Agence France-Presse
Last updated 12:15pm (Mla time) 11/11/2007
KUALA LUMPUR–Malaysia, Iran and Turkey plan to build an “Islamic car” fitted with a compass to find the direction of Mecca, and a compartment to keep the Koran in, the Malaysian state news agency said.
Malaysian automaker Proton’s managing director Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir said during a visit to Tehran that the vehicle would be aimed at the global export market.
“We will identify a car that we can develop to be produced in Malaysia, Iran or Turkey,” he told the Bernama agency in a weekend report.
“The car will have all the Islamic features and should be meant for export purposes,” he said, adding that it would feature a compartment for keeping the Muslim holy book the Koran, and prayer scarves.
Syed Zainal said the vehicle was an Iranian initiative.
“What they (Iran) want to do is to call that an Islamic car,” he said, giving no further details.
Proton announced last week that it had won an order to supply 5,000 units of its compact Waja model to be used as taxis in Tehran as part of the city’s 200 million dollar public transport renewal initiative.
Proton has been trying to kickstart its export market as it attempts to halt a sharp decline in domestic market share and stem a series of losses – attributed to a lack of new models and a reputation for poor quality.
It is in negotiations with German auto giant Volkswagen over an alliance that it hopes could turn its fortunes around.
Posted on 11/11/2007 10:26:36 AM PST by TornadoAlley3](TornadoAlley3)
Tehran, Nov 12:
Malaysia together with Iran and Turkey plan to produce ‘‘Islamic’’ cars for the global market, according to Proton Holdings Bhd’s managing director Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir. From an idea mooted by Iran, the proposed cars are expected to have Islamic features such as compass, Qibla reading and compartment for keeping the Holy Quran and scarves. ‘‘What they (Iran) want to do is to call that an Islamic car,’’ he told Bernama on the sidelines of a dinner organized by Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) here last night. The dinner was held in conjunction with the visit of Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Mohd Affendi Norwawi, to Iran.
According to Syed Zainal Abidin, the Islamic car proposal will be a good opportunity for all those involved. ‘‘We will identify a car that we can develop to be produced in Malaysia, Iran or Turkey. The car will have all the Islamic features and should be meant for export purposes,’’ he said. Syed Zainal Abidin said with government support, the Islamic car producers will be able to get a big volume of orders. ‘‘For Proton, we are more than happy because we have products that we can share. For us, the proposal will be an advantage because it can help reduce our cost of development and provide better volume and economies of scale,’’ he said and added: ‘‘They have identified and proposed three countries – Iran, Malaysia and Turkey. Why these three countries? I think it’s because they are automotive-based,’’ Syed Zainal Abidin added.
The minister is leading a 40-member delegation comprising government officials and representatives from private companies on a visit to the United Arab Emirates and Iran from Nov 5 to 11. Objective of the mission is to identify potentially large business opportunities for Malaysian companies. It is also meant to explore possible joint ventures between Malaysian companies and those in the Middle East as well as to attract investments from the Middle East in Malaysia’s economic corridors development.
Re: Malaysia, Iran and Turkey plan to build an “Islamic car”
Besides “compass for Mecca” and “compartment for Quran” what else are they going to make it “Islamic”? Do they have a “non-Islamic” car as well? Would it mean Toyota, Honda, Lexus, Acura will become haram?
You know, they could’ve simply worked with current GPS manufacturers and add an option “Find Mecca”, voila your car becomes “Islamic”
Re: Malaysia, Iran and Turkey plan to build an “Islamic car”
We can’t even build a simple car without asking help from other. It is time we invest in Auto Industry and best thing to work with friendly countries to share the development cost.
Re: Malaysia, Iran and Turkey plan to build an “Islamic car”
we have gadha gari which is absolutely indigenous. It does not create any pollution and is environmentally friendly. If everybody used it as a means of transportation there will be no deaths or fatal injuries in case of accidents. No ?
Re: Malaysia, Iran and Turkey plan to build an “Islamic car”
*This is exactly what we need, right? and which century do we live in?
We can’t be joking about this stuff, It has been 60 years and we are still 40 years behind the west in term of planning for the future. We can’t even compare ourself to India and Iran, both have massive manufacture sector compare to Pakistan…even Thailand economy is better than Pakistan. We need to sent all the extremest to **Nauru Island, clean the NWPF, divide the provinces, setup investment opportunity. We need to invest in infrastructure, Auto industry, Mechanical and Engineering, Fishery and seafood farming & packing, further develop the agriculture zone.
-Build new cities base on new designs, for example cosatal areas Sonmiani, Ormara
Pasni City, Jiwani should also be develop. This will cause a massive human movement, relocation process from Sindh, NWFP and Punjab to these cities and they will become multi-culture and multi-ethnic cities.*
Re: Malaysia, Iran and Turkey plan to build an "Islamic car"
Billy kay galay main ghanti kown bandhay ga ?The idea is great but once you start to develop/build those cities locals will start crying we are being made minority now in our own cities and province.If you talk about splitting NWFP the locals will start crying foul. multi-culture multi-ethnic can only occur through natural process. Anymore ideas ?
ye kiya karring peer Sahib.. :o