25-07-2008: Don’t make Proton a scapegoat, says PEDA

KUALA LUMPUR: Proton Edar Dealers’ Association (PEDA) has come out strongly to defend Proton cars in the wake of the Terengganu state government’s move in buying 14 Mercedes E200 Kompressor as its official cars.

Its president Wah Ahmad Sepwan Wan Abd Rahman, in a statement yesterday, said the association, which has a network of 180 authorised Proton service centres, found it illogical that huge sums had been spent by the Terengganu government for the maintenance of Proton Perdana.

Terengganu Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said had claimed that the state administration was buying the Mercedes cars to save costs, as it had spent between RM150,000 and RM170,000 over four years for the upkeep of the Perdana V6.

“Proton’s new models carry full manufacturer’s warranty for at least two years. Does that mean the state government spent the large sum (on maintenance) after the warranty period?

“If this is the case, then the RM150,000 was spent over two years and not four. PEDA demands a thorough investigation into the matter to determine whether the maintenance was carried out by qualified parties and if the costs exceeded that of authorised Proton service centres,” he said.

Wan Sepwan said there could be a possibility that the maintenance of the state’s fleet of cars was not carried out properly, resulting in scams by unscrupulous parties.