National Car, Proton

Look at Malaysia national car, Proton. It just announced it's net profit of RM85 millions for quarter 2 this year, and it has just turn loss to profit from June 2009 to June 2010 last year, total of Rm269 millions. Are you satisfy with Proton earnings?

Well, I'm a Proton user. I drive Proton for more than 10 years. Am i satisfy with Proton product? Definitely no. I cannot remember which part of them I have yet to change, repeatedly. To be frank, I bought it because it is cheap and easy to get support, not because I love Proton or support national car. We all know, Proton quality is always below expectation. If not because of the vehicle tax, we should have go for Japanese imported car.

The 1st national MPV in 2010. Looks cool right. Quality? I'm not sure. 

From the car selling statistics up to July 2010, Proton is the 2nd top seller in Malaysia. The top seller is Perodua.  In a nutshell, Proton definitely has an edge within the country, because most of the people have not much choice but to buy car from Proton or Perodua (2nd national car brand).

If this is the case, Proton should have make good profit every year with the government protection, isn't it? How come it can make a net loss of RM318 millions from June 2009 to June 2010 last year? Is it because the CEO and other directors pay are just too high? Or the management is sucks? Well, there are just too many negative stories about Proton.

The latest version of Proton Saga is cheap. Quality? I'm not sure.

From the mid of last year , I have heard Proton Managing Director, Dato Zainal Abidin said that he feels shame when he hear his friend complained that their Proton family car quality is bad and there is problem here and there. From the speech, he wanted to slash down the massive car part and accessory suppliers from hundreds to few, develop more attractive models, and improve the quality of the product. These objectives seem are the right things to do, in the first place. I'm not sure whether these objectives are achieved by now, but from the look at the financial results, it seems Proton has improved under the lead of Dato Zainal Abidin.

Car is about driving satisfaction and less problem. If Proton manages to overcome the later problem, I believe we will have less complaints as well. Good luck, Proton.

Thank You, Dad

How did you celebrate your father's day this year? Well, since my dad and I were working in different countries and the day is a working day, I only can call and wish him in the evening and our topic in the phone was about world cup 2010 and my mum. 

I attended a good friend wedding dinner on last night. I was surprised by the bride's father. He was so active that he became almost the host and the man of the night on last night. He gave a speech to thank his special guest and talked about his daughter funny story in the beginning of the dinner. He also gathered some of his mates to play band to entertain the crowd.

Don't you think this should be the saddest and the most proud moment for a dad?

I think he must be someone who very active in the church. This is my first time to see a dad hosting the wedding dinner like this. The bride must be very proud of her dad! I can't imagine what will my dad do for me for my future wedding dinner. In fact, it doesn't matter. Even though my dad doesn't know how to play guitar or give a speech, and even having very bad temper and scold people very often, I'm absolutely honor and respect him as a dad. I still remember he spent most of his savings to allow me to go further study during his hard time and he tried to give his best to the family.

I know the local culture is not used to carry the words like 'I love you' here and there, I still see fathers always show their loves and support to their children. 

Thank you, dad.

Air Asia

Needless to say, many of the people around the world know or heard of Air Asia. Sorry, I should use travel with Air Asia instead. When I traveled with Air Asia on last weekend, i saw a Bangladesh guy who working as a barber (he only know to do straight cut) using Air Asia to do transit to his working place, the same as Philippians and Malaysians. Why?

Air Asia is a low cost airline, it makes you afford to travel, for low/medium income people to go for vacation, for expatriates to go back to hometown, business trip, etc. It saves our money! So everyone is starting to use Air Asia service. Many people asking, does it makes money with such a low fare?

I couldn't deny that AirAsia stewardess uniform is hot. But don't you think steward uniform should improve?

In fact, Dato Tony said it can makes money only if the resource, schedule and cost control is doing very well. If the risks occurred, then he will be unlucky. For example, planes go down, web site goes down or airline system goes down. Airline business is also very tough, as other airlines are starting to reduce their fares and approaching low fare business. That's why Air Asia is looking for other sources to increase it's income and reduce the known's risk.

Apart from the previous post I talked about on last year, I noticed they have make some significant improvements lately to increase their revenue.

1) Tune Talk
Claimed to be the cheapest mobile service in Malaysia. I'm not sure how well it is doing now. But as long as it is the cheapest and the service quality is fair, they will get some businesses.

2) Self Check-In Kiosk
They have tried to reduce the check-in counter by introducing self check-in kiosks in the airport. Thus, it would able to save his human resources and number of counters.

3) Keep on increasing new route
Although they facing a lot of limitation from the local government, they are still expanding their route to new cities and countries. Thus, it would benefits the local people at the new route, while increasing it's revenue. As you can see, the promotion is more frequent with new route introduce. More people will have the opportunity to visit the new places.

Still walk under the sun? I wonder why low cost carrier terminal cannot make it like normal airport?

4) Courier Service
I also noticed they are doing courier service at a very low rate. From the day I travel, I can see many courier boxes are sending into the airplane. Low rates and their consistent flight to the destination make Air Asia get the business opportunity for this service.

5) Tune Store
I think they are not doing well on this business? They have no edge on this? What do you think?

Overall, they are just doing well for the past 3 years, and perhaps the coming 3 years. Would you consider to buy Air Asia share? Or you just think airline business is just too risky and having too much uncertainty?