Dr M: Japanese car companies consulted for third national car project
(The Star) – Assistance has been sought from Japanese automakers for the third national car project, says Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
According to a report in the Nikkei Asian review, these automakers include Nissan Motor and Toyota Motor.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday (Aug 7) during a four-day visit to the city of Fukuoka in Japan, the Prime Minister said accessing Japanese automotive expertise would be “essential” to manufacturing cars to modern standards.
“Some members of my delegation will be visiting Daihatsu, but we have one company (that) has written to Nissan and Toyota to seek cooperation with them,” said the 93-year-old, omitting the company’s name.
Daihatsu Motor is fully owned by Toyota Motor.
In his earlier speech to a group of high school students attending the Japan Future Leaders School summer camp, Dr Mahathir described environmentally friendly electric cars as the choice of the future.
According to Nikkei Asian, some market players insist Malaysia’s annual vehicle sales of just under 600,000 units do not represent the economies of scale needed for production.
The first national car maker is Proton, the 1983 brainchild of Dr Mahathir during his first tenure as premier, which spanned 22 years.
Despite decades of state assistance, Proton was partly sold to China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group after “dismal performance”.
DRB-Hicom Bhd inked a deal to sell a 49.9% stake in Proton Holdings Bhd to Geely for a total of RM460.3mil in June 2017.
The second national car maker is Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua, or Perodua, a joint venture with Japanese companies, including Daihatsu.
On Aug 4, it was reported that the Government is set to launch the national car project 3.0 by 2020.
Entrepreneur Development Minister Mohd Redzuan Yusof said the Government believed that the move could revitalise the national automotive industry.
This is consistent with Dr Mahathir’s statement in Aug 2017, where he said Pakatan Harapan might have plans to set up another national car company if it succeeded in capturing Putrajaya in GE14.
Back then, he said he had “some ideas about starting another automotive company” that could become a catalyst for the growth of engineering know-how and capabilities.
Dr Mahathir reaffirmed his aspirations of building the third national car project during his Japan visit in June after Pakatan won the 14th general election on May 9.