Proton expected to start selling EVs by 2014

KUALA LUMPUR: Proton is expected to roll out its electric cars by 2014.

International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed told Parliament that Proton, like many other car makers, is focused on moving towards producing environment-friendly cars.

Proton is working with UK-based Frazer-Nash Research (FNR) firm to develop the models.

In October last year, Proton had said the first EV rollout would be in 2013 but the DRB-Hicom takeover and re-organisation of the company has since pushed it back to 2014.

Mustapa said in a reply to Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) that Proton had allocated RM500mil for research and development (R&D) in green technology and is expected to gain profits after commercialising it in 2014.

Mustapa said that Proton's investment in green technology R&D compared to other multinational car manufacturers was much smaller.

For instance, General Motors spends about US$1.2bil to develop its green car Chevrolet Volt while Nissan-Renault had allocated US$5.6bil for the same purpose, he said.