Proton will be selling electric vehicles by 2014, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed told Parliament yesterday. The national car company is currently collaborating with UK-based Frazer-Nash Research to develop its own EV.
In a reply to Gombak MP Azmin Ali, the MITI minister said that Proton had allocated RM500 million for research and development in green technology and is expected to gain profits after commercialising EVs in 2014, The Star reported.
The PKR man asked MITI to state the rationale of investment by Proton through Frazer-Nash, to which Mustapa replied that Proton’s R&D spend is much smaller than other car manufacturers.
It was pointed out that GM invested about US$1.2 billion to develop its Chevrolet Volt while Nissan-Renault has allocated US$5.6 billion for the same purpose. Allegations that Proton spent some RM270 million to test 30 cars and each cost about RM9 million were untrue, Mustapa said.
Meanwhile, Bernama reports that the government is ready to allocate RM120 million next year to Proton for the development of an EV before it can be commercialised mid-2014.
“The government allocated RM100 million this year for Proton to develop a hybrid and electric model and will consider an allocation of RM120 million next year for research and development. All this depends on Budget 2013 which will be tabled by the Prime Minister tomorrow (today) and on Proton meeting its key performance index target,” Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said.
Who is Frazer-Nash? Is their tech any good? Well, Proton/Frazer-Nash won two awards – the Most Efficient Multi-Purpose Car (Prototype) and the Best Overall Extended-Range Vehicle (E-REV) – at last year’s RAC Future Car Challenge from Brighton to London. The 64-car field included the best electric powered and alternative fuel vehicles around, from the Chevy Volt to the Nissan Leaf, so it’s no small feat. Click here to read our race report.
We have also tasted the fruits of the collaboration and came away impressed – click to read exclusive test drives of the Saga EV and Exora REEV.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
Proton belongs to DRB now, why still need to debate this in Parliament?
because they r using people’s money.
whose money? now proton no longer public company..no more GLC..why need to debate in parliament?
If government is still giving grants to Proton, then it is still tax payers’ money.
pumpkin is a retard guy, he didn’t know anything good only bad
what y u dnt ask to our private university or collage university where they spent gov (EGRS, FRGS,LGRS) research grant??
nama pun GERAN PENYELIDIKAN MAAA..aiyaaaa! lousy la u
Proton 100% sold to DRBHCOM, why Gov still giving RM100million for Proton to develop a hybrid and electric model, shouldn’t this cost is borne by DRBHCOM ?
It is quite normal for government to provide grants to any companies they seems fit. This is being done in other countries as well.
Yes company making loss crap quality is fit to receive grants.
So u want which comp to get this project???
Proton is under DRBHCOM and DRBHCOM is cash rich.
because DRBHCOM also apart of G,this just a trick
Weih, Volt by GM also got hundred million dollars US grant laa. It depends on the government initiative to maybe promote greener alternative.
Don’t be to blinded by the anti-government sentiments laa. Be a smart Malaysian. If government wrong, marah lah. Kalau tak salah, takkan nak marah jugak?
So you don’t want government to give money to Proton? Give to foreign company izzit?
is Frazer-nash local? no they are Brits and that is the problem.
Proton belongs to DRB now. Why it is still protected?
perodua belongs to PNB.. why still protected.. lets imported small car come in with no tax laa
Because DRB-Hicom is owned by the government via Khazanah’s 5% share. Therefore, it is rakyat’s primary interest to ensure all GLC’s are well run & maximized return.
Why government allocated RM100 million for Proton???? DRB tak ada duit??
Election is coming…G need $$$, i bet you 100m out of part of it will go to election thats where your aunties/uncles get their rm200-300… for DRRB, its still win win to get extra free $$$!
gotta hurry buy crz/jazz hybrid/insight/prius/ct200h before 2014. after that we’re `STUCK’ with proton!!!
true!!! if proton coming with electric,hybrid vehicle. then imported hybrid tax exemption will be off.. then GG.com
Lets be honest here. If proton cannot make a good quality petrol car. why bother go and get electric. Actually, they should build customer confidence 1st. Then go sell the electric car. People will buy. Look at Kia/Hyundai. From thole lousy cars to better quality cars that people want to buy (ie: Forte, MD Elantra, Optima)
banjir ni electric car macam na?
Meh.. you don’t say..
same goes to common engine
sedut banjir out already..
Guna sampan ler
if banjir only diesel win.. add snorkel.. weeeee swmimming!!
can electrocute ppl onot tis car?
Banjir still drive a car ke Albag?
If the government is giving Proton hundreds of millions of taxpayers money, can we at least know how the money is spent? Hold on, is Proton owned by government or DRB?
Time to change the gov
Proton is 100% sold to DRBHCOM. n DRBHCOM is own by syed mokthar … n now gov continue to fund proton … WTF !
bcz that Frazer nash company needs money!!! who are this people why we never heard of them? anyone? any comments? why work with this company with no name at 1st place. come on la…
try google
yang korg nak bising ni kenapa ..sape lagi nk support jenama sndri?korg?…jngn kate gune duit rakyat sngt lah…entah entah cukai pun tak bayar…buat itu salah buat ini salah…
dude.. this is english website.. not some pasar malam discount talk
so what? it is free country maaa..suka hati la nak talk kut mana pun..cazzo
dude…ini malaysia…x salah kalau orang tu guna bahasa malaysia
that’s not cool, melaysian can use malay language anywhere and anytime.
if u really are poyo enough..go live in singapore please..bajet mat saleh
this must be a 40s uncle that at kopitiam commenting on this.. get a life..
Pls forgive him, he can’t even comment using proper Malay languages not to say English.
Weih, mangkuk. This website is for Malaysian automotive news. You speak broken English want to langsi here speak like you some high class Brits. The nearest you go is watching Downton Abbey jelah.
Suka hatilah orang mau cakap Melayu ke English.
Dah support lebih 25 tahun tapi masih jual kereta haprak harga mahal
Kilang besar tak tau buat kereta bagus buat benda lain
Contohnya kilang buat keropok lekor segera, cucur pisang frozen, cincaluk cheese kan bagus
jual goreng pisang, kalau untung sehari 20 sen pun cukup bagus dari proton yg rugi berjuta ringgit setahun.
untuk apa bisnes, kalau rugi? lagi pulak bertahun2 rugi… close shop aje laa.. nasi ayam ko tak sedap, org suka nasi ayam kedai lain.
kalau pandai sangat kau buka la kompeni bikin kereta sendiri. taip berdegar-degar tapi hampeh
Most Malaysian are not Malaysian enough. They bought imported cars and keep complaining about Proton. If each Malaysian gave a great support and buy Proton cars since the last 25 years, I believed Proton would be a great brand instead.
proton needs good and reliable partners not chop shops from uk, ro other countries,
korg…korg. Dun think paultan.org bans the use of word ‘cock’ right??
who is not tax payer. maybe not pay the income tax but can we avoid sales tax? come on pakai otak sebelum cakap nih. Tau lah u sokong bn tapi janganlah sampai membabi buta kato orang lain tak bayar tax.
EV! Hi, hi, hi, ……. jaguh kampung no. 2, balik kampung tanam jagung larrrrr ……
Can’t even fix the car quality properly now wanna sell electric car
Better give Life Time Warranty + Life Time FREE Service (labour and parts) lah…let see how many goons fall for it
Sick and tired to see this failed clown keep on getting free money
Jaguh kampung no 1 perodua pulak tokeh jepun mau pergi indonesia n say bye2
Even the cheapest electric car like Leaf and i-EV still nearly RM200K price zero-tax from Japan
Go ahead lah buy Saga EV at RM95K or Exora EV at RM130K
Make sure you got whole car Life Time Warranty + Life Time FREE Service parts labour ok!
Mmg tak bayar cukai pun..sebab gaji kami RM1k je
Dr M the no.1 Proton supporter himself should buy it use own money to prove it’s worth every penny amal jariah charity…
Kepimpinan melalui teladan, Cakap mesti serupa bikin…
Sorry, He only ask the rakyat to support but his son bought Bugatti Veyron and stay in Mansion
I dont pay tax…. Because i got RM 1k /monthly
Dude, here is Malaysia, it’s not pasar malam talk, it our national language. Please respect it.
I’m more interested to see the car in front of that saga in first picture..lol
Agreed bro…
Bro. that car infront of saga works well and is a BMW not a lost british name.
Proton…come on lah guys….start making a better cars first..than u think about making electric cars….
why, you use ex5?
Meh…. i’ll pass. P1 can’t even make a proper fuel efficient engine and now they want to do hybrid and electric cars?
Lets hope the car don’t burn down or worst explode on the rode.
have u try one?if don’t dnt talk rubbish
to chriscipundet or is that your parent give your name. Yes, i own proton cars with camp tak pro engine. so whats is the issue with you? The point is how can a company championing fuel efficiency when the most basic stuff like quality and engine effiency is lacking behind they can’t even master?
Conclusion, proton hopeless, as I am current user, lousy car, full of problem, mileage 20k+ 18 months car, full of tikus d..
i own exora turbo, cylinder head was removed in first month to change oil pump for VVT.
too bad… 9 years loan. have to make do.
covered under warranty also wants to bash, if other brand pay thousands but keep quiet lol
campro is different engine than cfe, just look at the cc 1597 vs 1561. it’s not bolt on turbo engine neither.
They change the piston stroke to have lower compression (that why lower cc) & different head design (add VVT) for the CFE engine.. The only thing that i felt is a must is why left out the direct fuel injection system? If that included must be a perfect efficient engine for Proton.. Oh well.. Is it all about cost & our low quality fuel (Still EURO2?!? WTF!)
direct injection feature is coming next in family Y engine, imho
Can burn meh! Maybe even can’t start the electric engine! How to get burn ……
Wah, 120 Million in the name of R&D for next year! and the rakyat get RM 500 for nasi lemak!
100mil this yr, 120mil next yr, and before car roll out to production in 2014 maybe another 200mil more. end up no ppl buy their car. what a waste. haha, proton really proton. forever cannot split with gomen. election please vote wisely la. use this million of ringgit to build more school and fund more to health program better.
Gov should stop feeding proton as its owned by DRB now. Lets be fair to our rakyat!!!! We need quality and reasonable car price!!!!
Another gimmick by government..
proton cars prices quite high for car called “kereta rakyat”
What happen to the billions given to develope sports car? now asking for more money?
Perodua should be called kereta rakyat.. So cheap
this act will only prove G will ‘force’ malaysian buy local made EV / Hybrid car…
but too bad, malaysian rather buy imported petrol car instead of Proton so called hybrid / EV car…
frankly, our G is so sickening…
spending like no body business without benefit the malaysian!
25 yrs proton history, what u got? Juara? Saga? Gen 2?? even Inspira also need to Mitsubishi to provide them the model…
is a shame!!!
Come on Malaysia G, giving back Malaysian something! u guys r sucks!
yeah…S**K…BIG TIME!!!
what imported car u refered too??
VIOS, ABANJA, INNOVA and CITY
prrrtfhhh
preve? exora? persona? why it’s not included?? because you deny its goodness?
Frazer-Nash…??? Sounds like some dubious kilang air kotak F&N aja…
Betul bikin R & D kah?
Korek punya korek sure got Kroni there lah as usual
RM120 million…which offshore bank these Kroni crooks hide it…Panama bank? Nicaragua? Bahamas? Labuan? Mindanao?
I bet frazer-Nash has connection with chop shop uk and Lippu. Why not working with big names. Why look for bankrupt names? Proton deserved better la. Why only proton work with them?
Dah menang 2 award kat UK pun rakyat MALAYSIA still tak percaya & tak puas hati… :)
Personally I think Proton is moving into right direction here by venturing into the so called the “future of what makes car moves” that hopefully will keep them on par with other makes in the near future… coz right now they are many steps behind in terms of normal combustion engine technology. If Proton would still follow the natural order of car manufacturer techology evolution… forever they will be left behind laa…
Menang award but quality hampeh tak guna juga
Miss Universe tak tahu masak you rela sanggup berabis duit kahwin kah
rich enough to pay for maids , can cook, wash, etc why not. quality hampeh is old story, sudah basi now no more. you still live in 90’s. get a life.
Why the government need to allocate money for proton rnd? The day drb sealed ownership for proton, the responsibility of making sure proton survived is on drb and not the goverment. Drb should invest their resources for proton without any goverment backing. If not viable then sell proton to other conglomerate.. National pride konon.. Piirahhh
proton QC is much better nowadays
Gosh, work on improving your regular cars first before even venturing into this industry. With the current QC on your normal cars, how do you even think your EVs will cut it?
Get ready for even more wastage
Rakyat will boycott these Proton EVs zero sales and force govt to buy it as fleet cars…announce it as promote eco cars used by govt officers konon
Another form of bail-out lah probably few hundred millions more to help clear stock unsold Proton EVs
In the end RM 1 Billion duit rakyat wasted for fun for nothing
Duit rakyat memang sedap lah hantam peduli apa…cuba pakai duit sendiri
eh no need la proton, u can take back your EV and donate millions to the poor.
hmm.. i have to agree with most of you here on the grant.. proton is not a glc anymore so why need money from the gov?? can a private company ask for grant from the gov? any other company do this before?
can. even gm and ford received grant from us gov for research purpose.
At least GM and Ford had proper technology and partners not like this unknown uk company. I bet they r run like that chop shop lippu guy. Uk no more auto biz why bother then.
turunkan harga kereta! kami mahu harga cukai bagi kenderaan diturunkan..
Proton EV car is the first EV car that(if got money) I’m not going to buy
But does any one here sense a foreign car tax hike coming ,anyone ?
Proton is definitely going to try sell it cheaper than most foreign car, and EV tech is no cheap stuff
tax-exempted foreign hybrid car still expensive, cannot go higher or else who wants to buy
Wtf…. Earn then goes to DRB, if loss money or investment goes to Gov. So any company own proton sure win, sure earn! Change gov!
The tax you paid for buying your better quality, more reliable car is given to proton. Proton uses people’s tax money to develope and build cars and sell to the people who funded them at the first place for a profit. Then sell to other country cheaper than the price in Malaysia. Why eh?
you answer than you ask again, you want cheaper tax ask gomen, not proton
Let’s see end of next year. So far Proton was not able to produce any competitive car. …and so far it is even prohibited to use electric cars officially in Malaysia. or did I get some wrong informations?
not competitive?
i cannot get turbocharged sedan car with <120k except preve. civic, altis, sentra no turbo.
make la what ever car. more choice the better. no need to condemn. but….. what is more important is reduce the car price. then we can have quality life with reliable and safe car plus a decent house.
Reduce the car price for the people ! People first ! 1malaysia. Janji di tepati !
Is it possible to buy electric cars in Malaysia already?
Proton R&D sleeping…..needs to be faster. Lagging behind trends with make your products less desirable. Look at Prius. Come out early in the market can sell expensive to recoup R&D costs. Then when got competitor drop price slowly. Always in profit. Toyota also grow from government protection. Look at it now. Come on Proton….something so simple also dunno meh ???
Well every other major carmaker will seek a goverment grant, it is almost a must because if any one is to buy an EV car will need refueling/rechargeing it and how is that going to happen,it is also the goverments jobe to provide refuling/recharging station .It is not only Protons job and you must remember does Proton even knows how to make a very safe refueling/recharging station …
In another note the reasone R&D is amaizingly slow at Proton, is because DRB is very new in the field of RND and it has never design any sort of vehicle before .Mind you DRB is Protons Boss, I think they are trying to adjust on how to handle Proton…..
fyi proton has already planed 6 new cars built on the Preve'(P1(big cars)& P2 (small/medium)platforms ,some of the cars has just completed the design proses …and I think one of the cars is a Small A segment vehicle(GSC)while the other is ofcource the hatchback version of the preve’….
I am deeply sorry for the long write up
by the way im new hear..
here’s frazer-nash: http://www.frazer-nash.com/
they were a british sports car maker once, but now it seems they’re focusing on EV research.
you can see a list of cars here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frazer_Nash
and they made this car too, as a concept, along with giugaro: http://www.autoblog.com/2009/03/03/geneva-2009-frazer-nash-namir-by-giugiaro/
i’m not saying it’s a well-known or famous company (only car enthusiasts would know the name), but they’re not some ‘kedai potong’ or random company as some comments seem to make it.
just because you haven’t heard of something, doesn’t mean it’s not good, right?
as for proton and EVs, here’s hoping for better things. whether jadi or not, time will tell.
ask them how many car makers used them? I believe -0.. why not using Lotus hybrid system they showed in in Emas and 414 Evora already…
i’m not validating their achievements, just stating that they’re not a kedai potong as some people tried to say.
let’s just see how it goes.
Maybe Proton should slap on some ‘hydrofuel’ to their EVs and HVs [hello, 2008] for the laughs.
Oh, yeah, didn’t that ‘hydroxene’ guy got a RM100 million grant too?
I wonder what happened to him.
Proton dapat wang tu untuk R n D. Sebab ada Proton la ada banyak peluang kerja. Majoriti rakyat yang tak kaya beli Proton, yang ada duit lebih boleh beli kereta jenama lain. Jadi apa nak kecoh kalau Proton dapat wang untuk perbaiki kualiti hidup rakya Malaysia
I wonder how long the battery lasts. I don’t want to recharge the battery every 500 yards and change the battery every 4 weeks.
I’m gonna make electricity so cheap, that EV has better operation cost than fuel-burning vehicles.. Albeit the higher purchase cost..
excited!!!!!!!
Only fools in Malaysia buy imported…Proton/Perodua cars are semi-subsidized by govt, at the same time get reduced taxation. After all cars are just a machinery to ease transport. Why bother get an import if both gets u from A to B just the same? Besides, maintenance are waayyy cheaper than imports. Only fools blinded by brand name & having poor self-esteem needing an image boosts by the machinery they drive in. Its just a machine folks…get over it!
If our public transport system is good & reliable, I won’t bother buying a car.
But sadly the workplace, ammenities, home, schools & etc are so poorly connected by public transport.
Menteri Pengangkutan buat apa? KTM Komuter bila nak maju?? Bas bila nak menepati masa? Menteri Pengangkutan buat apa?
They were busy doing something else towards the PRU13. Maybe they will spend much time in 2014. I like your enthusiasm against the national car. Peace.
Expected in the second year of the FIA Formula E series, independent components can be introduced into the SRT_01E chassis, a platform to showcase EV capabilities, lets hope Proton will be up to glorify Malaysia’s team 1M.TecMO Racing. It will be a showcase of excellence!