DRBHicom/Proton

 

DRBHicom is evaluating three rival plans for Proton Holdings Bhd put forward by some of the world’s biggest players.

General Motors Corp plans to make a pitch to gain control of half of Proton’s production lines at its factory in Tanjung Malim, Perak. The Tanjung Malim plant currently has a production capacity of about 250,000 cars a year, but it can be expanded to some one million units a year. The deal is valued at about RM800 million and was brokered way before DRB-HICOM emerged as a dominant force in Proton..

In January 2012, DRB-HICOM struck a deal to buy Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s 42.7 per cent stake in Proton for RM1.29 billion or RM5.50 per share. Subsequently, DRB-HICOM plans to take Proton private by March 2012.

The proposal by GM is the least preferredby DRB-HICOM as it will not add value to Proton.

It is believed that DRB-HICOM is keen to work with Volkswagen AG (VW), Europe ’s biggest carmaker, to produce a small Malaysian car using German technology. Such a move could be similar to what VW had done with Skoda Auto, a fledgling lossmaking car manufacturer based in the Czech Republic, which the German firm helped turn around.

In 2011, Skoda cars, powered by engines developed by VW, recorded sales of some 879,200 units globally as opposed to 172,000 cars it sold in 1991.

The third proposal is from Mitsubishi Motors Corp, Japan ’s sixth largest carmaker. It is understood that the Japanese are proposing to utilise Proton’s spare capacity to produce some 200,000 engines with a horse power of between 1,600cc and 2,000cc.

They haven’t decided on the chassis yet, but mostly it is for the export market. A chassis is the underpart of a motor vehicle consisting of the frame (on which the body is mounted) with the wheels and machinery.