Malaysia has lost its direction in the automotive industry, former Proton CEO Tengku Tan Sri Mahaleel Tengku Ariff has said.
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Instead of becoming a car exporter, Malaysia was reverting to a labour supplier in the industry, he said, in remarks reported by The Star newspaper.
Malaysian national carmaker Proton faces an uncertain future as falling import tariffs in Malaysia make competitors’ products cheaper and it loses its once commanding domestic market share.
A proposed strategic manufacturing tie-up with Volkswagen that would have utilised spare manufacturing capacity at Proton plants and held out the possibility of technological support for future products was cancelled when VW withdrew from negotiations at the beginning of the year.
Expressing frustration over the fate of local carmakers, Tengku Mahaleel said the national car faced competition even in its own homeland with the emergence of ‘pseudo’ national cars.
“Some local manufacturers use local logos for imported cars. How can such cars be truly national cars, when the content of imported parts and components is high?” he asked.
“I am frustrated with this development. I am frustrated for Malaysia,” he told reporters after giving a lecture on Governance and Transparency in the Automotive Industry at Universiti Sains Malaysia yesterday.
Tengku Mahaleel also questioned how many of the seventeen automotive assembly factory operators were car exporters.
“We are importing more than we export. When we import more, we are spending more.
“The duty imposed on some of the cars is so low that the Government loses billions in tax collection,” he said.
Tengku Mahaleel also urged the Government to formulate the Third Industrial Master Plan (IMP3, 2006-2020), adding that IMP2 ended last year and that it was tough for the industry players to embark on strategies without a direction.
“We are bound to suffer losses amounting to billions of ringgit because we do not know where we are heading,” he said.
