KUALA LUMPURL: More in-depth studies are needed to turn the Asean car project into a reality.
Former group managing director of Proton Holdings Bhd, Datuk Seri Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir, said strong willpower was needed among Asean countries as the implementation of the project may face some challenges.
“The idea of an Asean car is good where all the nations work together for one car.
“The implementation, however, is difficult,” he told Bernama here yesterday.
Syed Zainal Abidin said the Asean car would compete with all models in the world including Proton and Perodua.
“It will compete with international cars like Toyota and Datsun.
So the implementation of the project needs to be considered quite seriously,” he said.
On Oct 20, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the project would be a dream come true as newly-elected Indonesian President Joko Widodo has expressed interest in pursuing the idea mooted by Malaysia.
Najib said this after meeting Jokowi in Jakarta following the latter’s inauguration as the Indonesian President.
Malaysian carmaker, Proton Holdings Bhd, is expected to be involved in the project.
Former Proton chief executive officer, Tengku Tan Sri Mahaleel Tengku Ariff, said a car development project was complicated.
“The advantages are it saves huge foreign exchange and creates new industries and high-end jobs,” he said.
Mohd Azli Abd Rahim, a lecturer at Industrial Design Department of the Faculty of Design and Architecture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, said the project was good if various factors were taken into consideration.
“Among them, the car must be affordable for the middle-income earners and of qualitity and fuel-efficient,” he said.
Malaysian Green Technology Corp board member, Datuk Wira Jalilah Baba, said the Asean car should incorporate green energy, be energy efficiency and mindful of carbon emission.
“A study needs to be taken in producing an Asean car, in determining which country has the strength in car assembly, which country has the skill and manpower, which country to market the Asean car, with ease of location and cost efficiency bearing in mind,” he said.
Malaysian Automotive Association president, Datuk Aishah Ahmad, said Malaysia and Indonesia needed to hold discussions on the feasibility of the car project.
“When you are talking about an Asean car it means that there will be economies of scale.
In Indonesia (the population is about) 250 million, Malaysia (28 million) and Thailand (70 million), so it could be with the economies of scale you can achieve a lot more,” she said.
President of the Association of Malay Importers and Traders of Motor Vehicles Malaysia, Datuk Zainuddin Abdul Rahman, said the idea was good.
“The challenges come in the implementation and our car quality which has not reached global standard,” he said. — Bernama