Bung Moktar 'ashamed' of Proton's imitations
MalaysiaKini.com
Nov 4, 2014

PARLIAMENT BN's Kinabatangan MP Bung Moktar Radin said today he is "ashamed" of national carmaker Proton's inability to come up with "original" cars and he slammed it for consistently adapting its technology from other carmakers.
 
"Once it was Mitsubishi, now it is Honda. What is the point if the body is Malaysian, but the spirit is Japanese?" he asked in his supplementary question during question time today.
 
"Until when will we keep duplicating others? I don't see a future here. I am ashamed. Might as well just call it a Honda instead of calling it a Proton. We have spent millions on this," he further said.
 
He was asking about Proton's production of the new Perdana fleet, modelled after the Honda Accord, and produced for top civil servants and government leaders.

Proton's decision defended

However, International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed defended Proton's decision to rebadge the Honda Accord for the new fleet of Perdana.

"We do have original cars, like the new Iriz. But then, for the Perdana, it would be cheaper to use an existing base rather than spend money to develop a new car," he said.

"The Perdana was commissioned just for government use, so it will too expensive to develop a car with only 4,000 or 5,000 units to be sold," Mustapa said.

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