Proton Holdings Bhd is expected to announce its foreign strategic partner in May this year, said Second International Trade and Industry Minister Ong Ka Chuan.

However, he declined to name the partner.

“Proton is a private entity which belongs to DRB-Hicom Bhd and it no longer belongs to the government.

“As such, it would be improper to interfere with its business, but the government will continue to give its views on Proton,” he said.

Ong said this to reporters after officially opening the SME Bank Bhd’s Northern Region Mini Xcess in Ipoh today.

He said the foreign strategic partner would enable Proton to produce energy-efficient vehicles and expand its international market.

“The Malaysian market is too small, with only 600,000 cars being sold per year, compared to the US (17 million cars), China (28 million cars) and Japan (10 million cars).

“Therefore, Proton should not solely rely on the local market, as it would be insufficient to accommodate the costs of research and development to produce better cars which are at par with other brands,” he said.

Ong said if the country did not follow the car industry's progress, it would fall behind.

“The international car companies are expecting to be able to produce their cars on autopilot, employing the latest technology to produce sophisticated and high quality cars by next year.

“Most consumers in the country are those who wish to own quality high-technology cars, so we cannot blame them if they don’t want to buy locally-produced cars because they do not meet their requirements,” he said.

On another note, Ong said, Perak would soon become a main motor vehicle hub in the production of car replacement parts.

“It would become a catalyst for car vendors in supplying car spare parts,” he said.

Several locations had been identified for the construction of the hub, such as Ipoh, Kampar or Taiping, he said.

- Bernama