JERLUN: Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir (pic) has defended the purchase of a new Volvo S90 as his official car, saying that the car was purchased at a cheaper price after trading in two older cars, reported Sinar Harian.

"After checks were made, it was found that several older cars registered under the Mentri Besar's office could not be used because they were faulty, so I made the decision to trade them in to purchase the new car," he said.

The Kedah Mentri Besar said even though the car was a Volvo, it was assembled in Malaysia.

"That's why it wasn't so expensive although it is a hybrid car. This shows that the state government cares about environmental issues and tries to reduce the use of fuel and pollution," he was quoted as saying.

The car has two variants and costs from RM366,233.50 according to the Volvo website.