Proton aims to introduce hybrid car in 5 years
Bloomberg News
July 6, 2005
Stephanie Phang and Chan Tien Hin 

KUALA LUMPUR Proton Holdings, Malaysia's biggest carmaker, plans to develop a car in the next five years that runs on gasoline-electric engines, Mahathir bin Mohamad, the former prime minister who is also the carmaker's adviser, said Tuesday.
 
For five years, the maker of Wira compact cars had been working on a so-called hybrid vehicle, he said. Hybrid cars are powered by conventional gasoline engines and battery packs. Mahathir did not say if the company, based in Shah Alam, outside Malaysia's capital, would buy technology from Toyota Motor or Honda Motor.
 
"It's not been easy going into hybrids and also electric cars," Mahathir said. "Proton is working hard, doing research, but the allocation is very, very minimal and the number of engineers we can allocate for research is also very limited."
 
Proton, set up by Mahathir in 1985 to lead Malaysia's push to industrialize, is trying to develop new models to compete with Toyota, Honda and other overseas assemblers ahead of a possible government move to end tax rebates for local manufacturers.
 
The company needs new technology after Mitsubishi Corp. and Mitsubishi Motors, which provided its engine and chassis platforms for Proton cars, sold their stakes in Proton last year.
 
The Toyota Prius, the world's first and best-selling hybrid car, can go as far as 90 kilometers, or 55 miles, on a gallon of gasoline, more than double the capability of gasoline-powered vehicles of comparable size.
 
Hybrids burn less fuel and emit fewer pollutants by using battery-powered electric motors, charged by braking, to assist the gasoline engine.
 
"In Europe, by next year, all vans are expected to be nonpolluting," which means they "may have to be either hybrid or electric engines," Mahathir said.
 
Toyota and Honda own patents for developing hybrid vehicles. Toyota has sold some of its technology to Nissan Motor and Ford Motor, enabling them to put their own hybrid cars and sport utility vehicles on the road.
 
General Motors and DaimlerChrysler last year said they would jointly develop their own hybrid engine system. Mahathir did not say where Proton would get its hybrid technology.
 
Mahathir also said he was not aware that the board of Proton might censure the company's chief executive, Mahaleel Ariff, for criticizing the Malaysian government's automotive policy. The Oriental Daily had reported that Mahaleel might be censured.
 
Toyota denies output report
 
Toyota Motor has denied a report that it would double production of gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles in response to increasing sales in North America.
 
"Toyota has a plan to increase sales of hybrid vehicles to one million units a year, but there are no concrete plans to produce 500,000 hybrids in 2006," Toyota said.
 
The Asahi newspaper reported, without saying where it had obtained the information, that Toyota would make 500,000 hybrid vehicles next year, up from 250,000 planned for this year.
 
Toyota, which aims to raise its global market share to 15 percent in the next decade from 12 percent, is expanding its range of hybrid models. The company, which mass-produced the world's first gasoline-electric car in 1997, has said it plans to sell about 300,000 hybrid cars a year by mid-2006.

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