Thai-Made Toyota Corolla Altis To Be Used as PDRM Patrol Car
Go Auto Sales today presented a prototype of PDRM’s upcoming patrol cars. The Home Ministry placed an order for 425 units of these to replace aging units of the Proton Wira and Proton Waja patrol cars.
These 12th generation Corolla Altis sedans come with 5 years of free service. Go Auto have outfitted them with special accessories such as an Integrated Light Sound System, a Fleet Management System and a Very High-Frequency Communication Radio Set.
PDRM will be able to use 100 units of these by the time the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation 2020 (APEC 2020) economic forum kicks off.
About the Toyota Corolla Altis
The 12th-generation Toyota Corolla Altis is a fully-imported C-segment sedan. It competes against locally-assembled C-segment vehicles like the Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra & Ioniq Hybrid.
Our Thoughts
We think the Toyota Corolla Altis is a fine choice for the task of patrol car. Toyota’s legendary low maintenance cost (not to mention 5 years of free service) and high reliability means these cars will pay for themselves should PDRM choose to run them for a decade or more.
What’s a little perplexing is the choice of car. As noted above, there are other locally-assembled alternatives to this Thailand-made Toyota Corolla. And if it’s just patrolling that’s being done, and not high speed pursuits, then surely the locally-assembled Toyota Yaris or Vios would serve just as well for lower upfront and running costs?
With the Corolla Altis 1.8E costing RM128,888 a unit, the government would have to fork out RM54,777,400 for these 425 units. If they had picked the Vios instead, they would have SAVED RM21,967,400 UPFRONT. Or, they could have purchased an additional 284 Vios patrol cars for that amount of money.
Perhaps the precedent of using C-segment sedans is what drove this decision. What do you think? Here’s the press release with more.
PRESS RELEASE
Go Auto Sales Sdn. Bhd. today showcased the prototype unit of the Toyota Corolla Altis to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, which would soon be the new patrol vehicle to the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP), in a special event at the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya.
Go Auto said it has received the letter of intent from the Home Ministry to supply 425 units of mobile patrol vehicle (MPV), to replace the aging Proton Wira and Proton Waja in stages.
The vehicles will come with five years of free service and each unit will be equipped with additional special accessories such as the Integrated Light Sound System and Fleet Management System, as well as the Very High Frequency communication radio set.
The preparation of the MPV prototype is an initiative and early step by Go Auto to ensure immediate approval, which would then speed up the complete delivery of 425 MPV units.
Go Auto expected The RMP are able to utilise the first 100 units in the days leading up to the regional economic forum, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2020, which will be hosted in Kuala Lumpur.
Go Auto Group Executive Director Dato’ SM Azli SM Nasimuddin said the first 100 units of the MPV is scheduled to be delivered to RMP in less than two months, while the remaining will follow two months later. At present, Go Auto is awaiting the final decision by the Ministry of Finance on the supply.
“This is the second time Go Auto has been awarded with a tender. Before this, we successfully delivered 200 units of four-wheel-drive (4WD) to RMP last year, which was earlier than the expected timeframe.
“We are actively bidding in open government and private tenders as it is part of our business diversification. Our main focus is ‘Special Vehicle’. The stiff competition in the automotive industry now has led to Go Auto being more aggressive and creative, in an attempt to remain competitive in the business,” he said.
About the Author
Subhash Nair Written work on dsf.my. @subhashtag on instagram. Autophiles Malaysia on Youtube.
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