Proton ready for comeback in UK, says Dr Mahathir

National carmaker Proton aims to export its cars to the United Kingdom and Europe once more, now that it has developed a new engine which allows it to meet their emission standards, said Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Dr Mahathir said the new engine was cause for celebration as the previous engine was more than 10 years old and not suited for today's cars. "We used to export quite a lot of Proton cars to the UK. But since the introduction of new emission and fuel efficiency standards, we have not been able to sell any Proton cars in the UK," Dr Mahathir wrote on his blog today. "The development of the new Proton engines by our engineers working with Ricardo of the UK is going to make us once again able to meet the conditions in the UK and Europe. We hope to export our cars to these countries once again." But the Proton chairman said the engine could only be installed in the cars by late 2017 as vigorous testing was required, including running for five million km. He urged Malaysians to give Proton cars a chance, saying the company was aware of the negative perception surrounding them. He insisted the cars it was producing now were different from those of the past, and that they often had more features than rivals from the same category. "I think Proton cars deserve a test drive by Malaysians. Tell us about your experience. Criticise these cars. We want feedback so we can further improve the cars," said Dr Mahathir. "When you buy a local car, money stays in the country, workers earn money, dealers and agents and their employees enjoy the business they do and the local economy grows. Thousands of families enjoy a good life." – February 9, 2016.