By Khairie Hisyam
Eras come and go in the business jungle. Such is the natural order of things as lean, mean tigers age, wither and succumb to stronger, faster ones. Although Proton’s era as the government’s official car, which Tiger thought was ending soon, was apparently ‘magically’ prolonged this month.
Tiger’s jungle has been abuzz this week, what with new developer outfit EcoWorld moving for a 65% stake in Focal Aims, a Johor-based developer. Not only because the little-known Focal Aims is no one’s idea of a sexy prey, but also because the predator EcoWorld has uncanny shades of Liew Kee Sin, the man helming arguably the country’s top developer.
While the man himself personally denied his involvement, Tiger cannot help but feel the end is near for SP Setia’s era at the top. But even though many see SP Setia as Liew vice versa, the end of SP Setia’s era does not necessarily mean the end of Liew’s era.
Is Liew retiring for real after leaving SP Setia by March 2015 at the latest? Or will he emerge in EcoWorld and repeat his climb to the top of the food chain with this new, fascinatingly fast-rising outfit? Only the man himself knows.
Liew Kee Sin
Though Tiger suspects Liew’s 22-year-old son Tian Xiong, precociously dabbling in corporate deals involving hundreds of millions just one year after graduating from university, might know something about his father’s plans. As does perhaps EcoWorld’s senior management team, all formerly Liew’s teammates in SP Setia.
Of course if the latter scenario for Liew post-SP Setia proves to be the case, Tiger looks forward to seeing Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB)’s faces then given how they wrested control over SP Setia from Liew and his team — after the latter spent years nurturing it — without so much as a by-your-leave in 2011–2012.
But the SP Setia–EcoWorld saga aside, this week also brought us a twist to another story —it turned out that the Proton era as the government official car is not yet ending after all.
Last July Honda confirmed that it was in talks with Proton Holdings, its parent DRB-Hicom and the government about replacing the government’s ageing Perdana fleet.
Then later that month it became official. A circular from the Treasury to all ministries and federal departments said the Perdana Executive and Proton Inspira cars used by certain government officials would be replaced, in phases, with Honda Accord 2.4L and Honda Accord 2.0L.
But this week news reports said Putrajaya has made an about-turn on that decision, opting for Proton’s Perdana Replacement Model (PRM) instead.
Jungle whispers have it that Proton managed to convince prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and the National Advisory Council to go for Proton’s PRM instead of Honda’s Accord within a matter of days earlier this month, after disclosing that it is ready with a new Perdana model with a prototype for inspection.
Now the speed at which this about-turn has happened borders on being magical, Tiger thinks.
When DRB-Hicom bought into Proton in March last year, Tiger heard that Proton’s R&D department does not have a ready Perdana replacement. In April this year there were chirps that the PRM will likely be based on a Honda Accord chassis, but nothing concrete followed.
To recap, Proton Perdana was introduced in 1995, and corporate tycoon Robert Tan’s Spanco was contracted to supply and maintain the government’s Perdana fleet for 25 years until year 2020. Every four years, the government would get new Perdana cars while the used Perdanas would be sold.
So for all these years, Proton never got around to creating a viable replacement…it even reached a point where the government was saying goodbye to the Perdanas when it opted for Honda Accord in July this year.
Now just a few months later Proton suddenly has a polished new product of sufficient standard to replace the old Perdanas and outmuscle Honda’s Accord line from contention?
According to whispers reaching Tiger’s ears, Proton even has a ready prototype to boot and Proton’s production line is ready to deliver these new cars by January 2014.
Such a fast turnaround is nothing short of being truly magical. Not even Tiger’s own magnificent self can claim to such impressively speedy brilliance and efficiency.
Maybe the Mongolians wouldn’t begrudge us the slogan “Endless Possibilities” after all — based on this latest turn of events, who is to say what is and isn’t possible in Bolehland?
Although truly Tiger is somewhat amused at the competition between Proton and Honda to supply the government with cars, since at times the distinction between Proton cars and those of other manufacturers is just whether Tiger’s awe-inspiring face adorns the car’s logo.
Older jungle creatures would certainly remember that the original Perdana launched in 1995 was actually a rebadged Mitsubishi Eterna. Now don’t let Tiger ramble on about Proton’s other rebadging adventures — or about other questionable aspects of Proton, for that matter…Tiger can go on and on.
And on.
Of course, maybe Tiger is giving too much credit to Proton in having come up with a viable replacement for the Perdanas within a few short months.
Word from the grapevine was that former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad met Najib personally about this subject. So maybe it was the pressure from the feisty ex-premier to secure his legacy instead that secured Proton’s position.
After all, if Proton cannot deliver by early 2014 as promised, its parent DRB-Hicom has its paws in many other carmarkers. Like Honda, for one, who was supposed to replace the Perdana fleet with its Accord line.
Would the government end up with rebadged Accords with the Proton logo next year? Tiger doubts it, but not enough to bet against this happening.
Because we live in the land of endless possibilities, after all.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
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