KUALA LUMPUR: The third national car project will gear Malaysia for the next phase of growth in the automotive industry with battery-based power-trains and autonomous navigation being the dominant technologies and the convergence of new technologies creating a new mega sector called Connected Mobility, says the Malaysia Automotive Institute (MAI).
Chief Executive Officer Datuk Madani Sahari said the mega sector is expected to be created from the convergence of new technology areas such as nanotechnology, telecommunications, big data management and even sectors such as human resource management, marketing, legal and urban planning that would become more relevant to the transport sector.
“This next phase can be best achieved when we have a national car project in which we have a position to maximise participation of local talents and businesses, especially with regards to meaningful research and development activities,” he said on the MAI website today.
He said this in turn would enhance Malaysia’s overall capability and technological uptake, in line with global trends surrounding digitalisation, artificial Intelligence, nano-engineering, data science and other new areas and disciplines in the future.
“For Malaysia to be a great nation, we must emulate the world’s great nations in their command of science and technology. Nations such as Germany, the United States and Japan are the leaders of the global markets, with very little reliance on commodities and natural resources which are increasing in rarity,” he said.
He said while the previous national car projects have undeniably given Malaysia the experience and knowledge, the third national car is the overall driver that embodies this scientific and technological agenda.
“The automotive sector is renowned as the mother of all industries, because it evolves around mechanical, chemical, electrical, electronic, materials, information technology, etc – converging the sciences mentioned above with manufacturing, services and finance into a comprehensive mega-sector,” he said.
On existing national car companies, Madani said Proton and Perodua have both successfully contributed to Malaysia’s industrialisation with Perodua emerging as the largest domestic market shareholder.
He said Perodua also has an aggressive export plan in the future and is now able to internally style and engineer their latest models.
Meanwhile, he said Proton has always been the leader in engineering and vehicle development despite seeing their market share reduced due to stiffer competition.
“In my view, their turnaround plan is already showing signs that it will bear fruit in the near future, and we remain committed to facilitating their transformation,” he added. - Bernama