The Star Online: Business
The Star Online: Business |
| Proton wants incentive policy for electric vehicles Posted: 04 Nov 2011 10:42 PM PDT SURREY: Proton Holdings Bhd, hopes the government will look into an incentive policy or offer rebate for electric vehicles (EVs) to spur Malaysians to move to EVs. Its green tech department board project director Datuk Zainuddin Che Din said the cost of the vehicle ownership was among the challenges in the implementation of the EVs or hybrid vehicles initiatives. He said the Green Project Team was working with the United Kingdom-based Frazer-Nash Research Ltd to develop the Proton Saga EV and Proton Exora Extended Range EV (REEV), expected to roll out in the first half of 2013. Citing examples, he pointed out that the US government provided a US$7,500 tax credit, the Chinese government provided subsidies of up to US$8,800 for the purchase of alternative fuel vehicles and UK Plug-in Car Grant offered a 25% discount up or up to a maximum 5,000 pounds for a new car. He added that Proton had targeted to roll out the Exora REEV and Persona Electric Vehicles (EV) by 2013, and would likely spend about RM200mil until the end of the Fleet Test Vehicle (FTV) programme. Zainuddin said the amount was for the period between the project began in 2008 till 2012. He said the national car maker had applied for a grant and the government had agreed to give. "A grant was promised but we haven't receive yet, so till then Proton will have to fork out its own money for the project. Once we receive the grant, only then we can offset it with the money spent," he told Bernama after a media briefing on the progress of electrification plans for Proton cars. Besides that amount, Zainuddin said Proton foresees that it would likely have to invest another 10% to 20% of the RM200mil for the next phase. Exora REEV is a plug-in Hybrid model with an on-board charger and grid charging capability to charge the battery pack to offer the best fuel economy. The Government is discussing with Tenaga Nasional Bhd on the probable charges. "Proton is facilitating the talks," he said. Lotus, Proton's wholly owned subsidiary, has secured 10.4mil from the Regional Growth Fund Grants from the British government to help create job opportunities. Meanwhile, its managing director Datuk Seri Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir said in Beijing that the new model to be introduced by Proton next year was not a replacement model for Proton Persona. He said the new model, tentatively called "P3-21A", was a totally new car, with a new design and no carry-over from Persona at all. Designed to meet legislative requirements of all possible markets, the world-class model would be powered by the Campro turbo engine, he said. Syed Zainal Abidin said the new model was also one of the two models to be produced in China as part of Proton's collaboration with Beijing-based Hawtai Motor Group Ltd. The other model is Proton Exora. - Bernama Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Markets rise on easing of eurozone concern Posted: 04 Nov 2011 08:57 PM PDT PETALING JAYA: Buoyed by overnight gains on Wall Street and Europe, after Greece called off its referendum on a European Union (EU) bailout and the European Central Bank (ECB) unexpectedly announced a surprise interest cut, Asian markets rebounded strongly yesterday. The local bourse saw the benchmark FBM Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) rising 15.14 points, or 1.04%, to close at 1,477.51 points. Gainers led losers 591 to 194, while 248 counters were unchanged. Volume was heavy at 2.3 billion shares worth RM1.5bil. Gains in the Malaysian stock market were led by the rise of blue-chip counters, such as Genting Bhd (up 44 sen to RM10.80); CIMB Group Holdings Bhd (17 sen to RM7.36); Tenaga Nasional Bhd (16 sen to RM5.88); IOI Corp Bhd (13 sen to RM5.21) and DiGi.com Bhd (82 sen to RM33.30). Analysts explained that calling off the referendum would moved Greece nearer to accept the much-needed EU bailout package to help with its rising debt problems; hence reducing investor concern of financial instability spreading throughout in the region. Sentiment was also lifted by ECB's surprise rate cut, which was seen as being supportive of the region's faltering economy. In other Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index saw a rise of 600.29 points, or 3.12%, to 19,842.79, while Singapore's Straits Times Index rose 38.20 points, or 1.36%, to 2,848.24. Shanghai's A share index rose 20.20 points to 2,528.29, while Japan's Nikkei gained 160.98 points to 8,801.40 and South Korea's Kospi was up 58.45 points to 1,928.41. MIDF equity analyst Syed Muhammed Kifni said in his report, "We are under no illusion that the eurozone debt issue is going to simply fade away; nor do we discount the possibility that the situation may turn for the worse, especially if the economic performance and sovereign financial position of the other PIIGS, in particular the "too big to bail" countries, namely Italy and Spain, deteriorate further." (PIIGS is the acronym for Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain.) Meanwhile, recent data from the United States continued to suggest that the world's largest economy was sluggish. Both the manufacturing and services industries expanded at slower pace, while consumer confidence deteriorated. The US Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing index fell from 51.6 in September to 50.8 last month, while the gauge for non-manufacturing fell from 53 to 52.9. A reading above 50 still indicates growth. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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