To boost sales overseas, Malaysian vehicle manufacturers need to price their cars more competitively and increase quality, said International Trade and Industry (MITI) minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.
“If the pricing is competitive and the quality is good, people will buy. We cannot force people to buy our cars,” Mustapa told the Dewan Negara in response to a question by Datuk Adam Hamid.
“To be honest, we have not fully succeeded in the vehicle industry in terms of Asean trade,” he added. The senator had asked if local vehicle manufacturers could take advantage of the upcoming Asean Economic Community (AEC) to increase sales, according to a report from The Star.
It was revealed that of the 20,000 locally manufactured cars exported last year, 7,000 were Mazdas. Most went north of the border to Thailand, with a small amount of Perodua cars sold to Indonesia and other Asean countries. Mazda makes the CX-5 SUV in Kedah, while Perodua exports the Myvi to Indonesia as the Daihatsu Sirion.
Mazda exported 7,000 units from its Kedah plant last year, taking advantage of the Asean free trade area
“Malaysia manufactured 650,000 cars while Thailand manufactured two million cars and sold half of them overseas. This is because unlike Malaysia, Thailand has an open policy where incentives and ownership is given to the companies, and there is no limit to ownership,” Mustapa said.
Malaysia and Thailand took different automotive paths. While Malaysia embarked on a national car project, the Land of Smiles opened up to foreign manufacturers and has become known as the Detroit of the East, with Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Ford and General Motors, among others, making our northern neighbour their regional manufacturing hub.
Should this two routes be made into a case study, there would be plus and minus points for both. We know what Proton chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad thinks about foreign brands and competition, but what are your thoughts?
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
Land of Smiles definately could be called Land of Brains too.
Our destiny is in our hands. It’s time to terminate Proton
Proton is Skynet… in Malaysia
We must comparing apple-to-apple. Thai and Malaysian not the same, Thai don’t their own national car. We must bench-marking the methodology practice by Korea and Japan. They have their own car and if other automaker penetrating their market they will impose high taxes. Anyhow, I still feel this is one of LKW malicious plan to destroy Tun M legacy.
If you penetrate your gf, should she impose high tax on you?
@GST: The fact that she’s your gf probably means she already imposes a high tax on you lol!
I guess that’s why u call yourself ah beng. Thailand thinks of the longer term, the bigger picture and ultimately for her citizens. Malaysia thinks only of (self fulfilled) pride and of coz only about a few persons’ pockets. But I’m amazed by how people like u can be so blinded and manipulated…
Yes, it’s hard to terminate Proton. Later, it will send its Proton macais to defend Proton
FYI Malaysia already have Skynet.
Someone needs to step up and take down this company. We cannot let it rule us like slave
Slave what? If you cannot afford it why buy?
If Proton failed in making cars then do other business lah.
How about kerepek ubi? Plenty of ubi tapioca here as supply here and require equally lots of workers.
Make Tanjung Malim as world’s biggest kerepek ubi factory.
“Kerepek Ubi Proton, memang sedap kipidap!”
Tu mak kau je buat
Mak kau says you suck for buying her Proton
Later happy because it saves her life unlike moving coffin toyota and p2
#makkauhijau
The Siamese route all the way
anything can bring down car price you do la Tokpa.
why we need to think about proton supplier etc we not welfare..
all that fall under risk doing business all businessman should know that
Spoken like a true politician, cannot force but can make car makers revise their selling prices
Inkambing Proton go die!
Aren’t you guys already forcing us by enforcing those ridiculous tax on those import vehicles?
apa susah..
bagi je murah2 buat teksi TR1Ma dan TEKS1M yang banyak atas jalan..
Finally he step Tun DrM back.
So change the taxes systems… and use liberation to a open market and transparency to Malaysia market!
There you have it. Malaysia took a closed door car policy while Thailand took the opposite. So who is better off then, Minister?
Sorry is it true that Malaysia pays US$600 million annually to Thailand as compensation under AFTA trade agreement so as to prevent Thailand sending car spare parts sales in Malaysia. Serve the people and come out with the truth. It is our Malaysian lives at stake, including yours and future generations. WTF.
Rayong, Thailand = Detroit of the East
Tanjung Malim, Malaysia = ???
To answer your question;
Tanjung malim – Leyland of the east. Go figure
But in fact you are forcing the rakyat to buy our national cars through the protectionism policy… with the high import duty and tax, most of us can’t afford to buy other brands but to stick with P1 and P2…
then why put so much tax on imported cars.
this bloody G & minister are a blood sucker…u imposed a high import duty & tax indirectly forcing us to buy a national car…
Clearly our local car or whatever policy implemented is a failure.30years should be long enough if there were to be any significant positive result of this policy.i can see none.citizen are burdened with unnecessary high car prices.industries that supposed to grow are being retarded to protect selected few.we have achieved rnd know how which resulted in a product that cant compete globally.
No matter how good the intention is the execution has failed.and it is unfair to ask people on the street to bear the burden for 10 or 20 more years just because these selected few need to be protected.
I’m sure 99% malaysians share this same sentiment.do the right thing now.admit the failure and revamp.
The rich can buy foreign car. The minister have not problem buying foreign car. The government can buy foreign car tax free.
The rakyat, forced to buy local car due to high price of foreign car. The only rakyat can comfortably buying foreign car is B segment price between Rm 60-80k which in return on par with selling price of Malaysian Preve, inspira, Exora and certain Alza. Below that A segment can get you some choice of Korean car.
Malaysian can buy B- segment car which fall under C-segment malaysian car. While in Thailand, they can go for C-Segment car. As Preve and Altis selling at the same price in Malaysia, will we buy Preve? no, I will got for Altis.
No matter, how the government said, we still suffer due to the protection Act for the local made car and to protect National Car. Maintenance for National Car (Global Car) Preve is far more expensive to maintain compare to Japanese car on the same segment. Reliability, Quality and branding not even on par.
To Protect National Car policy in return to support local company and secure thousands of job for the locals, we 30 million population of Malaysian suffer.
Well say, well say… truly speak the Rakyat hearts out !!!
Liar, since when Preve is far more expensive to maintain tahn Altis?
You will see after your warranty ends..
Personally, between Preve and Altis, I choose Preve. But if compared to others (Impreza, Civic, Mazda 3, Ford Focus) I choose either one of the competition, Impreza being the most likely.
Altis no VSC haha
I dun care, I would rather die with style in Jepunis cars rather than no class but safe p1 cars!
Altis no VSC? Go die in your P1 lah, bodoh
You want VSC + more airbags you have to pay more. Safety is for rich people only.
My dear Mustapa stop lying in front of press.
Your comment only increase rakyat’s hate on government.
But we are forced to pay minimum 40% car excise duty! And we suffer multiple tax charges as well!
Eg. From car factory: 40% car excise duty X GST 6% X Car loan bank interest 3% X Years of loan eg.9 Years
= Final price OTR + Insurance + Road tax
In the end car buyers suffer high car ownership cost almost double or triple in total after car loan finally settled. (Not counting cost of petrol, servicing, time productivity wasted for car repairs etc)
Clearly the cancer started from that car excise duty. It never disclosed in car price list of how exactly the calculation being done. MITI should be more transparent and let rakyat know the actual car cost price from factory. The calculations should be shown in the car price list, not hide it!
In fact MITI should replace it with CO2 emission level based calculation so cleaner eco car gets lower excise duty like Thailand’s new 2016 car excise duty system.
The benefits of such new system (CO2-based car excise duty):
1.Car price can be reduced
2. Reduce household debt as cheaper car means shorter car loan period
3. Forcing car makers to sell more fuel economical cars
4. Higher car demand means more car factories being built and more jobs opportunities
5. In line with EEV car policy & govt Janji harga kereta turun 30% in 5 years
Is the car price is same or diff between malaysia and thailand??
I see more people are employed in land of smiles with so many automotive manufacturers, service centers and spare parts manufacturers as well. Tourism also improved due to better taxi. Customers also paid for what they deserved, for example cars with more safety features!
If really want to benefit rakyat, force manufacturer to hire us will do, and not hire foreigners…
Even those buying 4 Wheel drive vehicles ‘kosong’ also drive to Thailand to install accessories, much cheaper there in Hadyai, some more huh at the same time can also go for massage.
Playing devil’s advocate here, so any arguments against this are welcome.
Our Electronics Industry is dying a slow death since we are no longer competitive with other low-cost labor countries (e.g. Vietnam, Thailand). Manufacturing is getting costlier here but we can’t do good high-value services like R&D and design.
Even if we took the the path to become the “Detroit of the East” years ago, would it be any better? I think we’ll end up the same as the actual Detroit and our Electronics Industry. A dying industry with our automotive manufacturing losing to cheaper countries. We will be left with engineers that only know how to manufacture and not to design and develop.
Besides labor costs, our commitment to quality is not up to standard either. The major complaint with locally assembled cars is quality and after sales service/support. While Proton gets the brunt of dislikes from Malaysians, other manufacturers, like VW are in the same boat too. Malaysians want durability and reliability for the money they are forced to pay. If the Japanese brands were to leave it to the local suppliers and manufacturers to dictate the quality and after sales support we get with their cars, they will be in a world of pain like Proton.
While Tun M has his points, he is misleading the public into believing that by shutting down Proton, thousands of Malaysians will loose their jobs. What he neglects to mention is that there are other car manufacturers in Malaysia, besides Proton. With Proton gone, these manufacturers can expand their operations locally and hire these workers instead. These manufacturers would also no longer have to deal with the AFTA tariffs that is strangling their opportunities abroad.
Regarding manufacturing, why does Taiwan, Japan and Korea still have active manufacturing industries? Why is our local manufacturing industry dying?
should have follow suit with the Land of
smiles long time ago..not mistaken hyundai automotive start off around the same time and same partnering with the mitsubishi auto know how..look where are they now after 20 years! proton still struggling looking for technical partnership till today..Dr. M justified local auto proton will prevent currency outflow yet our currency continue to devalued..He even come out and blatantly blaming we are at fault for asking cheap car eventhough he knew company mismanage and corrupt play vital role in this. i dont think korean ministers will put blame on public because their hyundai cant progress
I no need to force you buy Malaysian cars.
I can increase tax on foreign cars until ridiculous levels.
You are free to buy foreign cars.
Now don’t say I force you to buy Malaysian cars.
Good joke.
Got plenty of used non local cars. If you believe it has high quality go for it. You still have choice
The fact that you impose more than 75% excise duty on ALL vehicle is damning enough for Malaysian. Instead of getting a good safe car at a reasonable price, people have to fork more for it or sacrifices qualities. Futhermore, local companies like Proton (and Perodua) are not willing to introduces more safety features in their cars for fear that the car price will be more expensive and prohibitive to general public.
So blaming Proton alone in this situation is not totally accurate. Your tax system have to be overhaul. I’m sure Proton can come out with cars that is more safer for public with reasonable price if you don’t impose excessive tax on them and all other manufacturers.
I’m willing to buy a Proton sedan with 6 air bags and 5 star safety rating @ RM40k and choose to invest the rest of my money on other things like property or trust fund. But Proton can not sell their car with 6 air bags and 5 star safety rating @ RM40k because of the stupid tax system.
The same question: Can you force Ministers to buy Malaysian cars?
yessss can, ministers drive new perdana accordana what.
talk talk talk and more talk in the end of the day nothing change, rakyat continue driving p1 and p2 while thais and indons get to drive foreign brand
What so special about foreign brands?
We lost as the ASEAN car manufacturing hub but gain a national car. The amount of jobs we lost to Thailand due to Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Ford and General Motors making Thailand their hub far outweighs the amount of job have for making our national car.
What’s done is done, we can only learn from this.
TunM will say that all this manufacturers are taking our money out of our country!
But better than sending the money into Proton cronies pocket!
Who are cronies?
We should have followed Thailand’s approach in the first place.
Or, if they were to have Proton around still, the open market approach should have been in place during Proton’s first inception so they have first hand experience competing in open market (no AP, no high import tax, etc.)
But time is moving forward, so hove to overcome current issues? Enlighten our burden, dear government people.
Now they remove subsidy for petrol, time to abolish excise duty for vehicle as well.
Kata da setaraf BMW, Volvo, poi.
Tak paham2 jugak, go back to school lor
So what u gonna do Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed??? Don’t just talk CO*K here ok? Talk Talk…… then at the end of the day “Still TAX” Malaysian. Fed up Politician just say or sometime giving false hope. Proton been tide up with few well-known manufactures & yet fail. Reason as he said “quality” and the entire Malaysian been giving almost 30years since first SAGA launch. So why don’t give us back a chance to see whether economy bounce or not by liberalize the automotive industry. Don’t say “money flow” out…. then those countries buying our rubber, palm oil, etc….. “they” also pouring out money. Don’t be so stingy, others give us OK mari-mari… org lain I tak mau beri “pui” i won’t give u more than that. DUMB attitude & no sense of business. In any business if both parties have NO benefit, who wants to do business?????
TUN yesterday said engineer, supplier etc… will loose JOB “and that’s OK if open policy is to proceed” sarcastically he comment. But if PROTON no business sooner or later PROTON gonna cut job & even if it continues to sustain but more & more raw material unused, this supplier will still CLOSE shop due “over stock”. If outsider comes, there are chances this supplier will make for them parts & money still continue flow to them. Thailand for example almost 70% parts make in Thailand, so these suppliers (local Thais) have job, steady income & MOST importantly these supplier FAMILIES will not suffer!!!!
(quote by TUN M: “A hundred thousand or so workers, engineers and managers will lose their jobs. Their families will suffer.”
We understand Tun’s concern about the threat to the national car and its employees. But if the are able and skilled the industry will continue to provide as it is linear. The government and the industry has to make it possible for the industry to thrive and in time support our workforce and their livelihood. Challenge our own to become more competitive, we are in the era of globalization it’s a matter of time when our nation will be forced and what do we do then.
Its simple isn’t it. Almost all of the those who opened shop in TH, did after M’sia’s closed door policy was implemented and at one point considered Msia.
It was a rubbish policy then and its a greater pile of rubbish now. Now we have G and supposingly leaders singing that 100,000 jobs will be lost. Well we likely lost a 1 million jobs with this politically motivated policies. just imagine that we could have potentially manufactured 2 mil vehicles in Msia instead of 600,000.
lets face facts and open our doors for the automatic sectors. Ppl despise P1 coz of the history behind P1 and the suffering and domino effect that P1 brought us. Other wise P2 or other budget brands/model wont be so successful in Msia. P1 creates an envy and resentment when leaders with their loose mouth tell us to save money and spend wisely when they drive all the cars that we could not afford coz of their policies. If developed nation is our goal, P1’s strategy of cheap cheap A segment and B segment core models are not the right direction. It should be all segment cars with technological advancement being the focus. But who in their right mind would buy a 200k P1? The only way they can sell that if they rebadge another brands car or if its sold through G agencies for inflated prices and service packages so some specific people who hold that contract benefits.
P1 may close shop gradually, but those 100,000 ppl will not lose their jobs, instead they will gradually find another 100,000 or 1 mil jobs that will be now available with open door policy, not to mentioned thousands or skilled jobs that will be open in the market. Our graduates get jobs, our economy gets better, standard of living improves, may be car prices comes down, reduces the burden on the people, and we can move away from being a very petroleum dependent economy.
even some idiots can say “janji ditepati” and take credit for the 2020 vision!! well….dreaming aside, we Malaysian deserve to suffer until everything crashes around us. So stop complaining….u voted for it, so keep driving your P1 and P2 so u can hopefully upgrade to your dream car….. a water down, Japanese or kimchi for the price of a BMW that others pay for.
I’m a poor guy, so I need to work, but public transportation in Malaysia is not reliable,train and bus can always delay, so I buy a car, I buy Malaysian brand car, but then I found that the routine maintenance fees and repair cost and is no cheaper than foreign car, and comes with frequent same defects, I sent my car for warranty to replace the part for 3 times yet the problem still persists, I saw the bill, it costs RM1k each times if the car no more warranty, so I sold the car the buy a foreign car, so far no defect but with higher loan to repay, which I think why is Malaysia household debt is one of the top in Asia. If I complained , I will be asked by politician to get out of Malaysia, what can I do ?
Proton is Problem. There is no choice but to sell it and get better quality cars for most Malaysians
I am proud that there is a Malaysian make. Our own boys designing and building our cars. Just wished it had been better run.
Proton shouldn’t have its legs cut from under by letting Perodua sell rebadged Daihatsus. Also the foray into buying MV Agusta didn’t help while ownership of Lotus has both pros and cons.
Those wishing Malaysia could have been “Detroit of the East” should actually go to Detroit and see what happens to the city when the car manufacturers pull out for cheaper pastures.
Detroit today. Rawong tomorrow.
We will indeed be proud if the local made cars are of good quality and price competitively locally and at the same time capturing World market share, but… there is always a but in the case of our ‘beloved’ Proton and Perodua!
Proud you say? Proton after 30 years only go back rebadging again (this time with Suzuki).
Like Einstein said, “Stupidity is keep repeating same thing only to expect different results”.
Dun tell me other brands dun do rebadging again and again after years.
other ppl stupid, you oso follow to be stupid kah?
Then why dun you tell to them that they are stupid too? Because they are not p1? Come on get a life.
Rebadging and building homegrown cars are normal ways in auto industries. Why so much fuss?
Idiots will be idiots. China never had car protection & local brands were forced to compete with foreign makes. Now they are able to produce cars that even their local citizens would want to buy. Certain Malaysians always have this low self esteemed problem that they can only compete with help & protection. Even you give another 100years protection, this attitude will still be there because of LAZY to innovate.
There is protection, foreign car makers have to JV with local companies.
China-made cars suck so bad. Proton produces better cars.
China forced outsiders to JV with the local company before they can start business. For example lotus has to JV with Goldstar first
Cars like the first Gen Proton Saga FTW. Others includes way too many mechanical parts that simply isnt mature yet for malaysian manufacturing standards. Once owned a vw and it broke down on me. Damn DSGs gearboxes.
Im an avid supporter of Mahathir, but if they really open the auto market under Najib, Najib will have my next vote and support
Lotus own by proton should have no problem to transfer some idea to proton to produce a well received car below 100k or 150k anytime, why is it a big issue that is so difficult to solve. Just do it.
But you force us to buy expensive foreign car..shame of MITI policy!
import car: import tax + excise tax + sales tax
local car: excise tax + sales tax
both of them produce a very absurd OTR price, so what choices people have? use scrap car until die?
Looks like the whole Malaysia wants Proton to close shop. Proton, what say you?
Who are you to speak for bolehland?
Dr M is like a communist. He doesn’t like foreign brands and competition. Everything must be control by the government.
The price of local bands are obviously set at a very reasonable level already. It is only quality and trust. Good luck 2P.
Numbers can’t lie and numbers speaks for itself! Why waste time with Proton when the Co. is sucking the rakyat dry using tax payers collection which can be put to better use. Be fair and let others compete on same level playing field!
Proof of using rakyat money?
The sacrifices the rakyat is making for the sake of the national car maker is undoubtedly incomprehensible. Paying higher prices for anything that isn’t locally produced and when we do use the Malaysian made, sub par quality comes to mind. Lose/-lose situation.
The formula is simple.
1) U win overseas buyers heart first then u win Malaysian’s.
2) buyer mentality for small cars is price comes first. Anything extra is better still but they ain’t gonna pay much more. Buyer mentality for bigger car is look first then branding then quality followed by features and pricing last. There is a big difference between needy ppl and Rich ppl. Needy ppl don’t earn much and when they buy smth they make sure it’s the best deal ever. Rich ppl just wanna feel good, and they willing to pay the price. Choose which champion you wanna be and If you master that you win. It’s impossible to win both if you look at the competitors as well they don’t win in both segments because it challenges the consumer mindset towards your branding. One of the 2 will give up on you.
3) today both segments u don’t achieve the first few key points to win. Then you should look into the problems that’s holding you back. Seriously if you can practice what Toyota practice in everything little process to logistics to quality to services and responsiveness, you could already win majority of the competitors. Even if you follow Hyundai closely and do better in terms of quality you could have won our heart and our mindset towards your brand.
4) if u fail to look into your own problems, don’t blame the competition. The only competition is within yourself only. You fail to correct and breakthrough you will always stay behind someone. So start brainwashing your staff now and practicing agile management like Toyota.
5) want to improve quality, every small little thing matters but not at insanely high price. Example Toyota and Apple.
6) otherwise just be like Samsung, go bang on prices and latest features like how Hyundai beats Japanese cars. Then provide a good service and warranty to manage the quality problem.
my dream is to own and enjoy a Hilux before i die…
Proton
Please
Tutup
Kedai
Toyota
Please
Tutup
Kedai
Macai
Please
Shut
Up
But
Can
Give
Comments
The answer is G cannot force Malaysian to buy Malaysian vehicle. But we have no choice especially lower income group which mainly being force to buy due to pricing issue. G is doing good job for us to buy Malaysian vehicle. Even Malaysian citizens support own product but we never being treat as good when vehicle made in Malaysia is totally burden us. Do we realise there are more problem for owning P1. As far we can see most P1 easily breakdown and quality wise is not acceptable. If only P1 produce good quality car, there will be no issue for forcing us to buy P1. What a nice article shown by G stated they cannot force us. Think about it all Malaysian.
Is it problematic like VW? You owned one before or you just talk kok?
Of course la talk kok. Most probably own 30 years old p1, where got same with newer ones.
Newer ones like Exora terbakar, older ones are much safer
How many terbakar? 10 million?
bro.. what do you means problematic like VW? Bro.. the different between VW and Proton is… VW admit their mistake, they even recall all their unit for rectify. they are responsible enuff to rectify their problem. But proton is different after sales… they dun care about their problem or I should say.. Proton don’t even know how to solve the proton.. what they do is.. just stop selling after few year.. Like Juara, Savvy.. etc…
p1 did recalls, get your fact right.
but even it recall.. but still problem not solve!
p1 did recall but only for inspira and exora.. how about problematic juara and savvy?!
if only newer proton is as reliable as the Wira, or the Perodua Kelisa, both of this car just keep on running.
If the auto industry like many other aspects of life in Malaysia is guided by the compass whose cardinal points are Meritocracy, Accountability, Transparency and Integrity we would have surpassed even the Land of Smiles.
Yeah right.
You can’t force people to buy Malaysian car but you can force people to buy overpriced car.
most of malaysian have to take 9 years loan when buy a new car. that’s mean either they are not entitled to buy a car based on their income or car price in malaysia very high
Lets consider letting go of the high duty n tax for import vehicles.
1) Govt loose lots of income but rakyat benefit can buy cheaper imports.
2) Govt has lesser to spend on nation rakyat still demanding upgrades and improvements with lesser money in the bank.
3) About 7000 professionals. Like engineers n management n sales personnel loose their jobs coz Proton cant compete apple to apple on price. Is there an alternative job in automotive?? So far none.
4) Car importers decide tat the only way to manufacture in Malaysia is if labour is at par with Thailand. Will Malaysia agree to a 50% pay cut to work in a factory building cars?
5) With lesser income can they afford the reduced duty n tax for imports or still end up buying cheaper local car? Will Msians sacrifice family comforts and lifestyle just so they can balance their monthly bills n drive a camry or honda or volks?
Its no more about pride. Its about economics. We want to bailout on our automotive policy then create a viable job solution for the automotive industry.
At the moment theres no guarantee that manufacturers will pump in fdi once duty n taxes abolish. Our labour is more expansive. Semicon manufacturers are cutting jobs n shutting down. BPOs are moving to cheaper countries too.
On top of all this the TPPA will only make matters worst!
I don’t mind proton if their service and car quality is good. But unfortunately neither of these can be attributed to proton.