The rumours were true. PROTON Holdings Bhd has appointed Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Bhd. executive director Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohd Tahir as its new managing director. The 43 year old will take over as MD from Jan 1, 2006. Proton also named Datuk Kisai Rahmat, (currently joint chief operating officer) as executive director of its engineering and manufacturing division.
Proton also reported its second consecutive quarterly net loss due to falling sales, rising costs and higher provisions (mostly due to Proton owned Italian motorcycle maker Agusta's increasing outstanding debts with banks and suppliers).
It lost 154.3 million ringgit (US$40.8 million; euro34.8 million) for the three months ending Sept. 30.
Read more at Paul Tan's blog.
Proton has a new MD
Maximum Speed Limit in Malaysia
What is the maximum speed limit in Malaysia?
If you answer 110 KM/Hr on highways, then you are wrong. It is actually (but not officially) 120 KM/Hr.
Actually I had heard of this as a rumour before, but I later confirmed it with a few friends working with the JPJ, the Malaysian Road Transport Department.
It's an unwritten rule that the maximum speed limit beyond which motorist may be fined in Malaysia is 10 KM/hr more than what is pointed out on the signs. If you don't believe me, just check the speeding summons, which you have received so far. The fine will be for speeds more than 120 KM/hr on 110 Km/Hr stretches and more than 90 KM/Hr on the 80 KM/hr stretches.
Anyway, the fastest I have ever done on my Proton Wira is 145 KM/Hr and yes I received a summons for it. However, I have heard that some guys have gone as fast as 200KM/Hr on the North South highway. I know for a fact that one of my wife’s relatives did Kuala Lumpur to Johor in almost 2 and half hours on his Ferrari. That’s a distance of 368 km and normally takes 4 hours (with no traffic jams).
Proton Chancellor
Proton's new model, the Chancellor, will make its debut during the 11th Asean Summit (Dec 12-14, 2005) in Kuala Lumpur for use by the delegates. It will then be launched publicly on Dec 15, 2005.
The car is an executive class sedan and is specifically designed to be a chauffer-driven.
It uses the Perdana V6 engine on the Waja platform with a wheelbase of 2850mm. From the pictures I have seen, it resembles the Proton Waja.
Proton has not released the price of the Chancellor.
If anyone has pictures or any other info about this model, please share it with us.
Just e-mail me: ahoklah@gmail.com
NAP
I wrote this long time back but forgot to put it up on the blog. So here is the framework of the National Automotive Policy of Malaysia.
The Objectives:
1. To promote a competitive and viable automotive sector, in particular he national car manufacturers.
2. To become a regional hub for manufacturing, assembly and distribution for automotive vehicles.
3. To enhance value added and local capabilites in the automotive sector.
4. To promote export-oriented Malaysian manufacturers as well as component and parts vendors.
5. To promote competitive and broad-based Bumiputra participation in vehicle manufacturing, distribution and importation as well as in component and parts manufacturing.
OTHERS:
- Reduction in import duties for CBU vehicles. ASEAN countries: from 20% to 15% and Non-ASEAN: From 50% to 30%
- Import duties for CKDs maintained: 0% for vehicles from ASEAN and at 10% on non-ASEAN.
- Reduction in excise duties for passenger cars and 4WDs. The reduction is the highest in passenger cars: 90%-250% to 80%-200%.
- However, Excise duties for MPV/vans to increase.
- Approved Permits (AP) to be phased out in the long term.
This represent a movement in the right direction but maybe a bit too late as other countires like Thailand have already moved way ahead.
However as they say, better late than never.
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