Yoursay: Dr M needs to pull the brakes on his car fetish

YOURSAY | ‘The deal was to have an open market. The days of trade protectionism are over.’

Dr M: Gov't mulls tightening conditions on imported cars

Justice&Fair Play: With all due respect to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, I cannot agree on this, as we have gone through bad experiences as far as Proton was concerned. We were given sub-standard quality but made to pay a lot for service and parts.

Malaysians being discerning customers will gladly opt for locally-made cars if the quality of the cars and its services can be improved to be on par with imported cars.

Better Malaysia!: You should not impose more tax and control imported cars.

Proton and other local cars have already been in existence for more than 10 years; if they cannot compete with imported cars, then they should close shop.

Daniel: No, no, no, no, NO. The deal was to have an open market. The days of trade protectionism are over. Please don't go back to the dark ages.

Let Proton and the other local makers find their own footing and compete like other companies.

BuatApa?: This old fox Mahathir Mohamad is at his old tricks again.

Everybody knows once you impose tariffs or higher taxes and duties on imported cars, you're making them more expensive while curtailing their competition with locally-made, third-rate Milo tin-like Proton to give the local manufacturers an unfair cost advantage and greater market share.

Here comes the Proton 2.0 saga - Mahathir's thoroughly failed nationalist industrialisation project. And as long as tariffs or import duties and taxes on imported cars hold, you'll find them priced out of the local market.

But wait: it then gives Proton the excuse to raise the price of their third-rate Milo cans. Who loses? Malaysian consumers.

Add Sales and Service Tax (SST) to that to boot. You'll be paying through your nose for years for a crappy local car.

Ordinarycitizen: I object to Mahathir's suggestion. Cars are already very expensive now, whether imported or locally made. Don’t burden Malaysians further.

If Proton makes better cars, people will naturally support it. No more subsidies for Proton.

Hplooi: 'Milo-tin cars' was originally a joke amongst Malaysians back in the 1960s when Japanese cars first came into to the Malaysian market. The Japanese cars (Toyota, Datsun, etc) was then much cheaper than the British and European cars and considered inferior.

Indeed, veteran cartoonist Lat translated this joke into one of his satirical works when Proton first came into the market.

Pedasmas: Most Malaysians who had bought Proton cars before feel cheated and extremely disappointed with the quality of the car and the after-sales services.

The Glenmarie service centre is like what a government service centre used to look like. You wait for hours just to be serviced, and with an unfriendly service staff that makes us feel like we owe them a living.

So who wants to buy Proton again after having gotten rid of it?

I'm Watching You!: Dr M, I am for it as long as we are not forced to by sub-standard 'Malaysian' cars at high price, while putting better cars out of the reach of average Malaysians (read, returning to the 'Proton Era'). Even today, the price of cars in Malaysia is exorbitant.

Get rid of the approved permits (APs), for heaven’s sake. Those bloodsuckers must go.

Anonymous_84c78aca: Dr M, before any such decision to start another national car, abolish the 60 percent tax imposed on imported cars. Let the Malaysians enjoy driving and owning an imported car.

Proton killed that for many Malaysians. Invigorate the economy by letting us Malaysians buy imported cars from any make without the tax. APs should be killed off because it only benefits a few individuals.

Quigonbond: This is a stupid idea. Don’t distract from the issue by claiming there are inferior foreign cars. If so, market forces would allow Proton to win.

BN should harp on this issue instead of race and religion. And Harapan leaders who have been so against this, surely you cannot just keep quiet on this issue, especially on abolishing the AP system.

Anonymous_1528258949: Unless Proton or any local car brand steps up its quality, people will still buy foreign cars.

What the government should concentrate on is to make Malaysia a hub for car assembly, which will good for jobs. For Malaysian-made cars to be competitive, they need competition.

There is no point protecting Malaysian-made cars if the CEO or MD of the company is not free to decide who supplies quality materials at competitive prices.

Politicians are not elected to be in the car-making business.

Ultimately: I am wondering if this isn't some deal Dr M made with China in exchange for concessions on the other BN-era rip-off projects like the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL). After all, Proton is now practically a China car.

How would Malaysians benefit from having it protected?

FreeAtLast: I actually agree with the increased price of cars if it goes hand in hand with developing public transportation to reduce the number of cars on the road. Unfortunately, knowing Mahathir's affinity for cars, this is basically to protect the national car industry.

Penang's terrible traffic problems are due to his legacy of protecting Proton and purposely neglecting to build an MRT there.

Salam Malaysia Baru: Mahathir, I must say that Malaysians are not in favour of Proton 2.0. Your consideration on a move to tighten the rules for foreign cars seems like a veiled threat.

Either Malaysians buy a substandard Malaysian car, or not at all, because the rules on restrictions on foreign cars invariably mean that it would be either too costly for the average Malaysian, or the insurance and road tax would be hiked way up; not to mention other taxes levied on foreign cars.

Your dream shouldn't be pushed on to us, Dr M. If you want, you can have a custom-made car made for just you. It would be nostalgia for you to drive it around. But a second Proton is not what we really need.

Ordinarycitizen: Dr M must stop being so fixated on cars. Look at the bigger picture - we need better transportation, lower tolls and safer roads.

I Wonder?: Dr M, don't we have other more important and urgent priorities than this?

You have only two years in the position of PM as agreed, to resolve the mega problems facing the country. Please forget about this car business. Stop trying. - Mkini