The Proton willing buyer, willing seller situation
Salleh Said Keruak
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has asked Malaysians to help Proton. Proton is not government owned but private owned. Mahathir, however, wants Malaysians to help Proton as a sort of national service or as a mark of patriotism.
Personally I have no argument with this. After all, I am as Malaysian as Mahathir is and anything that helps keep Malaysia’s flag flying high I would be most supportive of.
But then we need to understand that buying a car is not about nationalism or patriotism. It is about spending sometimes up to half your monthly salary (instalments, road tax, insurance, fuel, toll charges, parking fees, service, etc.), not including the depreciation, which can be as high as 20% the instant you register your car and drive it out of the showroom.
So when someone buys a car it all boils down to just one thing, value for money, and whether later you can recover as much as possible from your investment when you decide to sell or trade-in your car. And a car is the worst investment you can own because it depreciates the instant you buy it and you loss more money every day you hold on to it.
So ultimately the issue of market forces and the law of supply and demand dictates what you do. If there is a demand then you create the supply. But you cannot create a demand by asking Malaysians to buy your product just because they are Malaysian and Proton is also Malaysian.
