Proton Holdings Bhd will maintain the current selling price of its cars despite incurring higher imported material costs due to the weakening ringgit, said its chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

He said currently, the national car maker has to sell its cars at the price fixed by the government.

"Now with the currency down, imported material costs are higher but we still try to maintain the price (of Proton cars)," he told reporters after officiating the Alami Proton Carnival 2015 at Proton Centre of Excellence in Shah Alam today.

On another note, Mahathir who is the former prime minister said Proton planned to export Proton Iriz electric car, which claims to be able to go up to 300 kilometres on a single charge, to the European market besides ensuring all its vehicles manufactured in the future meet the Euro 5 emission standards.

"We have proposed to produce this car (Proton Iriz) for Europe, don't have to pay a fine because it's efficient," he said.

Commenting on Proton's 30th anniversary this year since its inception in 1985, Mahathir said that Proton wanted to correct the public's perception that the local car manufacturer produced low-quality cars.

He noted that Proton which started its humble beginnings by producing mechanical cars has now been producing electrical-type vehicles which meet international standards.

"We have been also giving importance for safety features by introducing cars which has six airbags.

"Proton is seen as a catalyst in improving the Malaysian engineering capabilities," he said, adding that it remained steadfast amid the challenges in the automotive industry through the years.

Mahathir said in future, Proton would upgrade the current variant of cars in terms of performance without changing their names.

Meanwhile, Proton chief executive officer Abdul Harith Abdullah said the company planned to unveil the new variant of Proton Perdana in the first quarter of next year.

- Bernama