DRB-Hicom plans foreign partner for Proton

SHAH ALAM: DRB-Hicom Bhd plans to introduce a foreign partner to Proton Holdings Bhd.

“Frankly, we have identified a few foreign strategic partners (FSPs) for Proton, and we have commenced initial discussion with them on the benefit they could provide to Proton and DRB-Hicom,” group managing director Datuk Seri Mohd Khamil Jamil told reporters after the group's AGM.

However, he said the foreign partnership proposal was still in a premiminary stage .

“We are keeping the house in order first before we are ready to bring in any foreign original equipment manufacturer (OEMs). This issue or particular business model is not something alien to us and we have considered it before,” he said.

With the new management changes in Proton, he said the national carmaker's target was to achieve 200,000 units in sales this year.

The group had completed the operational audit for Proton. “I'm not at liberty to divulge the details of the audit yet, but there's still a lot of potential in Proton, and one of it is to cap the operational cost to the minimum,” he said.

On the sales target set for Proton, Mohd Khamil Jamil said it has the ability to overtake the current leader, Perodua.

Mohd Khamil said prior to the takeover, Proton had an initial target of 167,000 units for the current fiscal year.

"To date, we have done about 100,000 cars. I am pretty sure about the target. Proton has a lot of unlocked potential.

"The main challenge to meet the target will be the revised lending guidelines by Bank Negara Malaysia. But we believe in the current models that we have," he said, according to Bernama.




 -Bernama