Then, open up the car market. Reduce the local excise duty which still creep around 50-100 percent.

Lip service and window dressing aside, govt should stop promoting national mediocrity and protecting crooks.

A new national public holiday must be reserved for the closure day of Proton.

The market economy is a dead ideology in Malaysia. Globalization in terms of what can be bought and sold in the global market is a pipe dream with a smaller view the longer it becomes. It will take five more years for our local man on the street to realize it when their kids read it in their history books.

NoToLow may have grown out of the real necessity for a private transport and his needs have outgrown the target market that Proton cater for. He will eventually pay more for a better car. There is always other marques for him to choose. He may not make enough money to pay for better quality car because he could be incompetent or not effective at work. People like NoToLOw will fall by the wayside in the grand scheme of things. They become irrelevant. Many are like NoToLow. Not many people like him will realize that you need to be more effective at work/business to get more pay to get better things in life. Many people like NoToLow would see that the world, nay the universe revolves whith them in the center.

Hey Proton (aka the “big-baby” who refuse to grow up),
Get the Govt to end the foreign car importation and sales tax so that other cars can be sold in Malaysia without those ridiculous high price tag. Create an equal play field and healthy competition among car manufacturers.
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As far as i know, the NAP is already being phased out. The current ASEAN import rate is only FIVE PERCENT.

Current mass market models like the City and Vios are more expensive as they have arguably better trim and by the fact that Toyota and Honda probably dont want to drop their prices (or cut trim levels and goodies) too drastically as it would affect brand prestige and used car values.

The NAP is due to be retabled again late this year. The goal is to abolish it along with the AP system by 2010.

That really is quite reasonable. 24 years of protection (1986-2010) for a car industry is nothing spectacular or unfair. Korea’s car industry (protected for over 50 years) was protected for much longer with much harsher measures – despite having a kickstart during wartime with massive direct government cash injections.

Imported cars in Thailand are more expensive than they are in malaysia =) Check with friends in bangkok if you dont believe.

August 30, 2008 @ 10:55 am

R&D huh?
I wonder how long it takes for proton to fix it’s own power window issue.
I believe it is fix and less problem arise for new models.
Looking at R&D on power window and the time it took to complete, one can wonder how long it takes to R&D a fuel efficient petrol engine, and now the world is moving to hybrid or even fuel cells power engine.

Seriously, for me, i don care if proton making money or loose money.
Just as long as we got the best quality car from proton, all of us will be happy. No power window problem, no weird sound problem, no Gen2 door problem…
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The power window problem is nothing new that the world hasn’t seen before. Power window mechanism is very common and simple. To solve the problem, one need not reinventing the wheel.

Just make sure there is strict QC and get rid of those cronies suppliers that provided questionable quality components curently used in power windows.

20 years plus still require to give chance… i say no and proton must 1st prove to us they have actually changed. personally i have already decided not to buy proton from beginning until they prove me wrong on their quality!!

lucky to have myvi where most of us are enjoying peace of mind in a decent car budget car!!

people get angry when they at PLUS toll, rather than touch n go, it becomes open, touch,close n go for proton cars with power window issue.

Problem that as a citizen i came across for Proton’s car
1) Power Window – My Wira all 4 window cannot work!!! even after change with PROTON Original Parts!!

2) Gen2 door got problem and require DIY – Refer http://paultan.org/archives/2005/09/22/how-to-solve-proton-gen2-door-problem/

3) Some Gen2 model paint job suxs… i have personally seen a Gen2 model having it’s painted orange color came off and turn into Grey color.

4) Waja certain model gear box got problem with shifting – happen to my relative Waja where it cannot switch to next gear even after 60km/h and require some skills to make that happen. Reason from proton due to gear box switching computer chip need to change and it cost a bom to change!!

5) Proton Salesman’s words – Recently launch Savvy with TUV certified have honk problem.. apparently i think they focus too much on the power window and the overall engine, but did not check the honk.. it fail to honk!!

6) Certain proton Wira’s model. Inside the Wira’s top ceiling lights… the on and off is terbalik.. off is on and on is off… wtf!! tak tau baca ke? – Happen to my friend’s wira and he showed me, we all laugh!!

Proton quality from my past sux big time… now i do not trust proton and that’s why all my friends (Working Class) change either to myvi or vios/city.

Buy proton blood really puke out!! darn hell of a life inside a proton!!

Seriously, for me, i don care if proton making money or loose money.
Just as long as we got the best quality car from proton, all of us will be happy. No power window problem, no weird sound problem, no Gen2 door problem…

When will proton be REALLY ready to stand by itself and be competitive in the global auto manufacturing?

Considering all the money invested, spent and lost over the 20+ years period,
How long will Proton expect to make REAL profit? Afterall, Proton is a business venture, yes?

proton needs to try extremely hard to lose money in malaysia. very hard. it is almost impossible for them to lose money.

Economist now view what we and most East Asian countries did back then, were right. What we did was buying our own manufactured items. We kept capital outflow to a minimum. We tried very hard to keep the money in Malaysia and not getting loans which we would then also have to follow by their rules. People seem to forget how the westerners predicted doom on us for fixing the currency rate to the USD. But we survived because we know what is good for us.

For a brief period, our economy almost followed down the drains. BLR shot up overnight to 11%. Most of us defaulted on credit cards and loans. We couldn’t get loans and were paying through our bleeding nose. All bacuase the Finance Minister at that time wasn’t an economist and listened too much to the IMF.

Now, when every single country is giving up on the Doha initiative, our local guys still want to see it happening here? Or are we too ignorant about the fact that the Doha initiative is doom to failure because major world economies wont let go of their subsidies in agriculture.

Yes, our government protects local business coz it keeps the money here. But so do other much more bigger countries. Why do Proton have to build to European emission laws when the Vios or the City doesn’t? They don’t sell Vios there because the engine was never meant to be destined to a market with strict environmental laws. But Proton does. Why does Proton test for Euro NCAP while the Vios or the City doesn’t? Same answer.

Proton needs to spend more on testing and verification because it is targeting that market. Therefore higher cost in R+D is involved. Which is not fair deal against competitors who doesn’t.

Put yourself in their shoes: You’ve just started, need a bit of help, so the govt implement protectionism policies here and there, then suddenly, the govt say… aa cannot cannot, its been too long, take away protection, bam open up market… mampos Proton.
Now imagine if the Govt suddenly say..aa cannot cannot, subsidy is killing the govt budget, free float petrol prices…bam we all mampos in like a month or so…wait, no need to imagine, you just got a little glimpse of it recently, just a prick…the petrol price went up..

The point is, don’t be too harsh on Proton. I’m sure we all were pissed when the govt raised petrol prices, but hey, we’re protected, for a reason, coz if not the whole economy might collapse, inflation, bla bla, etc.. They just need time… If you think you’re good enough to not need protectionism then you can go to Petronas station, fill up the tank with, say RM100 petrol, but at cashier you pay RM300 just for the sake of anti-protectionism… Even if anyone can financially afford to do this, I’m sure I can wait till Hell freezes over and still not a single person would do it. Get my point.

But yeah it only started to get right when idiot TM was kicked out… from here on all we need is hard work and more hard work…

I know some might be thinkin about ‘comparative advantage’, that somehow, maybe we are just not suited for automobile manufacturing, maybe its the knowledge, people or resources, just not suited for this stuff. So what are we gonna do?, continue with just palm oil, and petroleum export for the next 50 years. My opinion is that we cannot become a developed nation unless we have home grown capability for industrial manufacturing that are developed by ourselves. And this is what we are trying for with Proton. U see any other enterprise here in Malaysia doing this?

Sorry, got a bit patriotic there, because its nearing end of August i think.

OK, you can all beat the shit out of this comment now…

“without proton everyone is driving he self a dream car without tax …”
likewise, there is no country in the world where you drive a car without tax.. you can go anywhere in the world, and taxes are a fact of life. maybe you should actually go to a proton showroom one day, and pickup a price list.. in the breakdown of the OTR price of the car, you will see a column listing tax and excise duty.. yes, believe it.. proton cars are taxed also.. wow.. amazing… so there is no such thing as tax free, not even proton.

Roti Naan,

Sorry dude, I can’t agree with you about “govt and proton are abang-adik”… it’s more of a ‘Master and the puppets’ kind of scheme! Everyone knows Proton is owned by Khazanah right? Who else sit in the chairs of Khazanah other than a bunch of government cronies!

Tanasi,

On your post “make profit also wrong, to be in the red also wrong”…you got a point right there dude. Aisay, if Proton announced they lose money…haiya, this thread mesti kena bomb like nobody bisnes punye! Bash kaw-kaw wan! Friends, last time when Proton is under TM with it’s all protective market, the bloodly guy lose money like sh*t lar. Making ’sporty’ cars tak habis-habis until Proton lost ALL of it’s credibility. At least treat this as a good news even as little as sand.

Datuk Syed Zainal,

Congrats for all your good and hard work man (even you may not read this)! You truly are worthy to lead Proton to it’s better future. Looking forward with the coming MPV and please do upgrade your quality b’coz Proton really need to tackle that main problem first. It’s still a very very long way to go Proton!

Cheers everyone! Peace!

Have you seen cars from the other markets – the one so called ‘fair’ and ‘unprotected’? They are cheap not for no reason – non assisted steering, manual window regulator, single side mirror, material color bumper, no heated rear glass – these kind of equipment level is still acceptable for base line models to be cheap.

but not in Malaysia. The market has certain expectations and these things are not cheap, even for Proton or whoever for that matter.

the way i see it…

less tax = less money for g
less money = less free educaton/healthcare (please dont talk about corruption here)

Which one will lead to a better life? free education/healthcare or cheaper honda/toyota?

unless youre just a teenage boy who daydreaming about honda.

and of course, if g abolish car tax, surely other tax will be increased,

What about Perodua, Japanese owned, no need for any RnD, gets all the same protection and tax breaks like Proton. The fact is that currently Proton goes head to head with a Toyota/Daihatsu proxy on a level playing field and has not collapsed. Think about it…

And since we’re talking profits, how much does Perodua (the current market leader) makes. Where’s the profits (taxes) and exports it gives back to the country in return for all it’s tax breaks?

hey Naan,

If proton can ask the Govt to do that (and I am sure no govt of any country would) surely it can also ask PakLah to step down, lower the pump price, and channel all the money in the treasury into its own coffers.

make profit also wrong, to be in the red also wrong. we truly live in flip-flop times.
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Making profit in business is not wrong. However, “controlling” and “manipulating” the tax and successfully up-ping other new car prices in the name of protection (yeah, we hear that like 20+ years oredi from the govt) is
pretty low-down in doing business. What worst is that the rakyat are limited with their choices of cars they wish to buy with their average spending power. Where is consumer’s rights?