National carmaker Proton has confirmed news reports that it is in talks with Detroit-based General Motors (GM). Replying to a query from Bursa Malaysia, Proton said that talks are only at a preliminary stage and there’s nothing to announce for now.
“The Board of Directors of Proton Holdings Berhad wishes to inform that talks with GM are only at a preliminary stage and as such warrants no announcement at this point in time. Should there be further developments that warrant an announcement, the Company hereby undertakes to make necessary disclosure in accordance with the relevant requirements,” Proton told the stock exchange.
People started talking about it last week, when The Edge reported that Proton was in talks to sell 40% to 50% stake in its underused Tanjung Malim plant to GM for between RM700 million to RM800 million. Sources quoted by the report said that if the deal goes through, GM could potentially invest RM300 million worth of equipment in the facility.
Proton chairman Datuk Mohd Nadzmi Mohd Salleh, when confirming his bid for Khazanah’s shares in Proton, added fuel: “There is some truth in the report. However, GM has all along been interested in Proton even when I was the head during the 1990s,” he said.
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Please let volt to be assemble here, please let volt be assemble here. So that the price will be reasonable enough that I want and will buy. Be in time to change the family car, Toyota C. In another 1 1/2 year more. Just day dreaming on my part
Seriously??? Proton…PLEASE REVIVE SAAB…you’ll need this company to change the world’s view on you…F*** OFF GM
how about the mitsu – proton partnership? no news already?
i thought can get CKD ASX…
very bored story (for me)
Yes, the story is bored with you.
so we can drive bumblebee now?
Proton should think about making a Transformer Themepark at Malaysia…particularly Tanjung Malim Proton city. Like Bimmer, buyer in asia also can go and wait for their bumblebee :P
right for such theme park is for universal studios singapore..but lego transformer can la at johor
hah,ak nak CAMARO je…len chevy ak x nk…ahahaha..proton,pe g,rebadge camaro la..haha
Don’t do it proton. GM will let you rot. Take a look at what happen to Saab.
Proton needs a company who can take them forward and understand the automobile industry. GM cant even manage themselves and need support from US to escape bankruptcy…
Companies like Toyota, VW, Peugeot, Kia would be a better choice.
setuju,
p1 xperlu deal dgn GM pun.
yo yo yo proton rot is a freaking good outcome !!! no more protection!!
How about PERODUA…already no.1 lead for 5 consecutive years. Have backup from Daihatsu and Toyota. Can P2 take P1 forward….hehehe….
But perodua only
jaguh kampung maa.. Only can sell in kampung bolehland.. Even in indonesia an asean.. Novody wanna buy
Prrfftthh
that is because of Toyota and Daihatsu…
Not because of Perodua only… just imagine if Daihatsu pull off from Perodua…
what’s left for you?
. daihatsu selling well in spore n UK… but perodua??? only laku kat kampung bolehland..
So agree. American GM management is crap..!
too late…plus Proton really likes to co-op with car manufacturers that almost bankrupt..like last time Lotus…XD
But, those manufacturer is clearly more cheaper if they almost want to bankrupt…XD
Proton never co-op with Lotus.. Proton bought Lotus… They owned Lotus… That is different.. At that time they did’t buy because Lotus can give them money but the want the Lotus technology… It was a good investment… And now with GM they are going to maximize the production in their plant.. If u have capability to increase capasity of production, why not?
this is not a stake in proton, it is a stake to utilise the spare capacity in tanjung malim.
if they able to manage well. It can be a good deal too. You need to be aware GM China is a profitable unit. Ironically…. while the US management is looking into a solutions to restructure….GM China business is their most profitable unit.
It just depends on how they manage. But I won’t say this is good or bad since I remember GM also have a thailand plant? maybe the flood freak them out.
Always just talk only…no result at the end…
Yes. An ending like the talks with VW is to be expected because some groups of people will stand out & say that their right is being threatened.
Proton should close up their business to allow tax imposition on foreign car model be abolished. Therefore we can enjoy cheaper n greener car
Shameful story. It showing P1 not strong …
bina kilang besar2 n mahal x de investor, rugi2
without Proton, cars won’t be much cheaper.. maybe Perodua will sell Myvi for RM70k++
Without Proton…there might not be Perodua also. Then NO protection is needed for local cars, hence we can have cheaper ‘imported’ cars like our forefathers. Please wake up! Having national cars was supposed to make it easier for the people to own cars, instead car prices has been jacked up to make local cars feel cheap. Yeah you can thumbs down me all you want but the fact remains :-)
singapore, thailand, indonesia, myanmar, vietnam, laos auto car price not so much diff compare to malaysia. Most of them dont have national car or colapse or doing full rebadge
sometimes we can’t keep on assuming without proton without perodua. price won’t be cheap. Of course it won’t be dirt cheap as the gov can impose tax tht is still high to ensure everyone use public transport etc.
the gov might spend more money to improve public transport instead of spending on proton. There’s many scenario. Who knows maybe Malaysia …without proton are getting so agreesive in public transport that now we are having hybrid bus/ electric bus/ electric taxi like Shenzhen? its hard to tell.
also…it can’t be all Malaysia foreign car distributor are dump….so if there’s no proton…they all pakat to raise the selling price? so all Malaysian who can’t afford just go demand for better public transport by the gov? then people like toyota/ honda cannot grow?
the scenario list goes on and on….without the protection policy…who knows we are still the hub for foreign car maker instead of Thailand so that last year…they wont see the impact to their plant at thailand due to the flood?
whatever it is. I don’t buy the concept of No proton. Malaysian don’t get anything. Maybe we get more …like I said having better rail network…better bus service…..better or earlier implementation of subway/ LRT etc.
of course this is a site for CARS…sure we hope CARS is the primary focus :)
I think MoFaz is drunk or must be an UMNO Putra. Ur family is one of the crony suppliers to proton?
IN UR DREAM…..
give me five….. Myvi sell for RM70k..then i go buy Vios…. simple as that..
I thought Proton is at their turning point already & doing VERY well with their turbo mpv?
Nah, another attempt to bring the share price. Nothing will materialise.
Yeah, Cruze Turbo CKD.
“GM has all along been interested in Proton even when I was the head during the 1990s”
ohh… commooonn..
what happen in these 21 years?
then he comeback to make it happen again …
PLEASE SELL IT OFF THEN! PROTON is the reason why we are having expensive cars due to high tax rates. Proton is cheaper in overseas than in Malaysia (it’s own land). 2012 and they still can’t design their own cars, have to copy Mitsubishi Lancer as Inspira to be their flagship model?? Please look at Hyundai/KIA.
trust me car price won’t go down, yes even without Proton.
a lot of ppl are just too stupid to see it. Let them be la. When proton doesnt exists anymore, then they’ll have no other choices but to buy those car with the same price
Yes, but similarly priced cars (non-P1) will certainly be better built and better overall quality. Especially when P1 past (poor quality) records are taken into account.
There’s no denying that recent P1 cars has improved. But non-P1 cars has raised the bar many notches higher, especially in terms of technology and design. Besides, to be competitive globally P1 needs to produce cars in much greater quantity to enjoy economies of scale. Without foreign partnership, can P1 do it – maybe another 30 years? P1 relies on our domestic market only.
Hyundai Sonata sells more than 200,000 units in the US alone. Together with Hyundai’s other models, its total numbers are truly astronomical! That’s economies of scale for you!
P1 cars can be significantly cheaper if there’s economies of scale and all automotive parts are “competitively sourced”!
wat makes u so sure about the statement?
Dat tax is to give u $500 n ur kids $100. U shud b hepi maa.
LOL~! 1 AP earn at least RM10k for them, but just give u RM500 & RM100 to ur kids u r happy de… lolz… That why they can buy merc & expensive condo, while u still driving local cars & staying at flats… Haiz…
Coffee shop talk. You have no understanding of what real economy does to real people. My Ozzie boss showed the price difference after being instigated. Then I said our local cars are taxed too as same as all AFTA cars. I showed him the OTR price breakdown.
His jaw dropped. Coz down under, ONLY foreign cars are taxed.
Yep, coz there was no way, that the government is going to lose those taxes so they raised our local cars to the same tax level as imported AFTA cars. Amazing piece of economics if you ask me. Go ahead ask that CBT guy fella CY who’s been egging the public for years prior to AFTA to have a level playing field to raise competition.
Fact is Thailand and Indonesia don’t own car companies. They operate assembly plants for foreign car companies using cheap labour. The thing is, if they build it cheap, and the taxes are the same why is it not cheaper than our own cars? Nobody asks coz its inconvenient. CY wont ask coz he realized he was part of this whole joke.
Car sweatshops. Ever heard of Nike sweatshops in Indonesia? Read up. The only reason Nike use Indonesian contractors to make their shoes is becoz they are cheap and you can get away by paying a worker USD 1.5 per day. I think there’s a documentary too. Free Trade is not Fair Trade. It only makes money for foreigners. We’ve had AFTA for years. But workers in Indonesia and Thailand don’t get anything more out of it. Our rice don’t get any cheaper. Houses don’t get cheaper. WTO is a joke. The whole Doha protocol is a joke.
Now they’re going for an FTA with the US who won’t sign the Doha agreement. Yep another joke. Someday most of us will wake up one morning and realize: WTF! By then its too late.
Haha , dont be too happy yet , there is always talk here and there , in the end ,nothing come out .. i will take this news with a pinch of salt
the saab brand has been in trouble for quite some time already, of course proton should retain its own management system but to make the production number for economical scale, GM is the answer for it .
Time to boost up the share price before the election!!! Like last time VW news like that!!!
Skoda was in even worse condition as compared to proton when VW took them. I remember back in the early 80s when we had an old skoda as the family car. It was like a teapot on wheels, the first gen proton saga of 1985 was years ahead. But now look at Skoda. People don’t see Skoda as a Czech Rep product but instead a VW product. I wonder what it would be like to see or perceive proton as a VW product, not Malaysian. Good or bad…
NATO – No Action Talk Only!
hot air only lar…..talk-talk in the meeting room with teh and eat karipap.
after all finish, all go home empty handed. general Malaysian again and again forced to buy with sub-standard cars, limited choiced and skewed pricing of cars due to cronism.
****yawn***
GM is a piece of shit. remember what had happen to saab recently..
congratz Proton getting another MoU/collaboration/agreement/partnership or what ever contract…
Lets list it down: –
1 – Mitsubishi
2 – Agency Inovasi Malaysia
3 – Renault-Nissan for Lotus F1
4 – Youngman Lotus
5 – Cusco (claim by their fans)
6 – Tata (suggested by Muhyiddin)
7 – Detroit Electric
8 – Hindustan Motors
9 – Hawtai
10 – GM
Good one, but you miss:- “Talks of the last decade; VW “
Not GM. Underused facility at Tanjung Malim Plant? So, why need to move the production of Satria Neo to Shah Alam Plant?
Since already underused, why because of P3-21A and GSC (Global Small Car – EMAS), stop the production of Satria Neo and move to Shah Alam. Continue there and to utilized the facility at Tanjung Malim.
No need to spend too much time on freshen up current model too many times. Should start push push push to design new model instead.
Thank you very much.
Lol..read la people..it’s not a stake in p1 itself, but the tanjung malim plant..aiyohhh
yeah.. so true. it’s a win-win situation imho.
so many people who don’t read the article..just give their comment before read and understand it…hehehe
Idiots and idiots collaborating. Great!!
GM are one of the line-up cmpy to go for bankrupcy in 2008.
I say,these are the strategies for GM to revive in asian auto industry. A way to penetrate into China and SEA.
But this is never beneficial to Proton, neither to our auto industry nor to our country’s economy. Only one man wins- GM.
Bear in mind, we buy proton because we have no choice.Not because of Campro / additional bodykits. How much more that we have to subsidize Proton’s failure into our tax contribution to the country.
Liquidate all your facilities/ factory and focus on quality rather than quantity.
So what if you are top seller every year in malaysia auto industry, when your revenue/balance sheet is negative.
We still need to support Malaysia’s product.. BUT not as charity..
Anytime i would chose air-asia over tiger airways. because they are really efficient and good..
What Chelsea would do if the never top EPL?? change the manager.
same goes to the Proton. Change
The automotive industry is not doing well now.
GM and VW only want to overtake Toyota as number 1. They care less about the headaches in running Proton/Lotus.
Now Proton can get a good deal in renting out or selling facilities at Tanjung Malim to GM or VW. Renting out facilities would be a better deal as GM/VW may not want to own assets.
Proton/Lotus can then sell their services to GM/VW. The automotive industry is not about market share and it’s not about size. It’s about producing the right number of cars to get higher pricing and profitability.
Right now, Proton will fit in GM/VW strategy in small and inexpensive cars – Proton EMAS or Lotus City Car. This is where Toyota has been slower to invest in and will hurt Toyota most.
Also with some new technology, Proton can be used a weapon against Toyota’s Camry and Crown.
I’ve been hearing this kind of news since I first started to read paultan.org. That was like many years back. After few years still nothing? Expect loads of these kind of marketing ploy for the next coming months… even years! Come on, the Management of Proton can do a lot better than this.
The engineers, supervisors, technicians and other labourers in Tanjung Malim, how are you? Are you commited to your job?
If not, then good luck GM.
Proton should not sel parts off production-plant to GM ,BUT SHOULD BEEN BUILDING EMAS /LOTUS CITY CAR FROM TODAY !!!!
Wow….people here really cannot read ah? Never learn ah?
Only learn how to talk, write and bash only?
Read the article carefully. Not a bit mention about GM puchasing Proton’s stake.
It just the Tanjung Malim plant. The current utilization is only at 50+%.
So sell the rest to GM lor. Hopefully can get cheaper CKD GMs in the future.
its actually not a bad deal.
utilizing the factory. A lot of people didn’t realize how much depreciation if something a company built not utilized as some machinery, you need to let it on stand by even you don’t use it to avoid more wastage when you do a production start up. some need to be on stand by to avoid damages etc etc . So if someone willing to outsource staff to Proton. Why not. Its like a new business today. Letting Proton be like Naza to do assembly car for other brand.
its quite like what happen in china. GM/ VW or Toyota partner also have their own brand so its better to fully utilized the plant they have. Also it allow company to grow if you do a good job.
the biggest concern is….Will they able to get the deal realized…..since this is nothing new anymore
just rent them the plant… make some money
Sell Lotus first, it has been hemorrhaging duit rakyat for a long time now. Dump it for £1 for all we care.
gosh … here she goes again …
Leading people on and sleeping with them,
in the end, she still can’t commit to anyone …
GM takes over Proton and turns it into another SAAB …
then Proton goes bankrupt and closes shop ….
Malaysians then get to enjoy a more liberal auto industry
Car prices go down , no more Proton
Happy ending … :) Hurray…
GM not even making $ rite?
Proton is a good example of what a car manufacturer should not be.
1) Low sales
2) Models and spare parts like rojak. The inventory is enough to bury Proton
3) Low quality
4) being bled by a subsidiary like Lotus
Other car manufacturers control costs to stay profitable. Proton can’t because they have to buy from crony vendors and/or major components from foreign vendors.
those proton news like this 1 should put in RUMOURS category
Non-event and non-newsworthy as well. Maybe talk show to boost share!
Agree…
No Firm Actions …. Just Frantic Speculations …
Bunch of Losers.
Proton-GM?Hoping they rebadge the Malibu as Proton Perdana..LOL!
AP King clan could be plotting a belakang mali to seize control of Potong via GM.
Guys this happen every time the General Election is around the conner. Remember a few year ago there was a rumor linking Proton with VW, than the deal fell thru. There was also another rumor that DRB was buying Proton, that deal fell thru. Later, GM was in talk with Proton, that deal eventually fell thru.
We are now back to the same talks about companies competing to buy Proton. Guys, you know what is the common variable in all these so call Proton negotiations? PROTON SHARE PRICE!!!! Each time Proton is linked to all these negotiations, the share price shoots up. If any of you folks follow the share market, Proton Share are illiquid and is quite difficult to sell out during normal market conditions.
You know who owns the biggest stake in Proton Share? You got it, Government Funds!!!! This is just another way for the government to raise quick cash!!! The looooosers are the Rakyat who eventually end up paying higher taxes and invest their money in the stock market directly or indirect (EPF, Mutual Funds, Insurance Fund).
So guys go figure!!! I am tired of this whole Proton selling out and etc. Eventually nothing will happen and like most Malaysian who have only about 3 months of memory, we will forget about the who incident and get on with our merry lives until the next rumor linking Proton with a foreign buyer again. The music with than start again and everybody starts jumping again.
we always press our repeat button…
GM: “Yo dawg, we heard you like CAMPRO so we put CAMPRO in Msia’s CAMARO.”
Oh no….
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