[ad_1]
PETALING JAYA: An aide to Dr Mahathir Mohamad confirmed that the former Prime Minister is the owner of a dusty Proton Perdana parked in an abandoned lot in the UK.
Last week, the YouTube channel Lost Adventures uploaded a video exploring an abandoned building in Surrey, UK, where they found several prototypes and luxury vehicles worth millions of pounds in a hidden basement.
Netizens have pointed out over the weekend that one of the cars presented was a Proton Perdana with the registration VK 5231, which supposedly belonged to Mahathir.
In a Facebook post, the attendee explained that Mahathir had sent his own car overseas for research and development (R&D) under Frazer-Nash Research Ltd, a company that develops components made for electric vehicles.
Mahathir was looking to develop a domestic hybrid car, he said.
He also said that the abandoned building in the video was under the luxury car maker Bristol Cars, which is owned by Kamal Siddiqi, a British businessman from Pakistan.
“It all started in late 2016, when Mahathir went to the UK and spoke with Kamal Siddiqi about turning a normal car into a hybrid car through Kamal’s R&D company, Frazer-Nash Research Limited, based in the UK.
“As Mahathir is the type who liked new technologies and did not want the country to be left behind, on his own initiative, he sent his Proton Perdana there for R&D.
“If this R&D had been successful, Proton would have tried to create its own hybrid car at that time and compete with other leading brands in the world that already had their own hybrid models,” the assistant said in the publication.
It added that it was not known whether the vehicle had gone through the R&D process or not, and said it should have already been returned.
