Malaysia starts ‘another’ national car program. 5 questions answered!

Why do we need another national program when the first national car program, Proton needed numerous bailouts in its lifetime and the second national car program survives on being a rebadging exercise from Daihatsu. Yes, Perodua now stands tall as a success story but this was because of its close working relationship with Daihatsu and more recently Toyota (who indirectly owns Daihatsu).

Now comes our new government pushing for a new national car program and today, the 9th of August which is also the Singapore National Day, the Malaysian Ministry Of International Trade & Industry (MITI) has announced the start of the 3rd national car program with a private Malaysian company DreamEDGE.

1. So who is DreamEDGE? Well according to the Edge newspaper, DreamEDGE Sdn Bhd is a Cyberjaya-based company which is majority-owned by Government-controlled Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT). MIGHT is under the purview of the Prime Minister’s Department.
2. So who owns DreamEDGE? According to CTOS, MIGHT is 100%-owned VentureTECH Sdn Bhd has a 52.63% stake in DreamEDGE. Khairil Adri Adnan, founder and CEO of DreamEDGE, has 43.11% while the remaining 4.26% is held by its general manager Azhan Abdul Aziz.
3. So has DreamEDGE got funds? Well research shows that for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2017 (FY2017), DreamEDGE narrowed its losses after tax to RM856,278, compared with a loss after tax of RM1.64 million in FY2016. Revenue increased 20.5% to RM20.66 million in FY2017 from RM17.14 million in the previous year. There was no data for FY2018.
4. So who is DreamEDGE’s automotive technical partner in this project? MITI announced that Daihatsu, which has a 30% stake in Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua), will not hold a stake in this 3rd national car project but will provide engineering know-how, platform and technical support. Vague answer but acceptable for now.
5. So what will DreamEDGE bring to the 3rd national car table? DreamEDGE says that this new national car will be fully designed and developed by Malaysian engineers, focusing on new upper body, interior and human-machine interface systems, as well as enhancement of noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) and ride and handling (R&H).