'Telepathic' car symbolises Cambodian car industry hopes
The gold-coloured convertible turns heads on impoverished Cambodia's
roads not least because of creator Nhean Phaloek's outlandish claim that
it can be operated telepathically.
"I just snap my fingers and the car's door will open. Or I just think
of opening the car's door, and the door opens immediately," says the
51-year-old as he proudly shows off the homemade car, named the Angkor
333-2010.
Onlookers gasp as he demonstrates the trick, and with the fibre-glass
vehicle having cost him 5,000 dollars and 19 months of labour he is in
no mood to reveal the remote control system behind it.
Cambodian mechanic Nhean Phaloek sits in his self-designed
home-made Angkor 333-2010 car at his house in Phnom Penh. AFP |
But as with a handful of other Cambodians who make their own curious
cars, he dreams the two-seater will help foster an automobile industry
in the country, still poor after decades of conflict.
"I am very excited and proud of this car because many people admire
me and keep asking me about how I can make it," he says, adding that it
reaches speeds of up to 100 kilometres (62 miles) per hour.
Kong Pharith, a 48-year-old former maths and physics teacher who has
also produced his own car, says an auto industry is about to blossom in
Cambodia.
"Our works will be part of a motivating force for the next generation
to access new inventions and show the world that Cambodia has an ability
to do what you think we cannot," he says.
The inventor, who first came to national attention in 2005 for
building a solar-powered bicycle, thinks he has now hit on a truly
unique product with his orange, jeep-like vehicle with solar panels on
its roof.
Kong Pharith says it took him four months to design and put the final
polish on his "tribrid" car which operates on solar energy, electricity
and gasoline, hitting speeds of up to 40 kilometres per hour with its
2,000 watt motor.
"I'm really happy about my achievement but not very satisfied with it
yet," he says, adding that Cambodia's lack of modern technology and
materials are a minor obstacle to efficient manufacturing.
The dream of building cars in Cambodia may not be far-fetched.
Officials have announced plans for South Korean automaker Hyundai to
open a plant in southwestern Cambodia, assembling some 3,000 vehicles
per year.
Cambodia did actually assemble cars in a factory during the 1960s,
before the country was caught in the maelstrom of the Vietnam War.
During the brief manufacturing run, the car known as the "Angkor" was
made from imported parts and domestically-made tyres.
Very basic Cambodian-assembled vehicles also still regularly rumble
around the countryside, where approximately 80 percent of the country's
14 million people live.
Farmers often depend on 'robot cows', large shop-made open-bed trucks
with Chinese or Vietnamese engines, which are used to transport people
and rice.
The machines, which generally cost a couple of thousand dollars, also
serve as generators or water pumps when they are not heaving along
pot-holed rural roads.
But in the capital Phnom Penh, elites and the nascent middle class
can often be seen driving expensive imports, which are considered a
symbol of status and achievement.
"(Cambodians) put more attention into their cars than the clothes
they buy," says Jean Boris Roux, who imports Ford vehicles to Cambodia
as the country manager for RM Asia.
"I think it's very important for Cambodians to show the success in
their professional life through the vehicles they drive," he adds.
Despite the Cambodian love for cars, Roux and several other analysts
say its doubtful proper domestic manufacturing will emerge here soon
especially since neighbouring Thailand remains Asia's auto assembly
giant. "It's not just about having four walls (for a factory). You need
hundreds of companies supplying seats, steering wheels, hoods... This is
not going to happen in Cambodia for a number of years," Roux says.
Until then, Nhean Phaloek says he will keep making cars at home.
The Angkor 333-2010 is the third has built, and his first to talk.
When he slams the door a voice out of the dashboard moans: "Why do you
close me too strongly?"
"Dozens of local and foreign guests have come and seen my car," Nhean
Phaloek says with a smile. "One British man told me that it is the
Cambodian James Bond car." PHNOM
PENH, Nov 29, 2009 AFP |