SUBANG: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said there have been a lot of interest shown on Malaysia at the prospect of 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 award ceremony.
The Prime Minister said a lot of people had been asking him if the country was going to build the third national car.
“Interest is persistent, if we are also persistent,” he added.
The Prime Minister noted that Malaysia had been making huge progress in the automotive industry including making notable achievements in motorsports racing.
“We are in the business of designing, engineering and producing cars,” he said.
It has been reported that the government had received two proposals on developing a third national car and would evaluate all submitted proposals to see if they meet the government’s requirements, before formulating incentives and so on.
Malaysian Automotive Institute (MAI) chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Madani Sahari had said last month that it had received two proposals before the Oct 15 deadline.
In addition, Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) recently invited automotive parts manufacturers to submit proposals to the government on the third national car project with Oct 15 was set as the deadline.
It has been reported that the third national car is slated for 2020 rollout, with the first prototype expected to be ready next year.