President Tony Khor said this showed the huge impact of the automotive industry on the economy.

“You must also take into account that RM168 billion had been given in vehicle loans until last year by banks.

“The vehicle loans stretch from 24 to 108 months,” he told FMT.

Every year, 650,000 new and 400,000 used vehicles are sold in Malaysia,

As such, the automotive industry is one of the major movers of the country’s economy and banking system, Khor said.

Other sectors which benefited from the auto industry were the insurance companies, the Goods and Services Tax, manufacturing companies involved in providing accessories, spare parts workshops and vehicle dealers.

The industry also provides thousands of jobs to engineering graduates and those involved in research and development.

Khor said the automotive industry was expanding with rising demand every year.

Due to that, he hoped Proton would organise campaigns to promote the ailing national car industry as more Malaysians were showing an interest in buying Japanese models and those from other countries.

The latest 2015 market share by the Malaysia Automotive Association showed the top 10 choices of Malaysians were Perodua (32%), Proton (15%), Honda (14.2%), Toyota (14.1%), Nissan (7.1%), Mazda (2.1%), Isuzu (1.9%), Ford (1.8%), Mitsubishi and Mercedes (1.7%), BMW (1.1%) and Volkswagen (1.0%).