A few days ago while I was watching NCIS, a brief news update flashed on the television during the commercials. As I very much hate the overly-formal,  pseudo-robotic voice of the news presenter, I paid no attention to it. However, I heard her saying that she would be reporting on the “most dangerous car in Australia”. Again, I gave no attention.

It was not until the next news update that my sister alerted me about the label on the car. It spelled “PROTON JUMBUCK” in black bold font, all capitalised, which clearly stand out against the white paint of the test vehicle. Immediately, I went online to search for it and saw all the news.

More importantly, I went to the official ANCAP result for Proton Jumbuck.

One freaking meagre star. Even worst than the Chinese-made Great Wall Motors SA220 or V240, which scored 2 stars.

Luckily, Proton already has plans to phase out the vehicle in Australia. Seeing how close the date of the news was to the date label on the crash text vehicle (20 AUG 09), I can’t help but come up with the conspiracy theory that the the decision is linked to the fact that the vehicle would be undergoing crash test in the next few days.

Back in Malaysia though, none of the media seems to be reporting it. It’s a good thing the car isn’t available in Malaysia. Yet, if the Malaysian-made vehicle scored such appalling figure, what about other passenger vehicles manufactured by Proton? Then, I found this, and this, and finally this. So, it does seem that Proton has a bad rep for making sub-standard, relatively unsafe car.

A NATIONAL car company, which after over 25 years of protectionism from the state, still produces sub-par cars – if that’s not an embarrassment to Malaysia, I don’t know what is.

By the way, the overly-formal pseudo-robotic voice of the reporter with the Proton Jumbuck segment can be watched here:

Tags: Australia, Malaysia, Proton