Reply to thread

See what others are reading now! Try Forums > Current Activity

Message: <blockquote data-quote="FVel" data-source="post: 2268368" data-attributes="member: 48425">Let's not talk confuse the issue with talk that Malaysians should support their national car maker. Let's just for a moment concentrate purely on the perspective that this is a company with 20+ years protectionalism, privileged treatment and husbanding from the govt. and they still manage to make a right mess out of it.Don't forget how dissapointed Tun Mahatir was with Proton during Mahaleel's sacking and his dispoleasure regarding the sale of Agusta. Till this day, there had been no satisfactory answer given by Proton management as to why Agusta was sold off for 1 Euro. You get a car company with a product line and sales performance that is soundly beaten by Perodua (the new kid on the block) despite claims that some of the products are enginneered with the help of Lotus (anyone still remember the comment by management about the Savvy being a Lotus? Laughable, considering the Myvi managed to kick the Savvy's ass in terms of sales) And what exactly is Lotus's role in Proton ? I mean it's all well and good to have acquired one of the most recognizable names in motoring but how exactly has all that translated to us local car consumers ? Proton likes to trumpet the fact that they own Lotus but I see barely anything of Lotus in the product line. To everyday Malaysians, it's still a Proton (with all the negativity you would associate with the brand). Are Proton cars really affordable ? In a sense.....they are inxpensive but only compared to foreign brands and that's because foreign brands are taxed out of all proportion by import duties. So it's not really a fair comparison. In short, Proton makes some of the most expensive crappy cars and accessories and we Malaysians just have to deal with it. Recently I wanted to buy some 14" Proton rims for the Iswara (essentially these rims are made for Proton by JRD) and the non-negotiable price is RM1,300+ ....would you pay RM1,300+ for JRD rims ? I don't think so considering there are good aftermarket rims for much less. Hell, even BSA makes a nice 14" rim for only RM700+ Way to go Proton.</blockquote>