Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad voiced his disappointment over the mostly negative response towards the government’s initiative for a new national car. He wrote in a blog post that no one wants to see a second national car and added that it is enough that Proton is said to be a failure. Last month at the ‘24th Future of Asia’ conference in Tokyo organized by Nikkei Inc., he was reviving his dream of a new national car after the automaker he started in the 1980s was privatized and a stake was later sold to a Chinese company. Malaysia’s national carmaker Proton is partly owned by Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holdings Group after the company acquired 49.9 per cent stake in Proton last year in a transaction worth RM460.3 million.