The AP list has been unveiled but we are still in the dark in relation to the original context of how the AP Saga came to be. It all started when Proton accused these AP holders of importing cars and declaring prices way way below the market value.
So now we have the list, how exactly did they cheat with the value of the cars?
An anonymous sourced associated with a foreign car manufacturer tells the story.
Rafidah says there were 66,277 units of approved AP last year (2004). [Source, Source]
Mahathir says there were 67,000 APs released last year (2004). [Source]
The Prime Minister’s Office released a list accounting for 67,158 APs and claimed it was a list from 1970 to 2005. This is a period of 35 years. [Source]
The recipients of APs have been revealed by the government despite the leaders insistence that it is not the government’s policy for the recipient list to be exposed.
The list was released this evening by the Prime Minister’s office.
The AP scheme was introduced by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) as a method to help Bumiputra entrepreneurs in the automotive sector.
Naza boss Nasimuddin Amin, also known as “AP King” first appeared on the list in 1988 when he was given 3112 APs under his company Naza Konsortium Sdn Bhd.
There are also names of former MITI officers on the list and the two officers are some of the biggest recipients.
Click more for the list of the top 10 AP recipients
The Perodua Myvi is selling like hotcakes! Sales figures are at a mind-blowing average of 10,188 units a month, exceeding the original monthly target of 4800 units.
Myvi sales have hit 40,751 units on July 6th, a number achieved in only about 3 months since April.
This is despite of several problems with the car such as the dent on the bonnet and the problem with the rear drum brake. Despite the problem, Perodua was wise to notify Myvi owners to come in for a check-up right away.
Such is the power of having the platform based on a Toyota/Daihatsu platform. The reliability reputation rubs off a bit onto the Myvi.
You can see it on the comments of my own blog. Even when I posted about the brake defect, hordes of Myvi lovers came and defended Perodua, and praising it for acting so quickly. If a Proton had such problems, I think it would be normal for Proton service center personnel to shrug it off with a “Biasalah… Proton!”
Proton, please learn from your brothers at Perodua. This is what you can achieve if you give the rakyat what it wants. A reliable, economical car with the latest safety features and equipment.
The rakyat does not want state of the art clutchless manual gearboxes. It wants a comfortable car to drive to work daily, and at the same time fit the whole family comfortably for weekend trips. And the car has to be affordable. Buckle up Proton!
Volkswagen says it will take at least 7 years of working with Proton before it will consider a more permanent partnership such as taking up equity in the company.
Currently cooperation between the two companies is expected to be in the form of a joint venture company operating in two phases. The first phase will involve component sales, manufacturing and distributing and this will lead to the second phase which involves collaborative design and development.
The Volkswagen Fox
Phase one will kick off in Q1 2006 with the assembly of a localized Volkswagen Passat. Localized version of the Fox MPV is due in Q3 2006 and Fox hatchback in Q1 2007.
In the end, whether VW decides to buy an equity in Proton or not depends on the success of this joint venture partnership.
Most of Volkswagen’s objectives which are increasing presence in the region, and joint development could be achieved using the joint-venture company so there is no hurry for them to purchase equity in Proton.
The details on the arrangement is expected to be finalised by the year-end 2005.
Talks between Proton and Volkswagen AG have been stalled due to a disagreement between Volkswagen and Proton top management on the amount of equity which Volkswagen wished to take in the company.
Volkswagen’s stake in Proton would offer tremendous benefit to Proton as Volkswagen would be able to offer Proton technical expertise and global market reach.
However some technical details could not be ironed out so details on how much equity Volkswagen is going to take remains hanging at the moment.
Volkswagen was reported to be interested in a significant interest, not taking over the whole Proton group altogether. Even though Khazanah Nasional which has a 42.7 percent stake in Proton agreed to the idea, Proton management, led by Tengku Mahaleel Ariff opposed to the amount of equity Volkswagen wished to take. They agreed to Volkswagen taking up the equity but they wanted it to be significantly less than proposed.
Even as it is, the proposal would not result in Volkswagen becoming a majority shareholder or taking over control of Proton. I don’t know why Mahaleel and his team would oppose to this.
How ironic, when Proton’s advisor Tun Dr. Mahathir was reported to say this to the press in a report by The Edge.
‘We have no problem in Volkwagen buying shares in Proton. If we want to, we can sell more than 50% to Volkswagen. They are quite willing, I think, to buy even 100%.
I suppose the keyword here is “if we want to”, which in this case Proton does not want to.
Proton has a small R&D team working on how to adapt the Campro engine for marine usage in jet boats. They are currently marinising the engine and matching impeller sizes.
The engines have also been mated to jet turbines for usage in small boats.
Supposedly this exercise is not aimed at increasing sales revenue but mainly to increase Proton’s knowledge on engine design.
This project could give Proton some knowledge on waterproofing an engine properly. Campro for offroad 4WD trucks anyone?
Suzuki Malaysia launched it’s second model, the Suzuki APV (All Purpose Vehicle) here on Thursday. The Suzuki APV is a 8-seater small rear-wheel drive MPV that runs on a 1.6 aluminium block long stroke engine making 92hp.
I wanted to go to DreamCarsAsia to get photos of the Gen2 R3 prototype but as I did not have a camera, couldn’t do anything. Autoworld has some photos here. Looks hot.
500 units of the Proton Gen2 R3 will be built, an increase over the 150 unit availability of the Proton Satria R3. Unlike the Satria R3 which carries over the bodykit from the Satria GTi, the Proton Gen2 R3 will have a redesigned bodykit. Looks pretty good, and it comes with the trademark RaceRallyResearch Advanti Racing rims. I just love that design. Thin, five spoke rims are my favourite.
More updates on the stats once I get hold of information, but for the meantime check out Autoworld’s article here.
Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, or Ku Li bashes Proton in this unmarked video interview on 9th July 2005.
He says that Malaysia has no capacity to make cars. This is one case where dreams cannot fuel reality. He mentions UK’s failure with Rover and Australia’s supposed failure with Holden. I disagree. Holden was always part of General Motors from the very beginning. Just that it once made its own cars, but now just mostly does badge reengineering to achieve economies of scale.
He mentions Fiat is also having trouble. Huh? Fiat just celebrated it’s 106th birthday on 11th June. They look fine to me.
Ku Li attributes Proton’s failure to the car market being determined by the giant cartels of the automotive industry. The huge Japanese, American and German car companies total control of the market makes it hard for anyone new to break in.
He gives some history on how Proton came about. I am not sure if its true. Apparently Mitsubishi approached Taiwan to propose to a company be setup there, doing Mitsubishi badge re-engineering. They rejected, so they came to Dr. Mahathir and he accepted the idea.
However, “Proton tak terdaya maju“, he says.
In Rawang, Kuantan, Klang, tens of thousands of unsold Protons are left to rot in stockyards. More and more finance companies are giving 100% loans to Protons. 9 year durations. By the end of 9 years, he comments, the financed Proton would be worth nothing.
He mentioned something which he himself admits is unconfirmed though. He says in foreign markets, Protons are hard or expensive to insure because of it’s crappy safety features. Really? I thought the Waja scored a 3 in European NCAP crash tests? Hmm…
Most of his bashing is to do with the Mitsubishi era of Proton. Nothing about the new batch of cars. Hmm…
Anyway, watch the video yourselves. I have posted it up here for viewing.
Video: Ku Li: “Proton Tak Terdaya Maju”
Edit: I found that the video was posted here before me, so I assume that’s the source of the video. If otherwise, please leave a comment to correct me and I will edit my post to credit the proper source.
For those who don’t know who Tengku Razaleigh is, Google or Wikipedia is your best friend.
