VW serious about Proton - Casanova Cars

VW serious about Proton

Earlier this year Volkswagen had ditched Proton as a possible equity partner after the Malaysians refused to relinquish management control. But talks were revived after Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi last month confirmed the government would now consider letting Europe's biggest carmaker own 51 percent of Proton's manufacturing operations. And now it looks like Volkswagen is ever closer to being a part owner of Malaysian automaker Proton, which, as you know, owns Lotus.

According to the Associated Press, VW is looking at conducting a pre-Christmas audit of Proton, a move that would indicate VW is serious about investing in the Malaysian company. The report said Volkswagen could sign a preliminary agreement to enable it to do the audit on Proton just before Christmas, but didn't say when the audit would be completed.

As per the press release it’s found that VW would invest an estimated $545 million which would give it access to Protons assembly lines as well as Malaysia’s free trade agreement with Japan. Such an arrangement would enable Proton to control sales and distribution while Volkswagen can access Proton's assembly lines. Also Proton would get the much needed cash injection.

For more refer to the press release.

Source

December 13, 2006 - 7:41 PM | Posted in - Volkswagen