Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Malaysia seeking to manufacture 'super cars,' says Mahathir

ISTANBUL — Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has pictured the possibility of Malaysia producing "super cars" in order to further enhance the capability of the nation’s automotive industry.

The Onuk Sazan super car produced by Turkish supercar producer Onuk.

The Onuk Sazan super car produced by Turkish supercar producer Onuk.

Follow TODAY on WhatsApp

ISTANBUL — Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has pictured the possibility of Malaysia producing "super cars" in order to further enhance the capability of the nation’s automotive industry.

Dr Mahathir said Turkish supercar producer Onuk had indicated willingness to cooperate with Malaysia to produce the exotic vehicle.

Dr Mahathir said he had long been aware of Turkish companies’ capability but only now he could see it first-hand.

“I was aware of their capability. But there was no follow-up at the time as I was not the prime minister then, so making progress would have been difficult.

“And now they are ready to collaborate... not only with that type of car (super car) but also with other cars,’’ he said .

Dr Mahathir was speaking to Malaysian reporters at the end of his official visit to Turkey at the Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (ISGIA) on Sunday (July 28).

The Onuk Sazan and Onuk S56/G super car models are exhibited at ISGIA and Dr Mahathir took the opportunity to check them out before he left for home.

On Friday, Dr Mahathir had a dialogue session with Turkish captains of industry, and offered them Malaysian expertise to produce their own national car based on the success garnered by Proton and Perodua.

Meanwhile, Dr Mahathir praised Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd's (MAHB) success in managing (ISGIA) Turkey’s second largest airport — showing Malaysian companies’ capabilities as well as their ability to expand their operations abroad.

He said that although MAHB operates airports in several other countries, ISGIA — which the company wholly owns — is the largest, handling 34 million passengers annually.

“It’s much larger than KLIA (Kuala lumpur International Airport), and its management is something special. There are people who recognise our capability in this field and give us a lot of opportunities," said Dr Mahathir.

On Friday, Dr Mahathir visited ISGIA, which was taken over entirely by MAHB in 2014, and witnessed its operations.

Opened in January 2001, the airport is the second busiest in Turkey and the world’s busiest single-runway airport and terminal.

Located some 45 km from Istanbul, it recorded 16.7 million passenger traffic movements as of June this year over first half of 2019, up 3.4 per cent over the same period last yeaar.

In 2018, it posted 34.1 million passenger traffic movements and revenue of RM1.15 billion (S$382 million). NEW STRAITS TIMES

Related topics

super car Malaysia Turkey

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.