I drove a Proton up Genting Highlands, Dr M tells critics

Responding to critics, Dr Mahathir Mohamad revealed that he was the chief test driver for all the models produced by Proton.

The 92-year-old politician also claimed that he had driven Proton cars on the windy roads to Genting Highlands, a popular resort with an average elevation of 1,740m.

Critics accused Mahathir of kicking up a fuss over Chinese firm Geely Automobile Holding Ltd acquiring a 49.9 percent stake in Proton from DRB-Hicom when he did not use the national car himself.

"I, myself, would drive all (my) Proton cars every weekend.

"It's different when I go to the office, I would be sitting at the back, not as the driver. For me, I would like to drive Proton cars myself," he told a live Facebook session.

Mahathir, who masterminded the establishment of Proton, also disclosed that he owns a modified Proton car, which he test drives on a weekly basis.

"I even drove to Genting Highlands using (the car's) small engines. I found that the engines were working well.

"I test all Proton cars by myself, be it on the test track or elsewhere," he said.

Meanwhile, Mahathir explained that he visited Geely Automobile with DRB Hicom boss Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary in 2014 to "improve" Proton cars.

"Among ways to improve our cars was to change the engines. We found out that Geely had acquired Volvo and Volvo is an expert on engines," he said.He was responding to critics, including Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who pointed to old news reports of Mahathir purportedly mulling a tie-up with Geely.

Mahathir admitted that he even went to Sweden prior to the China visit to test Volvo cars.

"We wanted to know how we could collaborate with Geely, just like how I once agreed to collaborate with Volkswagen.

"We were looking for other carmakers to improve the performance of Proton cars," he said.-Mkini