An audit has revealed there may be traces of bribery between Proton and the media when it comes to reviewing Proton cars.
Apparently Proton had been very generous with the time spans it allows a journalist to keep the review car, and had handed out more than 70 cars so far - with 30 allocated to the media.
There has been cases where NSTP motoring journalists have been assigned Gen.2 and Savvy cars and were told to keep it for an unlimited period. They were told to report back on any problems over long-term use. To me, this sounds like a plausible reason. I frankly do not know what the fuss is about.
The normal review period for a car is usually between 3 days to a week. The Gen2 was returned after 8 months, and the Savvy after 2 months.
Yet more updates on the Volkswagen-Proton parnership. The Malay Mail reports Volkswagen AG may buy 40% of Proton’s manufacturing arm, and assume management control over that unit. Proton’s board of directors had met up with Volkswagen officials last week to discuss this offer.
This deal will allow Proton to benefit from Volkswagen’s technical expertise. However Proton joint Chief Operating Officer Datuk Kisai Rahmat denied to comment on the results of the discussion.
The Proton Savvy Automated Manual Transmission was launched yesterday. The car uses a manual transmission with a computer controlled clutch, supposedly supplied by Magneti Marelli, similiar to the Renault Quickshift 5 available in the Renault Clio.
Proton’s Automated-Manual Transmission (AMT) has 5 gears. There are 2 modes, a manual selection mode where you can switch through the gears sequentially by with the gear knob. It works like a manual transmission with clutches and gears, not like an oil-driven automatic with a torque converter. No power loss there. Clutch control is computerized with precised timing, shifts are much quicker than any average driver can ever attempt with a normal manual gearbox and foot-operated clutch.
The Proton Savvy AMT costs RM45,888.00 on the road without insurance and can be booked at any Proton showrooms around the country. There’s a new colour called Galaxy Grey, specially for the AMT I’ve heard. It looks like the dark grey on the Proton Waja.
I’ll try to get a test drive and report my findings.
A special celebrity Champion’s Drive will be held at next week’s A1 Grand prix at the Sepang circuit. Malaysia’s A1 Team and Proton has organised a 10 lap race, which involves celebrities racing in Proton’s Satria R3 cars.
Some of the celebrities participating are former F1 champion Emmerson Fittipaldi, ex-F1 driver Jan Lammers, Alex Yoong’s sister Pippa Yoong and Malaysia’s rally king Karamjit Singh.
The Malaysian leg of the A1 Grand Prix will be held from 18-20 November 2005. Tickets are priced from RM30 to RM200.
In a strange change of events, Lotus and Proton technicians are dismantling Lotus equipment here for shipping back to the UK. Production for the Lotus Esprit V8, supposed to be built here has also been moved back to Hethel where all Lotus cars have been built since the 60s.
Sources say that Proton Holdings Bhd is reviewing it’s investments in MV Agusta Motor and the Lotus Group International.
No decision made so far, but Proton might cut down on such investments that are non-core assets.
Proton had made a RM137 million provision for bad debts that contributed to a net loss of RM12.4 million last quarter, and most of that amount is suspected to linked to loss-making MV Agusta.
Proton’s cash reserves had dwindled down to RM 2.8 billion this year, from RM 6 billion in 2001.
I doubt Proton would let go of Lotus - the main subject here seems to be MV Agusta, but we cannot rule it out just yet.
The Edge reported on Monday that Proton Holdings Bhd is exploring partnership options with other automers including Mitsubishi Motors Corp of Japan. Talks between Proton and Volkswagen AG seems to have run into difficulty.
It’s interesting to hear that Mitsubishi has popped up among the possible partners that are Volkswagen AG and Hyundai (well, mainly through Sime Darby). Proton had a 20 year old relationship with Mitsubishi which broke down. Mitsubishi disposed it’s entire 16% stake in Proton, most of which were picked up by Khazanah Nasional, which holds 42.7% of Proton shares now.
The Mitsubishi-Proton partnership was deemed a failure because of the lack of technology transfer. What would be different about it this time? Does NAZA and Peugeot’s partnership on the Peugeot 206 involve technology transfer? It’s an outgoing model after all, due to be replaced with the Peugeot 207.
Sime Darby is determined to take full advantage of the incentives the government has given in the new National Automotive Policy. The National Automotive Policy’s new incentives encourages foreign automakers to assemble their vehicles here in Malaysias, thus turning Malaysia into an automotive assembly and distribution hub for the ASEAN region.
Malaysian NGV Sdn Bhd is in talks with Proton on equipping Proton models such as the Proton GEN2 with NGV kits for the export market. These cars would be marketed to countries where NGV is a mainstream fuel, like Pakistan.
No word about offering the NGV Proton vehicles to the local market though. NGV is still pretty hard to find here. I’m sure everyone has at least seen once in their lives a long queue of taxis lining up and the sole NGV pump at a petrol station. Even outside the petrol station, taxis queue up and park by the roadside with the engines off, waiting for their turn to get more gas.
Malaysian NGV plans to set up 100 more NGV stations around the country. Their aim is about 250,000 NGV cars on the road by 2010.
StarBiz reports Proton shares have dropped from RM8.35 to RM7.90, making it the second highest loser on the Bursa Malaysia yesterday.
Traders was worried by the announcement that Proton was interested in buying two Volkswagen platforms to rush out the production of 2 new cars to curb falling sales. They said it made no sense for Proton to buy the platforms since they were heading for a technical collaboration or stake transfer in the first place. This implicated the collaboration might not happen.
HLG Research has flagged Proton shares as buy, as these shares are expected to soar up later if any announcement / further development of an alliance with Volkswagen AG.
HLG analysts also believe that the Q1 loss is partly caused by MV Augusta, which is expected to turn around only in 2007. The report also said Proton also carried 30,000 cars in stocks (these are the ones you see in photos of Proton stockyards) which would affect earnings if not cleared by year-end.
An audit has revealed there may be traces of bribery between Proton and the media when it comes to reviewing Proton cars.
The Proton Savvy Automated Manual Transmission was launched yesterday. The car uses a manual transmission with a computer controlled clutch, supposedly supplied by Magneti Marelli, similiar to the Renault Quickshift 5 available in the Renault Clio.
Sime Darby is determined to take full advantage of the incentives the government has given in the new National Automotive Policy. The National Automotive Policy’s new incentives encourages foreign automakers to assemble their vehicles here in Malaysias, thus turning Malaysia into an automotive assembly and distribution hub for the ASEAN region.
