Malaysian car manufacturers Proton, Perodua might be able to enter the US market with the upcoming Free Trade Agreement between Malaysia and the USA. Malaysia is currently the USA’s 10th largest trading partner, with transactions worth USD$44 billion in 2-way trade. The (U.S.) National Association of Manufacturers estimates that this could double by 2010. Hopefully car exports might make a small amount of that. We’ll have to see how China cars fare in the US market before we can get an idea of how our cars will perform.
After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history. An avid electronic gadget aficionado as well as big-time coffee lover, he's also the executive producer of the Driven motoring TV programme.
hm…..its gonna be tough for our car makers
Huh! that the end for Proton in our domestic market! Can ta pau already lol ……, so that we as consumers can buy and enjoy whatever cars model available in the world market without price discrimination.
u should look at it the othr way,cheap american cars entering our market,that wil really kill proton…
I doubt Proton can enter the U.S. market unless they change their name. The 'Proton' U.S. trademark is currently hold by Proton Electronic, Taiwan.
Unless they did not renew or willing to share the same name, then Proton might be able to market the car under Proton name.
yopy
That's one of the best way for proton to upgrade their standard and quality if they still want to compete in this market. But until now still 'jaguh kampung'. What a shame!
Wahlaueh…
With American's style, later P1 will get sue by American consumers by introduce dangerous & unsafety cars. i wonder what model can P1 bring to US?? Most of US people are big in size & really hard to fit in proton lah…
I'm interested to know the requirements/ standard for cars entering US market. I'm sure there is a certain guideline. May be we should forget about the number of P1/ P2 sales there first..
I doubt the Americans will be interested in our cars lah. Cadillac had a promotion many many years ago where you buy a Cadillac (can't remember which model though) and get a Skoda (before VW took over lah). It was so hilarious!
Anyway, the Americans are big size and their asses are bigger than the Proton and Perodua car seats lah. So how the hell they gonna sit comfortably in Savvy or Myvi??? Unless Cadillac is thinking of another round of Free Foreign Import Car promo again:)
Malaysian carmakers competing in US market? is this some kinda joke?
it is a big challenge to penetrate the US market. I believe that Proton and Perodua can make it.
Perodua– with japanese infuence in the manufacturing process, they will have very little problem in terms of quality.
Proton– tricky, but engineering wise ok. Just need to up a notch in terms of quality.
Overall, are they up to the challenge??
Q:Can proton survive in the heavily protected local market?
A:Yes
Q:Can proton survive in the protected local market (as currently)?
A:Yes but with difficulty.
Q:Can proton survive in the AFTA restricted local market?
A:Probably no.
Q:Can proton survive in the open local market?
A:Hell no.
Q:Can proton survive in the open US market?
A:Go figure…….
Don't forget the US source Hondas and Toyotas are considered US cars. Can our beloved Waja stand up to a US spec Civic in a straight fight?
i tink juara and rusa wil top sales charts easily in the US!
I think proton can be optimistic. Kia has increased market share over there. US car sales are going down in their own country, while Jap and Korean cars are thriving. I think people are just board with cars that they produce. They want something different. Hopefully now we can get the new Focus 2.5L for ~RM80K.
Can…Malaysia apa-apa pun BOLE punya…..Rafidah will ask US to grant PROTON special tax treatment. She will tell US to up the rest of the CAR's tax by 200% to 300% and teach US Government how to implement AP. The fastest way to make money…..
Ha ha ha he he he…
BEKERJALAH BERSAMA-SAMA SAYA…..he he he he
mystvearn, Focus 2.5L for ~RM80K??? – in your dream la wehhh….LOL!
If Proton in US is held by Proton Eletronic, then, maybe rebadge la… hmmm….Chrysler Savvy anyone?
Free trade = import duty reduced, excise duty increased.
Proton will definely lose in the US car market, American like to buy big car with US brand, Asian American like to buy Japanese (mostly Honda, Toyota, Acura, Lexus or Infinity) or Europen (BMW, Mercs) car. Not a lot of people buy Korean car here, I really don't think anyone else will buy Proton.
Lincoln and Perdana. i also dont know what can perdana compare. OH ya.. got.. American First LOTUS..
US got market one… there are a lot of asian origins live in the US like vietnamese, chinese, malaysian, indonesian, philipino, etc. Somehow there are people buy the car one… even if the market is small, its worth the venture.
But it's true proton will have a hard time meeting their requirements. In the end, the local market will still be full of crappy and lousy quality protons because all better quality ones have to export.
On Malaysian make entering the U.S. market. Even the resident carmakers there are having a hard time fighting against the Japs, what makes u think our "National Pride" can have a chance there? not that i want to belittle our nation's capability, but havent our very own peribahasa had said, "UKUR BAJU DI BADAN SENDIRI"???
On American make enters Malaysian market. well, in order to honour the free trade spirit, sure, no import duty and so forth, but hey, have we forgotten that rulings and regulations regarding excise duty, (soon-to-be-implemented)GST, road tax, insurance and what-nots can be altered to unfairly tip the balance scale?
after all, American makes are still produced by "foreign" companies, thus local companies will be given preferrence in order "to protect scarce national resource", just like the 3G & Digi case… go figure.
by the way, since our local laws & regulations are not that tight, well, expect the americans to give us watered down versions of their models (to keep cost low, thus giving impression of cheaper car price due to free trade). or they might also give us some accessories like ABS and/or airbag and price it at premium… it depends.
either way, we wont get wat we paid for or we have to pay more to get wat we want. still no change. hmm…
I agree with cybogx.. its a big joke.. what we ve to offer?? brapa model ada?.. well, at least i think proton have PROBLEMS to offer… let the Americans suffer the same problems we suffer from Proton… let PROTON suffer too… let the Americans sue proton for all the problem they will cause too… but too bad US specs wud be different.. we just get the junk specs… thanks to our brilliant
NAP… it frozen PROTON's brains….
And after that our Juara will be the official car for Bangbros/ MILF hunter… Ha ha ha can't imagine……..