Last week, the ministry of international trade and industry (MITI) revealed that Cyberjaya-based DreamEdge had been chosen as the lead company for the new national car. The announcement was made by minister of international trade and industry Datuk Darell Leiking, who said that the company was chosen because it has a good business model that the government believes can work.
“They presented their proposal to the prime minister and he is convinced, as long as it is privately-funded and is run by experts from DreamEdge,” he said during the announcement.
Yesterday, prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad says the selection of DreamEdge as the anchor company for the new national car project was not his personal choice, but a government initiative, Bernama reports.
Mahathir was asked to comment on MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong’s statement that the government had lied about not involving public funds in the project. According to Wee, 53% of DreamEDGE’s shares are owned by VentureTech, which in turn is owned by a government company.
“It is already done, so I have nothing to say,“ he told reporters, in reply to a question regarding Wee’s statement. On the issue of the shares, he said he suspected that because DreamEdge was doing “a lot of things and seems to be capable,” some government departments probably wanted to have “a piece of the cake,” without elaborating further.
He reiterated that the new national car was needed, explaining that such an introduction was to stimulate the automotive industry in Malaysia, which was not doing so well, and ensure that the country would not be left behind. “So we have to make that progress,” he said.
Mahathir added that with the world moving away from normal internal combustion engines to hybrids and electrics, the new national car should follow that path.
“If you are going to have a third car, it should be capable of at least hybridisation. That is to say it should be driven by battery but an engine must be put in in order to recharge the battery. And that would take the car maybe 1,000 miles. So we are moving in that direction,“ he explained.
Stating that the car business was not static, he said that the project will also present the opportunity for Malaysians to learn. “The engineering industry itself must cope with new development and now we are using all kinds of automatic devices, we are talking to the car and the car talking back to us,“ he said.
DreamEdge, a Cyberjaya-based innovation and digital engineering services company, revealed during the announcement last week that the as-yet-unnamed new national car model will be a plus-sized B-segment sedan (initially mentioned as C-segment, and later corrected) equipped with a regular ICE or hybrid powertrain. It will be built via contract manufacturing, but the identity of the assembler is not yet known.
The company said an engineering capability model mock-up will be revealed at the end of this month, and the first prototype has been slated to be shown in March 2020, with the final product scheduled for market introduction in March 2021. Daihatsu Motor Company will provide technology support for the programme, but it will not have any equity in the project.
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Economics doesn’t seem to be your strong suit.
let bashing start in 3…2.. 1! LOL
and you can continue with your rear end polishing for the old man else where
PH troll told us that no gov money will be use. So he was lying to us all these long! Meant that whatever he said before is all most likely lies! We have been duped with his dupes! WTF!
Hahahahaha yeah you don’t know…..you also said you don’t know anything about the forex scandal back then
Hahahahahahah yeah…. me too. maluApoo
i just wanna comment
THERE ARE PLENTY OF MAHATHIR PICTURE? WHY DO YOU NEED TO KEEP USING THE SAME PIC!
Dont be lazy.
kaki tai chi….. it sounds like me, looks like me but it wasn’t me.
What he said is true, we need to progress and not look at the past.
Proton is the past, DreamEdge is the future.
nobody believes you, sorry
If P1 can’t provide EV cars, then let P3 provide.
Dr M, just suck it up & admit it is a personal project. Right after you come to power, this thing crop up. You have never stop dreaming of having a national car project.
Bloody liar. As much as the people wanted to end Najib/BN’s rule, I also believe no one wants you to helm the Cabinet for far too long.
Even with this new one, you still need foreign technology for help. I too wanted a Malaysian company to succeed in this field, but you give tongkat, and foreign company give tongkat. It is all tongkat till the end eventually.
Actually i’m quite impressed with the speed of how this company build their cars from prototype to production, way faster than Proton rebadge.
Bcos is just pure lies and another 1MDB project 2.0…. Geely already has proven PHEV cars, proton just need to rebadge it… We don’t need 3rd national car…
Here we come again…
Wonder how much it will cost the tax payer whether directly or indirectly…
if the aim is to have a national SUPERCAR producing company, the R&D will be way higher than Proton & Perodua, because that is how expensive high ends cars cost to produce, and they are usually sold for $1million and above, something Toyota, Honda & Nissan has yet to be able to achieve. who would want to spare $1 million just to test out a Supercar made in Malaysia?
if made in Italy, Germany, Sweden or some European countries there will have many supporters. Even so, Supercars rarely sold at profit.
Why not just rebadge/ckd BYD ?
Like if u agree ⬇️
P1 P2 takmau hybrid + minyak 95 = DreamE hybrid
Get your money ready, tax payers…..
hahahahahaha… very funny…
At the end of the day the government will be using taxpayers money to do it. Which other big company with feel pockets would fund something like this?
many big companies that has their balls grabbed by the government. and don’t forget the banks are there to cushion everything too.
Geely already has 400km range electric cars…why we need this? Why not just rebadge Geely which has better R&D and tech? Unless….u know, I know la
Dreamedge- the name also don’t give much confidence. It was as if in your dream you might fall off the edge of the cliff. The old man is the one who iniated the third car project. Now he said it was the government. Do something like High Speed Rail or Hyperloop is more rewarding. Or better still satellite technology. Cars already very boring. We cannot compete with Japan, Korea or China.
More likely it means “At the brim of hallucination”. Diagnosed as psychological illness or DHA deficiency?
DreamEdge – great name to sell Ketum.
Get better profit selling ketum than cars. Can make Msian proud, biggest ketum exporter in the world.
I agree that we need to progress, I also don’t discount the advantages of national car proj although it might not be best solution. BUT I TOTALLY PISS-OFF when any government initiative must always been helmed by bumiputera… are running nation building or technology based business? Even other gov proj also has these pattern, despite the 99% of consortium are from foreign, the president always must be a datuk! Tell me this’s merit base, tell me what advantage gained on the proj?
60yrs of culture is hard to change. Till now still got majority support such things.
I have a tremendous amount of respect for Dr M, but this is just stupid. This project is just for stroking his ego that he cannot let go, and to the detriment of the country. Boost automotive industry? He should look at what Thailand and Indonesia are doing even though they don’t have a national car. Some more Malaysian population so small, where is the market? Malaysia already too many cars and traffic jam everywhere
DreanEdge is private company and even their website has JP for Japan to show they are so much in to Japanese tech. everyone knows who owns this company . this NNCP will be a 100% crony project. it will never work. just one visit to DreamEdge and you see all deadwood Ex proton staff there drinking coffee and do nothing.
The government should think about the people instead of profit. If they’re going to be creating crappy quality cars, are we actually progressing or regressing? Looks like a ploy to satisfy a certain group of people. Using “private funds” from a source of public funds. I hope they don’t end up calling it “Dream Car”.
I’d rather put my money on the next Proton rebadge.
Anyone who can convince and JV with BYD ( Build Your Dreams ) or Bring you Dollars is a smart chap. Other than this is a no brainer. BYD even has a production factory in Lancaster, USA for E-buses. Even Warren Buffet have invested in BYD. Our 94 years oldman is not as wise as Warren Buffet in term of wise investment.
And the LIES from TunM just keep on comin’…! Does TunM think he can wriggle out of this new lie like he does with all his other lies before..?
Its a gov’t owned company… with govt interests… and it will use govt funds. Fess up. Peolpe just face it. YOU’VE BEEN DUPED… AGAIN by TunM..!
Will there be another 30 years of suffering because of low wages and high car prices?
“Good business model” Uh huh, any story can be spin on a life of paper.
“Privately funded” Uh huh, which Arab Prince this time around? And let me guess, no gomen money given but … but, got grant given lah. See no gomen funding given.
“Run by Experts” Uh huh, the same “experts” who can’t even sell bodykit before this.
Msian tax payers, kiss your tax monies goodbye now. If you happen to hear laughing, it’s that crony laughing all the way to his offshore bank.
Dear Tun, pls read all our comment under this website….ENDLESS BASHIING!!!
Let me explain it short = Shut it down!
Keep dreaming