Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely, reported to have withdrawn its bid to acquire a controlling stake in Proton, was said to be looking at the national carmaker’s Tanjung Malim plant as a base to build right-hand drive versions of its Lynk & Co 01 SUV if the deal had gone through. The offering from its new sub-brand would have been set for export to various markets like the UK and Australia.
According to Autocar, Geely also had plans to establish Proton as an entry-level brand within its overall structure. A source from the Chinese carmaker told the publication on the sidelines of the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month that the Chinese carmaker was also intent in securing Lotus as part of the tie-up.
“Geely has established itself as a reputable middle-class brand in China thanks to its links with Volvo. The purchase of Proton would give it a new entry-level point, which is considered crucial to further growth,” the source told the publication.
As for Lotus, Geely had been eyeing the British sports car maker very keenly. “My chairman is desperate to buy a sports car maker. We’ve spoken to Aston Martin and others, but Lotus has always been the target,” he added.
On Tuesday, a report indicated that Geely had pulled out of negotiations with the national automaker, the move being confirmed by Geely president An Conghui. An did not elaborate on the reasons for the decision, but earlier this month, the Chinese carmaker’s chairman Li Shufu had indicated that it was planning to pull out of the bidding process due to DRB-Hicom’s indecision regarding the partnership.
Securing a partnership with Proton would have allowed Geely access to Proton’s underutilised facilities as a production and export base, expanding the company’s presence in the South East Asian region by tapping into right-hand drive (RHD) markets via Proton. Sources had indicated that Geely promised DRB-Hicom some of the latest vehicle technologies it has developed with Volvo’s input as part of the deal.
The announcement of Geely’s withdrawal from the chase means that Groupe PSA remains as the leading – and thus far, the only publicly known – contender to become Proton’s foreign strategic partner. The French company – which is on a global expansion exercise – confirmed it submitted a bid for a partnership with Proton, announcing last month it was in talks with the Malaysian carmaker for a deal.
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at this rate even our grandchildren will be bailing out P1.
Your grandchildren, not mine
Looks like Proton is more interested in other things than paying off their debt, which should be priority No 1. Pay up the RM1.5 bil first Proton.
This is typical in Malaysia. Got so much of hutang with friends also, instead of settling the hutang, Mr X still insist must have 2 BMWs in his garage and wife use LV handbags.
what 1.5b lol? You don’t have to pay for a loan that you haven’t receive… you know that right?
you do realise that for PROTON to get the 1.5b loan from govt, one of the requirement is to get a foreign partner first… which they haven’t fulfill yet…
so what 1.5b to be paid?
You are talking about the official figure. What about the non-official figure from the past 30 years?
If Proton close down, each rakyat should be compensated for financial and emotional loss due to this ‘National Leech’
Yes, it is true…P1 is build to make certain friend rich. When P1 product cannot sell, they keep invest billions in R&D. After G soft loan, now they need more money to pay those billions which they committed!
Hope people see what is the real purpose of P1! It is not about 60K workers!!
Proton’s interest is always to con people, not competition. Your grandchildren will be paying for Proton CEO’s grandchildren’s car which is not a Proton
Proton as OEM, a brand develop products, marketing branding & selling. Knowing of Proton limitation that brought to the bought over of Lotus during 1996 with £51million @acquired 80% stake as *strategic technical source to Proton. In fact Proton already *OWN a strategic technical since 1996. And after 20yrs owning a strategic techincal source, now 2017 still looking for another strategic partner…? Is that a JOKE from datuk2 management…? Now you see, where is the problem come from: (1) mis-managed of proton management team over 35yrs, 1983-2017(current), (2)govt mai.maa AP & duty tax struture that killing p1 development to be global competitive (3)political influence into business decision making. The proton management should feel *shame of nearly 2 decades failure; not failed internationally but also failed at own homeland.
One time want,one time cancel then want partner again? C’mon la giliii..make up your mind.Why follow being kan cheong like potong?
Just a few years ago, Volvo was near to bankruptcy. Cause nobody wanted to buy “old fashioned” Volvo cars.
But the Swedish Government and Volvo Swedish Management and Directors all had brains. They allowed their car company to be bought by Geely. They were humble and had humility.
Geely being cash rich, injected USD$12 billion (RM55 billion) cash into Volvo to revive the company.
5 years later now, Volvo is doing so well. The demands for their cars are super duper high. Their XC90 T8 even won countless awards as the Best Car of 2015, 2016 and 2017. XC60 and XC40 also going to wipe out the whole SUV market.
Time for Proton to think carefully which is more important. Getting a new lease of life OR being arrogant and burdening the rakyat with “free” loans.
so… MY gonna hav… Progeot (pro-goat?)… or Peuton (Puke-ton?)… @_@
That’s a good one… “KambingPro” and “MuntahTon”.
Seriously… Geely pulling out was a waste.. could have a whole new class of SUV Lynk & Co 01. If this is their entry to RHD market, all research and dev could have been done here giving us tons of work to be filled and massive volume production to be exported to every part of the world.
Ohhh so they are eyeing lotus actually..dont la hide behind the bush…haiyaaaaa
A very, very smart move by Geely to avoid Proton, just like our local graduates here.
Yeah later if p1 sells luxury volvo cars msny pipu will go bankcrupt pulak
Proton, Asean contract assembler for multiple car brands.
Looking forward to Aero’s insider news about the details on how this deal went sour!
Looks like Geli wanted to cherry pick P1. In any sales, its alwiz LSB, so they dun wan and make a scene. Now they go bai-bai.
What is LSB? Are u LSB?
Aero still unhappy by his family’s Iriz faulty power window of which luckily covered by warranty.
After that period warranty lapse, pray hard it will not rosak again.
P1 Power window is lifetime warranty bub
What happens to the warranty when P1 close down?
P1 never closes down
Proton S90, graduates?
Proton can have even Bill Gates as their partner but until they trim their over-bloated workforce, Proton will always be in dire problems.
You are running a business. If company is losing about RM4 million per day, you cannot afford to keep the overbloated staff.
Proton needs to open their eyes and see reality. All 4 launches last year, Perdana, Ertiga, Saga and Persona, only latter 2 launches can bring in little money. This money is by far not enough to pay all Proton workers.
Time for Proton to accept reality. New partner PSA also not that stupid. They also will say staff need to be trimmed.
Proton actually got scared when Geely told them that. They think the French will be different. Let me remind Proton, Freach too are clever and prudent. Infact, the whole business community knows, if you are losing money, you need to trim your costs and workforce.
It is only Malaysia that believes that rain or shine, we need to keep redundant deadwood. The same with MAS and the same with many redundant companies. Time for a change.
Change to Alibaba logistics hub.
If Electron have Bille Gatos as their partner holding 48.8% stake, what the first thing Electron will do is to hire addional 500k USsyians just to lepak terima gaji USD 3000 per month.
VW ‘s gone. Now Geely. Lost great opportunity/possibility to penetrate China market?
Cannot. Periuks nasi kawans are there.
Google for a news article on why Peugeot had to shut down one of their French factories due to low productivity.. Then you’ll see why they might also avoid Proton..
Too late. Nasi sudah menjadi bubur. Damn the nincompoops running Proton for letting go such a lucrative deal with Geely.
Skoda dan Seat doin extremely well
beribu ribu tahniah another lost opportunity
A but then? You think they want to get access to Mr Azlan’s expertise to design Proton Iriz? or lawatan sambil road test to Australia?
People always wanted Lotus company because they know they can make money from it..Not like proton even they got raw cut diamond in-hand still dunno nothing and how to generate income from hi-tech company..all they know is spoon feed.
Wish to see lotus Elise use Volvo t6 engine or t6 hybrid…..
Evora with triple boost 600hp 2.0L drive-E and electric hybrid.
Well done Proton! You’re the smartest carmaker in the world among 13 others! Carry on.
They also sell the Motor Cycle company for RM 1
No point crying over spilled milk. Geeley made the right business decision for themselves.
After this, can await paultan post they invest billions in Thailand or Indonesia.
Well done Proton. Thanks for creating more job opportunities elsewhere!
PSA wont be as agreasive as Geely since they are after all a long established brand. So Proton lost an opportunity to really expand. With PSA, just be happy assembling Peugeot cars. There will be one or two cars to be assigned to local partnerships to produce like the 406 with Dongfeng. The partnership model will be slotted in as one of the range of Peugeot cars to existing dealerships within Asia which very little people will buy. That’s about it guys with PSA.
The arrogant clowns will claim we don’t have experience like them, we know nothing.
The truth is it requires nothing much to know which is the better option.
Even 70% freshies with 0 experience knows Proton is a plague to be avoided. But Proton management too syok sendiri to realise they’re the one at fault.
And get ready for our people to exercise their prejudice against French cars. It’s not just feels and perception, it’s based on history. French cars don’t work here, period.
Only clowns in Proton thinks they do. That says it all how delusional and unfit they are to helm proton.
With Geely tie up with Proton, means:
1) Proton will “ALWAYS” become “ENTRY LEVEL MODELS” as Geely itself is middle class and Volvo is premium class.
2) Geely gets Lotus!
Perhaps, that’s the reason why Proton say “No, No” to Geely.
Actually it might be better to have a niche and be extremely good at it. Case in point, Perodua vs Proton domestically. Once there is a firm base, then they might considering venturing into other segments.
Your outlook of the situation is wrong. Currently, Proton is having difficulty trying to even maintain itself as entry level brand with fast declining market share in its home country , loosing to Perodua. Without a wide base out of Malaysia as a entry level brand, how are you to move up the value chain since you have little volume? Proton can build & sell same price as Volvo now but who will buy? That is because the brand have yet to be accepted as mid level or luxury by the public at large. The perdana is a good example. Once Proton has establish itself as a reliable entry level brand worldwide, then the company can look at going up the value chain with more luxury models. The buyers will be able to accept it.
Geely made a smart move/investment when they bought over Volvo as it is perceived to be a safe, reliable & reputable middle-class entry into the car manufacturer world. You can only do that IF U have the $$$.
When Geely look at P1, Lotus came into their mind bcos as a car manufacturer now, any sane owner would like to have a Sports Car division & Lotus seems to fit the bill to the T.
Unfortunately, for P1 rather than Geely, Geely did not agree to some of the terms of P1 hence NO agreement. Sorry to say this but as the saying goes, U cannot be a chooser if U are a Beggar. What’s up next P1 ?!
I have a strong feeling Dr. M has a hand in this failed bid. He must have tried his very best to stop the top management from making this deal to close in fear of Chinese dominance. Well, as the saying goes, can’t beat ’em, join ’em. Eventually u got to choose to pro west (USA) or east (China). Malaysia simply has no ability to stand alone and influence globally at the moment.
So sad. No Lynk & Co SUV for me.
Proton is only PSA with to be negotiating, with Geely out of the loom. PSA what is the worth, and what is the Geely? And what is the Asean, PSA or Geely? Proton really have someone to considering seriously, some more Geely is out of the loom.
After this all PSA cars chasis and suspension system will be tuned by Lotus engineering specialist. After winning best engine with her Peugeot PureTech technology, Winner of Dakar and etc…later they will have the best handling cars. Sure damn nice if got to try peugeot GTI with Lotus chasis and handling..walauwehhh
Dont think PSA need Lotus to tune their cars. They know how to.
They just dont do it as ‘extreme’ as Lotus coz they are not in the business of selling sports car.
Beside several business / strategic decision taken in the past might have been wrong.
Recent back-to-form sporty Peugeots are glimpse of what they are capable of, its really a matter of if they wanted to.
They did produced the best hothatch of all time.. the 205GTi.
Peugeot does have sport car it’s called RCZ. Lotus know-how technology not only for sport car lor. can apply on the chassis, suspension setup or engine technology too… u will suprised if u know who use lotus techs… hehe
Geely saw PROTON as a Poor Return On The Outlay Needed.
Funny but stupid comment
I had always presumed that Proton’s failure to make a go at it in China was the fault of its sponsor Youngman, but now I see that the problem might have been Proton management itself.
I am a PROTON ‘graduate’ who made the move to Geely with no regrets whatsoever. The differences between the two companies are mind-boggling as regards they way each works and the focus they have.
Some of the people I had the fortune of working with at PROTON I would have hired in a second in any position at Geely or any other company. Others, well, could be considered oxygen thieves and a waste of food. With a handful of notable exceptions, this condition seemed to worsen the farther up the food chain you would go.
Compared to PROTON, Geely also has a consistency of management and vision that I experienced very, very rarely in Shah Alam. It seems that often — but not always — the best people at Proton went elsewhere and this is not the way to run a company, though it might be fine as an employment agency.
It will be fascinating in the extreme to see how things shake out at PROTON with the discussion between PSA and DRB in the weeks and months ahead.
Matt
I have also worked in Proton as a contract employee for Lotus. I thought that in most cases the local employees were keen to learn and improve. I generally had problems with people trying to get my job by any means possible… those people were generally my fellow expats. Overall, I think the people are keen to do the best they can.
Whomever takes over, I hope they give everyone a chance to prove their worth.
John Mansfield