Q1: Why are you lobbying for MV Agusta right now after it has been sold?
A1: Here, we are trying to clarify our (me and former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s) positions because the inference is that we made a bad decision (in the purchase). When we purchased Agusta, people were asking why we bought (in the first place). Click here to read the rest of Bernama Q&A Session with Tengku Mahaleel
As most of you know, Proton had disposed of MV Agusta last December for 1 Euro in an exercise to divest its non-core assets. Proton had originally acquire MV Agusta for 70 million Euros, on top of taking on its debts. It finally sold it to Gevi SpA for 1 Euro, together with its debts and working capital requirements of 139.44 million Euros. Click here to read the rest of Round 2: The TM duo question MV Agusta sale
Tengku Tan Sri Mahaleel Tengku Ariff has brought the case of his controversial termination as the CEO of Proton to the Jabatan Perhubungan Perusahaan (IRD) of the Ministry of Human Resources. Tengku Mahaleel is seeking damages, and bonus for his termination but there was no indication as to how much he was seeking.
Sources are of the opinion that Proton will choose to settle out of court to reduce negative publicity surrounding this ‘high profile case’.
Source: Utusan Malaysia
Proton Cars UK has been doing quite well and is on track for a successful 2006. Proton sales in the Uk is up by 82% in a market which is down overall by 13%. Proton GEN-2 sales are up by 80% in January 2006.
The Proton Savvy is also doing pretty well, and reports are that demand is more than supply. Proton UK tripled it’s sales forecasts for 2006 and expects the Proton Savvy to account for 50% of all new Protons sold in the UK for 2006.
CAP Motor Research, UK has valued the Proton Savvy’s 2nd hand residual value at 34% of the sticker price after 3 years or 60,000 miles. Does anyone know if this is good or bad by UK standards?
The Edge Daily carries a story with the main points of the new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation signed between Proton and Mitsubishi.
How will Proton benefit from this partnership?
What’s in it for Mitsubishi?
A few interesting things have been happening in the Proton stables. Let’s have a look at them one by one shall we.
On the 26th of January, Proton’s new chief executive Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir issued a press statement that Proton’s woes on cost effectiveness, quality control and model line-up would be solved by the end of the year. A very optimistic announcement, and I suspect this might be to save Proton shares from dropping any further. Syed also said Proton would be phasing out the Wira and Iswara models, though no indication of when was given. Proton will also focus on exporting to China and India.
We then had Mitsubishi Motors announcing that they were open to alliances, but there would be no chance of taking up equity. Yesterday, Proton and Mitsubishi announced the revival of their old alliance since early Proton Saga days. The alliance would be more of a technology transfer alliance just like before. I’m sure many would be glad to hear this, as generally Japanese technology-based cars are cheaper to maintain and have higher residual value here in Malaysia.
However in the same report Syed Zainal was quoted to say Proton was unlikely to turn around within a year. “In the auto industry, a change is not going to happen in one week, even one year,” he said. A sudden change in attitude, barely a week apart.
In other news, Volkswagen and Proton officially ended the Memorandom of Understanding signed back in October 2004 and have agreed to collaborate on technical and training projects. A report by Business Week had the interesting title of “Proton to buy parts from Volkswagen”.
To me it doesn’t really make much sense to have partnerships with both Mitsubishi and Volkswagen, and even recently Petronas on technical issues. This muhibbah rojak wouldn’t help with Proton’s economies of scale at all. What we have now is a few different platforms, old and new, using engines from 3 different manufacturers (Mitsubishi, Renault and Campro). Are we about to throw Volkswagen and Petronas into that mixture? Proton needs to have only one or two platforms that can be adapted to numerous body styles, like Lotus Group’s Versatile Vehicle Architecture. With common parts.
Anyway one of the reports had something interesting that should give us a clue on when the Proton Satria Replacement Model would finally be launched. Syed said a new model is slated to be launched in April or May this year.
I think Super Syed (as he is called internally) definitely is taking Proton in the right direction in general, but all that matters now is the execution of things. As managing director he cannot be micro-managing everything, and it requires a total team effort to pull this off. PR stunts like “we can change within one year” might just be a morale boosting exercise, or might be an effort to save Proton share values from plunging but this sudden change of attitude could be damaging, especially since the rakyat is pretty wary of Proton right now. After all, these days in the era of super chief executives, the head honcho of a company has his own branding as well and what that branding is does affect things. Have a look at Tony Fernandes for example, going everywhere with his Air Asia cap. It would not do Proton good if Syed is labelled as someone who trash talks.
Sources:
Proton to turn around in one year.
Malaysia’s Proton renews Mitsubishi Ties.
Proton to buy parts from Volkswagen
Proton Holdings Bhd signed a memorandum of intent (MOI) with Petronas to develop larger-capacity engines and an environmentally friendly alternative fuel system. The MOI involves Proton and Petronas working together to explore the development of Petronas engines like the Petronas E01 for mass production and fitment into Proton cars. Proton intends to use the E01 family for it’s 1.8 to 2.2 liter product range. Proton and Petronas will also collaborate on NGV systems for Proton cars.
Previously a Letter of Intent was also signed between Petronas and Nanjing Automobile of China for it’s Petronas E01 family.
For the specifications of the Petronas E01 engine, click here for more details.
You’ve been used to looking at spyshots, but this is the first ever spy video on this blog! Reader Aris Tee sent in this video of the Proton Satria Replacement Model that his brother captured a few weeks ago. No, the video isn’t the photo above, I just used it to spice up this post. Video is after the jump!
Click here to read the rest of Proton SRM Satria Replacement Model Video
Although Mitsubishi has denied any future joint venture plans with Proton, it’s CEO Osamu Masuko said on Tuesday that it would still be open to forming technology-based alliances with Malaysia’s national carmaker. However he said Proton had not made such a request.
Currently Mitsubishi is already providing parts for a total of 70,000 Proton cars yearly. The Proton Gen2 which uses the Campro engine is not entirely Mitsubishi-free as it still uses a Mitsubishi gearbox.
In other news, Edaran Otomobil Nasional believes Proton can still resolve any uncertainly over its relationship with Volkswagen AG. A tech alliance should still be possible. 2.0 turbocharged FSI Satria Replacement Model anyone? Hehe.
Associated Press via Yahoo News reports that the Malaysian Appeals Court upheld a High Court order against Richard Fong Khee Choong to take down a personal website he set up in October 2002 about his Perodua Kelisa.
Perodua sued Richard Fong for defamation and the court ordered Fong to shut down the website pending resolution of the defamation suit.
Does this mean we can’t complain about our cars anymore without having to fear lawsuits from the car manufacturers? This is outrageous. It makes me wonder, I could be next just in case any car manufacturer with deep pockets decides it doesn’t like my site. What constitutes defamation in this context?
I’ll end this blog post with a quote from United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Update: More details. It was not just bashing the Kelisa. Richard apparently posted on a Geocities website a statement accusing Perodua of bribery to get ISO 9000 certification from the United Kingdom Vehicle Certification Agency.
Read more about the case at Yahoo News.
