Proton is set to receive firm offers from three currently unconfirmed foreign automakers, said Proton chief executive officer Datuk Ahmad Fuaad Kenali to the New Straits Times. “All three shortlisted foreign carmakers are currently doing their due diligence. We expect this to be completed this month. They are expected to come up with the binding offers next month,” he said.
The three possible candidates for partnership are Geely, Groupe PSA and Renault, according to the newspaper. The eventual partner is expected to provide support in terms of technology and economies of scale, in exchange for a possible stake in Proton.
Towards the end of last year, Proton gave itself until March 31 to announce its strategic partner, as one of several conditions from the government to be met for receiving a soft loan of RM1.5 billion. However, the Proton CEO reportedly hinted that the deadline at the end of March would have to be extended, posssibly to June. DRB-Hicom hopes to finalise Proton’s strategic partner by the first half of this year, its group managing director Datuk Seri Syed Faisal Albar said.
Proton CEO Ahmad Fuaad said to the New Straits Times that the company is targeting sales totalling 120,000 units this year, on the back of four models launched last year, the Perdana, Persona, Saga and Ertiga.
Go for Renault.
Renault has a strong reputation and record for being profitable from red.
The company saved Nissan and saving Mitsubishi now.
Would be interesting for Proton.
The true fact is Malaysians value Japanese technology and reliability.
Something tells me it might be Geely because of China political reasons or
PSA Peugeot Citroen because Naza’s political influences.
Go for Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi-Alliance Groupe.
what can Naza influence in this deal? As far as scope of technology and also economies of scale, the Renault-Nissan group is probably the best deal in the rumored options. But given that how we’re licking China’s feet in almost everything we do, Geely is probably the winner. Well they do own Volvo, so that Volvo of Asia thing might be coming to fruitation
Renault and Nissan buddy, later Proton join all price markup… The AP cronies just take easy money from Rakyat tax payers money !
Malu lah try to target 120,000 units. Last year with launch of 4 new models also sales were 70,000, down from 105,000 units the previous year.
I hardly can see any Perdana, Ertiga and Personas around to be so confident to say you can sell 120,000 units.
Better to sell the whole Proton to China company. Waste time doing partnerships. Just like Suzuki, we still have to pay hundreds of million in royalty to rebadge their cars. If we cannot sell enough Ertigas, then money down the drain again.
Better to just sell of the whole company. Currently losing RM4 million per day. And sucking billions every other year in soft loans. Now already near RM16.5 billion taken from the gomen to keep it alive
Seem logic when everything is sell to china these day. Proton deal could be a sweetener to other bigger deal #conspiracystories
I second this. It is a no brainer to pick Renault at this point. What proton is lacking can be improved from Renault, while Renault can enhance their presence in SEA. Plus, Proton will also have the export card in European countries. Super WIN-WIN alliance I must say. Go PRONAULT!
Merge wit PERODUA. fullstop
Sell it off to China company!
DongFeng, Geely, Chery, BYD, GreatWall
ya…AGREED..It should be PROTON GREAT WALL.
agree with u. carlos is the king of cost cutting, throw away dead wood and trim all the fat.
But, if the gov and the cronies have their hand in it, no one can save proton.
Proton is technically ok but their management sucks big time. Vote for King Carlos at the helm.
Proton had an alliance with Renault before. Resulting the Savvy & Waja 1.8. Not so good outcome during that time.
Savvy and Waja was the older days. These days ,if they let Proton rebadge the new Nissan Micra to fight Myvi, I think Proton can stand a chance if they dont screw up the assembly quality.
If Renault gets picked, Proton can easily access Jatco facilities because Nissan(the owner) is under the umbrella as well. Plus, P1 gets to reunite with their old running buddy Mitsubishi too.
got to meet mitsubishi after both companies goyang.. then proton whisper to mitsubishi – see i told you. you can rebadge preve to be the next lancer or our iriz as the lancer. but you stupid dont want. now both of us under nissan. eh nissan or mitsubishi??
mistubishi replied – we both under Renault la. together with Nissan. all of us not good lah. admit.
Its good to have access to Jatco. At least they have the better CVT unit compare to the CVT from Punch
pROTON IS LIKE eLIZABETH Taylor.
All the marriages ended in DIVORCE.
why this media sandiwara?? Everyone and their dog/cat knows it’s gonna be Suzuki. They have been consolidating their spare parts and supply chain ops the last 6 months or so. Suzuki/Proton warehouses are now being shared. The story is not stopping at Ertiga. I’ll be very surprised if it’s another carmaker at this point.
You might be right but Suzuki is also another sakit company. How could orang sakit want to assist another orang sakit. On paper, Geely is good as it will open Proton to the world biggest car market … if there is no unethical intention on all parties.
suzuki does show huge interest but proton is reluctant when suzuki wants 51% majority share (meaning gets to make all decision). suzuki also mentioned proton high number of staff (to consider that it not an international level manufacturer – look at how many units proton sold outside malaysia) and hinted at removing some 30-40% from proton’s 16,000 workforce. proton may not agree with it.
3 automakers – Jaguar, Lexus & VW
More like BYD, Great Wall, Haval… whoever from China. lol
Ferrari, Lamborghini or Porsche, haha Proton can dream on
it can also be Aston Martin. you never know.
Definitely not VW. It already end up in the dust last time. Suzuki must have warned Proton why they ended partnership with VW because VW wanted to gobble up Suzuki shares slowly and become the majority shareholder.
Geely confirm la,semua firm Malaysia china sapu..
Geely > all
Join forces with the world’s safest car group.
They are also most serious about electrification, so best and fastest chance to go electric.
Our proton safety is on par with Volvo now, thank geely LYNK & CO and Volvo..
Proton XC90 T8, harga $158,888
The smart move is to be under Peugeot. Peugeot don’t have low cost brand like Renault with Dacia and Datsun. Peugeot can use Proton as low cost brand for a lot of developing countries. Geely on the other hand can probably come out with endless sub-brand on their own but with perhaps better war-chest.
Geely..i think, as today, many China Corporation invest in Malaysia..
When Proton CEO hinted that the deadline at the end of March 2017 would have to be extended, possibly to June, he is indirectly Buying time.
It should Not be a problem for P1 to achieved 120k units given that they have done it many times.
Probably you don’t know how lengthy is the time taken to produce the due diligence report
Marci, Clap clap clap. U are absolutely right, I don’t know anything about due diligence. Maybe U should enlighten me on how LONG is the procedure !? Lets see how good/smart U are in answering the question ?
Every single asset and liability must be scrutinized and questioned.
For a company like Proton with so much vested interest entrenched, it will be messy. Numbers may say 1 + 1 = 2, but some may want to see 3, 5, -2, etc, whichever that benefits their interests. U know, i know.
Actually all brands have their strengths and weaknesses. However, I think at the end of the day money is going to be a factor in the deals
Go with Geely. The sun is setting on the West. Asia is rising.
Wrong! Not Asia, It’s China… look at M’sia econmy condition in real bad shape. The rise of China man will dominate all big business in bolehland, & the sun is setting on our desperate & poor gomen.
When China goes up, everyone goes up.
When China goes down, everyone goes down.
looks like we are having another foreigner to helm another Malaysian company
ive seen geely emgrand gt when i was in china. very impressive. hope it is the geely which also owns volvo if im not mistaken.
“The three possible candidates for partnership are Geely, Groupe PSA and Renault, according to the newspaper.”
I’m quite sure it will be Geely. Why? Because Geely is the only one in the list that is from China. With everything in this country is being sold to the Chinese, Proton is just following the trend.
jaguh kampung…
Jaguh komen orang, better see yoursekf first
Proton should have no say in this merger.
Management think they are so hell of a great dictating who and what they want.
The future stake holder must ensure that Proton is restructured starting from the top.
PSA Peugeot is likely too as Naza is also struggling & is desperate to off load its stake in PSA.
Naza stake in PSA. What are you smoking dude?
As much as I hope Honda or Mazda, but Renault will be the best among 3, however in reality i think its gonna be Geely..
A lot of pipu here talk like new directors wannabes lol
Wrong, wrong, wrong !
Since when the key decision in Boleh-land is based on logic and common sense ?
It is based on who can donate…..