Last Friday, Malaysiakini reported that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir met with tycoon Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, DRB-Hicom Bhd group chief executive officer Syed Faisal Albar Syed Ali Reza Albar and a top official from China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co Ltd.
A posting on Mahathir's Twitter account confirmed that the meeting took place, but did not mention the names of those who attended.
The posting stated that the meeting was to discuss the direction of national carmaker Proton.
“Mahathir was also given the opportunity to drive the Proton SUV which has yet to be launched,” it added.
Proton is expected to sell locally assembled versions of Geely's Boyue by the end of this year.
Syed Mokthar controls DRB-Hicom, which owns 50.1 percent of Proton, while Geely holds a 49.9 percent stake.
Mahathir, who founded Proton in 1983 during his first tenure as prime minister, had criticised the previous government over the deal with Geely last year.
In an emotional blog posting at the time, he lamented that Malaysia had lost a national icon and Proton would now be a foreign brand.
In 2016, Mahathir resigned as Proton advisor after a falling out with former premier Najib Abdul Razak, who denied that his administration was turning its back on the ailing carmaker due to his differences with his predecessor.
After winning the May 9 general election, Mahathir said the Pakatan Harapan government had no intention of buying back Proton.
Speaking at the Nikkei conference in Tokyo on June 11, Mahathir said the new administration is exploring the possibility of starting another national car with the help of Southeast Asian countries.
“Our ambition is to start another national car, perhaps with some help from Southeast Asia.
“Malaysia has the capacity to do almost 100 percent of the development of a new automobile. This can be obtained by having foreign partners,” he added. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.