Archive for the ‘Columns’ Category
Columns sub categories : Adian Yein, Me and My Motors, Prof. Horizon Gitano, Sales Data, Susan Lankester and Yamin Vong
NAP 2012: The question is how far will full market liberalisation take place
DO we have an auto industry? A real one that earns good chunks of foreign exchange? If we compare Thailand and Malaysia, the answer is clear. Thailand makes about a million vehicles a year and exports about half of them. Malaysia makes about 550,000 a year and exports about four per cent. Without going into [...]
Lift to public transport
Sustainable: There is a dire need to subsidise the bus transport service because the efficient transport of people increases their productivity. Trauma specialists in the medical fraternity are loath to refer to car crashes as “accidents”. For doctors like Prof Ernest Yeoh, a surgeon by training, “we call them incidents because all accidents are predictable [...]
March 2012 Sales
Compared to February 2012, vehicle sales for March 2012 increased by 25 per cent, from 42,910 units to 53,583 units. Total industry volume as of March-2012 is 138,544 units. March’s sales however is still 15 per cent below last year’s performance for the same month. Total industrial volume for 2012 is still 13 per cent [...]
Breaching The Great Wall
Many Malaysians ask about what will happen to Proton now that it’s under the DRB-Hicom group. It is very clear. The DRB-Hicom group is currently controlled by a group of hard-headed businessmen and with their hands on such an asset like Proton, an independent carmaker that can design and make its own cars from the [...]
Getting the act together
There is a need for the bureaucrats to understand the gist of the issue in the decision-making process Last week, we observed the simultaneous launch of six models of light commercial vehicles from Hino. The company, a Toyota subsidiary that specialises in commercial vehicles, is confident of getting a 43 per cent control of the [...]
MIX Top 40’s Charlene Wong
Ambitious lass : Having turned heads in the Miss Malaysia Universe 2010 pageant, the radio announcer has gone on to writing, modeling and emceeing There is a reason why beautiful, ambitious girls like big cars. They make great workhorses. When MIX Top 40’s Charlene Wong traded in her Proton Iswara for a Toyota Hilux 2.5D [...]
Soft spot for the 3008
Let me tell you how Goh Kwong Thong, the sales and business development manager of Scholle Packaging, ended up with the Peugeot 3008, just three days after Chinese New Year. It was not the panoramic roof, a feature that attracts Goh’s two sons, aged five and four months. And Goh himself may admit that having [...]
Adopting UNECE R94 and R95 – A Car Plant Is No Nasi Lemak Stall
When a Minister is busy with political work, one would expect that he would choose civil servants that are capable and add value to the nation. Otherwise, why do we elect a government if not to lead us to a better future? Instead, we have a Transport Ministry directive that treats the Malaysian automotive industry [...]
From Phnom Penh
We’re in Cambodia with a football-sized team of Malaysians, one of whom has been in the automotive business for 40 years and counting. It’s the closing of the Asean summit – Wednesday was the closing session – of foreign ministers in Phnom Penh and the capital city looks fresh and energetic. The government buildings are [...]
February 2012 Sales
As expected, sales for the month of February saw an increase over January’s. In January, both New Year and Chinese New Year holidays took out nearly a third of January’s total working days. February sales saw an increase of 7.3 percent over January’s, increasing from 39,985 units to 42,910 units. Total industry volume as of [...]
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