Click here to read the rest of New Malaysian National Automotive Policy
Our Malaysian government has announced some of the details on the new National Automotive Policy today. Let’s have a look at what changes have been implemented, effective this Thursday (20/10/2005).
Click here to read the rest of National Automotive Policy draft tomorrowThere are a lot of people who feel that we just shouldn’t have had an automotive industry in the first place. Since Proton’s birth in 1983, the normal rakyat with average income have been forced to buy Protons. This is because of government protection in the form of high taxes on foreign makes.
Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Mah Siew Keong has issued a response to Datuk Shahrir’s comment on local content in Proton cars.
The Government encourages Proton to use as much local content as possible to develop the parts and component industry. This is also vital to achieve and maintain quality in Protons range of cars and for competitive pricing. Our car industry must have quality. Where it wants to source its parts from, that is up to Proton, but we encourage the use of local content. It’s up to Proton to decide the proportion of local content in it’s cars.
Well then, since according to Datuk Mah it’s not a government imposed rule, let’s see if Proton takes this path in the future as part of it’s struggle to improve it’s competitiveness. Datuk Mah agreed with Shahrir that automotive vendors who could not be compettive after 20 years should increase quality and competitiveness or close down.
Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad, chairman of the Backbencher’s Club says if high local content is making Proton not competitive, local content should be reduced.
“If AFTA requires only 40 percent local content, there is no need for us to go up to 90 percent, unless it makes Proton cheaper and more competitive. We have to make a rational decision. If our cars are expensive due to high local content, we need to reduce the price by reducing the local content. They have already been operating for more than 20 years. If the quality of their products is still not up to standard and cannot be exported, they should close down. If they are still not efficient, they should not be in this industry.”
The problem with our locally manufactured components is likely lack of volume which drives component prices up. We also have the problem of incompenent component manufacturers making components without proper QC. I’m sure any Proton owner curses the car’s air cond vents.
If Proton is to be truly competitive, such social responsibility towards local vendors should not be imposed on them. They should be free to source for components anywhere in the world they want, as long as it makes sense. This should give the local components manufacturers a kick in the ass and hopefully they buck up.
UPDATE: Nissan Sylphy coming in Q2 2008 - Edaran Tan Chong Motor has announced that the new Nissan Sylphy will be available in Q2 2008. Click for more details.
Nissan strikes back with it’s new Sentra which was quietly launched today. It took me pretty much by suprise. I had seen the new Sentra a week or two back when a blog reader Dr. Chai sent a picture to me. Didn’t blog it as there was only one picture. I saw the advertisement in The Star today and I went OMG! New Sentra! Click here to read the rest of New Nissan Sentra facelift in Malaysia
Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd wants to focus on selling CKD cars instead of CBU cars due to the government’s moves to re-examine the CBU import values. Click here to read the rest of Honda Malaysia to focus on CKD units
Proton and EON’s board have sent statements to Bursa Malaysia that their directors and major shareholders were not aware of any decision of Proton wanting to buy DRB-Hicom’s stake in EON.
The new Honda City was unveiled today (11/10/2005) after a marketing campaign to build up hype for it for the past month or so. This new facelift is known as the Honda City ZX in Thailand. Click here to read the rest of New Honda City facelift launch
An unnamed industry source says that Proton may buy up DRB-Hicom’s 29.3% stake in car distributor Edaran Otomobil Nasional Bhd (EON).
The source said Proton may start with buying up DRB-Hicom shares, then proceed to buy up other stake held by government through the EPF and Khazanah Nasional which owns 12% and 6.2% respectively.
The plan is to eventually combine Proton Edar and EON.
The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) has sent a letter to the Road Transport Department (RTD) to inform them that Wald-tuned vehicles are now allowed to be registered again.
The freeze on the issuance of APs for the Wald marque to Amazing Tempo Sdn Bhd had also been lifted. This means Amazing Tempo Sdn Bhd can now resume business.
The report by Malay Mail did not state what happened to investigations on Amazing Tempo Sdn Bhd’s non-compliance with import procedures, which included allegations of underdeclaring car prices to avoid tax. More details here.
Related Posts:
Why did MITI stop issuing APs to Walds Amazing Tempo Sdn Bhd?
Amazing Tempo Sdn Bhd’s press statement regarding AP freeze
MITI stopped issuing APs for Wald
Source: The Malay Mail
