At the Alami Proton open day event last weekend, Proton chairman Tun Mahathir Mohamad talked to us about the public perception problems the national carmaker still faced, even through its cars are greatly improved.
The former prime minister said that even though Proton now makes cars that are “the same or even better” than those of other brands, Malaysians still bring up very old problems the brand faced, like malfunctioning power windows – which he claimed now “perform very well.”
He added that some of Proton’s key strengths, such as safety, have fallen on deaf ears, partly because a number of its salespeople do not know exactly how to explain these features to buyers. The company is looking to address the issue, first with a showcase of the technology at Alami Proton, then hiring a professional advertising agency to market the cars.
Mahathir said that the public needs to try out the company’s latest product, the Iriz, to see for themselves how well the car drives and how comfortable it is. “Perception is the issue here. In other countries, the people would be proud to drive a national car,” he said.
With regards to government protection, Mahathir said that the nation practically shunned locally-made cars in favour of imported vehicles. He added that it was in stark contrast to other countries, where the high barrier of entry has made it difficult for Proton to penetrate the market. “This is our problem, which we will probably have to deal with the government,” he said.
He also claimed that Proton has come a long way in its 30 years, whereas attempts from other nations to crack the automotive sector can take as long as an entire century. “Yes, now the technologies are readily available, so we don’t have to invent new ones, but still, to integrate them into our cars is our problem,” he said. “If we don’t know how to properly utilise the new technologies, then there’s no point also.”
As such, Mahathir said that Proton is in the right position to be the catalyst in improving Malaysia’s engineering prowess, which the country needs to join the ranks of developed countries. “We have a proper engineering department,” he said. “This has developed a lot of the supporting industry, and we hope they can expand their business to other markets as well.”
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Of course la Mr M, proton took the nation for a joy ride over the span of 3 decades so u think we will think differently just because u got a little bit better and how about all those money u took from us? So….give us another 3 decades then maybe we will change our perception about u ok?
DrM still don’t get it, lie once at publication shame on you… Lie 30 years of monopoly industry shame on the whole organisation… Don’t blame on Rakyat for losing faith in Proton.
Don’t talk about public perception before you talk about quality. People buy Proton because it is CHEAP, not because it is good.
Don’t Sendiri Cakap Sendiri Syok about Proton quality. Who aren’t/weren’t Proton victim in Malaysia you tell me!
Tun, please reveal to all your remuneration package by Proton. Proton got no money also, they are paying you over ten million per annum.
You should give your services free Tun. Since you love Proton so much, you should give your services free to Proton.
Paying you over MR1 mil, unlimited Entertainment Allowance etc is just way too much.
the Super Mega Office with so many support staff just for you, driver etc is just too much for Proton.
If Proton so good, why still need protection?
When everything else fail, better blame the rakyat.
How convenient. Blame rakyat.
Ever saw Toyota, Ford, Hyundai, BMW did that?
Soon Government will send those brainless Red Shirt Protestors to protest outside Toyota and honda showroom to show them who is boss
Still the proton executive chairman joined BERSIH
Such lazy workers at Proton. All the time thinking about kahwin empat, Malam Jumaat and kenduri
Proton is just not a focussed company. Proton and Hyundai started about the same time. Hyundai maybe started about 8 years earlier. just see where both companies are.
Hyundai is a global player. They sell about 7 million cars per year globally. They are No 4 in world rankings for car sales. Toyota is No 1.
Proton, which stated about the same time, with MITI 100% protecting them and forcing 30 million rakyat to buy their cars, all Government departments strictly told to buy only Proton every year, PDRM also strictly told to buy Proton every year, Bomba, Telekom Malaysia and all GLC also told to buy Proton every year and yet, it can go into financial difficulty and about to be bankrupt.
Every year also Spanco buys berpuluh puluh ribu or hundreds of thousands Protons to lease to the government.
How can Hyundai and Proton be so different. Both started about the same time. But Korean Government never force GLC and Government department to buy Korean cars and yet, they can do so well Globally.
Something is wrong with Proton. It needs to be shut down. Proton has the same problem. Given so much of help and BOTH also now sucking the Government big time.
Just to correct you….Hyundai started in 67 and rolled their first car in 68. Proton established in 83 and rolled its first car in 85…its not 8 years earlier its 17 years earlier…
The rest I agree with most of your points….
Besides Hyundai having started way earlier the protectionism in Korea until very recently was much stronger than in Malaysia. Foreign brands were almost banned, not just taxed a bit higher. But yes, Hyundai managed to do what Proton so far failed to, however I feel like the latest models are good enough. The problem is that the Koreans had more stamina on foreign markets.
They started selling rebadged old cars in Europe, just like Proton, at roughly the same time. Then they moved into their own developed cars, which were crappy, but steadily improving. Proton however kept producing the same, ancient Mitsubishi models. At some point Europeans just didn’t want those anymore, and Proton had to withdraw from the market. Had Proton not waited so long with their own models, if they had brought them out and to Europe a couple of years earlier, they’d still be there. They might be doing rather well. But no, Proton rested for far too long, and now has to establish itself once again… find dealers, get out the name, … and that will be hard.
Shutting Proton down at this point is stupid though. They are finally producing competitive cars, and are steadily improving. It’s like running a marathon, and then stopping 500 meters before the finishing line, even though you’re going very strong and wouldn’t have any trouble crossing the line.
south korea had the economies of scale.
in the 1980s malaysia had about 15-18 million ppl while they easily had 27-33 mil.
now we have 30 mil, they are in circa of 50 mil ppl. 15 yrs ago, proton was selling almost 200k cars a year, imagine with the number of consumers hyundai and kia (and daewoo, ssangyong) can easily sell 1 million new cars each year.
proton cannot achieve this because our cars are selling at 20-30 times higher than the average income per capita (i know officially it is 6k but that is not the reality). giving 9 years loan is just a short term solution.
what malaysians really need
1. reduce custom excise duties from minimum 75% down to about 15%. GST can remain 6%.
2. new car price will come down 40%. imagine myvi selling at 16k cheaper. or camry at 100k. golf gti at 140k.
3. open the market. allow preve to compete directly with civic, corolla, cerato, mazda 3, lancer.
4. reduce max loan tenure to 6 years
How you know? Are you one of them?
I think your second hand F30 goes to workshop as often as proton. What is so proud of your F30?
Ada BMW ada amoi, u jelly?
Dun say. Nowadays, ada Proton ada awek. And awek assets are BIGGER compared to amoi washboards.
Dayum, touche.
jealous much?
After that, he drive off in a Porsche.
Again the subject of PERCEPTION,raised by Tun.
Tun,with due respect to YAB….I am no professor in car manufacturing…but don’t you realise the old English proverb ” Once bitten,twice shy ?”
The famous Wira power window is still fresh in my mind cos I have seen those drivers cursing proton when it rains and after leaving the toll booths,the power windows cannot naik.
Even now,those Wira drivers dare not activate the power windows,fearing they will not rise while at the toll plazas.
The bad perception is also cos of your reluctance to DISCARD the CAMPUR engine and PunchCVT gearbox.
By 2018/19,I BOLIEVE Proton may be under receivership unless the new Middle East Santa steps in.
It is game over by then.
Once again. Middle East is muslim majority country so mana ada santa. If you say dear leader has santa from US, then i belip
Bodohnya. Ini cerita ttg kereta dan kemajuan teknologi,keselamatan etc yg lebih baik dari dulu. Bukan berkaitan mahathir.
Lain kali fikir sebelum bg komen.
Just try the car la. If you think the competition is better, fine. But many here just bash without even having tried, because 10 years ago another model was crap. Guess what. Even Toyota makes crappy, cheap feeling cars.
Proton should be judged on what is now, not what was long time ago. In the automotive industry things change very fast. Even within the same model the model year can make a huge difference between a very reliable car and one that falls apart when you touch it. Despite looking exactly the same.
Tun M…i hope you really own a Proton and use it daily and you’ll see real issue is, not just spent few minutes to spin the car and concluded the car has vast improve…
Agreed. Before Tun M and other ministries want malaysian to change their perception and attitude towards proton, change yours first. Am driving an iriz, and i encountering problems with the car. Probably the iriz Tun M drives is an iriz premium SP (specially prepared), taken care by the engineer itself. Meanwhile i am sitting here waiting for repair, which cannot be done during interval service due to lack of mechanic.
How about the bank perception towards Proton, and even Perodua?
Most banks charged higher car loan interest for local cars. Why such discrimination? Lower quality car, riskier buyer profile = Higher interest charges?
Are they really sure Toyota BMW Mercedes car loans never default, thus giving then lower interest charges?
Malaysian public perception is they want Proton car with size like Perdana but parking like Myvi, can speed on hiway like EVO but FC like Axia, safety & kit like BMW but price like EX5.
Even if the improbability of P1 managed to achieve all that, the rakyat will then want these cars given free to them.
Very well said.
Ahem.
<– Safety
Wrong. Malaysian would not want a Proton even if it’s given free. What the public want is Proton to compete fairly and not with a tongkat and jaguh kampung
The main problem with Proton car are reliability and quality, not the safety (Iriz Exora).
Proton biggest problem is: DESIGN.
Hire Peter Schreyer to solve that problem and Proton able to sell 1 million cars per year easily.
Upan Giugiaro design kereta, berapa banyak Preve terjual? Comment bangang. Acah2 pandai bidang design.
I disagree..owned a 2008 BLM Saga and i’ve had all 4 door handles broken within 5 years, glove compartment jammed after 4 years and the upper license plate garnish broke after 6 years. Engine got louder after 6 years that even my neighbors joked they could hear me coming back from far away. Oh and within 2 years my engine died inexplicably while driving. So, no sir, it’s not perception. Its reality. And its sad to say you are proud of the power window issue being solved after nearly 30 years in existence. I am never going back to Proton. You all non-fanatics should consider too. The “killing” stops when the buying stops…
I have the FL for the past 5 years but have not face any problem other then normal service and wear and tear parts that need replacement… yes car have problem, proton has improve but not the peoples mind…
Gosh, 4 door handles? What kind of hands do you have?
do you maintain/service your car properly on time?
using cheaper “local” parts to replace broken parts?
Vios lebih baik dari preve?? Tak payah menipu la.
Design cantik. Bumbung kena hujan bunyi mcm hujan kena zink.
Safety tak sehebat preve. Begitu juga teknologi.
Compare B segment with C segment? You are not as neutral as you sound
same year BLM here..no problem so far..
Fully agreed with you, i am driving proton Saga BLM as well.. door handles for the front doors both broken, loud engine and fan noise when turn on the air con… and worse of all, my car engine died while driving for almost 15 times before those mechanics finally fixed the problems. Dont think that 30-40k is small money, we work hard for it and we get lemon. I wont try out Proton for now…
If Proton really can makes cars that are “the same or even better” than those of other brands, then why it still can’t compete in global market?
Sendiri mah
public perception bcoz of bad track record…
Normal for most malaysian. Local means inferior
Not really. Locals dont mind products that are local. I prefer local goods too. But when it comes to cars, I choose carefully.
Buy a Proton then drive to believe if it’s inferior in reliability and quality or not. (spoiler: it is)
Sold my proton years ago and never looked back.
Time to self reflect. If the perception doesn’t go away despite all your ‘efforts’ maybe the problem is the existence of proton itself.
We cannot ignore Proton has improved.
but, We have brands that are more comfortable, more fuel saving, and lower maintenance to drive.
the quality now quite decent.. but the price should be cheaper.. why we should people pay almost half of thier income for car loan..
“If we don’t know how to properly utilise the new technologies, then there’s no point at all, which is the case in protong….. It’s like giving flowers to a bunch of monkeys who has no clue on how to use it”. Tun M said is people perseption, well he himself does not believe in protong were we all know what other foreign brands & luxury cars he has plus his own family members all drive foreign luxury brands jaguar, Porsche … Just to name a few, if Tun M really believe in proton, he would have made sure that he & his family members will be die hard fans driving proton cars only but that has never been the case….. So he says public perception …. I say the founding father of proton never believe in his own product from the star & now wanna blame the local public after 3p years of support !!! As you Tun M owns elf said if protong were to fail, then time to close shop, don’t waste time anymore, just close it, ur so call engineering department all can be outsourced to work for more pretigese manufactures whom will teAch protong how to utilize the technology properly.
Please keep in mind that Proton is not a luxury brand.
Please keep in mind that Proton sucks Malaysian money for 30 years
Owned a Gen2….fast car but in 7 years multiple times car changed the door rubber and until i decide to let it be like it. BEst part service center have no idea on how to settle the issue..We have been supporting local brands but the truth we are taken for granted. Our foreign cars are not cheap also and that is mainly because existing of Proton and we still don’t get it when mentioned Government not supporting enough. if really need for sales…just stop all foreign cars and let we people suffer with proton…2nd be open in Proton…hire foreign or better designers rather than stick to local talent whom don’t have much experience…how to grow if out standard of learning very low….for me no more proton after that bad experience :(
Proton’s safety features compliance, design capability, and its capability of presenting the public with concept cars are as good as others; but its build-up quality consistency both in-house and outsourced are hogwash. The public perception originated from these ..
honestly he is right, i drive proton car for so long now and i face no problem at all also my wife drive proton car for almost 3 years now and she face no problem, only recently minor issue like the aircon not as cooling as before and we fix it for few tens only
IF Proton never ever took our public money and still surviving and make a living I will be proud to buy just support it. But the fact is, you made Malaysians pay high price for cars for 3 decades and under that unusual environment Proton still cannot stand on its own. I won’t buy a Proton ever again just trying to kill Proton for our own good. Else it will be the next MAS.
Proton is two step away from success. 1. Good engine 2. Good gearbox.
Wrong. Give me a good engine and good gearbox but having water keep leaking into the cabin/boot/headlight/rearlight, and few failed power window, few button came off, gear knob detached, intake module failure, aircon knob drop out, left head/rear lights keep burning.
A rough summary: The rare things that happen in Proton is the common things that happen in a Toyota.
Yes, if the botak Aminar is to be trusted, Perodua offered their powertrain to Proton, that would’ve significantly improve public perception.
But botak is a jerk, so even I cannot believe it.
Perodua made ultra profit, with Myvi’s decade sale success. Yet, just recently Axia G spec price increased since October.
What’s worse, those who booked before October need to pay new car price, and if applied loan, need to reapply loan.
Perodua pretended to be sorry, offering service voucher, but stupid farks, why not just maintain price anyway? Menyusahkan orang kena reapply loan, cheated to pay new price, dumbass Perodua.
GST kurang beban rakyat they say… BN will reduce car price they say…
Bash bash bash Perodua, last-last Gov salah pulak. Ini apa logic ni?
Looking at the comments, many of them come from frustrated Proton owners. They experience first hand how well the car performs and what are the faults with the car. While I do agree that Proton has ‘advanced’ but the bigger question is by how much? There is no use when you improve by 1x but your competitors improve by 5-10x. If this is the case, Proton will forever be left behind and they will always need Government backing to stay alive. You will only be successful if people start to feel that Proton is really better than a Honda or Toyota or at least within a hand’s reach. If you can do this, then you can start talking about matching European makes like BMW, Audi etc.
yeah, vios is 5x better than Preve.
Vios lebih baik dari preve?? Tak payah menipu la.
Design cantik. Bumbung kena hujan bunyi mcm hujan kena zink.
Safety tak sehebat preve. Begitu juga teknologi.
Yes, I used to have a 1995 Wira which i spent no less than 2 hours every Sunday doing DIY work in the car. Leaks, faulty electrics were enough to gove me some sort of education on what can be wrong in a car, and what SHOULD NOT go wrong in a car.
Having said that, i do feel Proton has improved in one area – HANDLING. That’s all. The Savvy was a keen handler but other than that, i’ve seen my colleagues with disappointing purchases with the Exora, Preve, Iriz and especially the Saga BLM.
Tun, you’ve taken so much for this spoilt child and it is now a rotten and despicable member of this country. Please, stop the rot. The idea of having a national car is to give reliable and reasonably priced cars for the country. True, Perodua is just an OEM assembler but they did it. People still buy the MyVi despite lower safety standard while the Axia is a very economical car to buy and own.
Please build cars people first.
Yes yes. Build cars with people first to die
Saga and Persona are good examples
How about tin milo p2?
Thank you Tun. Perhaps Proton should more active to promote Proton in East Malaysia.
The only way of turning proton around is
….
…
..
.
sell Iriz at Saga FLX price. Profit or Lost? You should know better Proton.
I remember watching an interview program where, tun m talk about proton on tv1 , long time ago. he say, he created proton to provide cheaper car for rakyat. but apparently after building proton. he realise foren car manufacture can produce much cheaper car compare to proton, so to sale proton he increase the foren car tax.. now what else he want, forcing us to buy so so quality car with higher price tag.
I currently drive a Preve and all I have to say is, same ole same ole. Ive owned several Protons in the past including the neo and one obvious problem, rattles. Plastic parts are just not on par with other manufacturers. My wife recently bought a 2007 Honda City (used with 98k KM) and regardless how plasticky it is, still solid. My drivers side window rattles like its about to break, and the defrost button on the console has sunken in.
Im not complaining much as it is still cheaper than the Japanese counterparts but the perception is: Low quality vehicles. “I can afford that much so i can only buy Proton”
Fine, theres Lotus ride and handling, but Proton did one bad decision in buying shares of Lotus. Proton makes family oriented cars, NOT track cars. Proton intergrates this into handling but we dont want just handling, we prefer safety and quality first. You cant mix bare racing track cars (mind you no radios or ACs for some) with the mentality to produce comfortable family cars for the masses!
That is our perception and the bad track record made it worse. Look at KIA, we all had the same perception of Korean cars few years back but they won most of our hearts with quality, safety and solid design. And you cannot compare German rakyats supporting their BMWs/Mercs/VW/Opel as their own cars has made a breakthrough throughout the world. Same goes to Ford, Chevrolet in the US and Fiat in Italy.
Kereta lain ada masalah juga. Jaga time gear box rosak, atau engine overheat baru tau. BmW ada kes rosak, chevrolet, toyota, ford, semua pernah aku jumpa. Honda naik bukit lepas tu stop tiba2 pun ada. Pokoknya Keta apapun tetap rosak. Bila masa sampai, pasti dia barai, kau mesti marah juga.
Rosak tu satu hal, tapi bila mekanik atau servis advisor Proton cakap, “Lah bang, kete Proton memang mcm ni”, nak buat macam mana pulak? Pada suatu masa VW bagus, tapi bile dah tau banyak problem dan servis lepas jual tak boleh diharap, VW pun dianggap pariah.
Orang Msia ni, bila masuk bab kereta, bukan semua bodoh tahlol tau. Dahlah harga kereta mahal, tol mahal, minyak mahal, takkan nak merana beban kereta tak boleh diharap. Apa gunanya ciri-ciri moden and keselamatan yang lengkap tapi rosak selalu?
u see u see….this is the kind of mentality for those who still supports proton…come on la…people complain based on own experience u go mention bmw la merc la honda la…proton got merc comfort ride or not? performance like bmw or not? if no then go compare the same for what? stubborn will always be stubborn…ya car will break down at one point but how many proton compared to other brands as u mentioned stupid? no quality u oso accept is ur own business…
Semua kereta ada problem, ayah aku punya 2009 C180 pon problem ada mcm Parktronic x function, AC vent sometime x keluar angin.. Apa lg ngn semua prob VW/Audi yg korng dengar dari owner2 sendiri? Tp ngn proton masalah Quality! Kebanyakan kereta lain quality ada tp technology fail, but we still can accept as most of the time it can be fixed and kita semua tau kita x bleh harap sngt ngn teknologi. Manakala quality ni lain pasal.. You cant fail in quality!
You cant judge the whole company by only one product that came out recently. Ok, maybe the Iriz does tick most boxes as a good quality car but that does not mean Proton is there and change our perception. If my 2014 Preve ada prob and quality is still not there, no chance of me changing my perception of Proton yet.
I own a Preve CFE C/N 7093 three years the only rattling comes from the third brake light casing. And no, I don’t turn my stereo to max.
My first ben Vios also have rattling coming from driver side seat belt casing after about two years.
Agree that Proton still have a lot to improve. But doesn’t other car companies do too? Why would VW have to cheat if it already have the “best” green tech? But one year down the road people will still buy VW. Because one bad apple does’t mean the whole batch is rotten. Same with Proton.
The first saga i model is my first car used for 24 years and still didnt cough.Its how you take care of it like your wife.Dont blame the brand..Excellent PRO-TUN….!!!!
Hopefully there are more people like you supporting Proton so that they don’t continue stealing.
Well Ravi, the first Proton (1989 – 1995) actually won awards in the UK. What can we can say of the Protons after that?
Proton Saga awards:
http://www.proton.co.uk/about/history/mpi.php
proton won the awards because at that time in terms of pricing, proton was competing in the budget cars segment and those at that time were including Skoda, FSO and Lada. and perhaps Seat.
one must really see in that era what kind of rubbish those budget cars were. the problem with proton was that when it launched the Persona (wira) in the UK and later Impian (Waja), it was thinking hey we made better cars – why not we price them like Ford Escort or Vauxhall Astra?
the ship started to sink slowly then.
The first Sagas were ALL 100% Mitsubishi lah kawan.
In East Malaysia, Proton never bring in the half cut model showing the safety such as airbag systems, Hot Press Foaming steel as where it located. The salesman / executive doesn’t explain clearly and etc.
Please provide good knowledge about the car to salesman and provide few model showcase the car tech and safety – bring it to East Malaysia – major city at least first.
Thanks.
We don’t pay you on your improvement. We pay on what we think matches the value of the product.
People don’t owe you anything. You want to indulge on your project, go ahead but please don’t menyusahkan orang and also don’t blame other people for your own failure.
My advice for ton, just close the shop and the money distribute back to rakyat for 30 years u hv sapu and liberate the rakyat from sufferings of owning better cars
Initially I purchase a Toyota but when its time to change car, I could not afford another Toyota and opted for Proton followed by a Proton and another Proton. I changed back to a Toyota now, and I honestly say that I should not have taken Proton in the first place and should have continue using Toyota, Nissan or Honda.
Yes, Proton has improved over the years but still far in comparison with the others. Your only advantage is your pricing. Your servicing is getting from bad to worse and sucks big time.
We believe proton did improved over the years, but look at the rest of their competitors, they all had improved even more. Competition is not something static which your competitors is waiting for you so you catch up, when you trying to catch up, they will drag the distance even longer.
Dr Tun, make use of your chief designer at lotus to design proton cars. Learn it from Kia. Dump the Preve & Suprima. Good car but the external design is horrible. The salesman are afraid to tell u why they are not selling.
THIS!! I wonder what the hell proton is doing with the lotus designers/engineers. Imagine if they had actually used those designers to design the preve/suprima/iriz instead of the truly fugly designs the proton “designers” came up with. It’s really pathetic. I’m quite sure they’re playing the “designer must be malaysian” card and not knowing they’re short changing themselves.
Proton sudah semakin baik dari dahulu. Persepsi negatif hanya ada pada yg ada post traumatic disorder.
Kereta nasional ini tetap ada peminat setianya. Proton wira masih ramai penggemar dan siap modified lagi. Begitu juga satria neo.
Kalau lihat pada laman carlies kita boleh banding bintang yg dibrrikan kepada kereta nasional seperti preve, iriz berbanding kereta seperti vios, mitsubishi lancer.
Itu realiti.
Mahathir himself chooses a Porsche Cayenne over a Proton. That says alot.
Proton is a good example of the importance of customer trust. Once you loose customer trust, it is very very difficult to get it back. I remember back in 1985, the whole country was supportive of proton saga. The country support was so strong that all business wanted to be associated with proton. There was cordial saga, kedai kain saga, supermarket saga and many more. Now no business wants to be associated with proton. Proton became so complacent that it finally lost the trust of the only market it had in the world. I remember one former ceo said that the waja was the BMW of Asia and treated most of the customer complaints as rubbish. Tun, Proton created their own grave.
Now Tun, focus on getting back customers trust. Don’t be concerned about perception. Good perception will come with good customer trust. Syed Zainal had the right idea but unfortunately some drb hicom senior management don’t see it. That is what happens when you put politicians to head the industries. Good night proton
Tun, thanks for your effort in Proton. But the main problem in Proton now is really the design. Hire better designer for your car. Take Hyundai/Kia as example. I know we can do it.
Just close shop
Have been driving waja for few years and my waja is already 13 years old. Still running good.. Normal wear and tear sure got but beside that no major issue. Everything is fine. I think old protons is more reliable than newer proton.
and that is because engine and transmission was sourced by mitsubishi. i must agree under normal use it is super reliable.
but after 13 years are you telling me you never had power window and door handle breaking problem?
If you have any concern for the Rakyat, you must recall all Wira and replace the power windows. Then there is the alarm which goes off at anytime it wishes. For the Rakyat who bought your Tiara, Juara and the one with the AMT, they bought a liability, not a car. Do you realise how much they suffered? Yes ‘Suffered’ and in the end the car is worthless. I mean you need to pay a toll truck to take it away, literally!!!! proton is the bane of the nation. Now the Rakyat has bear the cost of maintaining your most unreliable campro engine. Ask any taxi driver how the campro compare with say, Mitsubishi.
I love proton!!!
You first have to be good to get better….
Proton has never been good.
Is just less worse then before by not rebadging…
When you gave the same lousy impression for the last 30 years, how long do you think is justified for the perception to change? Overnight??
In other country,their national car is cheaper then the other country..but here our national car is expensive in our own country compare to other…our fate
Perception is reality. Thats a given truth. DrM is wrong to think picking an acclaimed advertising agency will solve its perception problem.
The problem of perception started with Proton and the solution lies within. Proton should just let go those who already think worse of Proton. Proton needs to build up the brand from the bottom with concised and focused approach. Proton should have targeted those buying a first car. Iriz should have focused only at 1.3lit engine and not the 1.6lit. becoz the Persona is 1.5lit; Preve n Suprima is already on the 1.6lit. mil. Here you lack focus n clear separation of your product range.
The exterior design especially the front of all your cars are not cohesive… none look like they come from a single Proton family.
Take a cue from the now high flying Mazda mark… from hatches to sedan to suv… they have this signature shape n form which help to keep in reinforcing its own brand. Everyone can guess a mazda nowdays. This shows Mazda’s leadership and designers have a long term view.
Proton undoubtly is in a mess with a leadership that is unknowledgable of the industry, does not know how to reinvent itself and keep on blaming others. Stop that. People are people, what they think and perceive governs our own lives. Proton can’t fix the people’s mind… but u can fix your minds to produce something cohesive in design, reliable in its engineering, affordable for the consumers of today.
If DrM is adamant that he n proton is competent n on the right track… then why can’t proton go bigger in the export market…? especially with a weaker ringgit would make proton quite affordable to the foreigner market…? What really is going on here…?
Mazda is getting boring nowadays, same front, same rear. Mazda 2, 3, 5, 6.
Different strokes for different folks. Just coz u think its boring, must it be the real undeniable undebateble life encompassing exact truth shared by others huh…?
Global sales statistics do say otherwise, mazda may have fluctuating sales but still its sales of over 1.397million vehicles just in fiscal 2015 has put it as the 15th largest car maker in the world.
BTW who’s the white guy behind Tun M?
Tell this to the world market, Tun.
Maybe Tun M should do what the Koreans did but up the game, pit the latest Proton with another foreign car and do a full frontal collision at 50 km/hour. Set dummies in both cars with sensors.
What Proton need? A rebadge car will do as Proton already admit lack of expert and manpower in development, just 800 ppl. Why rebadge? Cause save manpower. Proton Engineer say yes attitude simply dump in components without knowing its reliability, serviceability. Proton Engineer dont say no is major problem. A not able to fit in, not fully tested also can roll out to production. Dateline is more important than quality and reliability. Recall also done quietly and not complete. Many more to say. Give Proton a state of art plant also useless without proper management. Saga is OK, Wira is good, Waja is worse. What to say? Better do rebadge to save the rakyat life and money.
My Proton Persona can’t start just the second day after bought brand new . This happened four times, each time after having ” towed to EON workshop & repaired” .These episodes happened unecpected and left me flabbergasted in the midst of going to work. Finally, I claimed trial by Consumers Tribunal, then a higher officer profusely apologised and promised to do a thorough professional repair and replacing the malfunction item: the engine ECU masterboard. Then only ok. That was in 2008. Really once bitten, twice shy. Don’t believe? My car no.AGG8713, can check with EON compliant record.
Need someone to connect me to somebody at Proton who can help me with this problem. I have been to Proton HQ in USJ and was attended by their PIC (person in charge) regarding my brake pump on my Proton Saga BLM that blew up and jammed my brakes. It damaged the pads, bearings and everything connected to the brake pump. What is more concerned to me is when the pump blew there was an explosion which sounded like it was hit or my tire blew up. My car stopped on drive and it jerked forward violently.. I was only going at 6 km an hour. Had it been I was driving on the highway or freeway my car would go into a tailspin and caused accidents and fatality. I only wanted Proton to investigate the problem so this don’t happen to anyone else. I’m told by the mechanic at the proton workshop that they have not seen this happened but that the Proton Saga BLM brake pump jammed is very common. Till this day I still got no feedback (no phone calls, no response on text/Whatsapp) from PIC from Proton and their call center person was rude. I thought customer is priority at Proton. I hope this catches someone’s attention and awareness. That cheaper cars does not equal to quality. At the end of the day we have to pay more to repair the problems and deal with unprofessionalism. Still waiting for someone from Proton to investigate how a brake pump could blow up?!