Perodua has no intension of collaborating with other partner

Here' about Perodua.

KUALA LUMPUR: Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) has no intention of collaborating with other partners to weather the current economic downturn, says managing director Datuk Syed Hafiz Syed Abu Bakar.

“Our shareholders are cash rich and we do not need additional funds,” he told reporters on the sidelines at the second Kuala Lumpur International Automotive Conference yesterday.

According to the company’s website, Perodua’s shareholders are UMW Corp Sdn Bhd with a 38% stake, Daihatsu Motor Co Ltd (20%), MBM Resources Bhd (20%), PNB Equity Resources Corp Sdn Bhd (10%), Mitsui & Co Ltd (7%) and Daihatsu (M) Sdn Bhd (5%).

“Our shareholders are also very experienced in the automotive industry. Daihatsu is strong in the compact car segment and Toyota (for which a UMW subsidiary is the distributor) is a successful brand around the world,” said Syed Hafiz.

He also said the company had no plans to manufacture hybrid vehicles.

“We are not going to develop hybrids because it is expensive (to manufacture). Our focus is to be as fuel efficient as possible. We just want to produce cars that can give more miles to the gallon. We can’t be like the rest of the world – when fuel prices go up, they talk about hybrids. But when prices go the other way, they forget about it,” Syed Hafiz said.

On the National Automotive Policy, Syed Hafiz said he was supportive of the International Trade and Industry Ministry’s intention to review it and encourage liberalisation within the automotive industry.

“Liberalisation is inevitable but it should be implemented gradually so that local automotive players will not be put out of business overnight. Thousands of jobs and billions of investments are at stake.”

Meanwhile, Proton Holdings Bhd managing director Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir said he welcomed any party that was interested to form an alliance with the company.

“If there are interested parties, they should approach us and we will assess whether it is good for both the company and the country.

“We never said that our doors are closed and we are interested in finding a strategic partner. It could be Chery (Alado), BMW or Volkswagen, so long as it benefits Proton,” he said.

On Perodua’s multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) which it plans to launch later this year and the impact on Proton’s Exora MPV, Syed Zainal said: “We welcome the competition because it will make us work harder.”