Malaysia is anticipated to unveil its first flying automobile prototype to the general public this yr.
Entrepreneurship Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof said the prototype – fully utilizing local technology – is now available, the Malaysian National News Agency (BERNAMA) reported.
“This yr is a practical goal because we have already got the technology. What matters most is the speed of implementation,” he added.
Redzuan said the automobile can be protected and capable of fly at low altitudes at an inexpensive speed.
“It will cost just over RM1 million to build the prototype,” he told reporters on Tuesday (Feb 26, 2019).
Mohd Redzuan said that through the flying automobile project, the federal government desired to create an environment that stimulates people to take into consideration latest technologies.
“We provide a catalyst and an ecosystem that stimulates people to think beyond what we can do today,” he added.
According to Mohd Redzuan, the project can even leverage the country’s capabilities within the aviation, drones, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and automotive sectors.
“Malaysia has the skills to achieve success in all these areas. We need to take full advantage of this because the most important thing is that we want to be a producing country,” he said, adding that the project was separate from the third national automobile project envisaged by the Prime Minister.
It was previously reported that Proton’s partner, Chinese multinational carmaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely), is hiring English-speaking engineers to provide flying cars in China, the New Straits Times reported.
The English each day China Daily quoted a Geely representative as saying that engineers would help introduce and test prototypes from Terrafugia Inc.
Terrafugia, an American flying automobile manufacturer founded in 2006 by five award-winning graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was acquired by Geely in November 2017.
Geely is reportedly in search of contractors to renovate workshops at its passenger automobile production plant in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, which can be the birthplace of Geely founder and chairman Li Shufu.
Geely expects to finish development of the primary Terrafugia model, the TF-1, by July 2019, for launch within the United States.
However, the technical data of the model remain unknown.
It shouldn’t be known whether such cars will reach Southeast Asian markets after the agreement with the national automotive conglomerate DRB-Hicom.
Geely, the Swedish parent company of Volvo Cars, acquired a 49% stake in Proton in 2017, in addition to a controlling stake in British sports automobile brand Lotus.
It recently acquired a virtually 10 percent stake in Mercedes-Benz owner Daimler for about US$9 billion (RM35.27 billion), becoming its largest shareholder amid growing signs of worldwide incursion by the Chinese auto group.
Source: Bernama | Times of latest straits
