir Izat said Proton’s shortcomings should “be a lesson” for
Mahathir, adding: “Hopefully this national car project gets scrapped.”
While there are still many Protons on the roads in Malaysia, their numbers
have fallen dramatically in recent years, with European and Japanese models
rapidly overtaking them.
Another Malaysian carmaker Perodua, which produces compact vehicles, has
also struggled due to the growing competition.
Mahathir served as chairman of Proton until 2016, and his continued
involvement in the firm drew criticism from then-prime minister Najib Razak,
who was defeated in last month’s election.
In 2016 the government approved a bailout package worth $384 million for
the struggling company but warned it would not continue to throw money at the
firm.
BSS/AFP/MRI/1652 hrs