‘INTEREST IS PERSISTENT IF WE ARE PERSISTENT’
Malaysia in business of designing, engineering and producing cars, says Dr Mahathir
PRIME Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said there has been a lot of interest shown in the prospects for a third national car.
“We want to build a third national car, but a lot of people said no way... not my way,” he said.
Dr Mahathir said this after receiving the Lifetime Automotive Award at the Malaysia Car of the Year 2018 awards ceremony.
He said a lot of people had been asking him if the country was going to build a third national car.
“Interest is persistent, if we are also persistent.”
Dr Mahathir said Malaysia had been making huge progress in the automotive industry, including notable achievements in motorsports.
“We are in the business of designing, engineering and producing cars.”
It has been reported that the government had received two proposals on developing a third national car and would evaluate all proposals to see if they met its requirements, before formulating incentives.
Malaysian Automotive Institute chief executive officer Datuk Madani Sahari had said last month that it had received two proposals before the Oct 15 deadline.
In addition, the International Trade and Industry Ministry also invited automotive parts manufacturers to submit proposals on the third national car project before the same deadline.
It has been reported that the third national car is expected to roll out by 2020, with the first prototype ready next year.