Various officials from within the government have been calling for Proton to continue looking for a foreign partner. The national automaker previously had failed talks with PSA Peugeot Citroen, Volkswagen and General Motors.
The Volkswagen deal would probably have gone through if it were not for Khazanah Nasional pulling out of the talks at the last minute, saying it had to give Proton more time to turn around before any equity/partnership deal could be cemented to ensure a fair deal for Proton.
Bernama reports today that General Motors’ Southeast Asian operations president Steve Carlisle (photo on the left) is willing to restart negotiations with Proton Holdings Berhad on taking up a stake in the company.
This comes just after GM announced it will invest US$445 million in Thailand to build a diesel engine plant next to its existing assembly facility. The new diesel plant will supply inline-4 diesel engines for GM’s trucks in Thailand and global markets.
When contacted, Proton Holdings informed Bernama that it had not been approached by General Motors for any negotiations. Proton also said that since any possible partnership would most likely involve talks of a share transfer, any interest from GM should be directed to its majority shareholder Khazanah Nasional instead.
So there we have it ladies and gentlemen. GM says Proton can come talk anytime, Proton says GM can come talk to Khazanah anytime. Who will make the first move? If talks do restart and a partnership involving stakeholding happens, GM may designate Thailand its truck production center and Malaysia its passenger car output center for cars like the upcoming Chevrolet Cruze.
After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history. An avid electronic gadget aficionado as well as big-time coffee lover, he's also the executive producer of the Driven motoring TV programme.
frankly speaking, i’ve lost hope for proton to collaborate with a foreign partner after the previous episodes….when big car companies can pull the socks up and work together, why not proton?..surely they can be some compromises made, proton should accept the fact that it needs help,and try to absorb whatever opportunities it get…if it means letting go of some % in the company, let it be….if the top management has to be reshuffled, so be it…if its for the interest of the company..all said, good luck for proton….the government cant be behind your back all the time..
isnt that GM is losing profits and market share in auto industry?
i rather hv proton working together with wolkswagen than GM
If I WERE Proton’s CEO, I would definitely welcome this kind of talk. And I personally will quickly buy a lot of Proton’s share now and sell it when the price is pushed high, to sell it again just before the announcement of failure of another ‘marriage’. Ha ha. Don’t know if people will become open-minded overnight.
Wow..why GM seems so interested with Proton? Might find the answer here..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7538564.stm
If proton start producing quality and affordable cars. Increase their QC and stakes in market. I don’t see any reason why they still need to join with others since they already have Lotus. Pity to Lotus reputation for being dragged down by Proton.
Wonder this day may come where Proton is producing car comparable to Honda, Toyota, Nissan quality. Mabbe it’s just a dream, since Proton still have a bunch of money crocodiles inside his management. Just imagine how much we’ve been paid to these buggers.
In Malaysia, Proton is NOT seen as a BUSINESS, but some national pride/ego, it is controlled, run and influenced by politicians. Not businessman or person with passion in automobile.
that is why Proton is so synonymous with Failure
yeap…bunch of hypocrite clowns and their lame dramas. how nice if we have our own proton golf gti, i dun mind getting one if the price is good with the proton badge on it. they got arrogant because of persona. so what’s next? mpv with backing from G again…. boooo… booooo….
nah, i think their ego and nationalistic pride will be shoved too high up their ass to consider any foreign partners for now.
ooh…..proton reporting profits in 3rd quarter 2008! big f***ing deal……can you keep it up without government intervention?
I don’t think this deal would not benefit Proton at all. GM has billions of dollars losses and they might just suck Proton into a deeper debt and perhaps go bankrupt. Actually come to think of it, it might be a benefit to us Malaysians as a whole shall Proton goes bankrupt.
I once asked one their management team how their aftersales network was, (As CSI would be a key factor in regaining the trust of Malaysian consumers) and did they use their own parts warehouse or was it outsourced. He replied, “HOW DOES IT CONCERN YOU!?”.
well, G is very good at making our country poorer and poorer. How much money have they borrowed from world bank and japan? or even those that we have unheard of? submarines anyone?
in short terms, we see “progresses” and they got WEALTHY.
in long terms, maintenances and repair drains our finances while our grandchildren left to pay the debts.
I agree with u all, if all the managemant just love the automobile industry, i thk all gonna be okay, they just love the money, but do not have the spirit to love in the automobile job !
Their salary not good enuf ar? how much do they want? y so greedy? they all play dirty with money ar?
GM is going down, y must share with them also, don let them be like Japs, so stingy about technology !
maibatsu_thunder, as usual proton and their arrogant attitude services. they cant even give us proper simple explanations. so now we dont have the rights to know? or maybe they are not professionally well trained. is that how proton recruits assholes. wow, we are so saved by proton because they give us great jobs! bottom line, join proton if ya wan to be an asshole and make a fool of out of yourself.
I wonder what does GM – or for that matter any other giant car company in the world – see the business value in acquiring Proton is?
Just when we thought that they don’t need a foreign partner after securing a manufacturing deal in China (remember?) and India, now, all of a sudden, the government thinks it needs a partner.
Is the government cutting its funding to the National Car Company? I suspect so.
I’m not talking about Proton. This was a Chevrolet (GM) guy!!
oh…sry i got carried away by off topic… my apologies. but what i said is based on my sole experiences. and i apologies again for off topic.
i mean apologies for misunderstood your statements. man, i better get some sleep.
Was that about image? or “we’re mass producers” conversation? or, we’re Malaysian, Asian, not going to collaborate? We can learn lotz of lessons, but never learn how to compromise it.
Btw, looking into the current market, of “trust level”, or kind “major Proton user” statistic. I’m not sure it’s a good choice to have their share, and looking forward for increase in return.
I would say, come on, do something different.
I think Proton should buy GM’s stake instead. We are starting to make profit but they’re making losses. That’s why now GM want to nego with Proton, so that Proton’s profit can cover their losses.
The way i that is see it is that if the collaboration thing goes through it will be more of a technical partner and component supplier, rather than a majority shareholder of PROTON.
As someone has already pointed out GM is making losses and they are the one who is actually desperate to finad another partner in S.E. Asia to expand their models and marketing arm. And hopefully go back in the black.
So Khazanah and PROTON must be careful when dealing with ‘foreign partners’ to achieve a win-win situation for survival of the company in the long run.
“GM says Proton can come talk anytime, Proton says GM can come talk to Khazanah anytime”
i say GM can come talk to Khazanah anytime, not the other way around.
GM’s profit sinks but it offers Proton to come and talk? cocky!
from my understanding (source: wikipedia) GM got many trouble: from financial losses to environmental issues. this won’t help Proton much.
GM produces fuel guzzler cars. Do Proton need this image? I’m doubtful of their reliability in those hybrid technology. Lotus has the tech already.
Hm..what Proton need is QUALITY, so it should find partner that would provide QUALITY. if VW fails, try BMW instead.
it smells fishy…
German Tech v US of A tech? Surely that’s a foregone conclusion. They missed the boat already. Too late….VW is the better choice with the bigger global presence and technology.
Sigh, I am a consumer and I don’t want GM cars rebadged as proton sold at a cheaper price. I want VW cars rebadged as protons and sold at a cheaper price.
Let them do the economics. I just want my VW cars.
i think GM’s plan is to sweet talk proton into the seal, then after a couple of years then start building daewoos using proton factory…slowly, there will be no more proton, just the name
VW do offer more synergy to Proton… VW’s superior technology and experience in chassis and parts sharing especially among Audi, Seat, Skoda is more useful for Proton… VW has the all-important diesel engine technology, DSG gearbox etc which would benefit consumers like us and filled in the most critical gap in Proton’s R&D which is diesel engine which is moving to EURO V std soon… fuel efficiency is in the mind of Malaysians and u cant go wrong with VW… VW is known for quality and fuel efficiency which Proton needs atm for synerygy…
GM’s inability to tackle the oil issue alrdy shown that they are not far-sighted enough and i am not interested in GM’s car line-up as they are not so suitable in this region now…
These are waht they like:
american: 1/4 mile drag.
european: 24hr endurance / rally
japanese: drift down mt akina/haruna
From there, that how they develop their technology.
american: muscle car , gas guzzler
european: reliability, handling
japanese: good looks, less fuel (sell tofu maaa.. need to safe fuel)
proton mush have combination of european + japanese.
No need american muscle..
rt.
As much as I agree that Proton need a foreign partner, I do not think that partner with GM is such a GREAT idea even though they are one of the BIGGEST car manufacturer in the world. First and foremost, they are losing money…BIG time! Second, they actually doesn’t have any great technology to offer esp. in fuel consumption area. The only thing they could offer to Proton is BIGGER engine with BIGGER performance with BIGGER fuel consumption. Hmmm…I honestly think Proton will gain more to partner with the Korean (if the Japs refuse to partner) since the Korean could offer a world class cabin build quality that Proton seems lack of it! That makes more sense since the current engine technology is sufficient enuff for the next few years. Happy motoring everyone…
should or must Proton JV with GM?…
but we should remember bout this JV…
it happen to our local tyre maker…SIME TYRES…..
JV with CONTINENTAL…….
before this the factory name like this “SIME TYRES continental”….
but now it change to be like this “CONTINENTAL sime tyres”……
so what will happen to PROTON next…
think by yorself…”Lu Fikir la Sendiri…”
no way, i want volkswagen, volkswagen rulz, look how gm fucked up saab
julian lee seems to like golf so much… hmmmmmm…. hehe..
I don’t like the idea. Basically this is a worse partnership compared to VW or PSA. Detroit car makers are only good at making trucks and muscle cars. You’d be suprise how a big engine generates so small power.
Only thing I care is proton must make profits. new MD doing that, only hope momentum continues and does not stop half way. Other thing is that, don’t depend on Malaysian market. So small market, how are you going to succeed…
not really, volkswagen seems to be the only people successful in mergers, gm brought down saab’s level, bmw couldn’t handle rover, ford bought their own funeral…
I guess Proton has too much problem on their previous financial statement which can not be review to their potential partner.
I don’t see any reason why should Proton reject foreign partner since they gain more on joint venture than they lose, do you think national proud of having proton by pure malaysian company does mean that malaysian are smart a full of capabilities, do not being fool by those politician statement.
Admit that we malaysian are still having long way to go become S’pore and Japan like developed country.
Put down our pride, may be you could have see a Holden Commmodore being assemble in m’sia but selling in Australia or some Middle East Country one day.
Pride isn’t the element that is making our companies uncompetitive. Pride, in fact, is what makes nations like the USA and Japan what they are today.
It’s common purpose that is missing from our corporations. Too many people in Malaysia are self-indulgent, that’s why we get crap politicians and businessmen.
And you can blame yourself too if you keep stepping and crushing Proton’s attempt to become a global player.
Realise that to become a great nation we have to have a common goal and one that are beneficial to all, not some of us.
Proton does not need any partner but they need one thing is to tutup kedai
Proton does not required foreign partner to survive, malaysian ppl is enough to support them forever by buying crappy car from proton.
Proton must choose their partner well, if they are going to collaborate.
personally, i think going with GM is a bad idea. American cars arent usually the best of qualities as well. Much rather go with a German or Japanese company. They are more quality-driven cultured-companies and will ensure that quality is essential.
Proton only needs to put their A game on into the quality build and control. That will make people HAVE to buy proton, but actually WANT to buy proton.
Hopefully, we’ll see a day that Proton can step up onto the international platform of automotive industry and ACTUALLY compete instead of dumping their products in UK and Australia and woo them with cheap prices for shitty products.
don’t rush to get a partner as yet.
the proton & khazanah think-tanks should thoroughly overview this “proposal”.
ah, most important is: GOOD QUALITY is as important as PRIDE.
do u know what “made in germany” means in the old days?
u’ll be surprised
rajtheboss
that is because people who can afford toyota’s here drive proton, those who can afford bmw’s drive toyota’s and those that can afford ferrari’s drive lamborghini’s, why? becos stupid G force us buy proton cars
You come with sincere, of coz I willing to have a lim teh session with you lar.
If you are a reputable japanese company but hving financial problems, people might consider put in money and keep you in charge.
You only can sell you car locally but you not only want huge investment, but want to be in charge also? Its just another headline.
Hopefully they won’t tell their customers “HOW DOES IT CONCERN YOU!?” when you ask them about spare parts.