KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 9): DreamEDGE Sdn Bhd — the Cyberjaya-based company leading the third national car project alongside Japanese auto company Daihatsu Motor Co Ltd — is majority-owned by Government-controlled Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT).

MIGHT is under the purview of the Prime Minister’s Department, according to data on its website at the time of writing.

According to company search data from CTOS, MIGHT’s 100%-owned VentureTECH Sdn Bhd has a 52.63% stake in DreamEDGE. Khairil Adri Adnan, founder and CEO of DreamEDGE, has 43.11% while the remaining 4.26% is held by its general manager Azhan Abdul Aziz.

Initiated by the Government as a strategic programme under the purview of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MEA), VentureTECH is an investment company established to catalyze the growth of high technology industries in Malaysia by investing in dynamic entrepreneurs.

“In our investment, we do not just seek profitability. We select commercially viable ventures with high socio-economic impact. More importantly, we look for ventures that are spearheaded by people that share our aspiration, which is to build iconic Malaysian companies, known to the world,” VentureTECH said on its website.

According to CTOS data, DreamEDGE was incorporated in March 2007, had RM12.38 million in share capital and retained earnings as at end-December 2017 and was loss-making in the latest two financial years.

For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2017 (FY2017), DreamEDGE narrowed its losses after tax to RM856,278, compared with a loss after tax of RM1.64 million in FY2016. Revenue increased 20.5% to RM20.66 million in FY2017 from RM17.14 million in the previous year. There was no data for FY2018.

Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Ignatius Darell Leiking told reporters that DreamEDGE is “wholly privately funded”. Daihatsu, which has a 30% stake in Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua), will not hold a stake in the third national car project.

During the press conference at its headquarters in Cyberjaya today, DreamEDGE’s Khairil said the first model will be a C-segment sedan. The first prototype is currently expected in March 2020 followed by the launch of the first model in March 2021.

According to him, the company has over 150 engineers, who mainly specialise in the automotive industry. Some of its Malaysian engineers are based in Japan. The company, which has long collaborated with companies in Japan, having provided technical and long-term strategic collaboration to support clients focusing on technology innovation, from ideation to prototyping to mass production.

In fact, Adri himself graduated with a Bachelor of Science Electronics and Engineering from Polytechnic University Japan before starting his career with Digital Process Limited, Japan (DIPRO). Adri, during his 10-year stint at DIPRO, was responsible for the development of 3D CAD environment and his portfolios included multinational companies and Japanese conglomerates, OEM companies as well as Tier 1 automotive components suppliers. He came back to Malaysia as he saw that there is vast potential in digital engineering technology for the country.

Over 11 years since the establishment of DreamEDGE, the company currently boasts a manufacturing and prototyping centre in Cyberjaya, an innovation lab in Bukit Jalil within the R&D institute Sirim, a design centre in Taiping, as well as an R&D office in Tokyo, Japan.

Beyond automotive, DreamEDGE has also built experience in various applications through the establishment of multi-vertical mechanical design and process engineering, cutting across industry verticals including oil and gas, rail, defence, ship building and repair, as well as digital dentistry.

The company has also developed robotics and augmented reality design capabilities that add value to smart manufacturing for the automotive industry.

It is interesting to note that Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad himself was the guest of honour at DreamEDGE’s Empowering the Nation’s Automotive Industry seminar back in 2014.

The new national car is said to be fully designed and developed by Malaysian engineers, focusing on new upper body, interior and human-machine interface systems, as well as enhancement of noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) and ride and handling (R&H). On the other hand, Daihatsu will provide support to DreamEDGE in advanced technology, which may include platform and engine development.

As a start, DreamEDGE said the new national car will take on a new approach of segmenting itself through exclusive models featuring advanced technologies, but assures that it will be affordable in its offerings to the public.

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/who-behind-dreamedge-company-leading-new-national-car-project