Comments on: Team Proton loses a member

By: DAN

DAN — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 23:55:28 +0000

spoon feeding face

By: longjaafar

longjaafar — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 11:08:49 +0000

What the new management has done correctly is to ratain the "Satria" name in the Neo. In the past, there was no brand building, as if the new does not want to have anything to do with the old. That is why we landed ourselves with so many brands, and it is always expensive to introduce a new brand into the market.

Honda Civic is now in it;s 7th generation. Then we have the VW Golf,and Toyota Corolla.All of them continued to use the name. Even the Kia Rio is in it's 2nd generation, using the "Rio" name to capitalise on the goodwill already created.

Proton was trying to be too smart and wanted to be seen as "dynamic" but ended up by being losers.

By: topgunthang

topgunthang — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 00:32:21 +0000

its good to hear savvy and neo buyers are happy with thier car. and thats a very important thing. im just using my first impressions to judge how a car will sell. taking into consideration of proton's plan to market the car internationally, i feel there is no need to think twice. especially savvy. the thing will bomb. now to look at the neo. it will not do so well internationally as well. the only saving grace it can do is with the GTi version of it. if the gti is priced right…..unlike the pricing of the previous satria gti. As long as the Suzuki Swift (and i think they have a Gti version coming), toyota yaris, ford fiesta and mazda2…not much chance.

in the meantime, the neo might be able to sell a handful to young graduates in msia looking for a car. but thats a very limited market, and that would also mean long loan terms for these graduates. (meaning that target market is shut for the time being…say about 3-6 years) and thats wishful thinking.

its too bad peroduo didnt get thier hands on the yaris, if not it would be continued trouble for proton for another 2-3 years. maybe they might get the yaris sedan? but that would eventually kill of toyota yaris and vios

yes, we arent experts in marketing and stuff but i feel thats about as close as my predictions can be to real world market performance of these cars based on my limited knowledge of these stuff. lets wait and see how it goes

By: shaif

shaif — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 12:43:34 +0000

Topgunthang, of course your feeling is right that Neo loose to Myvi interm of sales because both car have a different target, but to say it is a failure, time will tell. I don't think its a failure product for both Savvy and Neo. They have their own market and by judging from their blog, the buyer are quite happy with their car.

As for Myvi, it is well accepted due to several reason and the association with Toyota brand name, prove to be succesful. It got DNA from Toyota project, target for mass market, 4 doors with adequate safety equipment under 50k. Its value for money.

By: topgunthang

topgunthang — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 01:47:18 +0000

malayman

not failures"in the sense the are not absolutely useless and not selling at all"

no production car in the world will ever fullfill this category…..but yes savvy is indeed a failure and a terrible one at that in malaysia. especially when its only main contender is the myvi.

the international markets and motoring industry would regard the savvy as rubbish.

if the competition in msia (i.e perodua only) cant come up with a good competing product, then the neo might have a chance to sell, if not then the neo is also a guaranteed failure. simply as that….nothing more than a face lift of that old mitsubishi model. ive a feeling people would buy Myvi alot more than the neo even though its about 1 year old

progress is only acheived when the step you have taken is alot bigger than the steps the competition is taking. a small step forward in your own world is only improvement (for yourself)…. and that small step will never be enough if u are thinking of competing with other big car companies at thier game.

By: shaif

shaif — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 23:22:49 +0000

It is usual for coporate member to quit and replaced by somebody else. Just hope that SZ will be free to select his own team without any intervention from the paymaster.

Looking at Savvy and Neo as the last remaining sporty concept authored by TM, SZ should prove himself by understanding what the market want. TM produce something that relate to his experience as rally driver. Eventhough is is good by building a sporty branding of Proton but the market is small.

Does SZ should come out with something like SUV or MPV to cater more demand from the market. The Lotus APX as an example could become a platform for P1 to enter the market. Pehaps make it mini size like Aveo, Jazz and Yaris.

By: pirate

pirate — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 13:12:45 +0000

Not the "FART" button instead? Hahaha…

By: motberg

motberg — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 12:03:37 +0000

proton needs to press the "Emergency" button now! Get real help from the real experts, not from half-baked consultants that will only send them further down into the doldrums… I guess there are too many problems to fix that they don't know what to do first. (90% of these problems were probably self inflicted!)

By: mycar_stolen

mycar_stolen — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 09:09:47 +0000

kendo said,

July 29, 2006 @ 10:09 am

WHEN R U CLOSING SHOP?

they wont answer one…but you will notice the declining of new car registered and…the showroom gone one by one…dont worry it is coming…there lots of sign…BETTER NOT TO BUY PROTON anymore….

By: KY

KY — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 09:00:14 +0000

title of the post made me thought that there was a terrible accident or something..

By: aksMs

aksMs — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 21:58:35 +0000

Celicazz, I agree with you. There are such thing called 'seniority' in Malaysia. Be it in the corporate sector or even the G. It is the old days mindset.

I hope 'the other 2' would resign too, ASAP. So that SZ could form up his own 'team'. I believe it's a better a way for him to achieve what he might have plan for the survival of Proton. Maybe SZ is still held back by certain 'issues' in the top management. Whatever people might have said, I still believe SZ has yet to show his true capabilities. Come on SZ. You need a fresh team. Leave the useless baggage.

By: Celicazz

Celicazz — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 20:23:20 +0000

The new CEO made good changes…I think…so, who's next? the new CEO might be a junior in Proton, and he might need a new guy replacing the resigned one to support him passing thru those seniors…(believe me, this things happen in the corporate world of Malaysia)

By: NeedGoodCar

NeedGoodCar — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 18:31:16 +0000

NoToLowQuality, well said, agreed with you 1 trillion %, bring back JoeOoi.

P1 sure "gone case". If G still wanna help, we R sure suffer.

Give us VW. Even GM, Nissan and Renault wanna gang up together.

P1? hope lah.

By: cyborgx

cyborgx — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 18:05:24 +0000

Proton fails means Malaysians fail? haha.. another Proton's apologist.

By: stanleyshyeoh

stanleyshyeoh — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 17:51:30 +0000

NoToLowQuality: "if proton fails, malaysian will just move on. We never fail."

Bravo! I can't agree more! Proton is a symbol of disgrace more than anything else. Do not associate all Malaysians with Proton.

By: NoToLowQuality

NoToLowQuality — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 15:35:42 +0000

hazremi.. malaysian never ask for this. it is the OldMan's project. Malaysian will only ask for a better public transportation system, better road, better car with proper safety and price wise, better living standard, better everyting except PROTON!!! if proton fails, malaysian will just move on. We never fail. Proton will fail when NAP gone, AP gone, AFTA full swing and malaysian will enjoy the proper quality car.

By: hazremi

hazremi — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 11:56:20 +0000

proton is a symbol of malaysian hard work to compete with other car makers. if proton fails,then it means malaysian failed.about perodua,they are not a symbol of malaysian hard work since they only do rebadge only like naza

By: scudracer

scudracer — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 02:06:42 +0000

But the cars launched are Tengku Mahaleel's projects … not SZ eh?

By: malayman

malayman — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 01:53:23 +0000

well look at it this way. ever since mahaleel left, proton has launched two cars that are new designs,not remakes or rebadges, not failures(in the sense the are not absolutely useless and not selling at all). granted still nothing to shout about but a step forward instead of a step backward is definately progres dontcha think?

By: topgunthang

topgunthang — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 18:07:48 +0000

come on…..new blood wont help proton. look at thier faces you already know that these people arent talented in business management. my god, just take a look at those four…especially the first 3. its no wonder proton is in the pits right now. the next lot would problably be the same. and that speaks volume about the country's state of economic affairs.

nobody can help proton now….not even that CEO of nissan and renault can help proton.

By: malayman

malayman — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 15:11:52 +0000

yey new blood hopefully!!

theo..put in ure application now!!

hehe

By: pirate

pirate — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 13:09:56 +0000

Proton's Datuk K may not be the key player in the larger scheme of things of Proton's management. So, his departure does not spell anything major.

Anyhow, it's a good thing to pave way for new blood and hopefully improvements in quality for us Bolehlanders…

By: fookeatmin1989

fookeatmin1989 — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 12:37:17 +0000

Hope for a better guy to take over though…

By: e-nabilll

e-nabilll — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 11:45:43 +0000

good news hopefully…a chance for new blood to come in with fresh ideas..hopefully replaced by somebody from othr car maskers as he wil hav vast experience in wat to do and HOW TO DO IT

By: OtakOtak

OtakOtak — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 10:59:44 +0000

Not only that, look at 4 of them, three of them give "senyum kambing" except SZ. Must be think of fat cheque and easy job at P1, but for SZ, he may have "serious thinking" about P1 future!

By: cyborgx

cyborgx — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 10:36:59 +0000

lol @ the Malaysia flag behind. Buy Proton means patriotism? stop this bs already.

By: motberg

motberg — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 10:25:03 +0000

I believe what's needed at Proton is a total shakedown of the management team. I don't want to point fingers at anyone but the measure of a company's success or failure comes down to the bottom line, oublic perception (image) and market share. All of which need help. At the very heart of the matter, Proton itself is a true achievement for Malaysia. Since its inception till today, one cannot deny that it has come a long, long way. But I think it has lost its direction somewhat and instead of looking to expand and improve the company on the global scale, it got scared and started to take the easy way out. It started to tap into the local market and realised that easy money was to be made. Hence over the years we've had countless facelifts and minor changes made to the various models. All this was well and good since Proton was well protected in the local market sometime in the 80s to 90s. Think back to those "good" Proton times… no competitors in the market, waiting list for a Proton car was long and the salesmen were arrogant.

Fast forward to today… like an ostrich raising it's head from the hole in the ground, Proton suddenly found themselves in dire straits. Whether they realise it was their own doing however, remains to be seen. It's no secret that Proton's past success was due to the fact that the 'rakyat' didn't have much choices then but today, it's a different ball game altogether.

Please get your act together Proton. Enough taxpayers' money have been made and lost. So much potential, yet all going to waste. Wake up!

By: szw

szw — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 10:16:08 +0000

Datuk K….

lolz!

By: kendo

kendo — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 10:09:14 +0000

WHEN R U CLOSING SHOP?

By: kai_grandmaster

kai_grandmaster — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 09:55:22 +0000

take out all the old faces that make nothing other than producing crappy national car. we need some more young innovative n creative engineers. old faces are just crap. sit in the office doing nothing, sign agreements, n enjoy proton's allowances n pays for nothing.