The “new” Proton Perdana – it’s Clobbering Time!

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Recently, there was an article published in the Malaysian Insider on 12 December 2013 written by one Norzafry Norhalim talking about Proton being subjected to extreme criticism after they handed-over “new” Proton Perdana which is essentially a rebadged 8th Generation Honda Accord. If you have not, here is the link:

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/rencana/article/proton-pengeluar-kereta-atau-punching-bag-norzafry-norhalim

For those who don’t read Malay, I shall summarize what the writer said:-

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1) New cars that resemble other models are common nowadays and citing examples when Kia and Honda manufactures vehicles resembling Audi or Mazda taking inspiration from Lexus, no one bats an eye lid. The writer feels that there is double standards by the general public when judging Proton based on this. Think of this as brand racism.

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2) When Proton DO create something entirely of their own such as the Surprima S, sales is bad. Furthermore, heaps of comparisons between the Surprima S and the Honda, Kia Rio and the likes are uttered by the critics. But when Proton launches a car with even the slightest hint of design similarity with Honda, they get blasted.

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3) Competition is increasing and we have seen manufacturers such as Ford who has been in Australia for 90 years shutting down their operations there. Imagine that even such a large and old company like Ford can close shop in a country, how then is Proton when it is merely a fledgling compared to them.

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4) Rebadging is not something new. Companies such as General Motors, Chevrolet and even Aston Martin does it all the time. Heck, even our very own Perodua does it all the time with Daihatsu models so what’s the big fuss over Proton doing it too?

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5) Some might even suggest to just shut down Proton. The question then arise, “Why doesn’t Malaysia have (manufacture) their own cars?”

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The writer then concludes that this is a free market. If you don’t like what you see, don’t buy it. Although he/she does not own a Proton, the writer understands that running an automotive company in a highly competitive environment is not easy and everyone should be fair in their comments. Those Malaysians condemning Proton is akin to rubbing salt on an open wound.

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Now, personally, I think the writer does have “some” good points and certainly reflects a good number of Malaysians who are supportive of Proton. If I may add, I would say Proton’s move to rebadge a D segment is very logical and feasible. It is not easy to build a car from scratch and even then, it would have to be subjected to stringent tests before they are allowed to be sold in various markets. Unless you’re confident that the new model contributes significant sales volume (Toyota and Honda has said for any car maker to be profitable, they need to sell at least 1 million units. Proton sells less than a quarter of that number and even then, the diet of Proton Malaysia mainly consist of the Saga), how are they able to spend more on R&D for something that won’t represent a whit in their profit contributions. Proton is not Lexus where they can afford to lose money for every LFA sold (or VW with the Bugatti) so don’t expect them to get themselves into deeper waters. Even if DRB and Proton manages to bring the Perdana price down to the cheapest in the segment, it still won’t sell as much as the Saga (consider the Vios/City/Almera easily outsells the Camry/Accord/Teana) so really, what’s the point? For the sake of Malaysian pride? Pride don’t put rice on the dinner table.

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Having said that, there are a few things I must say about Norzafry’s article:-

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1) Malaysians don’t really give a crap about who’s copying what. Give us something Affordable and Reliable with excellent cabin space (for its price) and you’d have a winner (as is the case with the MyVi). The fact that the rebadged Accord is only available for government use and not sold to the general public merely adds fuel to disillusioned Malaysians who have been waiting for the national car maker to champion their basic needs in a vehicle. There is no brand bias, it is simply because Proton has not reach the standards that allows them to compete on a more level environment.

2) The Suprima S (and Preve) is an all Malaysian car and we should be proud of it. I remember seeing the Waja for the first time many moons back and I thought it looked great. But, as the writer has mentioned, it is a free market and no one is obliged to buy from Proton. The design of the Preve and Suprima S may not be everyone’s cup of tea (face it, if the design doesn’t stir you, it doesn’t matter if it has 10 NCAP stars, the owner would be experiencing a huge turnoff every time he/she steps into the car). Besides, I wonder if the writer has any statistical data to support his report on the not-so-encouraging Suprima S sales.

3) Trust, once lost is not easy to regain. I don’t quite agree that it’s impossible to recover but it would take a long time (if you’re lucky). Unfortunately, the nails on the coffin represented by the infamous Proton problems that plague their models for the past 3 decades takes a lot of effort to remove and this, I attribute to previous Proton management’s inability to quell the “(crony) supplier first” policy. How else can you explain so many customer complaints and it takes more than 10 years to solve something as simple as power windows?

4) I am hugely amused by some who doesn’t have the slightest clue of rebadging vs re-engineering. The difference is how much it resembles the donor model. You can have the car’s platform that’s similar but everything else, from the exterior design to the inside switches are totally different (even if the switches does the same thing). Most of the time, you can’t tell one re-engineered car from the original. An example of rebadging is the the Toyota IQ with the Aston Martin Cygnet

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whereas the Mitsubishi Airtrek with the Citroen C-Crosser and Peugeot 4007 are re-engineering examples (credit to Hezeri Samsuri of TopGear and Bobby Ang of LiveLifeDrive who highlights this). Other good examples of re-engineering are sister companies such as VW/Audi/Skoda and Hyundai/Kia.

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5) Elaborating on the writer’s point of this being a free market, if a company does not have the competitive edge to continue to survive “on its own”, it would have perished like the dinosaurs if it weren’t for government bailouts and affirmative policies. Don’t get me wrong; I am as patriotic as any Malaysian can be and would be as proud as any man in the streets if Proton makes it big internationally. But looking at how it is being run for the past few years, I wonder …. is it time to let go of a liability? What Proton has done in the past is not an indication of how it could and would perform in the future but until today, I honestly don’t know what direction Proton is heading (Aside from launching Smart Value models which I must applaud Proton for finally doing what it can do best: Affordability, which has always been its hallmark).

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The issue of rebadging isn’t new but it certainly has merits when it comes to a relatively small producer like Proton (compared to other international car makers). If you reeeaaally want to find something to b*tch about, you should be complaining about the Inspira. If we can all agree that a D segment Proton is never going to go anywhere near rocking MAA’s monthly sales statistics, a C segment would definitely be scoring a higher sales number. And in the C segment sedan category, Proton has TWO contenders; the cheaper all-Malaysian Preve and the more expensive Mitsubishi Lancer rebadged Inspira. Now, I don’t know about you but those who’re barking about being loyal and advocating all-out-support for Malaysian made products should be pestering Proton to can the Inspira. This would certainly help boost Preve sales as consumers out there would have no choice but to go for the sole C segment offering. After all, in terms of dimensions, they’re not that far apart. You want them to take away the Proton Accordana? Get rid of the Inspira first la.

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Wait, what’s that? No other cheaper 2.0litre engine C segment costing below RM100,000? Well, free market mah … you can still go ORGINAL and get the Mitsubishi Lancer. At least you know you’ve got the real deal (sorry, no tuned-by-Lotus Lancer). Can’t afford something more than RM100k? Well, we all know who to blame for that, don’t we?

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In any case, why should this concern us at all? I mean, it’s not like you can go to a Proton dealership tomorrow and order one of these. What I am more concerned about is why this and why now? The official word is that the fleet is aging and maintenance cost is escalating. While that may be true, don’t forget that there is this talk about End of Life vehicle and mandatory vehicle inspections. It is not likely the government will introduce EOL but with the mandatory inspections, don’t be surprised that many vehicles would still need to be scrapped since financially, it is beyond economic repair. Before the government start introducing punitive measures in forcing all old vehicles to undergo stricter controls, it would need to clean its own backyard first. Out goes the old Perdanas.

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With an estimated 3,000 units in “Phase I”, we would not have any idea how much it costs the rakyat in terms of tax money. To charge low with little profit for the sake of adapting a new platform makes little sense to a company like Proton. To sell expensive would mean more tax-payers money going to the coffers of a privately owned company. Still, the Accordana should be a lot safer when it comes to an accident. After all, our ministers (and their immediate spouses) are very important and who knows how Malaysia will turn out without them.

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Syukurlah Malaysia masih aman ….

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