Government Preparing Large Fund For R&D Of Third National Car

Entrepreneur Development Minister Mohd Redzuan Yusof has said that the government will be channelling funds into the research and development (R&D) for the third national car project.

According to Mohd Redzuan, he said that the funds will come from an R&D grant approved by the government. In addition to that, he added that Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad will announce the “large sum” of funds.

"Let the prime minister reveal the grant. It (the sum) is large and enough to become the catalyst to attract the participation of private companies for a special purpose vehicle (SPV) that we will form as the starting model to stimulate the third national car project," he told Malaysiakini.

Earlier in December, the Finance Minister has mentioned that the government had yet to decide on investing in the third national car project. He said that the government has no such allocation to invest in the project under Budget 2019 except for R&D, although the minister did mention that the government might provide grants for R&D. He added that the R&D grant won’t necessarily be for the third national car, as it could be used by Proton or DRB-Hicom.