Proton 2006 sales dip; EPF buys more Proton shares

In Cars, Local News, Malaysian Makes, Proton / by /

Proton’s sales for the year 2006 dropped 30.4% from 166,118 in 2006 to 115,538, while the total industry volume dropped 11% from a record high of 552,316 in 2005 to 490,768 units in 2006. MAA’s forecast for 2006 was 520,000 units. MAA hopes the industry will improve in the second half of 2007, but the first half is expected to continue to be depressed.

In other Proton news, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) acquired an additional 830,000 shares in a transaction that spanned between January 5th and January 12th 2007. This trading was done on the open market. EPF now has 69.25 million shares. GM has reported to be willing to pay a premium over the market price. Is this a move to profit from any possible stake transfer to a foreign party at higher than market price?

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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

  • AI-generated Summary ✨

    Comments express a mix of skepticism and criticism toward Proton’s management, quality, and competitiveness, with many condemning the company's past failures. Several support the EPF’s investment as a strategic move to stabilize or improve Proton, highlighting potential benefits from foreign partnerships like VW. Overall, sentiments are divided, with some hopeful about future growth and others viewing the bailouts as unnecessary or wasteful using public funds, reflecting concerns over transparency and national interests.

  • w_lighter (Member) on Jan 26, 2007 at 12:19 am

    "Is this a move to profit from any possible stake transfer to a foreign party at higher than market price?"

    OR… EPF is just nutzzz….

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  • sewell (Member) on Jan 26, 2007 at 1:07 am

    using public money again. still wondering why the government still holding the proton for what?

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  • e-nabilll (Member) on Jan 26, 2007 at 3:04 am

    i tink behind the curtain thy know who the bidder is and how much is paid per share…thats y thy can take a risk..nobody buys tha much stake for no reason…bt the sales dip is quite alot….

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  • J (Member) on Jan 26, 2007 at 4:17 am

    haha… as I told you guys before… when Proton rugi, the G will back them up. So now you know why NO improvement is required ? :)

    But the point is … EPF is our money… instead of giving us 6% dividend, they will give us 4%. The 2% is used to buy those rotten shares to back rotten people up :)

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  • Ricc (Member) on Jan 26, 2007 at 5:05 am

    Quoted : #

    w_lighter said,

    January 25, 2007 @ 4:19 pm

    “Is this a move to profit from any possible stake transfer to a foreign party at higher than market price?”

    OR… EPF is just nutzzz….

    U think EPF is nut?? They're making money all the time.. So,

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  • Ricc (Member) on Jan 26, 2007 at 5:06 am

    Quoted : #

    w_lighter said,

    January 25, 2007 @ 4:19 pm

    “Is this a move to profit from any possible stake transfer to a foreign party at higher than market price?”

    OR… EPF is just nutzzz….

    U think EPF is nut?? They're making money all the time.. So, I DO think that "something" happened behind the curtain…

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  • cyborgx (Member) on Jan 26, 2007 at 5:33 am

    LOL!

    DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO SAVE PROTON USING PUBLIC MONEY. THE INCOMPETENT PROTECTING THE INCOMPETENT. OMG.

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  • vexus (Member) on Jan 26, 2007 at 5:50 am

    I would suggest that stupid govt collobrate with any foreign investro as soon as possible and stop waiting. The longer u wait, the more lossess u gain. N EPF is saving your back. God damn it my EPF $$$$ fly away just like this saving a useless company..

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  • NeedGoodCar (Member) on Jan 26, 2007 at 6:53 am

    Based on fundamental consideration : I don know why EPF wanted to invest in such a hopeless company in terms of financial performance.

    Based on expected higher share price arising from GM? VW? PAS? or whoever's equity participation in p1 : This is sheer speculation and I wonder what is going on within EPF's Investment Committee, aren't they supposed to be prudent?

    Based on insider information on the potential foreign partner and the price of the stakes: If this is true, what's the point of talking about fairness in trading? integrity? OMG, this is so wrong, what is happening to this world?

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  • tishaban (Member) on Jan 26, 2007 at 7:26 am

    From the numbers, there were about 62k fewer cars purchased in 2006 compared to 2005. Out of that, almost 51k or > 80% were Protons! To me that's a staggering renouncement of Proton by the car buying public.

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  • bogan (Member) on Jan 26, 2007 at 7:39 am

    seriously proton should wake up already. they produce shit cars and always trying to sell it by saying 'engineered by lotus'. seriously lotus only does the handling, wat else? the interior is shit, the engine is shit, basicly the whole thing is shit. wat have they achieved after 20 years? NOTHING. The whole proton fleet is shit. they based the cars on mitsubishi, they bought over lotus…yea so wat…they think they are good with the help of government taxing import cars like mad…pfft seriously…why dont they just close down and sell the assembly plants to other companies, so the cars would be cheaper. hey man..here in aus proton is getting belted big time and even the reviews on all proton cars are shit. for example, the proton arena or jumbuck..no point producing a ute with a 1.5l engine based on mitsubishi. hey man thats like a car cut in half and adding a tray onto the back. WHATS THE POINT? and when u put something heavy onto it the car will get pissed and struggle like hell. AGAIn, proton should seriously reshuffle the whole team and grow up.

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  • kevyeoh (Member) on Jan 26, 2007 at 7:46 am

    what the heck man… EPF buying proton shares? come on la…

    this is not fair! no choice have to contribute to EPF but no control over investment….

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  • sloth (Member) on Jan 26, 2007 at 11:06 am

    Vexus,

    What the heck does ISLAM has anything to do with Proton? This kind of people and their comments.. unbelievable..

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  • mits27 (Member) on Jan 26, 2007 at 1:45 pm

    It is just the excuess for using public money to help some UMNO-putera companies, who care, and sure they don't care for rakyat…

    Too bad, the BN won the election (sorry if I am overeact).

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  • lembagatanah (Member) on Jan 26, 2007 at 4:39 pm

    pity people like vexus still shout out loud in this lovely blog. u better keep ur comment to yourself pal. insulting people is clearly not the best way to comment on matters.

    the way i see this case, my positive thinking say EPF/govt are trying to make money out of proton sale, which i think most people are hoping for. some may see it as protection, but if EPF gain something, a partial of the profit will go to EPF members, even that partial means 1% ;-)

    still wait and see

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  • normal_user (Member) on Jan 26, 2007 at 5:02 pm

    Paul, please BAN vexus from your blog forever and ever. Racist has no room among us here.

    By the way, EPF knew what they are doing. When either VW, GM or PSA announce to acquire major stake either in Holdings or Manufacturing level, the share price level will climb high. Probably to RM8-9. EPF can easily gain 30%-40% in capital gain, which perhaps distributed evenly into the dividends.

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  • whatsoever (Member) on Jan 26, 2007 at 5:13 pm

    of course epf know what they doing -> support all the national project that not doing well.

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  • armandd (Member) on Jan 26, 2007 at 7:24 pm

    i'm wonder, what is the market value of that 830,000 shares?

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  • motorhead (Member) on Jan 26, 2007 at 8:15 pm

    vexus,

    hey.. don't play religious sentiment here… the fact is corruption is Haram in Islam.. pls remember that!!! pls check the corruptors r they religious or not, & ask them whether Islam teaches them to be corruptors!! in Islam's hudud laws, thief's & corruptor's hand must be cut off!!!

    Back to the topic, now they r manipulating epf money… like they own this country… suka2 hati buat apa saja… WELCOME TO MALAYSIA SDN BHD….

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  • wookie00 (Member) on Jan 26, 2007 at 8:32 pm

    political buy… it must be. the only way Proton is going to survive is to hug on to a foreign white knight and lift up its models with better quality engineering and designs… damn… how old is the wajunk model now with all those ad hoc embarrassing face lifts… and the Saga… no need forecast every boleh land people out there knows it's going down down down

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  • renyeo (Member) on Jan 26, 2007 at 9:11 pm

    Some news has it that GM looks to buy into Proton to shore up its No. 1 position, which it will lose to Toyota this year.

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  • mofo (Member) on Jan 26, 2007 at 9:13 pm

    Its business view, as we know P1 keen to look for investors for partnership, might get some profits on it on buy/sell share.

    Anyway, P1 really uncompetitive enough. As didnt know/understand the market needs. We as small potato struggle to live on, wants to get cheaper maintainance and FC. It seem not doing very well on it.

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  • albagmane (Member) on Jan 26, 2007 at 10:56 pm

    its juz like oredi saw a pool of shit in front, they still wana step onto the shit… silly, ridiculous, stupid, awful… tats all we can describe…

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  • motorhead (Member) on Jan 26, 2007 at 11:59 pm

    Yeah… VEXUS, i warn u, if u intend to discredit other religion in this blog, may god damn u…

    ps: Recently, bush is the worst person voted by his own people, but i wud never ever say anything bad about other religions (esp. christian)!!! somebody, pls ban this racist VEXUS!

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  • Jeffrey1977 (Member) on Jan 27, 2007 at 3:14 am

    I think we can take out our EPF for investment or thrust fund.

    Can we?????

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  • ICER (Member) on Jan 27, 2007 at 3:16 am

    EPF support Proton?

    Is that the right way to use our money to do that?

    I think should be Petronas have to support Proton more than EPF using our money to play play loh…

    Since Petronas have own design engin company and it also have earn a lot during the oil price increase… why not help Proton le?

    If EPF buy the Proton, the Proton management policy should change ar? Still remain the same? If still remain the same, no use to throw our money into the salt sea….!

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  • Jeffrey1977 (Member) on Jan 27, 2007 at 3:25 am

    Maybe we can invest in other areas other than EPF.

    Here is the link that says we can invest to other IPD.

    http://www.kwsp.gov.my/index.php?ch=p2faqinvestme…

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  • Jeffrey1977 (Member) on Jan 27, 2007 at 3:28 am

    Institusi Pengurusan Dana = IPD

    Wonder what other IPD we have in Malaysia…….

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  • andylkw2004 (Member) on Jan 27, 2007 at 4:20 am

    icer says;

    right.. suppose petronas should inject money & technologies into proton.. since their design on engine is a failure..CAMPRO..exp

    why should epf have to.. no sense rite.. epf is our rakyat money.. we earn hard money to support those fool proton top management people to manage proton..

    pls lar.. Epf body dun waste our money into investing for bunch of idiot at proton.. petronas or other foreign company should take over proton.

    then change all the proton top management. For proton top management u all should resign if cannot managed. HIGH INVENTORY LEAD TO BRANKCRUPCY..Change your manpower flow.. maybe then proton still can survive..

    pls dun drag other people down.. at least proton still can survive & compete with other car manufacturer…

    EPF body pls be smart to invest especially investing on the rakyat funds..

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  • chanel (Member) on Jan 27, 2007 at 4:44 am

    Hey Everybody….

    this is automotive blog hence pls blog your word carefully, Responsible members does not want it (paultan.org) to wind-up by Gov.

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  • WIRA (Member) on Jan 27, 2007 at 5:11 am

    I support what was done to save the PROTON. The company have improve so much! The car quality is so damn good! The new design of WAJA is so Good! Beautiful! Smart! Wawasan 2020! Malaysia MAJU! I love PROTON…. each of us should buy afew more PROTON car! It bring more economy to the country and the DATUK! Syabas! MALAYSIA BOLE!

    Alamak! I forgot to take medicine!

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  • haroldz (Member) on Jan 27, 2007 at 7:32 am

    some1 must instructed EPF to buy dat share.

    EPF so rich so y not do some bail-out?

    it's rakyat money wot, nothin 2 lose wot.

    eh, i oso lupa makan ubat…

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  • doc (Member) on Jan 27, 2007 at 8:08 am

    Each day we hear more and more hanky panky… Either EPF knows what they are doing or it is going to be another catastrophic cover up! There is no such thing as transparency in BolehLand when it comes to using EPF's fund or rakyat's money.

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  • cyborgx (Member) on Jan 27, 2007 at 10:48 am

    After we heard so many bad news about Proton, I still wonder if you ppl will continue to buy Proton. I mean this shitty brand that does nothing but to make people suffer. Now bailing out Proton using OUR money.

    Proton = Parasite!

    Say Tak Nak Proton!

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  • tanasi (Member) on Jan 27, 2007 at 5:48 pm

    EPF has got 350 billion ringgit in the economy. Whatever it spent on Proton additional shares is just change money. Plus, the share's likely to go up once the tie-up is complete..

    And Petronas IS a shareholder of Proton – they have 9% shares or something like that…

    EPF and Petronas could easily have bailed out Proton. But they are not doing that – because Proton does not need additional holding from them – they need a good global partner. Let's hope the deal will go through and benefit all.

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  • NoToLowQuality (Member) on Jan 27, 2007 at 6:44 pm

    to non-proton basher… now u know y we r so angry with proton. If proton shares drop due to somebody cabut lari, part of the EPF saving will be gone forever.

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  • ICER (Member) on Jan 27, 2007 at 7:27 pm

    EPF buys more Proton shares will increase the quality of Proton?

    Quality Design, Quality Management & Supplier Quality, Is that Proton can improve this 3 qualities?

    Proton can maintain 2 Q (Quality & Quantity)?

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  • avanza (Member) on Jan 27, 2007 at 7:57 pm

    If you looked at the value of proton shares for the past 2 to 3 months, it's not that bad, you know. It has gone up 60+% ! Really not bad.

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  • transformer (Member) on Jan 27, 2007 at 9:06 pm

    with extra cash input to P1 can only help P1 sometime only…

    just a quick fix! and this is temporary…

    hopefully this investment is for a better use….

    remove(sack) those bad-blood, change new blood, improve supply chain, improve quality…

    if not, its just a waste…..

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  • NeedGoodCar (Member) on Jan 27, 2007 at 9:57 pm

    various sources report that VW is goin to take a 51% stakes in the manufacturing arm of p1, announcement on 8 Feb 2007???

    hurray, passat for 120k, ya ya ya

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  • Jake (Member) on Jan 28, 2007 at 8:44 am

    really pity all those bashers upstairs, what they gonna do if this VW 51% deal on…. seems EPF fellas way smarter than you all (since EPF bought the shares the price already shot up 15%!!!!)

    Proton, yessss!

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  • WIRA (Member) on Jan 28, 2007 at 9:23 am

    Proton is a Malaysian Company. If it FAIL, Malaysia GAGAL! If it SUCCEED! Malaysia Boleh! Retirement fund secured for a few more generation to some other people laa!

    Do not talk about Quality or Reliability in Proton, talk about efficiency! If you buy proton, you can buy the spare parts anywhere in malaysia! If you buy toyota, you need to wait! somore expensive. Do not talk about Quality laa…… the BABY still cannot STAND and you ask to RUN! This baby 20 years old ONLY! Give another 50 to 100 years more laaa….

    I know laa… the car got so many problem, as long as Malaysian Buy enuf laaa…. MANA ADA CHOICE? People manufacture car, the price got cheaper for the local and quality & reliability got better as years goes by but this BIG BABY is opposite!

    …ooppsss….too much Calsberg…..CHEERS

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  • Joe Ooi (Member) on Jan 28, 2007 at 10:23 am

    WIRA said,

    "…… the BABY still cannot STAND and you ask to RUN! This baby 20 years old ONLY! Give another 50 to 100 years more laaa…."

    ————-

    Give another 50 to 100 years???? If no foreign tie-up, another 50 to 100 weeks can buy coffin already! Don't need to learn to walk lar, nededleess to talk about run!

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  • Joe Ooi (Member) on Jan 28, 2007 at 10:25 am

    NeedGoodCar said,

    hurray, passat for 120k, ya ya ya

    ————-

    If you are first customer, I am second and bye-bye to P1.

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  • NeedGoodCar (Member) on Jan 28, 2007 at 7:03 pm

    when asked about the tie-up between vw and p1, the leader declined to acknowledge and said that negotiation between vw and p1 was still underway, so which is which now? p1's days r numbered, just look around us, why r there so many people buying vios, city, etc even though these car r really ugly and furthermore cost an extra 20k on top of p1 cars? i guess vw will turn p1 into something like skoda, hopefully, we can buy vw cars proper as if they r local made cars, once again, imagine passat, golf etc. selling for prices comparable to waja, neo, perdana….finally, the money i saved till now can be put to good use, luckily didn't buy the camry 2.4…

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  • shooter (Member) on Jan 29, 2007 at 9:53 am

    Hey Jake, I dont care even if the shares go up 100%, the fact remains that Proton makes absolutely some of the worst cars on the planet, they are not in touch with what rakyat wants,they are cheap because imported cars prices are artificially inflated,and all the fat cats in the company do not want to admit that they have no business being in the car business (the same applies to football esp FAM). They are arogant and foolhardy.20 bloody years in the making and we, or should I say they, cant even penetrate the regional market, Malaysia_boleh my foot! Boleh-blah is more like it. and every time they get into trouble, big daddy comes to the rescue. This is business, it should be survival of the fittest. If they dont know how to do car business, then hire someone who can.

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  • NoToLowQuality (Member) on Jan 29, 2007 at 9:22 pm

    WIRA

    Proton is a Malaysian Company. If it FAIL, Malaysia GAGAL! If it SUCCEED! Malaysia Boleh!

    Pls la… Proton is not the only Malaysian Company. Air Asia succeed, malaysia boleh also. Perodua or Naza succeed, malaysia lagi boleh… Proton fail or succeed tak apa.. rakyat don care one, y? cause proton also don care.

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