Chinese companies propose RM41 billion investment for third national car project – focus on electrification

Chinese companies propose RM41 billion investment for third national car project – focus on electrification

More about the third national car project, which was mooted by prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in June. The project, which is supposed to be launched by 2020, may take on an electrification route if a proposal by two Chinese electric vehicle (EV) companies comes through.

According to The Star, GSR Capital and Envision Energy has outlined a US$10 billion (RM41 billion) investment in the project, spread over a five-year period. The proposal was reportedly submitted to the government ahead of the Mahathir’s current visit to China.

The framework of the plan, which was seen by the publication, includes the setting up of the new national car plant as well as a regional EV automobile hub in southern Perak, where a major auto city project was planned by the previous Barisan Nasional government.

The proposal made by the two companies, which will work in partnership with Malaysian company Concept Fields, also outlines the participation of Nissan, through Envision. The latter holds a 75% stake in Nissan’s electric vehicle unit AESC, which will be brought in to work together with GSR Capital to set up the regional EV manufacturing facility.

Chinese companies propose RM41 billion investment for third national car project – focus on electrification

The project will be spearheaded by GSR Capital, which will be facilitating FDI of about US$10 billion into Malaysia, while AESC will provide the technology to produce an electric car. Supposedly, EV battery production is also an integral part of the plan.

Aside from manufacturing, the proposal also outlines the establishment of an education hub – to train skilled employees locally – and the creation of R&D facilities. The JV project would also result in the creation of 15,000 new jobs.

The scope of the project, should it happen, would also fall in line with the government’s stand on how it is financed. Last week, finance minister Lim Guan Eng reiterated that the third national car project will be funded by the private sector and not with public funds.

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Anthony Lim

Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.

 

Comments

  • #iluvTunM on Aug 20, 2018 at 5:26 pm

    Tq Tun…we realy need variety on the menu…kudos..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 18 Thumb down 18
    • Anak Malaysia on Aug 20, 2018 at 5:54 pm

      Make Malaysia Great again!

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 18 Thumb down 5
      • Some previously said MY Mega Sale.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 0
        • Mikey on Aug 21, 2018 at 2:06 pm

          U said Bapak M tak boleh caya tapi sekarang bapak bawa balik 41b investment dari China. Macam mana nak tutup kemaluan mu??

          Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 2
          • Bapak oso brought it lotsa MOUs ‘investment’ back in his 1st reign. Mana pegi? Lolz! See ur own kemaluan open for all to see b4 asking other lor. Double lolz!

            Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 0
  • Abesla on Aug 20, 2018 at 5:40 pm

    Abesla! Malaysia dah jual to China! Wait a minute, isn’t this dejavu?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 39 Thumb down 7
    • Tesla on Aug 20, 2018 at 6:07 pm

      this got more local multiplier effect
      https://paultan.org/2018/04/12/china-gave-the-best-deal-for-ecrl-project-pm-najib/

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0
    • Johnycoco on Aug 20, 2018 at 6:36 pm

      Apa jual to china? What are they buying? Land? Car? Local companies?

      Apa pulak John ni…

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 8
      • Chandra on Aug 20, 2018 at 10:34 pm

        Why don’t you put that question to PH -and especially to their leader- instead? Why keep asking from john as if he’s some sort of wise sage that has all the answers?

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 10 Thumb down 0
      • that is the same question people asked when the PH claimed malaysia dah jual to china haha :D

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 16 Thumb down 1
    • Mikey on Aug 21, 2018 at 2:02 pm

      Dah lama MY dah jual kepada China. Pergi kat KL tengok siapa yg bangun bangunan tinggi lampai. Kebanyakan bangunan yg tinggi ini dibina oleh tecnologi, wang & pekerja dari China.
      Sekarang bangsa china dari MY tak payah balik Tongsan bro sebab Tongsan dah sampai kat KL/MY

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 3
      • Sounds like not logic. Alredi jual can jual one more time? U try jual ur house, then jual one more time and see if it works or not.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 1
      • Kereta Murah on Aug 21, 2018 at 2:44 pm

        Dulu korang pandai kondem, sekarang pulak pandai bersorak. Padahal benda sama je. Memang mahacai tiada tara-nya.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 2
  • tokmoh. on Aug 20, 2018 at 5:40 pm

    Geely expressed interest in perotiga too.

    If they’re on board, now it becomes much more likely to succeed. If Madani is in, it will fail, so make sure he stays away from this and let Geely and other real players do their magic.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 12 Thumb down 2
    • kzm (Member) on Aug 20, 2018 at 9:06 pm

      Madani obviously not involved directly.. he just mediator for the govt n industry player.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 2
    • MusTanG on Aug 21, 2018 at 9:46 am

      I concur. No Madani in this pls.

      He sembang about being fair and unbiased.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0
  • Digidigi on Aug 20, 2018 at 5:45 pm

    cash is king, the logic of najib is correct , just the way he execute is wrong ..
    tun m is business man, he know non of the Japanese can provide this, Japan is a sunset nation

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 10 Thumb down 7
  • Sawan on Aug 20, 2018 at 5:54 pm

    41 billlion would’ve settled half of our national debt instantly… damn

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 5
  • tunMpower on Aug 20, 2018 at 5:57 pm

    This is how brilliant is Tun M,announce project later get funded by Third Party. Previous government will not think like this

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 20
  • lilytan on Aug 20, 2018 at 6:05 pm

    Seriously? Why the hell they wanna invest 41b here? Never heard the company before. Dont buy this fairy tale until there are some cars on the road. Just like before, so many hype yet so little result when it comes to malaysian car project.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 17 Thumb down 7
  • mavic pro ace pilot on Aug 20, 2018 at 6:53 pm

    Chinese companies also interested to build and run charging stations infrastructure at Malaysia?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 0
  • kzm (Member) on Aug 20, 2018 at 9:09 pm

    Confirm HSR will be built by China

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0
  • typical hype and dog & pony show by mainland chinese companies. boast, brag, over promise and at the end of the day, zero. gsr capital, that was supposed to be “investing” us$10b in this new national car, can’t even manage to complete the acquisition of the battery pack manufacturer that nissan owns (AESC). and thats after 3 delays. finally deal was dropped in july of this year, which then the other chinese company envision “bought” the nissan battery company. and again, more dog and pony show, deal hasn’t even been completed (paid for) and they r already claiming they own 75% of AESC…… now using the nissan name to try to get an opening to start up their “investment” into the 3rd national car in msia. they would be asking for all sorts of incentives, freebies, support etc etc from the msian gov in order for them to “invest the us$10 billion”. and many will be suckered into believing this.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 1
  • Henry on Aug 21, 2018 at 3:50 am

    Third national car must be privately funded. Goverment must not provide special protection like imposing high tax on import car. i really hate that for the past decades we been funding low quality proton and deprived of good quality import cars. Please sont let it happen again

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0
    • tiadaid (Member) on Aug 21, 2018 at 8:27 am

      Please stop with the notion of imported cars are good quality.

      It’s hardly of the sort, especially the Jepunis.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 2
  • johnnas on Aug 21, 2018 at 8:53 am

    I condemned the idea of third national car after seeing the mess that Proton had left. Its like the aftermath of a nuclear war, literally.
    So the old hag said its gonna be privately funded and he somehow managed to round up a such a hefty sum. The old hag do deserve much credit just as long as the public’s fund is not to be used again. After all, private is better.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Haidi on Aug 21, 2018 at 9:51 am

    A Chinese company invest RM41B?! Means the major share holder of this 3rd national car project, also, possibly, the Chinese?! Then what National Car?!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 0
  • There is no free lunch in the whole wide world. If u want transfer of Tec, management expertise, materials for components and infrastructure assistants u got to invest a great deal of money. Malaysia has very few people that can really manufacture their products A to Z. The only thing sensible to do is to purchase know how which is very costly. If we acquire the know how may be a lot of supporting industries will benefit from it. More jobs for our citizens. Competitions are healthy for these segments, it will develop quality workers and products.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 1
  • Middle Age Driver (Member) on Aug 27, 2018 at 11:40 pm

    Guys while I like the idea of EV, please bear in mind the cost of EV cars. The cheapest seems to be from China. Even that, the price is not going to be RM30-50K, a bracket where most Malaysians can afford. It will likely be above RM100k due to the fact that worldwide price of Li-ion batteries are expensive. So the market is for those who currently can afford the mid – high end cars. Now how many units of protiga EV can the company sell? Will it be able to outsell previous Proton Saga volumes during the hey days of Proton?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
 

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