Last evening, I attended the KL Advanced Toastmasters meeting where I took on the role of a Grammarian. But I had also decided to deliver my speech CC # 7: Research Your Topic, titled “Crash and Burn”. It was again an impromptu speech save for some research done about three hours earlier. My speech was about road accidents in dangerous Malaysia. And I was not exaggerating! Did you know that last year, 397,194 road accidents occurred here? And in case you cannot count, this works out to 1,088 accidents per day! The kind of drivers we have in Malaysia is simply amazing! Amazingly reckless. Amazingly negligent. Amazingly dangerous. Anyway, I shared honors with Rohijas in the Best Speaker Award. I must concede that Rohijas is a good speaker too!
And Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia (MMM) chief executive officer Tetsuya Oda came out with a statement on Monday – he had declared in so many words that Inspira and Lancer are alike but not the same! Oda had explained that each brand catered to a different group of customer segments with a different set of driving desires and expectations. Really? Well, he is not totally wrong! Proton Inspira caters to people who want to pay less for a car of mediocre quality. And Mitsubishi Lancer is Japanese-branded – Oda had disclosed that it is fully manufactured by MMC in Japan and distributed by MMM, that it is a completely built-up (CBU) unit, in which all parts and assembly standards have met Mitsubishi Motors' stringent global quality standards. To reinforce his claims, he also highlighted that it is designed and produced to meet the highest European (high-speed driving performance and handling), American (safety) and Japanese (vehicle built) quality standards. And without missing a beat, Oda had said that the Inspira is assembled at Proton’s facility in Shah Alam.
So what does the above mean? That Mitsubishi is now confirming that they have cleverly short-changed Proton yet again with this average, or worse, a sub-standard car? Why is Mitsubishi quickly distancing themselves from Proton? After all, no matter how eloquent Oda is with words, the fact of the matter is that the Proton Inspira is a Mitsubishi Lancer, no two ways about it. Only the frontal and bum are different – alas, the body is the same, at least, I think so.
But you can be sure that Malaysians will still flock to buy the Inspira – we cannot resist a bargain!
And Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia (MMM) chief executive officer Tetsuya Oda came out with a statement on Monday – he had declared in so many words that Inspira and Lancer are alike but not the same! Oda had explained that each brand catered to a different group of customer segments with a different set of driving desires and expectations. Really? Well, he is not totally wrong! Proton Inspira caters to people who want to pay less for a car of mediocre quality. And Mitsubishi Lancer is Japanese-branded – Oda had disclosed that it is fully manufactured by MMC in Japan and distributed by MMM, that it is a completely built-up (CBU) unit, in which all parts and assembly standards have met Mitsubishi Motors' stringent global quality standards. To reinforce his claims, he also highlighted that it is designed and produced to meet the highest European (high-speed driving performance and handling), American (safety) and Japanese (vehicle built) quality standards. And without missing a beat, Oda had said that the Inspira is assembled at Proton’s facility in Shah Alam.
So what does the above mean? That Mitsubishi is now confirming that they have cleverly short-changed Proton yet again with this average, or worse, a sub-standard car? Why is Mitsubishi quickly distancing themselves from Proton? After all, no matter how eloquent Oda is with words, the fact of the matter is that the Proton Inspira is a Mitsubishi Lancer, no two ways about it. Only the frontal and bum are different – alas, the body is the same, at least, I think so.
But you can be sure that Malaysians will still flock to buy the Inspira – we cannot resist a bargain!
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