According to a Nikkei Asian Review report, Proton is in discussion with several foreign partners who may be interested to purchase a stake in the national carmaker, as part of its turnaround plan. Previously, Mitsubishi Motors had a stake in Proton, which was then sold off in March 2004, marking an end of its 22-year investment in Proton.
“We want a partner with an equity share in Proton,” said Madani Sahari, CEO of the Malaysia Automotive Institute. He added that several global original equipment manufacturers (OEM) have submitted their proposals, and Proton is currently reviewing them.
The national carmaker recently received a soft loan of RM1.5 billion from the government, which came with several conditions that need to be met, including the need to identify a foreign partner. Additionally, a strategic plan to increase its share of the domestic market, as well as to penetrate into international markets, is also required.
A task force, led by Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) CEO Datuk Seri Idris Jala, was set up to oversee the company’s turnaround plans, which also includes the closing of its Shah Alam plant, consolidating all its production to Tanjung Malim. Both plants are now running at about one-third of their 350,000-unit annual capacity, according to the report.
The newly-launched Perdana is just one of the models that is part of Proton’s plans to reclaim its lost market share, which currently hovers at just 13%. In the coming months of 2016, the carmaker will look to bolster its product range with the introduction of the new Persona (August), Saga (September) and Ertiga-based MPV in October.
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So fast wanna sell off! Eh, not even started pay back the so call “soft loan”. Penetration international market ???!!! Forget it! Local market also can’t dominate! How many Pondana deliver out so far???!!! Pls tell public & stop lying!
Got investors interested in makan nasi lemak minum teh tarik then follow by sleeping culture…???
Confirmed investors eat dim sum and have mistress go sleep. They love to buy buy buy. Power bought. Rail got. Pondana also they want.
Wah so many cool stories you all pick up from sky, i am shivering here
Actually in 2007, if VW had merged with Proton, Proton will be making billions. But unfortunately, cabinet shot down the decision.
here, we must analyse why cabinet shot down the decision. Our brilliant cabinet shot down the decision because the Germans did not agree to the 30% free shares tongkat policy ruling. The Germans were shocked. They have never heard of this tongkat policy. But our Ministers said that in Malaysia, whatever company you set up, you must give 30% shares FREE.
Mat Salleh said cannot lah like this. Then cabinet shot down the deal. Imagine if Proton was to rebadge VW cars, Proton will be worth billions today!
Hidup tongkat policy!
Eh got that policy in China USA Korea etc too
Had VW buy stakes at Proton, all the Proton SCs would have faced more complaints due to those problematic DSGs fitted into Proton cars…had to wait 3 months for spare parts to arrive…dieselgate summore…lol
Sell it off to China company!
Stop wasting duit rakyat soft loan!
Why waste? You never pay loan back?
AFAIK, it is part of the deal with gomen when they got the loan right? They must come out with foreign partnership deal within stipulated time frame. But whatever la because as long as it is Proton, it merit to bash even for their right move.
Not necessary to bash if Proton let the new partner to have total control of the production and management.
Should have sold long time ago to VW when they were really interested to buy Proton for its assets.
Tapi jual mahal and now Proton sudah jadi janda tua…good luck getting anyone interested to buy now.
No for problematic DSG and dieselgate scandal
Last time Proton shiok sendiri about their car design. Claimed that Proton is BMW of Asia pulak….
Now, Proton syoik sendiri pretending to be in-talk with foreign companies….
Proton – Dare to Shiok Sendiri kot?
Unless the foreign companies are run by bone-headed idiots, I don’t see anyone seeing proton as an opportunity to invest in. Proton is the parent company of lotus but still manages to produce horrible looking/feature lacking/sub standard cars that cannot even compete in the global market.
The worst part is that proton will still want 1000% control even after taking $$$ from whichever foolish investor comes along, “Give us your money, your car/engines for re-badge and shut up!! You have no right to tell us how to become a successful brand”.
Hey…you guys forget the Santa company from Middle East can take over.Billions USD ,they can pump into P1.
One condition: P1 must be a lapdog forever.
No need say” I did no wrong”.Just say “I am a flunkey”….tons of USD will flow in.
Protong…buying its cars is already madness(costing taxpayers billions).
Driving it…..leads to INSANITY.
jUST INSAF….NO INVESTOR will ever pump even 1 sen.with the amount of politics involved.Even Tun,called it a day at Proton.
No investors will put their money in Proton if Proton insist on keeping the present management and staff and doing things the Proton’s way.
The most sickening sight… and its not the car
Who are the potential bidders? Suzuki is a no brainer.Maybe GM as well. VW or BMW.
Haval or geely have big possible will buy the stake
Sell RM 1.00 to me!
Just sell the whole thing lor. Cut you out of your long misery. Hopefully proton will become a real global player and a pride for all Malaysians.
Sini ambil duit, sana nak jual. Untung, betul-betul untung.
Firstly, the picture above does not do justice for Proton. You see, Jib is now a wanted man. FBI also hunting him down. So, the picture above will backfire on Proton if they are looking for an investor.
The future investor will be scared. they will think their money will end up to be like 1MDB money and lesap.
So Persona on August and Saga on September… let the fight on.
Bezza buyer can just hold on to the purchase, Persona might be better (if you think positively) with VSC and 6 (or 7) airbags across the range. If Persona MT have those full safety, I’m all in (currently looking at Bezza MT lack of safety… pffft)
p/s: Please don’t bring forward Iriz aircon knob, pleeease!
Another clown trying to portray as the ONLY flaw in Iriz is the aircond knob. The rest are perfect.
Its his money, let him buy what he want la.. u can opt for bezza what.. no one will stop u..
Because test drive unit only show this flaw. I would prefer clowns go and buy Proton and become test rat for me.
Obviously you cannot afford it, pity
we are VERY sick with ‘tunggu dulu’ proton compaign. As early as Myvi introduction, kempen tunggu dulu model proton savvy, then followed by kempen tunggu dulu Iriz when Axia was launched..
Tukar la taktik sikit. Why not you launch 1st before P2. For the apst 10 yrs keep on tunggu dulu kempen and never change.. That why you need to sell off to other company..
Sell everything and close down is always the best choice! This parasite has been with us for 30 years and we don’t another 30 years of suffering!
I don’t know why MAI and Madani Sahari got anything to do with the business and running of Proton. It is up to the BOD of Proton to look for an equity partner or dissolve any assets.
Unless the BOD and Management of Proton tak ada otak, they need external parties like MAI to do their thinking and managing Proton’s assets
reportedly… who will take shares in a bankrupt company with over RM5Billion Debts and over bloated work force that needs to be halved??? not to forget losing market shares daily?? with the worst management ever in automotive world?
Previous strategic partnership with Mitsubishi, Honda and even Chinese companies has end up fruitless…. Well actually no, the inspira and the Perdana are something thou I can’t reason with both of them, rebadging a car for your range topper don’t sound strategic in any sense.
I believe is a good move to close down the aging Shah Alam plant as production of Proton cars dosent demand the necessity of two plants. The Ertiga could also be the car that capture sales back from Proton, people want a high(ish) people mover. The Saga and Persona I’m sceptical, they are both going to be prices relatively close to each other which will result in sales cannibalise. And competing with the ever competitive P2. So they are going to have to do a lot to differentiate both and compete with their local counterparts.
As with all proton plans, it all seems good in wording but in practice they seem to fall into shambles. Finding and succeeding in an international market is absolute for protons survival. Hopefully by 2020, we can see some good news, but proton being proton, that’ll have to see.
I fail to see how the ertiga would be anything better than the existing exora in bringing customers to proton.
Pricing, there is still a significant number of non-urban folks with large family and smaller than average family income. If it’s priced starting from RM40k, they can easily win these folks With a car that’s not in direct competition with the Alza. There used to be a car from China, the physic defying, hopelessly unattractive Chana CM8, in that price bracket. But lack of sales support and unfamiliarity with the brand doom it. Proton with a proton badge might just win.
speaking of the Exora, would like to add that Proton could’ve used the current Exora platform or develop a next gen large platform for the Perdana. The Honda rebadging dash my hope for a shared platform for large protons. The Exora is also aging and is in need of replacing, developing a whole new car from scratch is a waste of resources in my eye.
The exora platform (which is loosely inspired by the wish platform) has spawned the proton preve and suprima. I don’t think it is large enough for something like a perdana.
Is it based on the Wish? That I didn’t know. A Exora, or a stretch one can accomadate something the size of a D-segment car. Developing a new platform can also lead to better flexibility for future protons, can also lead to a Ridgeline style truck.
I can’t forsee the ertiga selling below the exora prices. Even in Thailand, it is sold way more than the exora.
Bravo AVH n donno! You guys have shown that it’s possible to be very critical n constructive at the same time. Very objective comments. Need more comments like these.
Great business strategies, RM 1.5 billion soft loan, then sell your share. Look like we got rape again..
In the picture, there are 7 goons. Most of them are politicians. But most investors will be asking, where is Bapa Proton? Where is Tum Mahathir in this picture of launching the Perdana?
Investors will be shocked, the founding father of Proton is still alive and yet, he was not invited for the launch of the Perdana.
It is like Micorsoft launches the Microsoft Office 2017 and does not call founder Bill Gates to bless the event despite Steve Balmer being the CEO and President of Microsoft. It is a matter of respect and honour to call your founding father to bless the event.
That is our Asian culture. Asian culture insists on respect for the elders. It is also the Malay culture. Respect of elders is very important.
Investors will ask, what happened to Tun Mahathir? He loved his baby Proton so much, he gave it money and food all the time to the tunes of tens of billions just to keep it alive and yet, in the most important launch of Perdana, nobody calls Tun Mahathir.
You think investors want to invest in a company like this?
If he is in the picture, u will badmouth him.. if he is not, u will still do.. so a win win situation 4 u.. right???
who cares for proton? a dead company under life support in which anytime that life support will be pulled away by gov or the new owner.
there are so many good photos of the new perdana , why wd u choose one with the u know who on the left??
Is this the end game for Proton, or the beginning of a turnaround?
After take 1.5 billions… Now waiting for selling stake market??? Proton management are indeed the best in asking R&D for nothing !!!
Better kolos shopla..let p2 be
Close shop la.. Don waste anymore $$ and time
I am going to guess a China Auto co. the most suitable partner. Most auto co.s already have huge present in Indon or Thailand only the Chinese have not invested in this area in a big way. It makes sense for them to use Proton’s factories which is cheaper and faster way to gain access to the SEA market.
Better sell to China company, then can sell 1 billion Proton cars
proton only manage to sell average 5k/month which total up to 60k vehicles annual production…
total cap for this plant is 350k…
if 60k devide by 350k is only about 17% utilization…
how come the article mention one third or 33%?
mistake is calculation or typo?
If Proton still have some dignity, close it.
or don’t ever tot of continuing with crony mentality and culture if they sell it.
Tun M, we thank you for creating Proton for us. And bcoz of Proton, we have our days today.
Good! Selling equity is a good idea! Dr.M already screwed a golden opportunity by rejecting VW’s bid. Proton could have been the Skoda of south east asia but the old man had too big of an ego to let it go.
That’s Proton. Screwed up 1 model, launch another and ask for renewed trust in them. If too many things are screwed, change owner in hope that public trust will be renewed.
How could investors pay $$$ but have to accept the culture worker go to Tanjung Malim & Shah Alam factory to nasi lemak teh tarik & sleeping then go back home…???
Ha..ha..high speed train deal got exposed. So hard to get money from there. Now trying to sell off a piece of DrM’s legacy to cover the debts. Don’t think any company want to deal with the govt now as they will be dragged into the mess.
as long as their procurement to source from their lousy quality cronies, close case, who will be the idiots to buy stake into the company and cant control…
all these year launch is waste money, just scrap them all and focus in
Iriz, Preve, Exora and a new SUV
Unless it is a fire sale no parties would want to touch it with a ten foot pole.
why MAI can freely talk about Proton…MAI is waste of money..only report rumors,bullshit, imaginary report
why is the same management team still around, despite years and years of failed models and wrong decisions??
The end is near, potong being sold off to foreigners, first thing they will do is close down all potong models, start manufacturing their own vehicles and their brand & game over for potong…. This is indeed very good news, bye bye potong, it’s been good while you suck the rakyat of their hard earn money, producing junk models … now you can RIP.
subaru will be nice partner,since tan chong has ckd it.
Firstly Tun M which has been rid off by the second, DSN. Then this guy has IMDB issues which unintentionally bogging the P1 profile. “Keluar dari mulut ular tedung masuk ke mulut ular sawa”. P1 must get rid these characters and find a colourful and trustful CEO, either a local or a foreigner to make people proud of P1. Why must every time P1 cars officiated by PM? Time to stand on your own. Wake up DRB Hicom!
Shame la… The Proton brand is already more than 30 years, still keep using others brand vehicle, Mitsubishi, Honda, Renault, …. Please take a look Hyundai and Kia.
Nobody will take over a rotten company with so many bad apples on board. (lazy workers with over staff + goyang kaki Management, cronies supplier)
Unless the new partner has a final say in this company.
Sell it to Great Wall Motor for 1 Euro.
Jual kepada China, rakyat dapat beli kereta baru dan murah, sekian terima kasih.