Proton Owner Looks Beyond Malaysia to Boost Auto Maker

Malaysian conglomerate DRB-Hicom is looking for an international partner for auto maker Proton.

Managing Director Khamil Jamil does not say who he has in mind, but tells reporters there will be a “paradigm shift in Proton.”

The Edge newspaper quotes him as saying after DRB-Hicom’s annual meeting that the foreign partner is needed to improve Proton’s quality.

The government’s Bernama news agency reports DRB-Hicom intends to return Proton, which it acquired in January from government investment agency Khazanah Nasional in January, to the top of the sales tables this year and is raising the auto maker’s 2012 sales target to 200,000 units.

The initial goal was 167,000 units.

“To date, we have (sold) about 100,000 cars,” Khamil says. “I am pretty sure about the target. Proton has a lot of unlocked potential.”

Khamil says DRB-Hicom aims to establish Proton not only as an affordable car but also one with international appeal.

“Nobody should buy Proton because it's cheap,” he says. “The DNA of Proton must be changed. That is why we are raising the standards of the car. Proton aspires to increase quality while keeping cost down.”

He says Proton will undergo a transformational change to realize its potential. “It’s a shame that Proton is the No.2 national car maker when it has so much potential,” he is quoted by The Edge as saying.

Khamil tells the Business Times the auto maker plans what he calls an ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) car, but not before 2020.

Khamil says the home-grown ASEAN car concept is one of the long-term projects DRB-Hicom is considering.

In announcing its plan to take over Proton earlier this year, DRB-Hicom said one reason it was buying the auto maker was the belief it could help develop the brand’s presence in the regional market.

Frost & Sullivan predicts the ASEAN region will become the world’s sixth-biggest automotive market by 2018 with annual sales of 4.7 million units, up from 2.4 million last year.

Despite this, there is no local car that can claim to sell well throughout the 10-member region made up of Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Bernama reports, meanwhile, that DRB-Hicom has completed its operational review of the British sports car maker Lotus and has laid out an immediate plan for the Proton subsidiary.

“It will be far different from the plans that Lotus had before,” he says. “The new plan will ensure Lotus will sustain for the next three years. We have to now present the plans to the bankers. We are hoping to finalize negotiations...by the end of this year.”