The feasibility study between Lotus Engineering Malaysia Sdn Bhd and Youngman Automobile Group Co Ltd (Jinhua Youngman) recently concluded with positive results, and Lotus has managed to secure the deal to assist Jinhua Youngman produce passenger cars. Jinhua Youngman started off manufacturing commercial vehicles, but recently secured a license from the Chinese government to produce passenger vehicles. Lotus will start with a 4-door saloon for Jinhua, with work scheduled to begin early 2007. Jinhua plans to have a 4 car model line-up within the next 5 years.
Do you think Jinhua will be using our existing platforms like the ones that have spawned the GEN2 and the Waja, helping Proton achieve better economies of scale? Or perhaps Jinhua will be using the flexible and advanced Versatile Vehicle Architecture (VVA) by Lotus, which use was demonstrated to the public with the rapid development of the Lotus APX Concept. The latter sounds more likely.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
How are they going to compete in chinan using Protob platform? Jinhua Gen2 and Jinhua Waja? How much they going to sell that in China amist the competitive pricing? Local will bash Proton Kau Kau.lol….
only BUFORI can stay.
actually if they use proton platform, its considered high tech for their county right?
i dont think thy wil use the VVA…the gen2/waja platform is actually quite good and can be configured in many ways jus that proton not utilizing the options..since costs are very important to those chinese makers..thn most probably thy wil go for the cheaper proton platforms….
wenever one of those chinse makers sign a deal with us..i feel like crying dono y!
Hope the Jinhua guys are not as patient as our people … paying and waiting for Campro Cam Profiling System for how many years now, but still not ready!?
Finally got some business? I hope it is enough to feed all the expensive British engineers working in here for them. The local engineers are just decorations. No need to develop local guys.
Let's just hope for them that there is a Hartamas, Bangsar, etc. to do R&D (Relaxing & Drinking) in Shanghai or Beijing.
IT wil be called
LOTUS Gen-2
&
LOTUS Savvy
wv take the plant,
since vw dont need proton stamping machine ,jual to china continue waja/g 2 chasis,
so habisss,nil
ACTUALLY la ,lobour cost here + nitty gritty, we really C A N 'T make car,
thats the bottom line. reality
lotus gent2 and lotus savvy? haha
i think only tarnish the lotus brand…
but what to do? the chinese don want proton brand,
bcoz is not international recognise….malaysia boleh or uk boleh?
most of you guys here know nuts. sigh…. look at it from a business POV, not as another channel to hantam proton.
i think they can make a better car there will be less politicians intefering with the company.
platform sharing does not mean the car will look like the current cars. A good example is the S40, Mazda3 and the Focus. All are sharing the basic platform but the similarity ends there.
But then again, i dont think some of u here know what is a platform.
Wow!!! Mr. Chris Bangle has left a comment? Maybe just another wannabe British baffoon living in Malaysia and getting gaji buta? Lotus Curry House is a money pit to make foreign contractors rich while the local staff get the shaft. No effort to build up local staff, just paying out British Pounds to the white man. Why? Because white man is great, and brown skin is no good in Protong eyes. Hahahahaha!!! Protong is in fact sponsoring the Bangsar and Hartamas pubs. Air kencing setan is flowing from their coffers.
alamak.. why la you all kecoh-kecoh. Lotus is making money, so good news la. before this lotus is only sedut duit proton. good news pun you nak treat as something bad ka.??. haiyaaa ..
business point of view – lotus gets new customer, duit flowing in, everybody happy….
engineering point of view– well nothing change, but atleast with the extra cash, lotus @ proton can use that..
chinaman Jinhua is happy, whitemanlotus is happy, mixed man proton is happy, .. i agree completely with chrisbangle
as usual, too many rubbish comments. its just a waste of time reading them actually. nothing intelligent to contribute at all.
as for my 2cents, i think it will most likely be a gen2/waja type platform as apposed to the VVA. An aluminum chassis system like the VVA is way too expensive for mass production at this point in time, especially for China, and the fact that no one else in the world is doing it also, except for lotus.
very good news to me.
most of us know nuts? to me, to only people who are full of shite are the people who think they know everything by making silly comments.
So, Mr Bangle, do you have an official automotive engineering degree to be telling us what is a platform?
Please tell us what is a platform.
i dont know what is this bullshite about whiteman shite. if they are white means they are a step above others? in my opinion, they are just as good as thr locals….and i dare say local are better in many fields.
I dont know about proton whiteman, but if their product is a half baked Campro, why would anybody buy a half baked bread from the Loaf in langkawi?
campro my ass. where is the campro?