The Malaysian government will consider allocating up to RM120m (US$39m) in R&D funding support to Proton in FY2013 with a view to the national OEM launching electrified vehicles by mid-2014, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed has told Malaysia’s Parliament. “The government allocated RM100m this year for Proton to develop a hybrid and electric model and will consider an allocation of RM120m next year for research and development. All this depends on Budget 2013, which will be tabled by the Prime Minister tomorrow (today, 8 October) and on Proton meeting its key performance index target,” Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said.
Proton is currently collaborating with UK-based Frazer-Nash Research to develop its own EV, having demonstrated the early fruits of their labours by winning the Most Efficient Multi-Purpose Car (Prototype) and the Best Overall Extended-Range Vehicle (E-REV) at the 2011 RAC Future Car Challenge Brighton-to-London run.
The Minister justified the government’s aid to Proton in response to a parliamentary question by saying Proton’s R&D expenditure was much smaller than that of other OEMs, and denied allegations that Proton had spent some RM270m to test 30 cars, each costing about RM9m.
