GM May Gain Proton Power

[Variance]

GM May Gain Proton Power

General Motors Corp. may bid for a stake in Proton, Malaysia's biggest automaker, which is seeking a strategic partner to help reverse its dwindling fortune, a report said Wednesday.

Since late November, GM officials had met several times with the management and shareholders of the Malaysian carmaker and may make an offer as early as this month, the Business Times quoted an unnamed industry executive as saying.

U.S.-based GM, the world's largest automaker, has proposed to take up a small stake at Proton's holding company as well as acquire a stake in Proton's manufacturing arm, the executive told the daily. GM's proposal includes helping Proton build a car for the American market in five years, he said.

Business Week

[agman25]

Proton owns Lotus. I hope GM has the cash to do this. Could end up as big as GMDAT someday.

[aaaantoine]

Hmm...

General Motors Corp. (GM) board member Jerome B. York is still considering the future of the unprofitable Saab premium-car brand within GM, said Bob Lutz, GM's vice president of global product development.

On Feb. 13, 2005, GM agreed to pay $2 billion to terminate the five-year-old put option that gave the Italian industrial conglomerate Fiat Group (FIA ) the right to sell Fiat Auto to GM for a fair market price.

Come to think of it, GM's doing pretty good with Daewoo so far.

[Flybrian]

For the unfamiliar, Proton was set up by the Malaysian government in 1983. Historically, their cars were rebodied/rebadged on Mitsubishi platforms with a Citroen or two thrown in the fix. Their first completely indigenous car (design and engineering) was introduced in 2004, the Proton Gen-2.

Aside from Malasia, Proton markets cars in nearby New Zealand, England, Australia, and Singapore.

By purchasing Proton, GM would also gain Lotus (again), makers of the Elise, Exige, and Europa.

[Z-06]

For the sake of GM I do not want them to get Proton. Although that will give them a beachead in the Southeast Asia, they have enough production capacities in India, Australia and may be China to plug in there.

For the sake of Lotus, yes I want GM to take them. Remember the 1.8l in the Elise? well it comes from the beloved Toy cars. As much as I love the Lotuses, the engine is the total disaster. Wished they could put the ecotec and make the Lotuses sing.

[Northstar]

Purchasing Lotus would be fine, but I'm not sure GM needs anything besides Daewoo in that area.

Actually, they could just give them rebadged Daewoos and be done with it. Simple, cheap solution and it would likely grow shares. Plus, I like the possibilities of Lotus giving input on Kappa II.

[hyperv6]

There you go just rebadge Daewoo's and sell them as Protons anyplace you don't already sell Daewoo.

Keep Lotus and sell it in Caddy dealers as their special performance cars with GM Ecotech's.

[regfootball]

well, that logo is already a holden logo ripoff so why not

[Cadillacfan]

I think the main reason for this possible purchase of Proton is simply to expand it's production capacities in cheap countries and therefore reduce costs in the long run. Proton clearly has no real value in production expertise to GM that Daewoo doesn't already have.

The deal is that South Korea is no longer the low cost manufacturing country it used to be and GM may be doing what the Japanese and Korean manufacturers have been doing for years know; aquiring, building facilities in countries that have much lower costs. Those counties include Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Burma, etc. China is also no longer going to be an option seeing how fast the economy is growing. Eventually, workers will demand higher wages...and they are already.

What we might see come from this is GMDaewoo vehicles being built in Proton factories alongside Proton vehicles which will prove to be even more cost efficient for GM. It's much cheaper then having to build all new plants. All they'll have to do is retool them. Proton in return will receive much needed expertise from GM and GMDaewoo to help improve its quality and efficiency.

This won't be full takeover for now but eventually, you'll see GM aquire the rest of the company when it tries to push more of it's global brands into southeast Asia.

Edited January 11, 2007 by Cadillacfan

[Polish_Kris]

As much as I love the Lotuses, the engine is the total disaster. Wished they could put the ecotec and make the Lotuses sing.

What do you mean it's a disaster?

Jeremy Clarkson loves it.

[balthazar]

Jeremy Clarkson is a disaster.

[ToniCipriani]

I just hope this can end up here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Europa_S

Ecotec power, 2.0L Turbo. Imagine swapping the SIDI version in. 260hp instead of 203hp...

[Lexcar14]

If GM buys Proton, will that keep them ahead of Toyota in production numbers worldwide? I'm not sure how many cars Proton produces.

[thegriffon]

For the sake of GM I do not want them to get Proton. Although that will give them a beachead in the Southeast Asia, they have enough production capacities in India, Australia and may be China to plug in there.

For the sake of Lotus, yes I want GM to take them. Remember the 1.8l in the Elise? well it comes from the beloved Toy cars. As much as I love the Lotuses, the engine is the total disaster. Wished they could put the ecotec and make the Lotuses sing.

Aside from the US-market Elise, most Lotuses still use GM's Family II four-cylinder, including the Toni's favorite new Europa.

[Intrepidation]

For the sake of GM I do not want them to get Proton. Although that will give them a beachead in the Southeast Asia, they have enough production capacities in India, Australia and may be China to plug in there.

For the sake of Lotus, yes I want GM to take them. Remember the 1.8l in the Elise? well it comes from the beloved Toy cars. As much as I love the Lotuses, the engine is the total disaster. Wished they could put the ecotec and make the Lotuses sing.

How do you figure it's a disaster? Looks like a fine engine to me.

[Dragon]

damnit!

why couldn't they buy into proton back when they owned MV Agusta (the ferrari of motorcycles) so I coulda used my GM visa points to get one

[Hudson]

Aside from Lotus, I don't see any reason for GM to buy Proton. Between Chinese joint-ventures, GM India, GM DAT, and Holden, GM has enough resources in Asia without the need for another troubled automaker under the GM umbrella. And the only reason to pick up Lotus is for its engineering resources, which Proton needs and most likely will not part with. GM needs to avoid this one.

[bcs296]

How do you figure it's a disaster? Looks like a fine engine to me.

It has a multi-lobe cam similar to Honda's VTEC.

What makes it a disaster is the fact that it has an even WORSE powerband than Honda 4 cylinders similar in size. Completely torqueless and thanks to poor design of its multiple lobes, full throttle shifts in the 6speed Celica GTS always land the engine rpms out of the "powerful" cam.