Foreign Affairs Officers Impressed by Proton
Recognising that Malaysia’s ambassadors and staff of embassies overseas can help promote the National Car, Proton invited a group of officers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to tour the factory in Shah Alam as well as receive a briefing today. The group spent a couple of hours seeing the manufacture of the Waja as well as listened to presentations from various Proton executives.
It was clear that what they saw was impressive, judging by the comments. Said one officer: “I did not realise Proton had advanced so much and this was like a trip through a ‘time tunnel’! It was a highly enlightening visit and we will certainly be putting in our best efforts to promote Proton products abroad.”
Responding to the enthusiastic comments, Proton CEO Tan Sri Tengku Mahaleel said that the national car manufacturer was keen to get the assistance of Malaysia’s overseas missions to promote its cars, especially the Waja. He said that discussions would be initiated with Wisma Putra in due course on the matter.
“An important point about showing our ambassadors and foreign affairs officers what we do is to have them understand just how advanced Proton is. There is a misconception in other countries that Malaysia is not so technologically advanced but we actually are quite advanced and as you can see, Proton can do its own R&D and develop its own products,” he added.
He did, however, admit that right now, Proton’s present product line-up is not competitive in technology and price in many markets. “That is why we are quickly developing new models that will be globally competitive and we do have many projects in the pipeline,” said Tengku Mahaleel.
Tengku Mahaleel was also told by one of the guests about a heart-warming encounter in Saudi Arabia with a Proton owner who explained that although a Proton cost more than an equivalent Korean product, the owner bought it because he felt it was the product of a Muslim country and made by fellow Muslims. Upon hearing this, the Proton CEO said that there were already some features which the company could introduce to cater specifically for Muslim customers such as displays which provided reminders of prayer times.
Replying to a question from AUTOWORLD.COM.MY concerning the issue of the Waja’s safety and the absence of airbags which had been raised by Malaysian buyers, Tengku Mahaleel explained that the car’s structure itself was inherently strong, the strongest body ever made by Proton. It was proven to exceed the European NCAP crash test for 2003 standards so every buyer was getting that high level of occupant protection. As for other markets getting additional safety features such as airbags, he clarified that customers there do pay for such extras which are in demand. Thus, the cars have a different and higher price so it is not that buyers in other countries get more than Malaysian buyers. He also clarified that not every item mentioned was standard for export models as some were also options available at extra cost. Nevertheless, he gave assurance that in the second phase of the Waja program, additional safety features would appear in the models sold locally.
