THE government will not buy back national carmaker Proton Holdings, as it is privately owned, said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today.

“Proton is not owned by the government. It is privately owned. Whether it should be bought back (from China) is up to Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary,” said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, after chairing the first Pakatan Harapan government cabinet meeting in Putrajaya this morning.

He was asked whether Proton or Petronas would appoint new chairmen and whether the government planned to buy the carmaker.

Dr Mahathir, who was previously the chairman for both companies, was replaced when he fell out with former prime minister Najib Razak over the 1Malaysia Development scandal.

Under the Najib administration, DRB-Hicom sold 49.9% of Proton to Chinese carmaker Geely Holdings last year.

It also sold its entire stake in British sports car maker Lotus to Geely.

Proton, a brainchild of Dr Mahathir, was sold as it was projected to lose up to RM1 billion if it wasn’t sold, said Najib.

He said that the government could not continue bailing out Proton due to the continued losses.

Najib said a car manufacturer needed to produce a million vehicles to remain profitable, but Proton only manufactured an average 6,000 units a month, or 72,000 a year. – May 23, 2018.