THE CHIEF MINISTER WITH PROTON QUALITY..

Press Release

“AVERAGE MAINTENANCE COST FOR PROTON PERDANA IS LESS THAN RM500 PER ANNUM”.

KUALA LUMPUR. “Terengganu State Government expenditure in excess of RM1million for 16 units of Proton Perdana car maintenance between 2004 and 2008 was unjustified” Said Armin Baniaz Pahamin, Deputy President Proton Edar Dealers Association Malaysia.

A new Proton Perdana bought in 2004 was manufacturer’s warranted for 2 years. A new Proton Perdana that is purchased now is with an extended warranty for a total of 5 years. With a 5 years extended warranty, it is not possible for the maintenance of a new Mercedes E200 compressor to be cheaper than a new Proton Perdana.

Proton service dealer network had been servicing Proton Perdana since inception and had never charged any Proton Perdana more than RM500 average for a regular maintenance per annum depending on the mileage of the car.

To maintain the manufacturer’s warranty, Proton Perdana must be regularly serviced at a service frequency of every 5,000-10,000km. The cost for each servicing, as per Proton RECOMMENDED SERVICE ITEMS are only RM250 average per minor service. The average mileage for a car owner per annum is less than 10,000km and the cost to maintain the car of that mileage is less than RM500 per annum.

For high user with an average mileage of 30,000km per annum, the average cost of regular maintenance will be approximately RM1,500 per annum with an additional RM1,500 per annum for other wear and tear items such as tyres, brake pads, wiper blade, battery etc.

The replacement of the gearbox can be avoided with regular service maintenance. The cost of a new original Proton Perdana gearbox is approximately RM20,000 but the gearbox is under manufacturer’s warranty of up to 2 years or 50,000km mileage if the Perdana was purchased in 2004. Our new Perdana now is with an option of an Extended Warranty for a total of 5 years or 175,000km whichever is first.

Armin said, the Chief Minister, YB Datuk Ahmad Said should have validated, authenticated and investigated the exorbitant expenditure rather than concluding that the expenses is the real cost to maintain a Proton Perdana. It is naïve to even think that the maintenance for a Proton Perdana will be that costly.

We have sold more than 60,000 units of Proton Perdana since it was launched and is still selling an approximate 10,000 units of Perdana per annum. If the cost of maintenance is as exorbitant as what the Chief Minister claimed, nobody will buy the car. The car is saleable because of the competitive pricing as well as the reasonable cost of maintenance.

“We laud and welcome the ACA probe and investigation into the exorbitant cost of repair to clear the claim made against our Proton Perdana. The Chief Minister’s remark was naive, unbecoming and an insult as well as damaging to Proton especially when the real cost or the authenticity of the repair job was never ascertained. The chief Minister’s credibility is worse than the alleged poor quality of Perdana. His remark reflects his professionalism as a leader”, said Armin.

We urged the federal, state government and the public to also refer to the Proton owner’s manual booklet that is provided with every purchase of new Proton car for the replacement of recommended items for warranty purpose and to avoid being over-charged for replacement of unnecessary items.