Government mulls Benz, BMWs as Proton delays new Perdana

(The Malaysian Insider) KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 28 — Despite the moribund economy, the government is mulling the use of imported luxury cars for the Najib administration and top civil servants to replace its leased fleet of ageing Proton Perdana V6 Executive vehicles which are no longer in production.

The cars — Mercedes Benz S class, BMW 5 series, Toyota Camry and Honda Accord — are likely to be leased for four years from Spanco Sdn Bhd, which has a 25-year concession with the government ending 2018 that is now worth RM80 million a year.

The Mercedes Benz S class.

The Malaysian Insider has learnt that the judiciary has decided on using the Mercedes Benz and that perk could extend to ministers.

"The Mercedes Benz cars are already being assembled now in Pekan in anticipation of the lease," a government source told The Malaysian Insider, referring to the assembly plant in the prime minister's constituency.

The new cars could raise heckles as Barisan Nasional (BN) lawmakers had objected to Pakatan Rakyat (PR) administrations in both Perak and Selangor for opting to use Toyota Camrys over the Perdanas, accusing them of being unpatriotic and disloyal to the national carmaker.

The BN government that ousted PR in Perak later put the Camrys on the auction block early this year.

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