Come on Proton!!

I find it very strange that the government is very reluctant to part with part of Proton. Why is that so?.
As far as I and the rest of the Malaysians are concerned, Proton is in dire straits and is in serious need of help.
Volkswagen has emerged as a possible partner for Proton. Personally, I think that the VW Group will be a
fantastic partner for Proton due to the financial muscle and expertise that they possess. The government should
seize this opportunity and just sign the agreement. Why all the hassle??. I mean, just look at all those companies
under the VW Group which includes Audi, Bugatti, Porsche and Skoda. All of them are very successful car
manufacturers and they all were struggling before VW took over. I would like to take Skoda as an example for
my elaboration. Skoda was established in the Chezh Republic many years ago. Although they produced many
cheap and cheerful cars, they never really took off and were in a crisis as a result. However, things changed drastically when VW took over. Just look at them now. They are producing brilliant cars of high standards and their build qualities are excellent. The Skoda company now is even raking in profit from their sales compared to previously where they were in the red for most of the time. The same thing could happen for Proton if the government decides to partner Proton with VW. There could be transfer of technologies, and things like that which could benefit Proton immensely. Proton cars with malfunctioning power windows could be a thing of past if this deal goes trough!!. Therefore, I really urge the government to do the right thing and accept VW to be the partner for Proton as it will only be a boon not for the company itself, but the government, the citizens and the nation as well.

What's with the double standard Proton??

While browsing trough my favorite local automotive industry news web page (www.paultan.org), I stumbled upon an interesting article. The article was regarding a letter sent by a student currently studying in the Hull University, United Kingdom. In the letter that he sent, he wrote that Hull, the 7th largest city in the UK is crawling with Proton cars regardless of models. The police, taxi drivers and even the citizens of the city of Hull seem to like using models rolled out from our national car makers factory over there.

When asked if there are any problem with their cars, the answer the student received from the Proton users over there was "no". Instead, they were full of praises for the Proton car brand. This makes me wonder, why is Proton so obsessed of making higher quality cars for the export market and substandard ones for the local market?. I mean, the local market is the highest contributor towards its income and yet they churn out cars of such low qualities. Cars made for the export market are put trough many different and stringent tests to ensure reliability and durability where as cars for the local market are put trough a series of tests which I believe is insufficient to guarantee their reliability.

The same can be said of the security and safety features of the cars that they make. Cars made for the export market all comes standard with safety features such as airbags, ABS, traction control, etc. Cars made for the local market however seems to command a premium price if these essential life saving features are included. Why don't Proton fit all these items as standard on it's cars regardless whether it is to be exported or sold locally?Why?.

I believe, all the factors which I have mentioned above has contributed towards the recent downfall of Proton Holdings. Drastic measures should be taken by Proton to ensure it is can compete in the local and international market. But the main question raised in this piece of opinion of mine is why the double standard Proton?Why?.