MITI: No hurry to open up automotive industry

Proton LogoMITI Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin says Malaysia is in “no hurry to further liberalise” its automotive sector, but at the same time says Malaysia is fully committed to fulfilling its WTO multilateral commitments. He added that MITI will be looking into ways to ensure Proton remains protected but at the same time improve the National Automotive Policy to be a more progressive policy compared to the “slanted” NAP it is now.

What is desired is a win-win environment where both Proton and foreign brand present can prosper and MITI is trying to achieve that. Industry sources say one of the main reasons foreign investments have shied away from our country is that our policies are too volatile in nature (read: flip flop), making mid to long term planning next to impossible.

Think about it: why do you think certain foreign manufacturers prefer to have ultra long waiting lists rivalling the Perodua Myvi’s at one point record long waiting list rather than expand capacity? Fix that and it is already step one in bringing back the FDI.

Let’s wait and see what the NAP review brings.

Source

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Paul Tan

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.

 

Comments

  • maibatsu_thunder (Member) on Jul 22, 2008 at 5:24 pm

    Well the NAP now is slanted towards helping ASEAN based Japanese manufacturers reap all the benefits, NOT Proton so this is quite funny to read. Yeah Mitsubishi doesn’t want to invest in CKD, Renault too cos the local scene looks too unpredictable. Honda, etc. also find it hard to do any plans which are more than simply academic as Malaysia doesn’t have a specific roadmap on policies, duties, emissions standards, etc. like India released recently. Hopefully the govt guys can study that and do something similar if they want to get serious on this.

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  • jaygan (Member) on Jul 22, 2008 at 5:34 pm

    Hope lar …. :)

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  • rajtheboss (Member) on Jul 22, 2008 at 5:35 pm

    The NAP need to revise to allow all manufacturer to compete fairly and attract more investors. Just look at Thailand, they are ahead of Malaysia in automotive sector. Our Gov should stop protecting Proton, they have to learn to stand on their own feet. All these years, the protection has make proton dumb ass and they doesnt take any initiative to improve themselves. Foreign partner such as Volkswagen are very capable autocarmaker that proton has missed.

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  • trustgtr (Member) on Jul 22, 2008 at 5:40 pm

    you can’t actually protect proton and expect investors to come and invest here in droves..its too late, none of the foreign manufacturers would want to leave thailand after billions spent..what rubbish statement…govt should open the market and if still commited to proton, give them grants for research and development (and we are talking about real technology here) not some 80’s tech engines and manufaturing technology..then remove fuel subsidies and spend money on 1st class public transport..again not to some cronies to monopolise..we need to follow our neigbours, invest in high technology(medicine,IT, Oil and Gas, maybe even auto)..malaysia needs to move into higher gear..not stuck on third..

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  • maibatsu_thunder (Member) on Jul 22, 2008 at 6:00 pm

    They may find it useful to refer to this, India’s Automotive Mission Plan 2006-2016: http://www.siamindia.com/upload/AMP.pdf

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  • pippen (Member) on Jul 22, 2008 at 6:02 pm

    After all these years, i wonder if still any idiots who belive what the G said? Its a political strategy from 1 group of ppl (the old folks) to counter the current group of ppl. You believe they want to kill the golden goose who support the cronies, by torturing the Msia to buy expensive car for lower quality for 20 years? I mean its up to the rakyet to take it. I buy import u got tax heavily so the cronies can take it, you buy local cars…well, u know how it ends up. No matter what car you car, the cronies will earn it, whether through lousy part supply that import from japan is cheaper, to all the talks (its political talks anyway). Like trustgtr said, its too late, no Jap car manufacturer will leave thailand, and the G only worry about themselves (cronies) than the future of Msia.

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  • pippen (Member) on Jul 22, 2008 at 6:09 pm

    Last but not least, they raise the petrol price to benefit themselves faster than putting up any policy that benefits the people. Now the oil price drop, they keep quiet, the NAP will stay forever as long current group of people run it. Have you ever see the tol drop price? (even our RM raise over U$) ? The motives of the action from all these years is very obvious. Anyone care about the people? common, you know how many Msia converted to Singaporian lately? or migrate over-seas? without any expert in the industries, Msia will sooner “eat” out by foreigners, whether you like it or not, since there is zero local expert unless you dont mind to keep going backwards, and the person in charge will happily pay extra to the foreigners since he/she will have a piece of it…remember our RM7K per day consultancy in MAS?

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  • delos3nos (Member) on Jul 22, 2008 at 6:57 pm

    Same old story. By the time they figure out its rather too late. The AP king should be happy to hear this and as i mentions already AP its too difficult to remove maybe we can re banding them to something else so to make things more interesting.

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  • pakatanrakyat (Member) on Jul 22, 2008 at 7:07 pm

    what is the benefit protecting proton and miss out all the opportunity.Thailand is the largest cars assembler and parts manufacturer.proton is still not making any profit.Where is all the money gone to?Personal used and ……..The duties imposed of CBU is too high.The gov should let go proton and think of a better way to make the car cheaper.Wasting money paying the engineer designing stupid and ugly car.

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  • naz@proton (Member) on Jul 22, 2008 at 7:37 pm

    yes stop protecting proton n 2 be fair miti also must open up all sector of business such food,hypemarket,electronic,tourism,meta,retail n etc.

    miti must open up food industry, i mean no one can monopoly food such flour,sugar,rice,fish,meet,vege,coconut n allow more big hypermarket players to come such wall mart.
    miti also must allowed indian , bangla or mongolian doc to open clinic so we can loweerd the price
    miti must open up to all to bring in limau mandrin or any fruits so we can lower 2 1box for RM1.
    miti must allowed unlimited international legal firm so we can bring down the profesional fees.
    miti also must issue more licence to big casino typhoon dont let only genting monopoly gambling industry.
    miti also must let more internatinal hotel to ope so we can press the room rate for usd10 only.

    and pls give hawker licence to everyone, let them kill each other to survive .
    end of the day the rakyat gain and pls go to hell people who need protection.

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  • mokkf82 (Member) on Jul 22, 2008 at 7:43 pm

    There will not be any investment of new technology if the G corruption level is not change.
    Have we really see any big invesment made in M’sia that is not related to those relatives, uncle, untie, abang or adik of the well know ppl here?
    Now we already batch mark of every action the G taken as a “took for granted” of every resources we had and most of them really does not work at all.
    They keep continue like this, we will overrule by others country’s development, or should i said we are overtaken by others.
    Let see after 10 years, there will be M’sian Maid working in Philippine serving as foreign worker.

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  • mystvearn (Member) on Jul 22, 2008 at 7:44 pm

    MITI will still sleep over it and don’t really care. They will protect proton first and only that, and do not care what happens to the rest of people around them

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  • demio121 (Member) on Jul 22, 2008 at 8:02 pm

    same old tune sang by the different people. first of all, these people have to be more creative trying to justify their employment. How many flip-flop have we got with this NAP… don’t care to remember cause it’ll continue flip and flop.

    Anyone here think any manufacturer will come in big time soon??? we scare the big one away. we chase the chinese away. probably now aiming for Tata to invest.

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  • White Jack (Member) on Jul 22, 2008 at 8:46 pm

    These cronies only know TCSS (Talk C*** Sing Song) thinking how to con the Rakyat. Want us to be their car slave forever (pay long term car loan for artificially high priced car)

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  • David9988 (Member) on Jul 22, 2008 at 9:53 pm

    I’m so sick and tired of criticizing those bull sh**ers extraordinares I’ve decided to think of something good to say about them.
    Erm… nope… there ain’t any.

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  • Roti Naan (Member) on Jul 22, 2008 at 9:59 pm

    I just love these clowns and the clowning in this country!!

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  • ly60 (Member) on Jul 22, 2008 at 11:18 pm

    WTF!!! This country is doomed.

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  • n8cky (Member) on Jul 22, 2008 at 11:39 pm

    What is desired is a win-win environment where both Proton and foreign brand present can prosper and MITI is trying to achieve that.

    ——————————————————————-
    Why not win-win situation between local manufacturer and THE CITIZEN?
    Dang…sales tax~

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  • n8cky (Member) on Jul 22, 2008 at 11:40 pm

    ly60 said,

    July 22, 2008 @ 11:18 pm

    WTF!!! This country is doomed.

    ——————————————————————-

    no~…..we the citizen are doomed..

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  • csv (Member) on Jul 22, 2008 at 11:48 pm

    no hurry?

    NO HURRY?!!!!!!!

    damn it! thailand already overtook us with their automotive industry and you still dare to say NO HURRY?!

    our people are crying for fair pricing and better quality vehicles and you still say NO HURRY!?

    the only NO HURRY thing here is your wallet getting fatter with all the dirty money you’re getting!

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  • Roti Naan (Member) on Jul 23, 2008 at 12:39 am

    hahahahhhaaa…..when they say “No hurry”, in actual fact, its really means “No hurry”. When they say ” Hurry!! hurry!!!’, I think it’s still the same as “No hurry”.

    Same-same one……

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  • kruzer (Member) on Jul 23, 2008 at 1:01 am

    This guy may challenge N for no 2 post in Umno. N and A made the never mind and tidak apa remarks, so he has to better them. Talk about improving, but don’t change anything..
    What’s new? Ubah gaya hidup! Expect cars to be more expensive

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  • gogorock (Member) on Jul 23, 2008 at 1:12 am

    no hurry to open up automative industry? haha, wat a joke……

    the more u wait, the more worse for our automative industry….

    look at waja cps, so called new waja enjine, no advertisement, no roadshow, and best part is no test car to drive when i visited 4 proton showrooms. I used to b a proton supporter, but now , no more.
    come on, lets face the reality, if we have extra money, sorry lah proton, bye2. U have made us lost our faith to u. If u still want to be protected, then wait until one day, vietnam also come out with their own car and ahead of us, then dont cry as U choose to be a kampung champion which make us not proud of u anymore. And pls dont happy with your so called Persona, it is not so perfect yet. It is just famous in Malaysia only…show us one day proton can b famous in other country just like the korean did. Then, we will say ” Malaysia Memangnya Boleh!!”

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  • maibatsu_thunder (Member) on Jul 23, 2008 at 6:38 am

    It’s interesting to note the following from India’s Automotive Mission Plan 2006-2016 which no doubt spurred huge interest in FDI’s in their automotive industry.

    “Automotive Mission Plan (AMP) 2006-2016 was the outcome of a protracted in-depth dialogue with all stakeholders (industry, academia, authorities) over a period of fifteen months. Five Working Groups were constituted with people of eminence from industry, academia and public institutions to map the challenges, set targets and evolve mission mode for implementation of agreed mile stones. They examined policy parameters as well as the configuration of manufacturing infrastructure of Indian industries and addressed a wide range of issues including upgrading infrastructure of production, induction of technology, labour law reforms and employment related issues, R&D needs, change of fiscal and policy parameters, human resource development, growth issues, R&D needs, change of fiscal and policy parameters, human resource development, growth of domsstic demand and exports and finally, environment and safety concerns. Their findings and recommendations were considered by five IMGs having representatives of all concerned Ministries, Academia and Public Institutions. The final recommendations of the IMGs vetted by respective Ministries were put in the public domain for wider debate and more inclusive recommendations. The final outcome was put before the Development Council of Automobile and Allied Industries which unanimously endorsed it. Thus the consensus was arrived at.”

    For us in Malaysia there’s no need to crack our heads, just use India’s AMP as a good example, and perhaps those of other countries as well, and do our own.

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  • azrai (Member) on Jul 23, 2008 at 7:09 am

    Believe me, it will be a flip flop policy. the rakyat and the negara will be rugi.

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  • scottloeb (Member) on Jul 23, 2008 at 8:59 am

    can open now, no problem.. but reduce the loan period to 3 yrs max.. interest of 7% min.. as you know, cars will be so cheap, no one wants to buy 2nd hand any more and all the dealers will be committing suicide.. I mean yeah, why worry, all these days they (the gomen + 2ndhand car dealer) have been robbing us in the daylight pon.. no worries, govt no need tax, we can run the country using oil money until abt 30 to 40 yrs (even after the new oilfield is discovered somewhere up north) and then we can start kill each other. Oh, welcome to Rwanda, where proper planning and law doesn’t matter anymore as long as we can drive cheap cars and kill everybody else.

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  • narrowband (Member) on Jul 23, 2008 at 9:28 am

    Corrupted business-politics.

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  • TheDuck (Member) on Jul 23, 2008 at 10:57 am

    All Lies! NAP=NEP. It never ends!

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  • JULIANLEE2 (Member) on Jul 23, 2008 at 11:08 am

    bullshit shit government, 2005, say we can buy cheap cars, tax free, afta, etc etc, all the bullshit and lies

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  • torque (Member) on Jul 23, 2008 at 12:12 pm

    To all those politician who have MISUSED the power that have given to you by all the great Malaysian, know this…you all have spit on the grave of our ancestor who fought the war against the tyranny of the colonialist and became nothing more like them!! Ingatkan rakyat dan negara ini sudah merdeka tapi nyata ianya masih dijajah lagi…oleh bangsanya sendiri demi kepentingan kuasa dan wang ringgit! Agama Islam sendiri tidak memberikan ANDA hak untuk menekan rakyat (Islam atau tidak) atas dasar kerajaan yang tiada asasnya!

    Rule the country fair and square…abolish the bloody NAP and the AP! Remember BN goverment, in last election…your so-called thousand AP holder(cronies) couldn’t help you against the WRATH of millions angry Malaysians and you just lost 5 STATES!! Any idiots can see the solution. Ditch the cronies, gain people trust, rule fair and square, keep your high position and we all live happily ever after…

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  • Max88 (Member) on Jul 23, 2008 at 12:31 pm

    NAP – Never Against Proton?

    Just open up the auto market, maybe limit it for cars below 2000cc and 3000cc for diesel vehicles. That should be sufficient to protect local car industry (right!). Banks then should follow with better financing packages (lower interest rates, maybe zero percent?).

    On average, car buyers pay extra RM20K-RM30K for a typical Japanese brand car. (Eg. Toyota Hilux or Mitsu Triton here cost RM90K vs. Thailand price of RM65K-RM60K or Baht650K-Baht600K). Govt should scrap those car sales tax/ duties and impose only minimal sales tax, let say RM1K to RM2K per car (enough lar…). Govt then should tax nonsensically the luxury cars, including the road tax (eg. RM50K annual road tax for BMW 5-series) because only the highly corrupt crooks can afford such a car at that crazy price.

    That extra RM20K-RM30K car sales tax can cover the fuel cost for say, 5 or 6 years. Not to mention the maintenance, repair, servicing costs.

    Just to get a decent good quality non-national car have to pay car sales tax RM20K-RM30K to govt. Pathetic but that is the govt of the day, rip-off the rakyat by promoting national mediocrity.

    Maybe it’s highly patriotic to kill your own rakyat and to protect the crooks.

    NAP – Never Against Proton
    NAP – Never Against Proton
    NAP – Never Against Proton

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  • White Jack (Member) on Jul 23, 2008 at 3:54 pm

    Good point torque and Max88 !

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  • Hellfire (Member) on Jul 23, 2008 at 4:20 pm

    We as the ‘rakyat’ should let the G know who is the boss, err.. in the next ballot box casting. Throw them out, let someone else to govern, who cares the ‘rakyat’..

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  • denfire (Member) on Jul 23, 2008 at 4:40 pm

    I’m totally agree to what Max88 is saying. it actually is a wise move to open the market for the car that most people would need, for example cars that with 2000cc and below, it really will help the people. But we also need to face the fact that main target for Proton also fall in these range of vehicle. Luxury car? even MB also say it is not cost efficient. This can be an ideal plan but definitely it will not work as Proton will never got a chance to compete with other will the progress and speed of improvement that they are having right now.

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  • topgunthang (Member) on Jul 26, 2008 at 12:46 am

    speed if improvement proton is having right now?? what improvement??? i cringe everytime i see a person driving a proton.

    crooks ‘affording’ bmws and benzes? they dont need to afford. its given free by birthright. and thats just small change in terms of what they actually get.

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  • bMxturbo (Member) on Jan 13, 2009 at 2:53 pm

    None stop extend…Proton already go in china even europ market.Why still want to protect them? stupid….

    p/s: malaysian all vry “stupid” cause we always buy expensive car but in another way we can say all malaysian very rich,even expensive but still got many ppl can afford it due to our pb transport are so consummate…

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  • WilliamSmith (Member) on Jan 13, 2009 at 4:38 pm

    Protect the Proton? How many more years? Another 20 years? At what cost? Malaysia is running outta crude oils pretty soon and where’ll be the source of income to keep “babyfeed” Proton?

    It’s not the policy that has the problem but it’s the ppl who set it. We need more capable ppl to lead Malaysia and those who’s dedicated to deliver the prosperity of Malaysia and in the interest of the majority of Malaysians. Not a bunch of monkeys that only know how to find brilliant ideas to legally put mega bucks into their own pockets and once they’re done…they migrated to overseas while leave the “shits” behind.

    Our dear rulling party, there’re many Malaysians who’re affected by your actions and many paid for your ignorance mistakes thru their life saving and hard earned monies. If you ever have the heart, you should go around and understand what’s the average Malaysians have wished you to do so NOT only when the election is near. Even an animal knows who’s its friend and genuinely cared for it. It’s either you start realising that changes are way overdue or we’ll vote for the changes we’ll like to see in the future to come.

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  • Mazda 3 MPS on Oct 29, 2009 at 5:17 am

    you government shites

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