It is fair that we should congratulate Perodua for getting such a good review o­n the 'Top Gear' show. This is extra sweet when Proton, with its top of the range Satria GTI failed to impress a British-based car magazine some time back.

Suresh Gnasegarah's frustration with our national car makers is however, well placed. Many Malaysians simply do not have much choice of cars within their budget - the choice is impressed upon them. A yuppie's choice is a Satria, a start-up family's choice is a Waja and the new executive, a Perdana.

This is very frustrating especially to those who realise that certain cars are well within their means. The new basic C-Class Mercedes is priced at 20,000 British pounds in the UK, which is approximately RM124,000. Now, what do you get with the same amount in Malaysia? We shall not dwell into that, lest we cause more frustration.

Ultimately, it is not in our interest to see these two ships sink. We can't afford the job losses that it brings, the loss of income and other personal miseries. Nevertheless, the tag 'national' and the benefits that the tag construe should be removed sooner rather than later.

Far from giving the companies a jump start, the tag when used outside of the incubation stages, will o­nly lead the companies to belief that they are unsinkable. With this comes complacency and bad decisions. Proton and Perodua have to allow Malaysians the choice of buying their cars not based o­n 'imposed' affordability, but overall quality.

Like Ahmad Albab , I also watched the said review o­n 'Top Gear'. o­ne better, my heart was racing throughout the review and it climaxed with glee when the review was a good o­ne.

My thought was: good, there's hope. Let us all hope that these two companies will build upon the accolades handed by reputable reviewers, to avoid another sad tragedy like the infamous Proton Juara.