Tun Mahathir: The Raw Hatred For Proton

There is a good write up about Proton by former Prime Minister of Malaysia Tun Mahathir over at his blog (this is his mirror site link as the chedet.cc site seems to be down at the moment). He states that a heck of a lot of journalists seem to harp on and on about Proton, that it should be closed and that will reduce the price of foreign cars so that Malaysians can buy them.He also states that Proton has actually paid back all of its loans and Proton did even receive 3 billion Ringgit recently.

That article by Tun Mahathir needs to be read to those Proton bashers. I am not a Proton basher at the moment for the following reasons.



They have actually the best affordable product for the masses. If you are into technology and space at a given price then Proton is actually better than what is given to you at RM35,000 to RM90,000. Of course, there isn't an even playing field. But you still get better NVH than most similarly priced cars. The Saga is actually quieter than the Myvi, the Persona is larger than the Myvi at the price point, the Persona is more powerful, handles better, more spacious than some entry level Korean cars.

I suppose you want a Kia Cerato to sell at RM75,000 instead of RM90,000. But remember the predecessor Kia Forte was sold at RM80,000 and you people still never bought it in droves. I suppose you want a Toyota Altis at that price range. Let me tell you a good example of taxes - The Suzuki Alto 1.0 that I got for my mother is sold by Suzuki at RM51,000 brand new. I got a RM5,000 discount because I bought a previous year's stock - RM46,000. I have a copy of the customs AP form. It costs RM10,000 CIF (Carriage, Insurance and Freight) and was taxed RM6,500 by Customs. That makes the total cost RM16,500. Could it be said that Suzuki Malaysia makes more than half of the total cost of the car? Remember, it is not only taxes and excise duty involved here. MITI also plays a part in setting prices so that it does not go too low but, in the end it is the companies that actually like making more than RM25,000 per car sold in Malaysia. This is the real issue.

And back to Proton. I was pissed with the management of Proton under Tengku Mahaleel as they basically built cars for hobbits, with terrible ergonomics, ignored the MPV market and somehow had the notion that Malaysians want sporty cars and hatchbacks instead of cheap sedans. Remember that period? We still have the Satria Neo from that era. An era where sunvisors block the driver's vision totally and roofline was low. Steering was on one's lap and you had no idea why the cars had hatchbacks when every Malaysian at the time wanted a boot or an MPV.

This was the time where they came out with something called the Proton Juara. A 1.1 little Mitsubishi van that was supposed to move Malaysians here and there. They were insane. Naza brought out the Ria (aka Kia Carnival) and the Malaysian public bought it like crazy (even with some engine and gearbox issues).

These days Proton is sensible. It HAS to be sensible. They have an affordable range of cars that are fun to drive, with average fuel economy figures, average build quality and average performance figures. They also have above average driving pleasure in terms of ride and handling. Note that if you put Toyota in exchange for Proton you'd note that Toyota has great build quality but average in everything else and people STILL BUYS THEM.

So everybody still loves Proton bashing.

"IT'S THE SERVICE CENTERS THAT ARE KILLING THE BRAND"
Anyway, the only issue that I have with Proton is the sometimes bad service quality at their service centers. The car may be average, and average cars sometimes suffer from average to bad build quality. Proton service  centers are NOT HELPING THE CASE with Proton. This is the problem. This is actually like the Volkswagen Group Malaysia problem. They service centers aren't doing a good enough job promoting ther brand. In fact, the service centers have a bad enough reputation that is maintaining the horrible reputation that Proton has. A friend of mine who owns a Preve has issues with his CVT gearbox and he has had to hunt for a service center that is willing to get his looked at instead of getting the usual "they are all like that nonsense".

I have another friend who actually found a decent service center somewhere in PJ who actually adjusted the CVT transmission in his PREVE CFE and his car seems to drive so well that he is enjoying every minute of it. This chap is no pump petrol and drive. He used to own a Proton Wira 1.8 (the original homologation special), a Peugeot 308 turbo and a Subaru Impreza WRX before settling for the Preve as his daily driver as well as a Lexus hybrid. So even a proper motorhead can enjoy a Proton.

It's the service centers that are killing these brands. Not the cars. Proton actually builds cars in the RM60,000- RM90,000 range that I would actually buy. And do note readers, I may own a few nice cars, but I still have a Proton in my garage.