1. Saya diberitahu bahawa tidak ada siapa yang ingin lihat kereta nasional kedua. Cukuplah dengan Proton yang dikatakan gagal.

2. Kita tidak layak dan tidak mampu mengada industri otomotif. Rakyat Malaysia lebih rela beli kereta import, termasuk dari Negara Cina. Pilihan mereka ialah kereta Jepun, dan yang ada banyak duit kereta Jerman.

3. Saya masih ingat kereta Jepun sejurus selepas perang. Kata pengguna kalau kita toreh dengan kuku, kita akan lihat tin Milo. Tetapi dari kereta tin Milo inilah datang aneka model Toyota, Nissan dan Suzuki yang kita guna sekarang.

Continue reading KERETA NASIONAL →

1. Saya mengaku saya lawat Geely di negara China. Saya juga melawat Volvo di Sweden, Jaguar di Britain, Nissan dan Toyota di Jepun dan Volkswagen di Jerman.

2. Saya melawat banyak syarikat automotif di dunia untuk menjual Syarikat Proton. Tetapi saya gagal. Ternampak orang lain lebih berjaya, Syabas dan tahniah, saya ucapkan kepada mereka.

3. Mungkin saya gagal kerana bercakap berkenaan pembelian enjin dari Geely. Geely memiliki Volvo dan saya dapati enjin design Volvo cukup baik. Proton tidak ada enjin yang boleh diterima oleh Eropah. Jika dipasang enjin Geely/Volvo mungkin kita akan menepati spec Euro 6. Dahulu pasaran luar yang terbesar bagi Proton ialah Britain. Sekarang kita tak dapat jual barang sebiji pun kereta Proton di Britain dan di Eropah kerana tidak menepati Euro 5.

Continue reading MELAWAT GEELY →

1. Proton has been sold. It has been sold to foreigners.

2. They say Proton is my brainchild. Now the child of my brain has been sold.

3. Yes. I am sad. I can cry. But the deed is done. Proton can no longer be national. No national car now. We Malaysians are glad to be rid of this pesky car. I am sure Proton will do well. It will be a commercial success. It will be sold all over the world. The Proton name will be everywhere.

Continue reading PROTON →

1. Those who condemn Proton cars do so because Proton cars are not of the same standard as foreign cars.

2. I suggest they test-drive the new Saga and Persona.

3. I have driven Korean cars of the 1980s, and also the new ones. There are distinct differences.

Continue reading PROTON →

1. I am sad that Proton is to be sold to foreign companies. Having a strategic partner is ok. But once Proton is sold to foreigners it will cease to be a national car. It will just be producing foreign cars in Malaysia. That is something we have been doing since the 1970s.

2. Proton may not be profitable now. But it was very profitable before. Admittedly it was because it was protected. But even after protection ceased it was profitable. All countries protect their automotive industry. It may not be through high import duties. But there are other ways of preventing imports from challenging locally made cars. These other ways are actually much more effective and can result in excluding foreign-makes completely. That is why Proton cannot be exported to these countries. We are very generous. Anybody can export their cars to this country. Sub-standard cars too can be imported.

3. I am out of Proton now. Since then I have not been allowed to even meet or speak or phone Proton staff.

4. That is alright.

5. My fear is that if we do not own Proton anymore the Malaysian automotive industry will suffer a great loss.

6. The vendors and suppliers of components will close shop. Lots of workers will lose their jobs. And Malaysia’s engineering capacity will be reduced. It will not be a developed country in 2020 or later. Malaysia will remain a third world developing country.

7. Once upon a time Malaysia was called an Asian Tiger. Today Malaysia is not even a pussycat. We have become one of the ten most corrupt countries in the world.

Syabas! Najib.

1. Recently, I officiated the first firing of the new engine for Proton. It is not often that an automotive company produces a new engine. Proton’s Campro engine is now more than 10 years old. Obviously it is no longer suitable for today’s cars. So the production of a new engine for Proton is something to celebrate.

2. But unfortunately journalists do not see the significance of this event. We used to export quite a lot of Proton cars to the UK. But since the introduction of new emission and fuel efficiency standards we have not been able to sell any Proton cars in the UK. The development of the new Proton engines by our engineers working with RICARDO of the UK is going to make us once again able to meet the conditions in the UK and Europe. We hope to export our cars to these countries once again.

3. Incidentally the engine will only be used after rigorous testing including running for five million kilometers. It will not be until late 2017 before their installation in Proton cars. After that there will be more tests for each model. Producing a car takes a lot of time.

4. Proton is aware of the negative perception of its cars in the Malaysian market. This is especially among owners of imported cars. Nothing can persuade them to buy Proton cars. Certainly pride in a Malaysian made car is not with them.

5. But the cars we produce now are not like the cars we produced before. They are much improved and often have more features than other
cars in the same category. In fact the low-priced Protons have features normally found in higher-priced cars.

6. The Iriz 1.6 automatic has six airbags, doors which only open after the second pull, will not slide back when the foot is lifted from the brake on slopes etc.

7. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. And so it is with Proton’s new cars. You need to drive them to know their capability. I drive the Iriz and the Suprima S and believe me I enjoy driving them. The Iriz especially has electric powered steering. It is very light. It responds quickly to the accelerator.

8. I think Proton cars deserve a test drive by Malaysians. Tell us about your experience. Criticise these cars. We want feedbacks so we can further improve the cars.

9. I am not an engineer although I know something about engineering. Believe me it is not easy to design, build, test and produce cars. If you are familiar with jigsaw puzzles, you will understand the problem faced by our engineers and assembly workers as they put the parts together.

10. There are 4000 parts to be designed, calibrated, manufactured and put together. We are the only developing country in the world that can do all these. I think our workers and engineers deserve to be tested if not supported.

11. We are not the cause of car prices being high. What support we get from the Government is also given to other companies because of local content. We have almost 90% local content; so we pay less excise duty. But since its founding Proton has paid more than 24 billion Ringgit in taxes while receiving only 14 billion in excise duty cuts, not cash. Yes, we have received a part of the research and development grants the industries have been promised.

12. Taxes on motor vehicles are what caused the prices to be high. But Government need to tax motorists because of the roads and other infrastructures that Government has to provide.

13. It is important to remember that when you buy foreign cars, money will flow out of the country to sustain their economies, to benefit their workers.

14. When you buy a local car, money stays in the country, workers earn money, dealers and agents and their employees enjoy the business they do and the local economy grows. Thousands of families enjoy a good life.

15. Assuming that all local industries are closed, few will have money to buy imported things. We will revert into being a failed third world country.

16. Malaysia is a trading nation i.e. we export and we import. If imports exceed exports we will not grow and prosper. All the countries which export cars to Malaysia protect their markets so that Proton cannot enter them.

1. The raw hatred for Proton by some members of the media is quite unprecedented. Nothing is right about Proton. It should really be bankrupted and closed down. That will reduce the price of cars so everyone in Malaysia can own a foreign made car.

2. Firstly car prices are high because taxes are high. But the detractors will say the taxes are high to protect Proton.

3. The protection for Proton is minimal. Most of the exemption from tax that Proton gets can also be obtained by foreign cars if they are prepared to have 90% local contents and are made locally which Proton has achieved.

4. But who cares whether the local contents are high or low. I think we should care because the local contents and local car production have created almost 250,000 high-income jobs directly and indirectly. Imported fully-built-up cars create jobs in their own countries. Do we want 250,000 people to lose their jobs so foreign workers will benefit!

5. Then there is the acquisition of technology and engineering knowhow. We were just assembling foreign cars at inflated cost due to very low deletion allowances in 1983 when Proton was launched. Today we have the capacity to design, build prototypes, test and produce our own cars. Acquiring this capacity carries some cost. But because of Proton’s needs we have produced highly qualified engineers and technicians. And we are not penalised by low deletion allowance for high cost parts.

6. Do we need this capacity? We have ambitions to become a developed country. Can a country of consumers of foreign products ever become a developed country? We see some very rich countries with no industrial capacity at all. They buy everything from foreign countries. Can we say they are developed? We need industrial capacities and sophistication if we aim to become a truly developed country. We need scientists, engineers, inventors, innovators, highly skilled workers etc. etc. We will not have them if we cannot create jobs for them. Proton create those jobs.

Continue reading THE RAW HATRED FOR PROTON →