Dr M mourns Proton fast becoming a 'foreign car'

As the brains behind Proton, former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad is understandably unhappy over China's Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd's 49.9 percent acquisition of the Malaysian icon.

With the latest acquisition, Mahathir said Proton was no longer a national carmaker.

"It has become a foreign carmaker. We have lost one of the country's icons," he told a Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) ceramah in Kuala Lumpur last night.

However, it should be noted that Geely only acquired 49.9 percent of Proton from government-linked company DRB-Hicom Bhd.

Meanwhile, Mahathir said despite Proton's faults, no other developing nation has been able to come out with their own cars.

"In only 30 years, the rakyat, who only knew how to drive cars have learned to build their own cars.

"They learned in a short amount of time. Other countries take 50 to 100 years to come out with their own cars."

Acknowledging Proton's oft-cited problem with its power windows, Mahathir however said this was "old news" and that the windows now work properly.

"Yes there were weaknesses, but we have overcome them and we don't need to go to China to obtain technology to build cars like Proton.

"Now we can come out with three models in a year. But sadly, the national carmaker is no longer the national carmaker.

"When we buy Proton cars in the future, we are buying foreign cars because the national carmaker has been sold," he lamented.

[More to follow]

-Mkini