Prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad says that Malaysia will be seeking assistance from Japanese automakers with regards to its potential third national car project. These will include the likes of Nissan and Toyota, Nikkei Asian Review reports.
Speaking to reporters in Fukouka on the sidelines of a four-day working visit to Japan, Mahathir said that accessing Japanese automotive expertise is “essential” to manufacturing cars to modern standards. “Some members of my delegation will be visiting Daihatsu, but we have one company [that] has written to Nissan and Toyota to seek cooperation with them,” he explained, although he did not disclose the local company’s name.
In June, Mahathir had mooted the aspiration to start another national car project during his visit to the 24th Nikkei Conference in Japan, and the proposed project looks to be working its way ever closer to reality. Last weekend, entrepreneur development minister Mohd Redzuan Yusof revealed that the project is supposedly set to get underway by 2020.
Mahathir had earlier said the project would look to Japan for some cooperation initially. “Like the first national car (brand), which started with only 18% local content (and cooperation from) Mitsubishi Motor, we were able to master the whole process of building the car, from design to clay-model and test cars.”
“Today, modern technology is based more on sensors and other things. We need to acquire that also. But initially, we want just to build a car first for the Malaysian market, and then for the world market,” he had said.
The subject coninues to be a hot topic of discussion. Earlier this week, Keadilan vice-president Rafizi Ramli questioned the need for such a project and urged that the matter be reconsidered. This sentiment has been echoed by many parties, who say that Malaysia’s annual vehicle sales of just under 600,000 units does not represent the economies of scale needed for production
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Naive to think the Jap will transfer the technology… Sigh…
1983 Mercedes 200 in UK was 20,000 pounds
1983 Mercedes 200 CBU in Msia was RM57,000
2018 Mercedes E250 CBU in the UK is 32,000 pounds
2018 Mercedes E250 CKD in Malaysia is RM400k
Thank you Proton!
Dah kena game by Proton! Tengkiu Bapak!
If Proton is a failure, can we close down Proton and move on?
A storm is coming. Huhu…
Tutuplah Proton
Go go Tun … Good !!! as I don’t wanna drive a Mandarin speaking car
Even Tun admits that Proton is a failure. Deswai he decided to create a new national car project to correct the failure of the past.
By collaborating with daihatsu? Sigh…another mass produces small car with old engine n cvt for the next 10yrs. Please do collaboration with hyundai kia tun…we can learn from the german then.
yes, everybody acknowledges Proton is a failure. Pumped in over RM20 billion but sold 49% of the company for RM170 million
WTF is wrong with you its fucking 2018 and you hating on other races
Due to Malaysia dun hv capable malaysian engineer and designer, so rakyat cannot get good quality car.
Moreover rakyat never appreciate what malaysian engineer and designer do. Therfore, better stop national car project.
Not that we don’t appreciate, but how do we appreciate it when they give you inferior and crap quality build cars?
Inferior and crap quality? That are Malaysian engineer and designer ability!
Really? You mean like the door locking system that keep having problem, boot dampers that broke for no reason, plastic fittings that came off by itself and cannot even be put back. Hmm what else? Signal switch that went bonkers in less than few years, engine gasket causing oil leak also less than a few years.
Yes I agree, their “ability” to design and use crap and inferior quality and to cheat the Rakyat of their hard earn money. Things that shouldn’t be change keeps getting busted, so please tell me again how the hell do you accept this? Maybe you like to be cheated?
I never said accept, i suggest stop national car project if we dun hv capable to build a car.
Yes agree, please stop
As long as the country that can independently manufacture cars is a strong nation, the car technology level represents a symbol of the country’s industrial capabilities!
You only knowing condemn.
All these while govt loans and tAx money has been pumped into proton but still can’t make profit and in the end sold off.
So please get your facts right ok? Think man, if the car is really that great you won’t need any protection from any parties and you’ll excel by yourself but in this case?
very true. Even Proton also, Mitsubishi gave us old outdated engines that guzzled petrol like crazy. Jaguh kampung syiok sendiri.
30 million Malaysians suffer with lousy Magma Mitsubishi engines. Proton conspired with Mitsubishi to give us outdated engines
Why don’t ask our Universities engineering department and automotive engineering departments to help?
They always go for lawatan sambil belajar in big rombongans to car factories to learn. JPA also spend so much of billions sending students to Germany to learn automotive.
Where are these students?
Those students went there for holidays!
Already back.. but not intended to work with geely.. there just isn’t any rnd for malaysian market right now
why not? rebadge Nissan GTR & Toyota Supra weii….
Dream on my friend, dream on..
Both are not environmental friendly, go green bro.
Gud. More competition means more benefit to the pipu. Proton can’t be lazy anymore. Hahaha…
Abesla Tanchong & UMW! Dah kena game by TUN!
Hidup TUN!
Bulan 8 bulan Merdeka,
Bulan kemenangan Rakyat!!
#Sayangi Malaysiaku
Naive to think that Proton cars are not started from the Jap… Sigh…
if they still want to carried on, BERSIHx2 will be on our calendar list soon…we don’t want to hurt our country by this, cause this is the best way and the only way to down some one in power.
They already make us suffering for 30 year, so enough is enough for you.. if they still want to carried it on, BERSIH will be on our list soon…we don’t want to hurt our country by this, cause this is the best way and the only way to down some one in power.
If gomen goes ahead to launch Protiga,it is a signal PH has turned rogue n become PAKATAN HALANGAN….so sad after kicking out the bandits,the rakyat has to face protectionist duties .There r more important things to achieve.Tun…we bantah any more national cars. Kids r washing cars to donate to Tabung Harapan but their dads will be punished by higher car taxes. I m dead sure,the Protiga will get r n d grants n special treatment to kick-start its launch.All proceeds from sale of Equanimity n fei mah”s permata won’t be enough to feed this enormous money sucking venture.We should have a new Bersih movement to protect the rakyat”s interest. Enough of everlasting perlindungan.
Tun seems stuck in the 20th century, when his first tour of duty was. Geely and Volvo has all the tech he wants and needs. If he still believes that PROTON or any other carmaker can stand alone, best he learn from the Chinese when he is there next week. They had multiple brands of cars (and some he ventured with along with PROTON such as Youngman (now reverted to just a bus maker) and Goldstar). That is in a market that today is 21 million annually.
The Japanese will be just like Mitsubishi and Toyota/Daihatsu were and still are with P1 and P2. Maybe P2 has a better deal now but still, not the best tech to write home about these two carmakers.
Good luck, Malaysia!
We don’t need a 3rd car because Rakyat have sacrificed so much the past 30 years to keep Proton alive.
Malaysians have sacrificed enough for Proton and its protectionism. Because of Proton, all car prices have gone up 700% since 1985.
For example, Toyota Corolla in 1985 was RM20k. Today, in 2018, the Toyota Corolla is RM139k
The same Toyota Corolla in Japan has only risen 50% from 1985 to 2018.
Car prices actually have gone down over 30 years all over the world due to automation, robotics and economies of scale despite inflation.
50% vs 700% – a big huge difference Malaysians have to pay.
According to statistics, Malaysians have overpaid by RM350 billion for cars from 1985 if one were to compare if Proton was NEVER born.
We have really spent a lot of money to save and rebuild Proton. Many Malaysians have suffered paying high 9 year car loans just to keep Proton alive
Now with a 3rd car, expect prices to jump another 700%.
Why tax import ? Expensive high tax ? Because if no tax import 2018 cheap E250 is 150k-190k they are buy it , haven’t sold proton
Recently, I studied the automobile brands in China and found that there are many auto brands in China, but the quality is not high. According to the several domestic auto brands I have been sitting on, the production process is relatively poor and not enough. I don’t know if it is because most of them are caused by state-owned enterprises. I sincerely hope that auto companies will develop core technologies and create brands that make us proud.
From poor to proud, Malaysia cannot achieve?
Dont know where your study source is from & certainly doesnt seems like you were studying the brands from within China. I believe the materials that you were studying may be outdated.
Dah 30 tahun transfer teknologi…..sampai bila nak tranfer teknologi?
30 tahun masih kami belum belajar lagi?
Macam ini tahun 2050 pun kami masih transfer teknologi
The people has voted for this. So let it said, so let it be done.
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be
-Let it be by John Lennon
He want he will get it.
And he alwiz gets it. He knows how to worked the rakyat as have been proven recently.
This is so shameful. Why ask Japanese overlords for advice?
Why don’t ask Proton for advice. Today, Proton will be 35 years old since its inception was 1983. We should ask Proton for technical expertise
After all, Geely cars was formed in 1997. So much younger than Proton. And yet, Geely can advice on building latest advanced looking cars.
What have Proton staff been doing all this while if they cannot advice our PM how to build a third national car.
all they learn are 3M only… makan minum main…
but ….but….john say Japanese is very bad wor!!!! How can???
How can we ask Japanese wor?
Yah, agree with U bro. Should have seek john advice since he is an “expert” on cars. At least he knows – “How not to fail a car project”.
Because of Japanese loan. Nuff said.
What was it that i said about doing the same thing but expecting different results? My mind is getting too old and heavy to remember, but Malaysians think they know better, hmm.
Why not look for technological assistance from Mercedes/BMW/etc. and manufacturing assistance from Toyota/Nissan to make the cars reliable? This here is a big miss on opportunity, a mix of German engineering with Japanese reliability.
If with Nissan, sure will work with TCM as assembling factory one. Short cut and less cost, maybe.
this one i agree..JV with the Japanese
Making a 3rd national car is a big mistake. After all, Proton has failed. Perodua also never achieved much as they were just 100% rebadger.
So, both car makers actually never achieved much in 30 years. How sure are we the 3rd car maker will achieve anything?
away signed few petition at change.org relating to stopping pero-tiga! just remove unfair tax barrier! so rakyat can enjoy better cars!
Neither Nissan nor Toyota will be interested. They have bigger “wars” to fight elsewhere.
Tun..don’t think like past decade. Nowadays people travel with high speed train or airplane. Imagine you drive on the jammed highway or in the middle town. That’s why our nation productivity cannot match other country.
construction of public mass transport would be better instead of this crappy plan.
Malaysians have voted for new national car instead of better public transports.
No we voted one person who wanted a third national car always rather improving the public transportation as Pride and Ego despite Huge objections/diagreements from every corners .
The reasons given to for having a 3rd national car is unconvincing and very fictitious for public acceptance.
Only a hand full of cronies want this to be push thru urgently against the promise manifesto. Looks like it is for the closest crony of the cronies perhaps.
So who is forking out the funds? Please do not use Rakyat monies and waste it further looking at the one Trillion debt and Poor public transport still not address properly in orderly manner still till today as promise.
He is again making life miserable for Rakyat again despite the joy and happiness of Rakyat having a new government recently.
Just hate the guts
Well said, I support you
Hopefully not Nissan. very less safety features and ugly design.
I’m not sure if you are exposed internationally. Nissan is part of the biggest automotive alliance the Renault Nissan Mitsubishi alliance!
They are on track to be the biggest automotive player in the world this year.
We not getting the same spec in Malaysia.
3rd National Car Project is NOT a Mistake!!
Automotive industry is only 2nd or 3rd to Construction Industry in terms of economy impact (exclude mining). It is important industry.
If Proton is deemed a failure , then move on. We shall restart with new approach and have better working plan. Never Give Up!
We should be concerned only on the manner how this 3rd national car project will get off the ground and how it strategize to be competitive. Some government help is expected but not like Proton in the past. that we know wont work. A better accountable approach.
I think this time if the 3rd project is smart, they should make full use of local engineering expertise irrespective of nationality or ethnic. I mean if there are Indonesian or thai who are keen to join the effort and have the engineering expertise, why not join in.
Even though Thai may be manufacturing center for many big names, do they present opportunity to thai to do design and development from scratch! who else in this region have this will to work on this?
So let’s see how this “Pertiga” will strategize their business model to survive the challenge. That’s what Dr.M is waiting for from we Malaysian…
That’s what i have been saying but pipu dun listen, just want to bash Tun. They can’t accept that Proton is a failure. Proton can only have success becoz of Chinese. Ini kalilah to show the world that Malaysians have the talent!
OLD HABITS DIE HARD TILL TODAY
MORE LOST THAN GAIN
Woohoo… come I clap for you guys. You voted for this huh LOL
Regretting your actions already?
Regret for next 5 years.
im not too keen about national car project..but if it involve private companies producing hybrid/electric cars with govt only give supports in terms of tax break, i think its something to consider..but dont repeat same mistake as proton..export is the main target not domestic market!!
Sudah sudah lah. You have done it once, enough lah. If you don’t have talent, you don’t have talent. Ask people on the street how much misery Proton has brought to them.
what happen to this? https://paultan.org/2018/07/17/its-ok-just-forget-vision-2020-is-tun-mahathirs-response-to-publics-rejection-of-new-national-car-idea/
Tun M, i respect you for every thing you did in our country. but this 3rd national car, please don’t.
I-Say-Man Tun, you mean after more than 35 years as a car manufacturer, we have learned nothing & now still want to seek Japanese help !!
This is a Big Slap to the staffs, management & engineers of P1 man. I personally think U should look to China as 6 of 10 Big Electric car companies are in China.
More like a bigger slap to Perodua. Even after 26 years and with indirect help from Toyota, TUN would rather direct approach the Japanese instead of looking at Perodua’s business model or sales figure. What a shame.
If P1 sales laku keras then dun need P3 lah. It only shows that P1 is a failure. Deswai need reboot.
Reboot just to fail again? Do you know the famous Einstein quote about doing the same thing but expecting different results?
How do you know it’s the same without UMNO crony suppliers? If you fail your exam, you just give up?
not saying Perodua is a failure. Perodua’s approach / model of national car concept proof to be viable economically (to sustain in msia) but doubtful of its export ability and further engineering ability. How to build a national car concept can varies. Proton’s approach is the first model of how to build a national car. – Naza tried to replicate but failed.
Perodua use slightly different approach. I think the progression to be independent car maker for perodua is still far far away.. unlike proton.
But Proton as it’s Mission statement points out, it is not able to make full use of Malaysian talent in automotive engineering… it is kind of limited to bumiputra agenda..
so I hope “Pertiga” wont repeat same mistake but to open to all including our neighbor or anyone in this region that is passionate about automotive engineering.
Perhaps “Pertiga” don’t have to start with an assembly plant! . they could be focused on design and development of critical parts. Let local assembler invest in assembly lines. hey ! that will entail smaller startup capital.. Tesla use Lotus body in their first car!!!
Dia buat perangai lama balik…
Itulah..kena game kita rakyat malaysia
Rakyat dah pilih utk kena game.
Syukur Malaysia masih aman.
Kerajaan baru, Malaysia baru, PM zaman lalu
tbh..i hope this idea well burried once tun released from his position..sorry tun n PH, this one idea is the one that i didnt agree with..history can repeated if we didnt learn from it..see proton, if geely was not there, i dont think proton can provide semiautonamous safety features which are a standard benchmark that people will be looking for in a car nowadays..sighhh’
tonnes of people have asked these companies for help. what is in it for them to help Malaysia? They flourished because they have technology, and the longer they own technology exclusively to themselves, the longer they continue to flourish. why transfer it?
Gov should look into reducing car price and loan tenure.
Exp…Car price approx 230k is reduce to 150k with loan tenure of 5 years max. the monthly is the same. After completion of loan, individuals will have excess cash to invest or change to a new car.
They can make 3rd or 4th national car project for all I care.
As long as the Govt don’t increase taxes and duties on foreign cars especially Toyota, Mazda, Nissan and Honda just to protect the new national car just as it was wrongly done in the mid 80s during Proton’s birth to early 2000s.
Compete fairly, please.
Stop all these protectionist crap !!
one thing about japanese they would never shared their latet technology
No way! only re-badge Mercedes can consider!
wish-list replacement as below :
Saga —> Mercedes A class
Persona —-> Mercedes C class
Perdana —–> Mercedes S class
SUV segment—-> Mercedes GL-E
As expected, Tun sabotaging our transportation system:
1. HSR tutup kedai
2. ECRL tutup kedai
3. MRT 3 tutup kedai
4. LRT 3 delayed / cut cost less carriage
5. Pan-borneo hgway – no updates
6. Mau hapus tol – in my wet dreams lor
7. 3rd National Car – PROCEED LAJU-LAJU!
LPT 3? Krik krik krik
We don’t need public transportation, we want proton 3.0
You think toyota or nissan willing to share their tech with you ? They already spent billions to have plants in thailand and indonesia, nobody will care about your stupid local dream car project with so little sales volume. You put proton up for sale , nobody interested except geely, you know why ? Because of the one belt one road stuff, they have to do this under pressure from china government.
i think this old man need to be stop, his dream are all for the benefit of his family and friends, we all know how much proton has make us suffer but make tun m family richer. Since PH takeover the gov has been cutting cost most of the public/transport projects, let make a petition for the stoppage of this madness and make malaysia a better country without tun m delusional dream.
Agree, Agree, Agree ….X 30 Million Times
30 million LIKES for you !!
BOTH THUMBS & lEGS ARE UP FOR YOU ..
Sokong PH, sokong TUN M
Somebody once said that Malaysia is full of stupid people, maybe that’s why he thinks that ordinary rakyat can be conned. Ok la, kalau degil jugak wanna create Pro3, please at least make sure Govt’s fund will not be used to sustain it. Resort to new techs and design, not the same oil guzzling engine and outdated looks.
If the voices of the ‘stupid Malaysians’ were still ignored and the project goes, maybe the people will boycott it. Don’t forget that once people got dendam on you, off you go in the next GE. They have tasted the sweet democratic power and will not hesitate to kick PH into oblivion, like what they did to once invincible BN.
Demi Tun M. Janji projek kereta jalan dulu. Problem rakyat nanti dulu. Buat je Tun M. Depa yg pilih Tun. Tun buat je lah.. Rakyat bangga dgn Tun… hahahahaha…
Malaysia tak perlukan kereta nasional lagi…. fokus pada menaikkan dan membaiki ekonomi dahulu..
We have Perodua already la Mahathir. Join with Daihatsu & Toyota. Come on. Enough is enough with ur rubbish national car project! Hark Pui la…
I agreed, the rnd of proton for years and years wasted and now what? to suddenly came out on the small road of Malaysia and yet to convince people of buying the new car? Go to hell la politicians not supposed to think about build cars. Fix morality in the country. Just leave with perodua instead. They Are better.
Dia tak puas Najib jual Proton. Sebab ini Tun nak tubuhkan PeroTiga. LOL.
Proton adalah Tun punya baby.
Baby dah kena jual, so buat baby BAHARU. RAKYAT MALAYSIA DAH PILIH!
No (Full stop).
Please take care of Rakyat welfare instead of personal glory.
Dr M wants to acquire Hydrogen Fuel Cell tech from Toyota and also EV tech from Nissan via Renault Zoe.
Tun, do go too far, come closer to nearest dateline first. How about ensure the implementation the EURO 4M RON 95 on schedule come October 2018? Mind you that most develop country already on EURO 6, some developing country also already on EURO 5. We are falling way behind.
No point talking so much about building a successful automotive industry when we are still producing car not complying to EURO 5/6 standards. We will not able to export there!! Or you plan to use the old Proton strategy whereby export model has better spec and sell cheaper than local model? WIRA export edition, ring any bells?
Then go for Toyota Hybrid Technology. Make our own hybrid or electric car. No more petrol price issues when the people can go electric. If Malaysia has economical hybrid or electric cars locals will not even think about buying brands from abroad. Then look into solar energy as our country have lots of sunshine in a year.
if we are dame good to build that, proton won’t fail till had to sold 49% to Geely today.
Ppl rejected this proposal by letting the entire country population just to endlessly feeding the small community that hi-jack the name of “National car” for their own good/advantage.
Whether it’s Japan technology or German technology, national car project that is based on protectionism is bad for the country and growth of the said company. People become lazy as they are spoon fed and protected. That’s why Proton failed. Only competition will spur improvement and rakyat will benefit.
Tun M, you have other more important things to do rather than keep thinking of 3rd national car after other has sold your Proton!
” PLS PLS PLS” stop it, we RAKYAT need PH GOV focus on others think like MEDICARE & EDUCATION.
Our Medicare is almost free, even those Google guys while they are engaged to work out the GPS systems in Malaysia a couple of years ago said that our government run hospitals are very good with high standard of services.Many developed countries didn’t have these kind of services.
Budget to spend on different sectors will be make each year to give Malaysians the require services in respective areas. In hospital over 60 year old u will get less then minimum charges to settle bills.
To enhance Malaysians in tech will be hard seek effort to engage expertise to assist us but with Tun reputation I believe he has the know how to make it work for the benefits for both, our Malaysian n his aspirations.
Malaysia needs strong competitions to improve.
Instead of asking japan to transfer technology of car. Why not join venture with japanese company and start to learn how to build Shinkasen. We have HSR and at the same time learn how to build it. Then we have the technology for ourselves.
It’s quite obvious he loves Japan . He has forgotten how they really are. He doesn’t endear himself to China for obvious reasons too. The story will unravel bit by bit…
..as a foreigner who is living here for past 15 years, i can say that this is a very bad idea..entire country need solid public transport system more than anything..pedestrian zones (which allows use of bicycles, seagways, roller blades, you name it, for self transport inside city) are non existent..existing transport system is not efficient as access to it is limited by its car parking capacity which renders whole train system quite troublesome for majority of people who want to use it (hence pedestrian zones importance)..
Health care is something malaysian people need as well as a solid social security system..
To own a national car at this point, is overshadowed by level of importance of just 2 things i have mentioned here, and if care for people is really first priority then something along lines i have mentioned here is a must.
I came from Germany, and what is important for people there are:
-Healthcare
-Social security
-Public transport
Cars are not really something people bothering much there (especially inside city), and if you see what concern and make people react is not car prices but mentioned 3 points. Thats what makes your life more comfortable.
And last, if you want to manufacture cars locally sir, you have to understand that you must built them most probably at places where workforce is cheaper than here in Malaysia. BMW’s are made in Africa new days, for example. And in order to have such effect, you must bring your tech expertise far higher level than you expecting it to be sir. I hope reason will prevail here. All best for you malaysians. Be smart.
Be smart you say, well the majority are not. We are dead from the word go.
Tun.M is unlikely to see how his dream fare for the next 30 years, we, the rakyat, are the one to bear the consequences and this is unfair
Please dont bring old technology models.Our cars in Malaysia are mostly old design as comoared to Asian countries
Imagine when Tun steps downs, then all is vanished as past history.We elected new govt not for this reasons.Invest in heavy engineering , biomedical engineering, railways engineering, electr8nic and robotic engineering, green technology, be world class assembly for all models of vehicles.Our local assembly for car seats are worst than japanese companies.Even car seats gives back problems.Even tyres are very low quality which is made in Malaysia.Thailand has better quality.Focus on world class medical tourism.Get minister to focus on their jobsthan taking care of religious political things example Kula.
Rafizi is looking at the consumption n market size as a whole but lacking in vision n higher tech development. 8 to 10 years from now would be a different market situation. Our PM has a way of looking much further then anyone
In Malaysia. If our young malaysians are following his planed progressive systems they would in turn gain a lot of transferred knowledge from the Japs even China can’t match the Japs in terms of designs n materials management. EU n US are lacking behind in these fields of knowledge. Japs EEV will be the best in the world.