KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 18 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad insisted today that the only problem facing Proton was public perception which was not reflective of the national carmaker’s quality or performance, following news reports of declining sales for the fifth straight year.

The Proton group chairman pointed out that the current engineering team has corrected any flaw in the manufacture of Proton cars, adding that they were on par with those outside Malaysia.

“The problem with Proton is not the cars, it is the people’s perception that we have poor-quality cars. People will see a Malaysian car and assume it cannot be good as a Japanese car,” he told a news conference here.

A collection of cars from 1985 is seen at the Proton Centre of Excellence Complex in Subang Jaya, Jan 18, 2016. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

“But we have skilled engineers and they are as good as engineers from other countries. Believe me, we produce good cars now,” he said.

The national carmaker’s sales had declined in the last five years according to recent figures from the Frost & Sullivan Automotive outlook for 2016.

Once dominant, Proton’s share of the passenger car market is now just 17.7 per cent, down sharply from the 29.6 per cent it commanded in 2011. Proton might also face the possibility of Japanese brand Honda overtaking it.

The Frost & Sullivan outlook also revealed that Malaysia’s car sales will drop for the second year running in 2016.