Shares of Geely Automobile soared to record levels last week following the report that the Chinese automaker was leading the race to become Proton’s foreign partner, the South China Morning Post reports.
Last Friday, Geely shares climbed by as much as 9% in the day’s trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, ending the day 8.4% higher at HK$9.75 (RM5.56) following the initial news report by The Star, which named the company as the front runner in the potential acquisition.
Competing for a stake in Proton is Europe’s second-largest carmaker, Groupe PSA. Both companies are reportedly undertaking due diligence work actively at Proton’s headquarters, but sources familiar with the matter said that Geely is appearing to show more interest.
Both automakers are eyeing a 51% majority stake in Proton’s manufacturing plant in Tanjung Malim. The government has given the green light for a foreign company to own a majority stake in the assembly plant, The Star had reported. Proton said it was aiming to announce its foreign partner in April.
If Geely is successful in its bid, securing the deal will add 150,000 units of annual capacity to its output and give the Chinese carmaker a fast-track access to Asean’s 10-member market, which has a combined population of 623 million people.
Analysts however cautioned that the biggest challenge facing Geely – which owns Volvo and the London Taxi Company as well as Lynk & Co, a sub-brand – will be to turn things around at the Malaysian automaker, which has been suffering from sliding sales and market share.
According to a foreign analyst cited by the SCMP, it will take Geely at least a couple of years to turn the business around, and the company would also have to invest heavily in order to establish its presence in the region.
Last November, the Chinese company said it was considering a technological cooperation with Lotus, denying initial reports that it was seeking to buy out the British sports car maker, which is owned by Proton.
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waiting and hoping. there is light and the end of the tunnel!
I don’t know what is going to happen to Proton’s overbloated 12,000 staff. China one thing will never tolerate free jobs. They always believe in lean and efficient workforce.
But Malaysia pulak believe in giving free jobs despite company doing badly. How is Proton and Malaysia going to handle the work culture of China?
In Malaysia, we believe in free jobs. Or 10 people do 1 persons job. This is evident from our Civil Service. There are 1.6 million government servants servants serving 30 million people.
Last week our Minister said, that was way overbloated. Ratio of 1 gomen servant to cater to 19 rakyat. Highest in the world.
Malaysia 1:19
Singapore 1:71.4
Indonesia 1:110
China 1:108
Japan 1:128
UK 1:118
The above alone shows, China will never tolerate an overbloated workforce.
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Why asking money from government when in trouble?
seriously China will face an even bigger with staff of Tg Malim plant. unless they make it a fully robotised factory. for the past 10 years proton was banging its head with the staf, which are mostly locals. among them attendance.
everybody knows this. Proton staff always tuang kerja. Always never come or show up to work. Even if they come also, half the time just lepak and sleep.
Any point to bash Proton, even to drag along gomen staff ratio. That ratio is not exactly spot as been pointed out by various people already. Malaysian gomen consider each and every single worker employed by gomen as civil servant. While a lot of countries like Australia, UK and even China don’t consider workers like Armies, hospital staffs and teachers for example as civil servant. So if we minuses all those not consider civil servant like other countries do, we end up with about 600k civil servant. Still high but the ratio turn out to be 1:50 which is same like South Korea and a few other countries.
But since Proton is a private entity now, you drag along civil servant staff ratio only show that how you only sees Proton in negative sentiment. Grow up will you.
Last week Minister himself said the same thing. Those are the figures he himself quoted. Are you saying his Ministry made up wrong figures?
Yes u can always trust the ministers alright
Are you sure? In UK, NHS doctors and staff are paid by the British Government.
But in statistics, their profession is not considered as Gov servant.
How many doctor n staff UK? Bolehland doctors+nurses alone 100k not include hospital staff paid by govt.
since you asked,
In 2015, across Hospital and Community Healthcare Services (HCHS) and GP practices, the NHS employed 149,808 doctors, 314,966 qualified nursing staff and health visitors (HCHS), 25,418 midwives, 23,066 GP practice nurses, 146,792 qualified scientific, therapeutic and technical staff, 18,862 qualified ambulance staff and 30,952 managers
Proton is a private entity now ah ? But then why govt tolong 1.5 billions ?? Ok lo , you minus some then become 600k , this figure make you proud !? ” Hey we MY ratio 1: 50 only , same as Korea oh !! ” … You totally like tat myvi driver !!
This is what i call bodo piang. Do you know that educ sector is under pub service in Malaysia. UK n Japan teachers are hired by school. Doc pun sama.
doctors and nurses are paid by NHS which is a Government body
Then whos paying the docs n teachers and from whom the monies come?
Australia oni count public servant who work under ministry unlike Bolehland. Here we count teachers, army, police, doctor, nurse, kastam, jpj, coast guard, state public servant, sprm, support staff.. How many teachers is available in Australia under govt paycheck do u think? I give u answer it is around 180k(2001). Army n police is about 100k…that alone already 280k still not count doctor+nurses under govt paycheck.
who pays the teachers in UK public schools? It is the Government that does. You think they get free money?
Who pays the army in Australia? It is the Government that pays the army. You think army soldiers sell lemon juice or cendol on the road side to raise remuneration
But in statistics, their profession is not considered as Gov servant….
Nobody say govt don pay them. But does they counted as public servant in UK? They have 200k army. NHS employed 149,808 doctors, 314,966 qualified nursing staff and health visitors (HCHS), 25,418 midwives, 23,066 GP practice nurses, 146,792 qualified scientific, therapeutic and technical staff, 18,862 qualified ambulance staff and 30,952 managers. Are they consider public servant?
What kind of stupid a**hole are you? The statistic is showing how many civil servant not who is paying the civil servant. You’re so stupid i really cannot comprehend.
I thought I told you to be clear with statistics and state your sources? Where have you fished these out?
UK public sector employment is 17% of the total labour force, Malaysia’s is 11%. This includes uniformed, military, police, health workers and teachers.
Source: Office of National Statistics (OHS) UK, Jan 2017
I don’t have time to search for each one. Get your facts right before commenting, Malaysians.
as usual, kunta kinte just dump his so called info and stats, and then leave.
reminds me of certain animals who just drop its thing just to mark its territory.
best to leave this kind of troll with no replies. they survive only with attention given to them.
funny how people is bashing proton staff as lazy and wasted. what they forgotten majority staff and managers in honda, perodua, mercedes, naza, and other ckd factories in malaysia are ex-Proton.
Thanks to proton…geely is moving forward
Habis lar proton…lepas ni kena belajar bahasa China. Kena fasih cakap minta maaf , minta maaf to gheely bosses each time they ask , kenapa power window selalu rosak, kenapa kereta tak boleh jalan,kenapa harga kereta mahal walaupun kereta local, kenapa tak boleh jual walaupun kereta lain dikenakan cost and cukai tertinggi di dunia di Malaysia, kenapa masuk kerja lewat, kenapa balik awal, kenapa banyak mc, kenapa makan keluar balik lambat dan lain lain.
power window rosak tu zaman 90an…cukai kereta import dr jepun baru 40% kalau ckd… yg mahal kalau cbu,ni namanya bisnes ekonimi..cukai kat Dubai pon 300%…nak hentam pin biar laa bijak sikit
Power window rosak masih lagi menimpa pemilik Proton tapi dianggap sebagai rare case saja lagipun ada 10 tahun waranti.
Another GLC China should have bigger stake is KTMB..hopeless train services..we want efficient and reliable services they give us bullshit..imagine the train service start rather late and finish early and infrequent..what are they thinking..delays no need to mention..better have china boss to teach them quality and productive working attitude..otherwise forget about competing with countries like south korea..most malays can work better if the bosses show good leadership..but if bos also lazy and kaki tuang suka holiday break minum teh nasi lemak meeting lama2 habislah..
cerita power window dah berzaman la bangang
Not in my wildest dream that Malaysian now have to drive China made car, buy China made condominium and ride China made Bullet train in Malaysia ! How things had changed !
and what is wrong with that? Malaysia even buys warships, weapons and ammunition from China. The quality is comparable or even better and better still they are more affordable.
Yes, and purchases like that would be even more affordable if there were less kick-backs.
Saya ta payar balik Cina sekarang Cina mari sini……
U beli China ipong. So?
You wear China (Brands Outlet, H&M, Zara), Call on China (Iphone foxconn), Watch China TV ( Foxconn semiconductor manufacturing), Drive China ( GM gearboxes made in China ), eat China ( Cheap disposable spoon and forks from China )……
What’s new? More than half of the world is made in China lol
Looks like Geely only interested to ‘rent’ factory from Proton, but not keen to share ownership on group level (which include sharing billions of debts losses).
that what was happened when with VW. they only interested tanjung malim plant not as technology partner. then the talk fail.
Memang lar, mana businessman bodoh beli debt? Important to ask is, P1 dah dapat tax incentive, soft loan… tapi kenapa ia jadi berjuta juta debts? Emmm..
So majority stake only on the manufacturing plant shares… not on Proton shares…
Still bad decision to give majority to foreigner…
Eh, all the tongkat policies have to come to an end. If bumi can’t make the grade, time to let the Chinaman steer the course, cause everybody knows the so call “softloan” couldn’t help out the entire organization/deadwood culture.
By selling it gradually to Chinaman will cut the suffering out of rakyat & country for good.
I hope our Proton is not fooled by this and syiok sendiri. Geely just wants to buy up Proton and shut it down. they just want the rights to market all their cars in Malaysia. This is China’s main plan and modus operandi.
This will open Malaysia to all China cars. Which is a good thing. We will be able to have more competition finally instead of now protecting Proton which is sucking the Government dry
U should be happy If Geely close p1 rite? I tot u want p1 close shop. P1 has bloated work force. So what the problem?
If proton close shop then no one else to bash maa.. Love-hate relationship.
If the report is true, john will be out of job bcos john has been bashing anything that comes out of China including Volvo.
Must work hard get 10,000 units sales month (120,000 units 2017 target) to feed 12,000 workers.
Bad luck befall on P1 if groupe PSA wins the bid, with the infamous problematic Peugeot reliability…
Don’t be too happy or be fooled: It is not SELLING PROTON! “The government has given the green light for a foreign company to OWN a majority stake in the ASSEMBLY PLANT”. Meaning Proton will continue under current ownership. Perodua/Daihatsu must be laughing right now, who is going to buy a China car with a Proton brand?
That’s why, whatever platform/technology sharing , it must be between Proton and Volvo, not with Geely. Geely and Proton must understand that in this region brand power/image matters most. Or else this mutual partneship won’t work!
I would not think that is the case. Volvo will continue to assemble their cars at Swedish Assembly in Shah Alam. The volume is at 5,000 units annually. Proton’s Tanjong Malim plant can churn 300,000 units annually. So I guess in the future Proton cars will be a rebadged Geely. Geli anyone?
Tanjung Malim plant can churn 300K Proton annually but how many decent quality car can it churn per year?
It is actually pronounced as Jili.
For Proton , the main benefit is more about gaining and utilizing the advanced vehicle technology & built quality know-how (from Volvo). Access to Chinese market? Don’t think will be easy..
Geely is only interested in Lotus tech transfer & additional capacity at PTMSB (tg malim plant). I dont see Geely has the expertise to increase Proton global brand & image. Hope for PSA to win the bid.
Seriously, the world doesn’t give a damn about Proton. Only people at Proton, their suppliers, cronies, Madani, Aishah, and their supporters shok sendiri.
Geely is showing a 51% interest in proton tg malim plant. that facility was built at a cost of 1.8 billion ringgit, perhaps now the value is likely up to 3 billion. Geely may inject over 1.5 billion ringgit for a majority share in the assembly plant. such amount of cash may eased up proton’s financial difficulties while on the other hand both Proton and Geely may have access to each other’s car line up for rebadge. Proton maybe rebadge some of Geely cars and vice versa. facelifted Preve and Suprima may go on sale in China as Geely PR. or Geely SP. Geely then can build and export cars within asean countriees without the AFTA barrier.
Problem is rebadging Geely cars as Protons could potentially further downgrade Proton’s image in the public’s eye. Will the public buy Proton-badged Geely cars? And will the China market respond well to the current Proton cars? Unless we talk about Proton could rebadge Volvo or use some of Volvo’s technologies (e.g powertrain, active safety etc.). Auto industry is a matured but complex bussiness and it’s not like electronic gadget/HP bussiness. Proton needs a bussiness partner that could bring in mutual commercial benefits as well as genuine technological sharing that will enable Proton to survive in the near future. The longtime auto industry names seem to have the upper hand here..
Why allow geely to sell rebadge proton in Malaysia? Nonsense. Rebadge proton sell in China la.
Looks it is only the Tanjung Malim plant that is the main deal. Geely is looking for a foot hold in ASEAN market.
No one want Proton brand. They only interested on the foot hold to enter Asian market. Tanjung Malim p1 plant is a strategy plant.
Imaging, if not because of NAP… millions of work has been created. We won’t be end up still taking who taking over Proton?
Conclusion… DRB still gain from this deal.. rakyat yang susah.
Proton XC90?
rebadge volvo as proton? that i can live with
China take over, the first thing bye bye will be Proton Worker Union. Then those under perform and poor attendance one also bye bye.
Honestly is a good thing, at least it is in capable hand instead of our tongkat policy government here.
Looks good to me. Sell everything la. Why keep a dying business.
At least the Chinese have lots of money and knows how to do business.
“Looks good to me. Sell everything la. Why keep a dying business.
At least the Chinese have lots of money and knows how to do business.”
Yeah sell yourself and the country to the Chinese…
Hm so selling a dying business is like selling yourself and country. By your logic you prefer to scrap the business rather than sell to someone with more clout and resources and hopefully expand the business.
People like you are too ignorant or stupid to see a win win situation.
No need to sell ourselves. Our PM already helping us in that.
Nobody will buy Proton while it still holds the losses from Lotus. Even DRB Hicom haven’t take Proton debts into its book. Chinese are only interested to buy western branding because the world has negative image about Chinese companies in general. So why would they buy Proton? They only want to utilize the easy access to manufacture cars and penetrate asean market to enjoy lower taxes.
Let’s wait and see how the deal work out. It’s better than to leave the plant idling at 50% or less.
Really, due diligence!!! You must be kidding us… it is already a done deal. Ask the Najis…
The best thing about proton is the emblem and that’s where it stops.
Dah dapat bayangan kereta Proton Perdana Volvo, boleh cuba ajak lawan buat crash test dengan truck Volvo besar gedabak di atas jalan raya nanti, kereta Proton lepas ni bakal bertukar menjadi kereta kebal dan Proton dah boleh mula fikir buat kereta kebal sendiri pula lepas ni untuk cabaret puak Viking dan Kung Fu pula dengan kuasa kekuatan silat 7 Ipetala langit, 7 lapis bumi yang dimiliki Proton lepas ni.
geely not yet succeed, this all doubts only. suzuki is more interested and already has platform in proton interest..now had been proven out him proton ertiga
VW not interested in proton anymore ka?
We can buy Proton in Yuan in next 5 years..