Malaysians no longer care or give their support to the future of the country’s first car manufacturer Proton Holdings Berhad (PROTON), said its advisor Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.

The former prime minister said that was one of the reasons for PROTON’s failure in competing with other car manufacturers including Perodua.

“The consumers no longer cares what happens to the country. They just want cheap and best things and we see that even know it is difficult to compete with Perodua,” he said when met at a function today.

“Perodua itself is not producing local cars but are producing Japanese cars assembled in Malaysia,” he added.

PROTON, a brainchild of Dr Mahathir, was established on May 7, 1983 with a paid-up capital of RM150 million.

Dr Mahathir said, Malaysians are seen as not concerned over the development of PROTON and are willing to let the industry die on its own.

“PROTON from A to Z is trying to develop local industries but our consumers are not even bothered if the industry dies. They are more concerned over price, well known and foreign brands which are difficult for us to fight with but we try nevertheless,” he said.

Last year, PROTON and Perodua had controlled 51.1 per cent of local cars market, a decline from the 53.3 per cent in 2012.