By Karen Bong
KUCHING, Feb 15: Proton hopes to see more supportive policy measures and incentives introduced or extended under Budget 2023 to not only encourage the adoption of electric vehicles (EV) but also attract potential investors into the growing EV sector in Malaysia.
Proton deputy chief executive officer Roslan Abdullah emphasised that the growing EV sector presents a major investment opportunity that could perhaps turn Malaysia into a manufacturing hub for EV components and vehicles.
“It is also hoped that any target (set by the Federal government) and incentives to promote and grow the EV industry in Malaysia can be extended to an appropriate time.
“Sometimes, two or three years are not sufficient for us to take action and get the return on each investment we made because EV is a new technology that requires investment,” he said during the Proton get-together with Sarawak media members at a restaurant here last night (Feb 14).
Roslan added that both the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) and the Malaysia Automotive, Robotics and IoT Institute (MARii) have yesterday (Feb 14) shared their views and steps needed to be taken to drive the country’s EV industry forward and support the development of related technologies to create a sustainable future for the country during the first national level EV Conference 2023 held at MIDA headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.
He pointed out that Malaysia cannot be left behind as the future of the automotive industry is electric, with many countries having set targets to phase out fossil fuel vehicles to curb emissions.
“As Malaysia’s national car company, Proton also needs to take the lead in producing and introducing EV into the market. As a start which we have announced last year, Proton is collaborating with Smart Automobile Company (Smart) to distribute and sell Smart vehicles in Malaysia.
“The company is set to introduce and launch the Smart #1 (an all-electric SUV) in the country sometime in the fourth quarter of this year. Manufactured in China, the Smart #1 will arrive as a fully-imported CBU,” he said.
Roslan added that Proton also established a subsidiary company known as Proton New Energy Technology (Pro-Net) to market the smart vehicles and provide after sales service.
“To ensure the vehicle can be serviced and maintained, we have also sent the first batch of 16 engineers to Geely (which owned 49.9 per cent stake of Proton) to be trained and learn about EV technology.
“Pro-Net has also recruited a group of employees specialised in the sales, after-sales and marketing in preparation for the roll out of the Smart #1. Pro-Net is also collaborating with Gentari (a clean energy solutions company wholly owned by Petronas) to install charging points in strategic locations across the country,” he elaborated.
Apart from that, Roslan added it is also in Proton’s plan to introduce a vehicle with a mild hybrid system that is assembled locally (CKD) at the plant in Tanjung Malim as well as developing its own homegrown EV for Malaysia which will be announced when the plan matures.
Proton vice president for Sales and After-Sales Edmund Lim and its After-Sales director Wan Hazran Wan Mustafa were also present. — DayakDaily
