According to finance minister Lim Guan Eng, a new national car project as suggested by prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad cannot be supported by public funds and must be backed by the private sector instead.
In an interview with Channel NewsAsia, Lim said he had discussed the matter with Mahathir following the prime minister’s return from Japan. “I told the prime minister that we don’t have the money, and he knows it … So it is not from public funds, it’s not like Proton, no,” said Lim.
“If there are private parties who want to do it in Malaysia using their own money, I think that is something that would be worthwhile looking at – but not from public funds,” he added.
Lim also said he believed the idea for a new national car project was provided by a private party but the government has yet to see a proposal so far. Previously, Mahathir stated the government is welcoming proposals for the project and that it will depend on foreign partners initially. He also said a new national car project would help Malaysia boost its engineering capability.
Last week, Khairy Jamaluddin chimed in on the matter, saying a new national car project would be a regressive move after the government put an end to the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit Line 3 (MRT3) project. The politician said a new national car project would also make it more costly for customers who wish to purchase a non-national car due to excise duties that are as high as 105%.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
I want to see which locally firm have the guy to fund 100 locally for this project
1Mdb cud diversify to auto biz.
Maybe mahathir’s 3 billionaire sons can come up with the billions. And also the missing rm100 billion forex scandal. Ao much money, maybe can buy tesla and make it a malaysian car.
Fully agree, Latuk! Bapak has asked everyone else to sacrifice for the country so its time his billionaire sons do the same, and him as well. I heard, horsemeat is now a delicacy.
Lim Guan Eng makes sense with his words. He certainly listened to the public. Nobody in their right mind would re-initiate a national car project when the existing ones are failing.
But he forgot that he is dealing with Mahathir. The PM gets what he wants.
True dat… The PM gets what he wants. Lived up to his promise to investigate 1MDB scandal.
Investigations from Day 1. Enough evidence gathered to 1MDB charges and recovering funds robbed from 1MDB. GO FOR IT
Too much of money stolen. Hundreds of billions masuk poket every year and yet, there are fools here that sapot this stealing….oh wai
Investigate? Din they say 1 year ago they have enuff evidence? So why still no charges after 1 month?
Musa jho jamal, said tabouleh charge lor
So sape main cerita tu? Dah 1 tahun kata dia bersalah dan ada bukti. Sekarang tunjukkan lah! Buatpe takut?
Takut bukti tak cukup kukuh kat depa hakim? Tukar jelah hakim tu kan?
Well, THIS PM, whether ex or current, gets what he wants.
Makes sense?? Are you kidding? Why would any private sector companies put money into a national car project?? You want to ask a car company to put in money to develop a range of cars just for the small Malaysian market? Or you want to ask a private sector consortium with no car manufacturing background to JV with some foreign car company to develop a new local brand just to serve the small local market?
This third national car idea is totally dumb whether publicly funded or privately funded. First rule of any business is to assess the business case. Proton is still struggling while Perodua is successful because of their niche and due to the impression that they’re selling rebadged Japanese cars.
Another aspect of a good business case is to assess if you’re in control of the business end-to-end. Do we rely on third-party to do the stamped steel parts? Do we need to rely on some 3rd-party for powertrain tech? And we only have local engineering expertise to put all these together?
There are many aspects to evaluating whether the business plan will suck, and clearly neither Dr M nor our Finance Minister has done any of such studies.
Malaysia tech only qualified to make bicycles
P2 only survive cuz jepun no longer exports small kei car in large volumes, otherwise it too will KO.
Do any of you guys see what this guy see there ? “3rd-party”
Mahsthir is not God, he can open our mouth and force food inside our gut. If the food is not good to us I will vomit on his face, enough of his dramas to create capitalistic empire for his sons
Bapak proton kena pegang telor oh Guan Eng.. haha.. no more bailout project
Remember when tun said only after lge been cleared from his case then he can become a fm. Has he been cleared yet? If not then who’s holding whose telor??
john oh john, same with your negative comments about the new Government. I see you and your BN cybertroopers are trying your level best to bring down PH
Ha ha ha ha
I believe everyone here knows who you really are, that what you accused John of doing, you yourself are guilty for perpetrating this missdeed, just like in the “AEB systems” article.
You got caught red-handed and red-faced, yet had the gall to shift the blame to poor John.
So P3 is confirm indeed happening? I wonder who will take that risk?
Agree. MAI shud conduct study dulu.
Close MAI down and all the abangs there. They don’t work at all and yet, it cost the Government more than RM50 million per year in gaji to maintain MAI
The private sector will take it up alrite, as long whatever risk or losses will be borned by Gov. But this time, a pissed off China gov wun want it instead. So its back to square minus one.
Hidup Tun! Hidup LGE!!
Bravo PM and FM. we don’t have the money … So it is not from public funds. Albeit rakyat are forced to sustain 1MDB debts using public funds.
what a relief
This day and age too late to start another national car project, as how strong in engineering are our country? And most of the technology like Gearbox, Engine etc…. we hardly have any expertise, end up all gonna import. Even if we set up a plant to do the manufacturing, the cost of setting up and doing it for the small scale of malaysia market, it wont turn profit at all.
So just face the reality and forget about it. No private sector will do it. It is 100% NET LOSS to do so.
Do things malaysia can do, such as go into agriculture more, come out with agriculture research that can improve our productivity in agriculture, more R&D in the products that can be produce by the raw materials generate from agriculture. As tropical fruits and plants have high demand worldwide. This are things that will benefit malaysia more than creating another deem to fail national car.
P2 with Toyota backup is so successful. They just need to rebagde their car with P3 logo, lower the spec and replace with local made material instantly get national car status and sell 20% cheaper than a direct CKD car.
I want to fund so that later gov can bailout my company hahaha
The rakyat sudah bailout your ERL failure. Apalagimau? Hahahaha…
No public funds? Hahahaha! Just like UTURN’s other no-public-fund projects that somehow got taxpayer money to bailout when they eventually end up in trouble. Remember Perwaja, Megasteel, MISC, MAS, ERL, PUTRA LRT, STAR LRT, MONOREL, etc?
1MDB?
1MDB bailout sendiri. Xde pakai duit rakyat pun.
1MDB doesn’t need taxpayers money to bail out. Their assets and debts have been transferred to Ministry of Finance 2 years ago. Auditor General recommended the MOF to develop the high-value parcels of land so that the value goes up, and will be able to pay off 1MDB’s loans while turning in around RM20 billion profit to the MOF.
Current MOF clearly has no interest to execute the Auditor General’s recommendations because they’re still in Pembangkang mode, forgetting that they need to be a responsible Federal Government.
inb4 1MDB had grab prime public lands at pricing way below market value. When their assets and debts transferred to MOF 2 years ago. The government is in effect buying back land from 1MDB at 70 times the price at which it was first given to 1MDB. 1MDB perpetually in negative cashflow insolvent. Neither previous PM nor our past Finance Minister has done any of such studies
Current MOF working hard to turn Bandar MY into Plaza Rakyat 2.0 so that they can tell to Najibs face “I told u so”. MY future is wasted bro!
BN Cybertroopers trying so hard. Try harder brothers. Try harder.
The rakyat already rejected you guys. Admit it.
Butthurt lettew.
Tau takpe.
This is called check and balance, you moron. If you want a government that cannot be criticized, you don’t deserve democracy and going by your own rules, you and your hypocritical political parties should have kept quiet before 2018 because you guys lost every previous elections, no?
True dat, bro DK! May 9 wasnt the death of BN but oso the death of democracy in MY. Only autocrats and loud mouth sycophants rules the roost. MY future has been wasted.
True dat, bro. MY Lost decade 2008-2018
Syukur Malaysia masih aman. Menurut bekas PM, kos hidup di Msia masih terendah di Asean
You are damn correct,Datuk manifesto
AT first every thing privatised,later ,’Tun,kami nak minta R AND D grant,Rm1 billion..ini national car canggih,pakai green technology…mesti invest in R n D,sure good returns,Tun”
It will be Protong bailout story again.This protong 2.0 project sucks.Just whoever that suggest this project needs a brain operation to remove some excess “syiok sendiri” tissue.
Sorry. Apply grant from lim guan eng 1st
First and foremost, Khairy has to shut up as during BN’s time he was a scared mouse, no guts, yes man to Najib…but now talk big!
Secondly, Mahathir must forget about a car company as we have not forgotten the rakyats suffering when Proton came into the picture.
Third, Guan Eng is doing a great job!
He’s doing a great job at chasing away RM2 Billion of foreign investors per week, that’s for sure.
Nah… alibaba got your back. that’s for sure.
You are a fool
And ur a took, if u dun see whats happening around. Bro Ghani sees the bigger picture.
Clearly you have not been doing business with foreign nations. If you’ve been speaking to foreign fund managers in Singapore, Australia and Canada, they’re laughing at our new Finance Minister.
The only people who think Guan Eng is doing a good job are katak bawah tempurung who have not taken a single step outside of Malaysia. Just talk to those who have been doing business with any international fund managers and finance institutions.
Deswai SGD1 = RM3 from 2014. i missed my old Finance Minister alredi…
Not just them, oso those who actively follows Bursa pray everyday that LGE keeps his mouth shut in case the rate of losses per week increases.
Hi, I am interested in what those fund managers think of that moronic Finance Minister??? Please explain dear. I’m surprised by your comment. Clarification pls.
So glad this new administration the PM is no longer Finance Minister and we finally have some sort of check & balance.
In BN time (Dr. M time included), public funds would probably squeezed out from somewhere to fuel this “Project” since PM IS the Finance Minister.
LOL you really think LGE has a free hand in doing what he’s doing? Hahaha… clearly you have no idea what’s going on..
all these national car is for personal agenda la…
Inb4 birkin national handbag
Birkin untuk jual sempena Raya. Cari duit sikit masa ini salah ke?
Well no shit sherlock, we don’t have the money and never will be. We’ve had enough.
Not only the funding. They also shouldn’t distort the pricing of cars in the country ie by raising taxes & duty.
govt need to protect those car manufacturer, u like it or not.. private or public funding govt still need to protect project that initiate by them. Who will take that risk if no protection?
sorry brother kzm, new Government got no dedak and no protecting anymore. No more bantuan yea, it is work hard from now on
Another katak bawah tempurung. Kawan, my business associates and I are already dealing directly for some projects with the new government lah. Keep dreaming that they’re corruption-free and clean la.. LOL… New government, new opportunities. It’s a blessing!
If its dirty, just go and report. Adoi sembang..
Thank God. PM is not the Finance Minister! :)
unlike MO1
Later countermanded by Diam.
They can still raise the taxes on foreign car brands in order to protect this new national car project.
They can still support this project without funding it, but at what cost?
Love it or hate it, all the car sold in Malaysia are either control by GLC conglomerate or with EPF/PNB/Mara stake. They all just want to milk as much as they can for they to stand sustainable.
Eh eh kedekut le ni lge..
15 years and counting, Tesla has yet to make a profit.
and if private funds means more protectionism (higher excise fee, bar imports, etc) end up the biggest loser is the Malaysian consumer.
better focus on other avenues to create innovation (nanotech, solar + battery, AI, etc ) than the 3rd wave of industrialisation which is on its last legs.
I’m not interested about whether the fund is from private sector or otherwise. Please made sure no special treatment is given, and no additional taxes are imposed to help the so called private investment national car 3.0. I just don’t want to increase my car loan from 9 years to 13 years, for a better non-national cars.
Which crony willing to sacrifice RM1 billion ? It’s not RM1 billion project. Proton wasted RM300 billion. Wee Ka Siong will get a lot of respect if he challenges Mahathir for Proton 2 debate !
Not being racist, but one does not simply challenge Indian on debate ;p
National car funded by private sector? Any idiot like this?
Why u call Bapak idiot?
I think CM Lim chose the right words, but I highly doubt that the government/ GLCs wouldn’t become involved in the creation of a new national car company.
I say this because fundamentally, our auto industry is just not as competitive or transparent as Thailand’s, let alone China or any Western country. Very few private companies will choose to set up a new company in Malaysia, so long as it’s plagued by ambiguity, double standards and government intervention involved.
Private (especially foreign) companies want their investments and resources to remain in their control, and not split and diluted with a local partner (usually, a liability). In Malaysia (but also China and elsewhere), this is not true; you need a local partner if you want to sell your cars here.
Also, private companies want to be assured that they are being treated equally, and that no one company has an unfair advantage in the market. In other words, they want a balanced and even playing field.
In Malaysia, the above problem is the biggest deterrent for foreign car companies; they must accept the fact that their products will not be allowed to be in direct competition to Proton and Perodua. The government still has a say in what cars can be sold here and what cars cannot. This is probably why the Honda Brio, VW Up!, Hyundai i10, Datsun Go and other potential threats to Proton/Perodua have not entered our market.
The other problem we have is cronyism and political intervention. Private car companies which have strong GLC local partners will always have it easier than those who do not. have to accept sub-stan
Why do foreign car companies still like Thailand so much ? Because the Thai government doesn’t force them to find a local partner.
Dear all what you all thinking is the money how about our future children will develop their engeering in automotive sector
This project is totaly from the local engineer localy manufactured and Assembly in malaysia
From my personal point of view, just go it because such project create thousand of jobs for rakyat. But under 3 conditions. No tax payers money involve. It must be a rebadge national car joint venture with japanese automaker built for domestic and export market. Business model is similar to dacia and skoda. Both brands did well in europe for a reliable and exceptional quality budget entry level car.
Will end up like proton. LEG dont try to butter your boss. You are A YESMAN type of joker.You look very stupid with your statement.
NOTE : Please kindly ignore my above comment; I accidentally clicked ‘submit comment’ before finishing, and I can’t edit or delete the old one. Thanks.
I think CM Lim chose the right words, but I highly doubt that the government/ GLCs wouldn’t become involved in the creation of a new national car company.
I say this because fundamentally, our auto industry is just not as competitive or transparent as Thailand’s, let alone China or any Western country. Very few private companies will choose to set up a new car company in Malaysia, so long as it’s plagued by ambiguity, double standards and government intervention.
Private (especially foreign) companies want their investments and resources to remain in their control, and not split and diluted with a local partner (usually, a liability). In Malaysia (but also China and elsewhere), you need a local partner if you want to sell your cars here. This is a real pain for car companies, because most of the time, the local partner doesn’t know what they’re doing, and they must be trained and developed first. (Imagine, it is like living and studying with a bad roommate… and you cannot change rooms.)
Also, private companies want to be assured that they are being treated equally, and that no one company has an unfair advantage in the market. In other words, they want a balanced and even playing field.
In Malaysia, the above problem is the biggest deterrent for foreign car companies; they must accept the fact that their products will not be allowed to be in direct competition with Proton and Perodua. The government still has a say in what cars can be sold here and what cars cannot. This is probably why the Honda Brio, VW Up!, Hyundai i10, Datsun Go and other potential threats to Proton/Perodua have not entered our market.
The other problem we have is cronyism and political intervention. Private car companies which have strong GLC local partners will always have it easier than those who do not. However, this goes both ways; some have to accept crony GLC vendors who supply poor quality parts at high prices to remain on good terms with their GLC partner.
The most critical issue of all though, is the fact that our auto industry is just not as competitive as Thailand’s, especially when it comes to vendor development.
Currently, Thailand has the most number of vendors in ASEAN (~ 2,250 vendors), followed by Indonesia (800), Malaysia (650) and the Philippines (350). Only two Malaysian vendors managed to rank in the Global top 500, namely APM and Sapura Industrial. Thailand has many, many more than that. Without strong vendors, your auto industry cannot compete globally.
Thailand has long benefited from FDI, technology transfer and training from industry leading Japanese vendors and car companies. They know how to make good quality parts, efficiently, while keeping costs down. Most car companies in Thailand have economies of scale, we do not (currently, only Perodua has economies of scale).
Many car companies also like to make Thailand their export hub because they can easily integrate their Thai vendors into their global supply chain. This is despite the fact that Thailand is not particularly known as a global shipping hub, while Malaysia has the booming Port Tanjung Pelepas and Port Klang.
TLDR: Why do foreign car companies still like Thailand so much ? Because the Thai government doesn’t force them to find a local partner (no joint-venture required), they get a relatively level playing field (no double standards), and the government doesn’t intervene in company matters (no conflicts of interest).
The truth is, if Malaysia really wanted to become a major global automotive hub like Thailand, we only had to adopt the same policy as that used by our electrical and electronics (E&E) industry. Today, our E&E industry is the largest and most valued in terms of technology and export reach. Penang is known as the ‘Silicon Valley of Asia’. Our auto industry, although often touted and heralded as a symbol of national pride, cannot hold a candle to our well-established, yet less highlighted and appreciated electronics industry.
Anyway, this comment is already extremely long so I will conclude here. Until the new Pakatan government can resolve the issues mentioned above, please do not expect private/foreign companies to openly invest in our auto industry. That being said, there are many things which can be fixed and resolved. So if the new government plays their cards right, they may still be able to win back some investor confidence in our auto industry. Time will tell.
In short, regarding private/foreign companies to openly invest in our auto industry.
MAI is here ready to help.
To many of us the key question is whether the PH government will continue to maintain the high import tax for foreign cars even if the private sector supports a new national project?
If not maintain, then how to “incentivise” the rakyat to buy P1 2.0 cars?
How can a private fund project can be called as a national car?
The new goverment should reduce the excise duty for non-national cars since now we do not have a proper national car anyway. Let have a fairer auto market that we deserved and longed for.
Tun may call his new national car project PROTUN
No to the idea. Isnt Perodua a national car?
Better for the Ph Govt to consider building the biggest tyre manufacturer plant in the region so rubber smallholders would fetch higher income.
Nissan leaf technology and harley davidson electric motorcycle
Good…lets do it…
The old fashion way of doing project under the BN style must be scrapped altogether. It should never incur public funds at all. When it makes money, dividend goes to the shareholders. When it’s big trouble, Public funds are used to bail them out. It has been recurring for more than 20 years already and ALL of them have FAILED. Worse still, this sort of project gets trade protection forever… This sort of things kills the country from all aspects. And we want to start this all over again?
What if the company comes under financial problem in the future? Will the govt. need to use public fund to overcome the problem? So it’s not a wise idea to come out with a new car national project. Just follow like Thailand. Make Malaysia a hub to assemble foreign cars. In the long run we can benefit in engineering capabilities.
Right pocket left pockect..at the end..government money to buy out that company if later no money.