| Proton seems to be a Malay-built VW... |
PUTRAJAYA (Bernama) -- Proton Holdings Bhd adviser Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Wednesday lamented the level of importation of foreign cars so much so that there seems to be no more protection for cars made by the national car manufacturer.The infinite protection for fleecers is a crony right ; there is no need for social responsibility.
The former prime minister said that cars were even being imported from
countries which did not allow Proton into their markets. "They are freely sold in Malaysia. Here, we find every make of car. You don't see this thing in other countries," he told reporters after attending a function at the Perdana Leadership Foundation here. He said the reason why Proton's share of the market was going down was easy to understand. "It is going down because you are importing so many foreign cars. And I believe that to import, you need to have the APs (approved permits). They are giving APs apparently quite freely.
| Oh, horrors! Oh, Ethel! My pills! |
Bye, bye national sacred cow! Good riddance.
Dr Mahathir said Proton understood that it must compete with other car manufacturers. "We should compete, of course, but others are not letting Proton go into their country that freely. We allow them to bring in (cars) freely but when you go to their countries, do you see a lot of Proton cars? No," he said in driving home the point on
what Proton was up against.
| "Gee, Dad! It's a... ummm... a Matador?" "It ain't no Matador! It's a Proton!" "Same thing. I'm goin' to the mall. In the Studebaker." |
Of course not, they merely cost 3 times more than it should.
"If you take away the excise duty and all that, it should be very cheap. But we can't go there (to other markets). But everybody comes to Malaysia, anybody who wants to sell any car will come to Malaysia," he said sarcastically.