Honda Civic (8th Generation) Vs Proton (2nd Generation)

Lawa gileee keta ni.....

On Friday afternoon, I went to the Honda showroom in Tmn Tun and damn it!! It was love at a first sight for me as I saw the much anticipated 8th generation Civic. As I entered the showroom, one of the sales guy straight away greeted me and ushered me to one of the displaying unit. He started to explain about this new model and I listened attentively. The on the road price is about RM117k for the 1.8 litre model and RM130 for the 2.0litre. To some this is a bit pricey. But to others, especially those who appreciate Japanese built cars would feel it’s worth every penny. I know however that ‘manufactured’ price is much much lower and if it’s not due to the high import duty and taxes, the car could have been owned by many-many Malaysians with a discerning income. I somehow feel that we Malaysians are in a way ‘robbed’ of our rights to enjoy and consume high quality products especially foreign made cars on the pretext of protecting our national automotive industry. I’m all for this national agenda really, but at times, if you think about it, as much as we want to be a player in the global car industry, as a consumer, I want to have the power of choice to purchase goods of my own preferences. The government is trying hard to create a level playing field for the local manufacturers to compete with other global producers. But somehow, I feel that this ‘protection’ had been given for a bit too long at the expense of majority of the end users.

Don’t get me wrong, I respect and I will always support this national aspiration but without a proper implementation plan and most importantly a clear timeline to achieve the objectives, it will be a waste of billions of public funds and labour hours which could have been channeled to other national projects. I guess it was a risk worth taking by Tun Mahathir back then to springboard Malaysia into the manufacturing forte. Who would have thought that a nation of rubber and tin exporter could produce its own national car? So to be competitive domestically, the Government introduced many protection policies towards the national car project and as a result, Proton cars are considered as the staple choice for majority of Malaysians car users. Since this is a national agenda, the Government has the responsibility to ensure that the outcome or the result of this effort, comparable with the global benchmark. This is the only way how our national producers can ever compete with other car exporting or assembling nation. Years have passed. Although I have witnessed tremendous improvements in our national car, I honestly feel that it is still not enough. We are still way behind the Japanese or even the Koreans and what I’m afraid of is, nations like India or China, who have just started their own national car later than us could leapfrogged Malaysia in the next couple of years.

So where did we go wrong? How come after nearly two decades in this arena, we can’t still directly compete with other global players? Have we achieved what we have wanted in the first place? I have a feeling that the sense of achievements in this national agenda have been felt completely on the first day when the first national car rolled out of the factory. That was it! We have made it! We have produced our own car and on that particular day, they could tell the whole world that we’ve done it. Everybody was impressed at that time I’m sure that many of us can still remember the year when the first Proton Saga was unveiled in the local media. It really was a glorious moment for many Malaysians but the stories were told short of the company’s plans on how they intend to be an advance manufacturer for years to come to able to produce high quality products meeting the stringent international standards and competition. During the initial years, with the protection that was given by the government, Proton factory mass produced the national cars and it instantly became the best selling model in its segment. The problem is, mass produce capacities, have little room for innovation and quality. So to inject more ‘creativity’ in their production line, they’ve invested in Research and Development capabilities and acquired well known brand with the hope that transfer of knowledge and technology could spurned the innovation cycle. Sadly, I feel that this has come a bit too late or not effective when it should have been part of Proton’s set pieces from day one.

So how much longer will it take for Proton to able to produce cars at par with the other well established names? People could say that we are still in an infant stage (after 2 decades still infant ka??) and other nations have been in this industry very much earlier than us, so we should give Malaysia more time to evolve in this industry. To me this is not right. By the time we reach the level where other advance manufactures are today, our foreign competitor could be two or 10 steps ahead of us! Instead, to be able to compete globally, we must always be one step ahead of them! But the question is when are we going to able to do this? When is Proton going to be able to produce world class cars and not pricing it discriminately? I hope I will live my life one day and able to say that Proton is at par with Honda. But until then, today, if given a choice to buy a Proton car or a Honda, with the household income that the majority gets, I guess we wouldn’t opt for the later due to obvious reason. The price disparity is too mind boggling when the cost of manufacturing the two brands of the same segment can be said as competitive. The price we pay for a Proton Gen 2 car in Malaysia today could be worth equivalently to an 8th generation Honda Civic baught in Japan!

So why am I babbling about all this? HHmm.. for me, the acquisition cost of a brand new Honda car is too costly. About 3-4 years ago, I bought this Accord Inspire and it had many-many features that only the luxury car segments have. Since I can’t afford a brand new model, I opt for a second hand unit. But you know la..second hand cars requires lots of ‘tender loving care’ Last week, the car broke down again. This time I’ve to transplant the gearbox and the engine as well. I’ve spent thousands on this car on maintenance alone and I’m going to spent more for this latest breakdown. So that’s why la aku tengah sakit hati niii…. Pegi tengok civic baru, pastu bila pikir betul-betul, the car can be purchased at Proton’s price if it is bought in Japan! Rasa rugi pulak beli keta Honda 1st hand. So I told myself, tunggulah nanti, beli second hand civic jelah! Hehehehe But who knows…kalau tak tahan..ikutkan nafsu…and kalau nak makan pasir….Inspire kata pergi…Civic kata marii!! hmmmm..tapi kalau nak tunggu Proton buat kereta macam Honda..lagi la berjinggut!!!