What exciting times it must have been when Malaysia’s first national car, Proton Saga, rolled off the assembly line on July 9th 1985! A brainchild of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad during his 22-year premiership, the car was developed by Proton Holdings Berhad, the country’s leading automobile manufacturer - fully owned and strongly supported by the Malaysian government. What Malaysians drove behind the wheels at the time was also driving Mahathir’s ‘Look East’ policy and the mushrooming of business opportunities for the bumiputera communities. At the same time, nationalistic optimism and pride helped multiply Proton’s models and export of these cars to 26 countries.
The government’s heavy intervention strategy was effective in boosting domestic market share, with a peak at 74 percent in 1993 and the top 2 selling automobiles in Malaysia in 1995 were Proton Saga and Proton Wira. The 2000’s saw Proton unveil its CAMPRO engine which was co-developed by Petronas Research Sendirian Berhad and a hybrid car with the Proton Exora Hybrid.
However, the 2000’s saw lagging sales and a spike in customer complaints of sub-par quality cars, expensive spare parts and maintenance, and poor after-sale service maintenance care. With the hopes of bolstering domestic and foreign markets and to avoid being crushed by the stiff competition in the Asian auto market. Proton was privatized in 2012. It was taken over by DRB-HICOM Berhad, a Malaysian conglomerate and also the country’s largest manufacturer of automobiles. The company aimed to turn Proton into a major integrated automotive player in the region.
DRB-Hicom gave recognition to research and development grants to improve its products and technologies. Proton’s identity as Malaysian-made were further rejuvenated during this period. Remember the sledgehammer attack and other insults on Malaysian cars on the TV show, ‘Top Gear’? Ouch, but a number of Malaysians were still rooting for the national car maker – for better or for worse. This also reflects a sense of perverse ownership of Made-in-Malaysia cars.
In 2017, China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group bought a 49.9 percent stake in Proton. With Geely’s experience in turning around Volvo, the local car industry is hopeful to achieve long-term sustainable growth from this partnership. Proton has commenced work on improving quality of its cars and has been following a stringent system aligned to the international standard of Volvo cars.
Moreover, the biggest challenge would be to counter negative public perception in order to improve sales and to penetrate foreign markets. Additionally, Proton needs to upgrade its after-sales service, and change the mind-set of its cars that they are just ‘cheap’ products. Proton has been exporting to Brunei, Australia and Chile in small amounts and are looking to expand its business in UK and India.
By a strange twist of fate recently, Mahathir has been re-elected as Prime Minister and he remains passionate about national car projects. Mahathir was quoted as saying “Proton can no longer be national. No national car now,” after the partnership with Geely was made. Present in Malaysians’ minds, but not necessarily in our hearts over the years, would Proton’s current journey be another dent in Malaysians’ collective consciousness and economy? The Would this joint venture take away the Malaysianness of Proton if sales increased, and the international presence of Proton is enhanced? After all, Mitsubishi motors continued to provide production parts and components to Proton vehicles between 1985 – early 2000s.
The international marketplace too hasn’t remained the same since those early days of Proton models. The global market for automobiles now is more unforgiving, difficult and crowded. Can Proton be truly competitive without clinging onto nostalgia or vehicle-melodrama to steer its future course? Perhaps the future is not too gloomy. Geely and Proton’s joint venture could assist in the grooming of Malaysia’s own technology and expertise and emphasise on effective implementation. This would likely lead to transformation, and perhaps Malaysia could proudly own the Proton name and reputation for itself again.