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Do national cars need to be cheaper than others?


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#61
menace146

Posted 14 February 2003 - 03:58 PM

menace146

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It's kinda farnee how brand perception and stigma will last and last...and it will take Proton a long time to dispel bad vibes regarding the apparent poor build quality.

It's the same with Alfas. Ask around and most will shake their heads and cite fears of engine oil leaks, rust, overheating, expensive parts/maintenance, poor resale value as reasons for not buying an italian car, even though these factors are hardly concerns anymore. It doesn't matter that many who make these comments have little ownership experience (direct nor indirect)...on the other hand, a toyota is perceive to be the perfect example of reliability even though it's not necessarily the case all the time.

But in Proton's case, almost anyone who matters have owned/driven/experienced the national cars, and it is the general consensus that while the cars are far from being lemons (some are even good to drive), the quality of parts (which make up the car) is poor.

Until Proton (1) improves the quality of their product, and (2) convince consumers they offer real quality and value, national cars will have to rely on their 'cheaper' price tag to achieve sale. p/s I think point no. 2 is the much harder task.


#62
whatcar

Posted 14 March 2003 - 01:17 AM

whatcar

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Did you guys read the star today on Proton Sales overseas.....I had a good laugh to see how ridiculous it was after all the years we only manage to sell not more than 15,000 units a year.....

and here we are being badly treated by Proton those 15,000 customers got better quality than us, why la cause they are kwailos .

Malaysians have been buying majority of the Protons and we are treated BADLY with lesser quality...dream on Proton dream on

#63
jameslim69

Posted 14 March 2003 - 08:24 AM

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Guys, I personally feel that Proton has come out with too many models. Don't you think so? And yet they are not able to have better QC on these models. Why need so many models and yet the quality is lousy? (Eg. Arena, Juara, Waja, Perdana......)

#64
anthonywyc

Posted 14 March 2003 - 11:05 AM

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Kia su and want to sapu local money...

#65
ZZRPilot

Posted 14 March 2003 - 06:38 PM

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>But what`s the thing that would make Malaysians
>reject a Proton Waja 1.6 if it costs as much as a
>Corolla 1.6 or Sentra 1.6?

If all three are priced equally expensive, why would people still reject Waja? Simple lah, really.

Let`s face it - for years, the gov`t has been forcing people to buy Proton. People get fed up lah after a while. Now that there`s a level playing field, the first thing these repressed people are going to do is explore the new freedom lah!

Imagine, gov`t bullied you into being stuck with a Iswara/Wira for years. Now that you`re forced to pay Nissan price for a new Proton, what the hell.. might as well buy Nissan. Whaddya expect? Many might even purposely dump Proton purchases in favour of other makes as a (long overdue) protest vote.

The side-effect of the govt`s strong-arm policy is finally coming around to kick Proton in the butt!

Proton has taken the health pill early to give itself a boost. Now it`s time to come back down to reality and earn every singgle ringgit. Last time shout "Malaysia Boleh" so loud, in 2005 let`s see can still shout or not...

My only worry is that, like a druggie, Proton might resort to taking another pill to avoid the harsh reality. After 2005 ask gov`t to find some way to give them another unfair advantage. And every drug addict knows, with every fix they take the worse they`ll crash...

#66
anthonywyc

Posted 15 March 2003 - 02:40 PM

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Agree....

#67
audionutter

Posted 16 March 2003 - 07:13 AM

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The biggest problem with Proton is the employees it has. Typical "tidak apa" attitude means the quality and reliability of the finished product is never going to be there. In comparison, look at Perodua, where the Japs have instilled some QC in the workforce and has a better outcome. Until you overcome this, Proton will never improve. No matter what the marketing people say, as soon as the consumer tries the end product for themself the truth is revealed. Employees should be made accountable and have to sign that each part as it is being assembled meets the QC standards and if there is a defect in future, you can trace it back, see how many mistakes the employee has made and then when it reaches a maximum number, he is sent for retraining or the sack.

The Waja looks okay, drives ok and is pretty average EXCEPT for the build quality and hence reliability which is way below acceptable standards. If other workers in Malaysian factories (Perodua - which also needs improvements, Honda, Toyota, Mercedes, etc) can do it, no reason why Proton cannot UNLESS they are not willing to. Lots of other Malaysian made products are of world standard quality, such as home electrical products, so why should National cars be different? All goes back to what Mahathir has been saying recently about Malaysian attitudes and "dilemmmas", which affects ALL races, some more than others.

Government employees are the worst in this, together with large nationalistic/protected industries like Proton.Dead