Malaysian carmaker Proton has been called upon to expand its global presence, prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said in his speech at the launch of the Proton EV plant in Tanjung Malim today.
Anwar emphasised the importance of leveraging Malaysia’s international relationship to market Proton cars globally, in particular at the upcoming 47th Aesan Summit where the prime minister wants the national carmaker to showcase its electric vehicle models.
“Apart from our Asean compatriots like China, South Korea, India, and Japan, more countries will attend. Presidents from Brazil and South Africa will also [be present]. We want to bring the heads of states and delegates from the participating countries to see for themselves the capabilities, performance, and technology of Proton, so that we can penetrate their market,” the prime minister said.
Anwar expressed gratitude to China for sharing technology with Malaysia especially in the automotive industry. “Their readiness to allow the transfer of technology at various levels gave opportunities to our youth to create our own products,” he said.
The Malaysian prime minister also hoped that EV models from Proton can be priced lower for the needs of the middle-income group, and said that he was informed that prices can be reduced to a competitive level, and meet the needs of car buyers with lower income.
Newly launched today, the Proton electric vehicle plant in Tanjung Malim was constructed at a cost of RM82 million and has a first-phase capacity of 20,000 vehicles a year. This can be increased to 45,000 units annually, depending on demand from local and overseas markets.
Output from this plant begins with the eMas 7, which first arrived on the market as a CBU import from China, and this will be joined by the smaller eMas 5 later on.
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proton tell geely he wants to make LHD car?
Geely is just wayang..treating Tanjong Malim as a glorified showroom.
Secretly..but open secret now…setting huge hubs in Indonesia and Thailand for exports.
The next PM can talk 3 n 4, Protong will remain a small hub.You think the Dr Li Shu Fu is stupid?
DRB is hardly breaking even..whereas Geely is paid handsomely for huge royalties for each new rebadge.
Yes, stupid Geely. We don’t want rebadged X50, S70 bla bla blsa. Bring back Wira with the superb magma 4G15. We Malaysian only deserve Wira, Iswara, so that can protect our glory Proton.
Like how Chery’s tech backs Jetour, icaur, Jaecoo & Omoda, Geely’s global engineering gives Proton its credibility. This partnership is the key to going global.
Anwar is right. This partnership builds Malaysian capability. Proton’s global success is built on Geely’s engineering, not in spite of it.
Yeah and Geely is going to use a Malaysian brand with no pedigree to sully their own brand? Why on earth would any company do that? This isn’t the case of a better performing Malaysian brand taking over a lesser known brand like the Chinese examples you have given. If Geely uses Proton, they’d have to overcome all the hang ups and port reputation people have with Proton in the markets they used to be in and any they want to expand in to. Not a way to build confidence in Geely long term.
Geely is just using Proton to grab the real estate holdings and build Geely cars for local and export market. Talk about bargain basement price for premium land. Eventually Proton will be shut down. The same way GM did to some brands in their stable after GFC. Watch and see what happens when a certain centenarian departs this earth. Think this gomen looking after local interest ah…think again.
Every PM keep repeating the same story but the margins proton make locally is so huge it makes no sense to sell overseas and make thin margins. Our protection barrier is too high inlike in south korea when they started and in japan where tariffs f imported cars are just 20% more than local cars..
Senang saja bikin badge sama grill
Dear PMX, competition in automotive industry have changed. it is all about automotive company’s supply chain efficiency. it is important that Proton’s own supply chain achieve global competitiveness. maybe not all of them but gradually get upgraded to be good enough to enter Geely supply chain. make parts for Geely. Then Proton will survive. The value from this will be as good as proton presence in global market.
Jangan mabuk
Geely: No
Geely isn’t interested in building up Proton to be a global automotive supplier. They are only interested in selling to Proton’s protected market in Malaysia.
But proton sales is up in a few countries such as South Africa. Geely pushes Proton in some countries too
Firstly ask the boss Geely already or not. Then isn’t Europe and South America mainly all is LHD and Geely has more models to pick from what does Proton has apart from rebadging and how to compete?
One just love cronies companies trying to break even.
Why not proton sells the patent ownership of its saga and persona and iriz to any interested company from indonesia, thailand, india or the philliphines? If proton finds it hard to sell cars there because of lacking in brand image, perhaps letting other people rebadge the past proton cars (no doubt with different looks and update features including safety aspects) may help proton get paid from royalties and thus breath a healthier financial air.