Prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has claimed that Proton was not a failure and had achieved much success while it was under good management, according to a report by Bernama.
Speaking at a dialogue session in the United Kingdom recently, the premiere said the national carmaker had at one point accumulated RM4 billion in reserves, allowing it to build a plant in Tanjung Malim without any financial assistance from the government or banks.
He added that Proton was a success until foreign cars were allowed to enter the country without (or with very little) restrictions but Malaysian-made cars were not allowed to be sold in some of these foreign countries due to the conditions imposed on imports.
“It’s all about importing their cars not exporting our cars. And of course, if you don’t export your cars you don’t earn foreign exchange. If you keep buying foreign cars then you will lose a lot of money every year,” he noted.
Focusing on the proposed third national car project, Mahathir stated the government did not have the money to fund the project and will have to request parties in the private sector to get it done. “Then you developed vendors, produce businesses producing parts as there are many (car) parts that will create jobs for the people and a lot of business for small businesses,” he added.
The project has attracted its fair share of proponents as well as detractors, with the former claiming it will help encourage the growth of the country’s economy and engineering capability. It has been previously reported that should a third national car project take off, Japanese carmakers would be roped in to provide assistance.
A success to pressure Malaysian just to buy Proton. No option back then….. But its a failure to produce good car. Press our money…. Work hard to buy a Wira. Now work hard can get accord, camry, altis etc etc. So happy now…
All cars you mentioned are boring uncles cars
Perodua was a success, not a failure. Proton was a failure, not a success.
Successful at sending pipu to early afterlife.
Cannot see why you cannot buy ‘quality’ used car rather than a wira
” He added that Proton was a success until foreign cars were allowed to enter the country without (or with very little) restrictions. ” Hi TUN, can you further explain ” WITHOUT ” and ” VERY LITTLE RESTRICTION ” , we dont quite undertand when a 100k camry at malaysia sell 160k.
Actually is less than rm80k
Buy Proton X70 less than rm80k. But kuality same as XC60 price rm280K.
Are you sure x70 less than rm70k? Suprima s is at RM80K. How come x70 can rm70k?
Proton is a success when we disallow import and force everyone to buy only Proton.
If there is competition, then Proton will fail.
Thats what he meant…
Perodua success what!
28-Aug 1985: Proton Saga starting price announced – RM 17,575 for 1.3S and RM 19,005 for 1.5S. It had an 8-Valve Orion engine from Mitsubishi.
1985 Honda Civic 1.5 above RM 25,500, Toyota Corolla LE 1.3 RM 22,834.46
Back in 1980, a fresh graduate earned about RM 1,000 per month and a McDonalds Double Cheese Burger then cost RM 2.95. Today, a fresh graduate earns around RM 2,500 to RM 3,000 per month, while a McDonalds Double Cheese Burger costs RM 9.50.
9.50/2.95=3.22
Cost for Toyota Corolla 1.8 should be RM 83,186.96 (increased 300cc) and Proton Saga 1.3 should be priced at RM 56,591.50.
Tun…stop wasting yr precious time on Protiga.The priority is to recover the looted billions…LGE is wasting his energy quarrelling with Ajibkor…just freeze every question able bank account.Let Proton n Perodua continue.Or do u wish PH to become Pakatan HALANGAN?
Tun’s point was that MITI back then should have negotiated for PROTON to enter the Korean, and then Japanese markets when the Likes of Hyundai and Kia were seeking permits to enter Malaysia. This was back in the 90s, well before the issue of engine emissions became legislated in many countries.
He has a point there. There are no PROTON’s in Korea or Japan, while their cars are free to enter Malaysia.
The main issue was, with proton holding about 2/3 of the car market, they never thought Korean cars or even perodua can Be a threat.
You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
He only needs to fool a majority of pipu at the right time.
Resident PH trooper take heed. Ur big boss has spoken.
P1, Geely, Mesidis, VolvoCar, VolvoTrucks, Lotus > all
Tun, it is a success in failure and also a failure in success actually. We don’t have the scale of economic. Furthermore, Proton with EON were very arrogant during 1989-2000. Remember we have to wait for 6 months for an Iswara + cannot choose any colour desires + force to buy pre-installed accesories? Even used car dealer are making a reap profit by selling 2nd hand unused Wira and Iswara during that period. This is when Malaysian first don’t trust and feel betrayed by Proton. Last 10 years? Payback time.
Guessing those foreign countries he mentioned could be Japan, South Korea, Continental Europe, North America…
“He added that Proton was a success until foreign cars were allowed to enter the country without (or with very little) restrictions but Malaysian-made cars were not allowed to be sold in some of these foreign countries due to the conditions imposed on imports.”
When Honda first started, they only sold bicycle with a small engine strapped to it. When they made their first car, the Japanese government said no, as there were already many big and existing car manufacturers like Toyota and Prince(Nissan) and he should stick with making Motorcycles. Honda snub them by racing and winning in Formula 1…… in 1973, Honda sold their then-tiny Honda Civiv in the North American, which came with the CVCC engined. Honda sold patents to other companies, arguing that their technology benefitted Fuel Efficiency and Performance; And when General Motors sampled the technology, they quoted :
“Well, I have looked at this design, and while it might work on some little toy motorcycle engine…I see no potential for it on one of our GM car engines.””
Of course Honda was than led by Soichiro Honda, whose known for his stubbornness at times. Soichiro bought a 1973 Chevy Impala with a big-ass 5.7L V8 and instructed his engineers to design and build a CVCC system for the GM V8. He then had it flown back to Ann Arbor, where it was tested by the EPA. The CVCC equipped small-block V8 pass the new EPA emissions requirements without a catalytic converter. Horsepower remained at 160 HP, and some tests even showed a slight fuel economy improvement.
This is one of the more prominent examples of competitive spirit that Proton lacked. Most East Asian manufacturers, Subaru, Kia & Hyundai pushed their cars to be competitive in a time where people think all Asia ever is are just sweatshops making Nikes. They sold their ‘tin cans’ in ‘cultured’ Continental Europe and North America and proved to them in both in the R&D department and in the market, that they too with effort could make a world class cars.
If both Japanese and South Koreans in the 80s, relied on their home market alone, they will never reached the stage where they are now. Proton had all the opportunity, especially in the 1990s, they’ve lost it…
Here we go again.
EV for third national car program..
enough for fossil fuel vehicle, already saturated, will die sooner or later..
Then we need nuclear power plant
This is where he is wrong. It should be a free market here whereby it’s even competition ground amongst all the players. Proton had no access to foreign markets due to the lack of safety aspects and did not adhere to certain regulations. Look at how much better Proton models that were sent to the UK while Malaysians had the shitty domestic models. It’s like saying our lives don’t matter but foreign lives do. It’s a stark comparison to JDM models which were superior than of the export models in Japan. Furthermore for those countries which imposed restrictions on foreign makes they only restrict for a certain amount of time so that their local makes can gain some traction and after that they will lift it so that everyone has a fair share of the pie.
You went too far behind during 80’s and 90’s
Fully correct. Many my families own Vellfire & Estima when balik kampung for last skool holidays. New Serena oso garang look MPV
Seancorr, when the ugly Hyundais and Kias were making their way here back in the early 90s, there were no serious safety ratings on their car either. That is Tun’s point; they were allowed to enter Malaysia while our cars didn’t see the light of day in Korea. The government back then should have pushed for it to approve their entry here. The funny thing is, TUN LED THE GOVERNMENT at that time….
Proton is no longer Malaysian. No more for me .Might as well buy Korean now
yea, but you lost your mind and made the automotive industry in malaysia a joke of the world
let’s just move on and hope it will be a success.
Agree….it “WAS” a success before becoming a failure :P
HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHGAAGAGAGAGAGHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA
Let’s not worry too much about Proton. The main topic should be the third national car. PM Mahathir does not seem to appreciate that Malaysian car prices are far higher than in developed countries like Australia, Japan, UK and US. What we need are affordable cars for those who need them. For the poorer members of our society, we need better public transport coverage at a low cost.
Actually in some areas Tun M is right. PROTON was a success but he said under good management. any company under good management will thrive. What we see in PROTON now is a pure example of the worst management in Automotive history. DRB HICOM totally wreaked the company. made all its talents to leave for China and stopped some of the good designs which were under DSSZ and Tan Sri Nadzmi and their team. Another problem was during Tun M time there , some of their directors reported to Tun M all the wrong info that all is going OK and he trusted them and after he became the chairman he saw the problem but it was too late for him to fix it. now after 30 years PROTON assemble Chinese cars that may not be good for sale in Malaysia as we saw what happens to all other Chinese cars here. it is agreed that Proton produced many talented engineers and experts that after DRB hicom disaster, they all left for China and India and other countries.
It is agreed? By three people ie you, yourself and your shadow? Dingbat.
The National Car Project was approved in 1982, with the objective of accelerating technology transfer, increasing and rationalising local content, and involving more Malay entrepreneurs in the then largely ethnic Chinese dominated Malaysian automotive industry.
So it is a failure because Malaysian still unable build a car after 35 years.
More like P2 which has no home grown, starting from scratch made car, only rebadging all the time
New myvi & bezza was not a rebadge. Inspira & perdana x70 are the rebadge cars.
Proton failed Malaysia. Simple as that.
The protectionism, the village hero mind set, the arrogance of top management, the can’t admit wrong (power window case) plus many more issues set Proton for failure.
Though it was theoretically good to develop a car from scratch, it wasn’t economically viable as Proton never had the economies of scale. Even during the Wira/Saga best of times, economies of scale was barely there. It would have been more prudent to source chassis, engines & gearbox from other manufacturers and tune them to suit Proton needs.
On top of that, the 1S dealers were arrogant, take it or leave it attitude and service centres standard answer to anything assembly QC related was “Proton macam tu punya, Abang”. Zero initiative, zero responsibility, zero ownership from these front liners. And you wonder why M’sian swore they never buy another Proton ever again.
In 1984, I was proud of Proton. By 2000, I was ashamed of what Proton has become. By 2014, Proton was like a 30 year old daughter who was still depending on pocket money from parents & could not make something of herself. Suitors came but this old maid was choosey & thought very highly of herself, despite being a failure. Any parent would be disappointed in such a child.
Now that she has finally betrothed to a nice rich Chinese suitor, it is hope she gets off her high horse & realised how lucky she is & finally make something of herself. Lose that lansi, arrogant behaviour, work hard & make her husband and parents proud.
Old man should not think of car business,do what you are supposed to do which is running the country & implement all your ge14 manifesto that you all cakap!! Everyone knows p2 is national car,no need p3.
I buy local perodua car Madey
accumulated RM4 billion in reserves.. from Malaysian buyer mainly…
Dr M can still not separate personal hobby’s and government.
Proton was a failure because we were forced to buy it, a low quality mediocre product.
Prior to Proton, we could buy good quality foreign cars at very reasonable prices but Proton crushed our joy.
We suffered tremendously because now we couldn’t afford to buy foreign cars because of the high prices.
Never again please!!!
Najib utamakan public transport
Mahathir utamakan kereta nasional
But from GE, we know which one the rakyat utamakan. Endless epic traffic jams.
This old man will never change his stripes, never ever admit his mistakes, therefore let him take his belief to the grave, the legacy is already gone, not missed. Poor quality, indifferent after sales service, excise duty, sales tax and cars largely copied or stupid looking cars designed by stupid people
Bro, what car do you drive? Protons aren’t copied but rebadged. All cars have negatives and positives. Proton’s recent efforts are pretty good actually. Please, do not disrespect any car all cars deserve to be respected like people. You also Punjabi, I am also Punjabi. In Sikh teachings it’s already said that we should respect everyone, and everything too. So please, respect Protons, you have no right to tell the car is stupid in anyway
it’s not a success if you curb other car manufacturers from playing a level field. it’s delusional to say that Proton is a success.
That way of doing business surely everything can claim as successful. you pull everyone down to push yourself up by raising everyone’s price way more expensive than it really is.
Yes, Proton was a success…BUT only for his cronies which made billions.
At the end, Proton was left the skeleton, all meat gone.