Proton Mitsubishi partnership outline

The Edge Daily carries a story with the main points of the new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation signed between Proton and Mitsubishi.

  1. Product development of new Proton vehicles
  2. Supply of components between Proton and Mitsubishi
  3. Technical support for production, engineering and quality control from Mitsubishi to Proton and Proton’s vendors

How will Proton benefit from this partnership?

  1. Diversified product range with shorter time to market for development
  2. Plug holes in production line-up, mainly for MPV and luxury car segments
  3. Use of Mitsubishi parts
  4. Technical support and QC help by Mitsubishi

What’s in it for Mitsubishi?

  1. Manufacturing facilities at Proton Tanjung Malim, which is sort of good for Proton too as QC at the factory will have to be up to Mitsubishi’s standards.

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Paul Tan

After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Comments

  • Joe v2.0 (Member) on Feb 04, 2006 at 3:45 am

    if this will be going on, at least the proton big manufacturing plant will be more utilized but the main thing is, if proton manage to make its QC SOP up to the par of mitsubishi's (although mits is not the best in the world), I really think that will be a major achievement for proton.  Forget about the engine or other mechanical tech transfer.

    but in the other hand, if proton part will be compatible with mits, so there's still hope to 'rojak' proton's part with mits in the future line up's.  At least we can save money to buy those part at the chop shop.

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  • Si|v3rB|ooD (Member) on Feb 04, 2006 at 5:01 am

    Finaly, the japanese tech will coming soon around the corner huh. cant wait to see new car & engines will be launch this year. Maybe we can see locally assembled EVO VII in msia :P

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  • i'm run (Member) on Feb 04, 2006 at 5:29 am

    '…Proton benefit from this partnership… Use of Mitsubishi parts ….'

    Proton should stop using other cars maker parts… They should use their own parts.. They should stop lean on someone else..

    And I hope the Mitsubishi Lancer price will come down… And locally assembled Evo VII and Evo X!!!

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  • Ah-Ba (Member) on Feb 04, 2006 at 6:18 am

    MOU only lah, last time also MOU w. VW what, look how it turns out? Just wait & see loh. Last time Tun M ejek Japaness partner slow in helping P1, saying legs too short , cannot run or something like that. See what Tun has to say this time.

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  • handsfree (Member) on Feb 04, 2006 at 8:37 am

    Bravo… Proton.. i

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  • damion (Member) on Feb 04, 2006 at 10:53 am

    let's just see how proton will do in more than a years time…

    current proton sales are doing much better than the previous months.. a few factors such as the 1.3 Gen2, Savvy, and the upgraded Campro Waja…

    yet it is still hard to see where this MOU will lead them..

    the problem here is not about the usage of Mitsubishi parts, because no matter how much they can use it, there's still the limit of percentage that they must abide to, unless they don't that is..

    problem is, the local parts.. as they need a major percentage of local parts, how competent are the local manufacturers at providing the parts needed with sufficient quality and technical know-how? for example, we all know how frail the proton waja power window assembly is.. heck, i've faced it before myself.. and it was made here, in our own boleh-land.. imagine using it for a few weeks(if lucky, months) and to have the assembly fail due to the frame broken into pieces, is simply no-confidence at all…

    no matter who they sign the MOU with, they will still have loads of local parts in the car, which gives not much confidence to the consumers… because local parts have very bad QC… ignore the "QC passed" stickers on the side windows, those are merely stickers and we don't know exactly how stringent the QC method is..

    if "Super Syed" is indeed keen on revamping Proton, my opinion is to revamp the parts suppliers first… we don't expect AUDI quality, but that doesn't mean we want to pay a hiked up price for quality that embarasses itself even to the work of amateurs..

    an example of ridiculous pricing:

    Proton Perdana V6 Enhanced Front Bumper: RM1XXX (from Proton Edar/EON)

    Honda Accord 03 (SDA) Front Bumper: RM400 (from Honda Malaysia, price before discount)

    both are made from ABS plastic, so i certainly don't see why the former should be priced as such…

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  • nizam80 (Member) on Feb 04, 2006 at 9:02 pm

    Hmm… Proton with Mitsubishi….. AGAIN? Ok, does this mean that future Proton cars will be using Mitsubishi engines AGAIN? I don't get this…. what about Campro engines? Are they going to stop using Campro???

    Correct me if i'm wrong.. It seems that we will be stuck in the 90's AGAIN……….

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  • HatukNgkau (Member) on Feb 04, 2006 at 10:23 pm

    nizam… dont worry just yet… it's just technical cooperation, parts sharing and some other minor stuffs… Campro is here to stay. just like saga, iswara and wira. else how're they gonna recoup back their money spent on "developing" a new engine?

    plus, by stopping to using Campro is akin to spitting in their own face. what happened to their trumpeting claims when they first announced and launched Campro? certainly they would want to keep their face now from suffering shame by stopping to use Campro.

    Using a foreign engine in its coming models tend to create tongues wagging among auto industry enthusiast, supporters and bashers alike, as it had been happening in its chancellor's and savvy's release… "what happened to Campro?", "why is it not incorporated in so-and-so models?","why still using age-old tech and pay royalties when it shouldn't be anymore now?","why is it still so expensive?" they ask…

    so in return, to answer these questions, they put it into Waja. stil it does not explain why Campro could not be implemented in other models as well. or why there's no reduction in terms of prices, despite claims of no royalty payment and cost reduction up to 30%, stil the savings is not passed to end buyers but stuffed it with accessorioes that an average car buyers can live without?

    i understand there may be many issues to address with to justify coming up with decisions as such, but does such decisions takes into consideration and priorities of buyer's needs and wants? after all they're ur only source of revenue. what is the point if u r running a company excellently but yet nobody buys ur products?

    i'm sure somebody would want to argue with me over this but hey, i'm a marketing researcher, i'm used to see things from consumer's point of view, and my profession's philosophy is that to be profitable, companies must find out and ran around to satisfy customers needs and wants. not by creating products that aren't sellable in the first place yet force customers to buy it. what happened to the adage of "Customer is King"? it doesnt apply to our GLCs it seems.

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  • damion (Member) on Feb 05, 2006 at 12:16 am

    i'm suddenly shocked by the marketing researcher inside hatuk.. suddenly there's no more spitting of mucus.. :D

    that aside, what hatuk says is certainly true to the point.. and i couldn't agree more..

    satisfying customers needs and wants is actually the prime reason the customer would want to buy your product.. because its something they want… not something you want to sell…

    forget high margin and think high volume…

    with higher volume, you'll be able to replenish the fleet with new stock, newer models and newer technologies, not forgetting quality that the customers wants…

    proton needs to cut down costs immediately or pay the price in the long run.. nobody wants to pay RM10 for a pack of nasi lemak with no extras just because it's "national"…

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  • stevarac (Member) on Feb 05, 2006 at 1:27 am

    The MOU between proton & mitsu seemed to indicate that proton is ready to follow the successful path of Naza.

    Just make full use of the Tg Malim plant to produce mitsu models and slapped on a proton badge and hey ! we have a new national car model from P1 ! Just as we have citra , ria , sorento and so to be naza 206…

    With the full operation of Tg Malim plant , and the overhead cost are covered , the management buy some time to come out with "real " P1 models.

    As for campro , I believe they are stuck on the reliability of the actual cam profiling. There is no other reason why it takes so long to actually configured the engine to have such a common cam or valve timing into the present campro engine.

    One good thing that came out of this is that they have a least the decency not to force through this campro function when reliability is not guaranteed yet.

    I agree with Damion on the parts vendors. But it is not easy to kick out these vendors what with various sensitive issues . I believe TM did highlighted about P1 hands are tied when it comes to parts vendor , where these vendor enjoy some form of protection from our G. Why ? must be some sensitive reasons….talk about transperency… WTF !

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  • damion (Member) on Feb 05, 2006 at 3:52 am

    a few legitimate reasons i can think of why their hands are "tied"…

    either they've signed a contract stating that the suppliers will supply them for 100years..

    or an IOU saying because i got some, you got some…

    i thought it's always in a manufacturing contract that if the supplier cannot supply the proper parts with the proper quality the contract can be cancelled with immediate effect?

    what were the terms given? what quality check levels must they adhere to? and most importantly, WHO ARE THESE SUPPLIERS?

    like stevarac said, talk about transparency… WTF!

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  • catborg (Member) on Feb 05, 2006 at 12:49 pm

    Aiyaaa… no need lah!!!!..

    JV with mitsu s**k big time laaa…

    U already have Lotus!..

    What the hell is "Use of Mitsubishi parts …"?

    Using  their OLD TECH AGAIN AND AGAIN AAAA? B**Lsh*t.

    "Mitsubishi, currently provides engines and transmission systems to Proton in the Iswara, Wira, Satria, Arena, Waja, Perdana and Gen.2 models."

    WHAT??? Gen-2 is mitsu engine kah?

    No need… U're in the right way now proton.. Unless u still want to be 'Pengguna teknologi 10 / 20 tahun dulu' punya cerita.. Hah.. jv laa dengan mitsu.. Tapi tak heran.. sebab ramai orang suka bende murah lepas tuh bising pakai teknologi lama.. ceehh..!

    Duhh!!!.. Mitsu nak bangkrap macam2 cerita pula keluar… go die lah mitsu..

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  • nizam80 (Member) on Feb 05, 2006 at 8:15 pm

    Ya, i agree. Customers benefit from the affordable mitsubishi spare parts.. hmm, but this is it what Malaysian people want….. no matter what, there's are still always more Malaysians who prefer Mitsu parts, even though they are 10/15 technology…… For me, i still like Campro despite it's problems…. Wait??? problems????? Ada problem ker???? U know what…. my friend owns a mid 2005 GEN.2. His car almost… 19,000 km, and so far…. NO PROBLEMS… And furthermore…. his driving style is the 'LENJAN' type.

    In the end, whatever Proton's decision is…… i truly support till the end of time.

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  • dk (Member) on Feb 05, 2006 at 10:37 pm

    This is just a stop gap measure to prevent further depression of the stock price. These guys always like to sign MOU's. Anybody who is somebody knows that MOU's are worthless. No money involve, no commitment.

    Proton's biggest market is still domestic but that won't last, they have to really look into their quality issues. Japanses sell high end quality products locally and export those that just pass marginally. But seems like our GLC's this opposite. They sell those better quality versions overseases and the rest to us. I've ridden a proton in Australia and man it is much better built then our's here, you could mistake it for Satria GTi.

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  • bangau (Member) on Feb 06, 2006 at 10:17 am

    1. I think somebody deliberately lowered the stock price. Wait and see.

    2. Why bother using local parts? Everybody now does global sourcing. Using parts from somewhere else does not mean that your car is not Malaysian. Malaysians have a lot to learn and it seems that even the big guys in the G dont really know what is going on. Your Toyota Altis has a lot of parts coming from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, CHina and Taiwan and other countries but hey, the Altis is still seen as a Japanese car, right?

    3. Yup…so far the Mitsu engines and Mitsu gearboxes can be considered as one of the culprits in most Proton QC problems. The CamPro still remains strong.

    4. Mitsu and Proton? Well..both seriously need a partner. So we shall see how they go about this.

    Word of advice, kalau tak reti or tak tahu, tak payah la berlagak tahu and condemn like mad. U should be fair. I am not angry or what but some of your postings here do reflect your abilitity to become a class one ninkampoof. Hehehe….ada ka trade plate dia kata overseas plate (check the SRM stuck in the mud thread). Hahahaha…that was funny. If the guy who wrote that is reading this, I should say bravo dude….you are a real joker. Ought to join a circus and apply to become a clown!

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  • honda_driver (Member) on Feb 06, 2006 at 3:45 pm

    i think this time around, proton will be getting access to current technology, unlike the deal in the past. mitsu does have some decent technology and cars, just bad business practices that saw them go bust. Even with a huge partner like daimler chrysler, the company couldnt make money.. just goes to show that having a large partner doesn't necessarily mean automatic success.

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  • Ralliace (Member) on Feb 06, 2006 at 11:08 pm

    I totally agree with HatukNgkau.

    But most importantly, the problem with Proton isn't so much on quality issues. From my understanding, Proton's main problems lie within reliability, attitude, business strategies and being customer focus.

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  • driver (Member) on Feb 06, 2006 at 11:22 pm

    Of course the Japanese will give you the outdated technology. Nothing comes free. You think people spent decades of R&D and you can get it so easy by allowing them to manufacture their car in proton plant? Not if we don't pay them billions in cash, come on this the business world, get real. The Japanese is not stupid.

    QC by Mitsu? Is this crap or what? … they will not do their best if the product they QC is not theirs, anyway if proton cars quality is not good, it only proton's reputation that is affected, not mistubishi. They have no obligation to do their best, unless we pay them billions – again business fact. Even if they can do their best, they will send their worst engineers to do the job – again fact. I don't think their worst engineers is better than our best engineers.

    We have to work hard to achieve what we want, not keep relying on others.

    Actually I encourage every proton drivers to send their cars to proton service center in order to avoid fake parts. Also proton must improve their service in terms of friendliness and speed so that people like to go there. People don't like to wait too long or no car to use for too long.

    If you think outside service workshop is cheaper, its only because they are giving you if not fake or rejected parts, they are lower quality parts or parts that does not pass QC at the factory. Again business fact.

    So what QC and parts by mitsu! Big deal! people still send their cars to outside workshop after the warranty is over and they are give you fake parts, low quality cheaper parts. When the car has problem again, fingers at proton again!

    Especially, aunti-aunti or those who don't know anything one, when they send their car to work shop, when you are not aware, those buggles will disassemble your genuine parts and replaced by fake parts or used parts. When your car have problems again, they have more repeat business! This is true! They do this very often! Almost all car workshop outside is the same, they like to screw your car so when your car got problems, they got more repeat business!!!

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  • nizam80 (Member) on Feb 07, 2006 at 4:10 am

    I agree with 'driver'. No wonder spare parts at Proton Service Centre more expensive. I've not yet send my car to outside workshop, even after encouraged by my friend.

    hmm.. it could be true.. furthermore mitsu spare parts for SAGA (Iswara), WIRA, and WAJA 4G18 dah BERLAMBAK in Malaysia nie. There's a possibility of more ungenuine parts from outside workshop.

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  • KnightxForce (Member) on Feb 07, 2006 at 4:59 am

    This my 1st time in the forum and I noticed that some of the forum members are very analytical given the limited amount of info. :-)

    Before I go on further, I just came across this article which highlights the "Missed Opportunity" between Proton and VW group. Very interesting. Perhaps it could shed some lights between the current agreement between Proton and Mitsu. Go over to this link

    Here are my 2 cents:

    1) If I remember well, the current MOU between Proton n Mitsu states that Proton will no longer get 3-4 old generation products from Mitsu. They will get the latest product on Mitsu's stable (although I highly doubt that Mitsu will let go of their ACD/AYC/AWD technologies to Proton :-p ). Perhaps Proton will have access to things such as INVECSIII or II or etc

    2) I do agree with majority of you guys concerning the attention that need to be put into quality of our local suppliers. IF u look at Proton's effort such as the Waja platform and Gen2 (based on Waja's platform as well), even I gotta say it is not bad. Waja's body rigidty equals that of a Lancer or even better. Well, if Waja have the quality and parts of Toyota (minus the air-con styling orientation… sucks big time) plus the handling of Lotus, it could really do very well. So.. in the END.. QUALITY OF SUPPLIER DA BERRY IMPORTANT AH!

    3) On the above statement, I presume that if Proton do not kick the idealogy that there's more to the supply's of automative parts (think GLOBAL… think VW) than it's cronies based local supplier, it might perhaps succeed. One of the reason why Proton sucks is always because of QC and the lousy engine technology which it acquired from Mitsu through past dealings. Right now, if Mitsu is supplying current generation engine plus transmission, perhaps Proton with its Lotus tuned handling with succeed. Think R3 with Toyota quality :-)

    4) Taken from the Motortrader's article:

    "As Proton has maintained a seemingly non-negotiable position on the issue of management control being held by Malaysians and VW's stand is also firm because of its concerns about long-term security of its intellectual property and plans, a decision was reached by VW's board that discussions should end

    As Proton has maintained a seemingly non-negotiable position on the issue of management control being held by Malaysians and VW's stand is also firm because of its concerns about long-term security of its intellectual property and plans, a decision was reached by VW's board that discussions should end.

    I have been working in the auto industry for more than 20 years in various regions and I must say that our negotiations with Proton have been very difficult, something which we find hard to understand although we respect issues such as national pride and political concerns," Mr Jacoby said.

    Mr Jacoby said that Proton negotiators were clear on VW's stand all along and unless they provided some rational argument on why VW should not have management control (in the way proposed), there could be no agreement to go ahead."

    From the above, you can see that the Malaysian Govt truly do not want Proton to be taken over by VW. As VW is seeking a long term partnership, and thus Proton will be bounded with VW if they entered into such agreement. But, on the plus side, Proton can really benefit from VW's huge resources in terms of management, technology and also global chain of quality suppliers. But then… who am I to say that it is a good move to go into this MOU.

    As I have read from above, I believe Proton current MOU with Mitsu is only for a short term kinda of strategy. Proton needs Mitsu's to provide them with the technical know-how, current generation engine and cars (rebadged) and also quality assurance and etc. And Mitsu only needs Proton because of their Tg. Malim production facility and also their wide distributor network to market their cars. As u can see (or maybe only me), this MOU between both is only short term. Both parties are seeking each other for temporary benefit to drag each other out from their curent hole. Mitsu's need a partner. Proton needs a partner too. So.. what better combination than these. Oh well…

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  • kody (Member) on Feb 07, 2006 at 5:22 pm

    wahlaueh…

    proton take alliance with Mitsu & refuse the management control of VW… what i can think of is… 'orang besar' still secure their appointed part vendors… pockets will still full…

    In this tech alliance with Mitsu, It may good if proton can use it's CAMPRO marry with INVECS III transmission, WAJA platform… then a bit LANCER outlook… spacious interior, maintain new WAJA interior… or become better… Then it will become new hotcake model… important one on the road price ~RM50k. i will sure get one.

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  • Jake (Member) on Feb 07, 2006 at 5:29 pm

    KnightxForce, where's the link?

    thanx.

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  • biggie (Member) on Feb 07, 2006 at 6:12 pm

    hmmm.. the current MD is Jap fan boy (this is not a bad thing), he is booted out from Proton before as he sided with the Jap too much. Effectively killing the effort made by M'sian, infact he allow many M'sian to quit Proton to work in Jap styling houses that prepare concept cars for autochows etc. He hope that these guy after some time will come back to work for Proton, but without any agreement/contract these guys never look at Proton. FYI they get abour 200-300K per car, so many work on 1-2 cars then goyang kaki, open up interior design house or boutique.

    What he will or should get from Japan counterpart is the mfg culture/discipline that is lacking currently.

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  • noksokmo (Member) on Feb 07, 2006 at 6:44 pm

    Proton & Mitsubishi should be with each other, they are meant to be together, you'll know, both are liars. Back in July 2004, even Japan's transport ministry has decided not to buy new vehicles from MMC and was banned from any government tender for the 18 months period upto December 2005…ask any japanese that are not employed by mitsubishi, what they think of mmc…it is like a moving missile (that killing people) said Tokyo Mayor

    Tak percaya, Browse any Japanese newspaper in June/July 2004 period

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  • waimak (Member) on Feb 07, 2006 at 10:43 pm

    What I can see from this MoU is that it's gonna benefit Mitsu. Why? They get to use the factory in Tg Malim, cheaper cost and breaks the barrier to entry in Malaysia and later on ASEAN market. Aprt from that Proton will also hv to rely on them for parts, technical know how and product development. It all goes to Mitsu. What a deal!

    Then what is it for Proton? I think Proton will have to learn (again) based on previous coorperation with Mitsu, i.e. learn fast and become a 'real' manufacturer, or else, after the deal is over, Proton still doesnt gain anything and it goes to square one. As we all know, even the Japanese learnt from the west and improvise an idea or even the technology (e.g. calculator, rotary engine).

    I quote a statement from a book which says "The secret to a successful organization and business is continuation in policy". Based on that I must say, I honestly dont know where Proton is heading.

    It a tough and fast changing industry out there. I just wish one day, I would be able to drive a proton car which comes with character, quality and technology.

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  • szw (Member) on Jun 03, 2006 at 2:52 am

    r we getting wira evo ?

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