Malaysia Autoshow

It was the most successful autoshow yet by the organisers of Malaysia’s largest annual autoshow, the Malaysia Autoshow, which ended on Sunday (Nov. 13)

There were four new model launches, the most ever, and the hero of them all was the EV200 electric vehicle (EV) displayed by the BAIC-Amber Dual Malaysian joint venture.

BAIC (the acronym for the Beijing Automobile Industry Corporation) is part of the Beijing Automotive Group. As well as having joint ventures with Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, Suzuki, Panasonic (batteries for electric vehicles), BAIC also has its own brands including Foton, BAIC Motor, Changhe Auto. The EV200 and the DP200 and the 16-seater van is franchised in Malaysia under the BAIC International Development Co. Ltd.

However, heavy rains in some parts of the greater Kuala Lumpur area dampened what could have been record crowds.

Also, the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency caused worldwide jitters and the tumbling of many currencies including the ringgit vis a vis the US dollar.

"There was one visitor who said that he had planned to buy a car at the show but that he had decided to hold on for a bit more because he worried about Trump and the uncertainty that had been introduced,” said a marketing manager supervising one of the pavilions at the show.

Suitors for Proton

While there aren’t crowds lining up to buy a controlling stake in Proton, the Malaysian national car maker, it still represents value as a gateway to the Asean market.

The progress so far?

Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) is pulling out of Malaysia. Its team of negotiators to do a deal on Proton have terminated the lease of their office and will be leaving for home. The reason? Even though the Malaysian authorities had bent over backwards to make the concessions that had been requested, SAIC decided that the Asean market was not going to materialize in a significant way. Being left with the Malaysian market was not viable for SAIC, according to an industry watcher familiar with some of the SAIC team members in Kuala Lumpur.

SAIC is the more accomplished of China’s car companies, being the first to JV with Volkswagen when China opened up, then later with GM. It bought MG and created a brand Roewe when it couldn’t buy Rover’s badge.

Not discounting a China car maker, the captain of an European car franchise in Malaysia says that among the continental brands, Renault- Nissan-Mitsubishi Motor group is the more logical and financially, the better placed suitor for Proton.

A decision will be announced by the first quarter next year, or latest by mid-year.