PUTRAJAYA: Proton Holdings Bhd will formally identify a strategic partner under the supervision of the recently formed special task force.
Chief executive officer Datuk Ahmad Fuaad Kenali said the national carmaker has set a timeline of one year for the company to find a strategic partner for deeper collaboration.
Speaking to reporters after the launch of the fourth generation Perdana yesterday, Ahmad Fuaad also did not deny the possibility that the collaboration could include owning equity.
“We are not ruling anything out because when you talk about strategic collaboration, it can be in any form.
“In a lower form it can be in terms of sharing of models, while the higher form may be in terms of equity stakes,” he said.
Since the announcement of the special task force in April, Ahmad Fuaad said, several original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have expressed their interest to form a collaboration with Proton.
“We are about to issue a request of proposals from all these OEMs.
“We just want to ensure that the (collaboration) process is being done on a transparent basis, so we are inviting all the interested OEMs to participate in the exercise,” he said.
Proton has already formed strategic partnerships with Honda and Suzuki.
Since opening for bookings in February this year, the new Proton Perdana has received around 900 bookings nationwide and the national carmaker is expected to sell around 3,000 of the cars by year-end, Ahmad Fuaad said.
Priced at RM113,888 and RM138,888 for the 2.0 and 2.4 variants respectively, the new Perdana is available for test drive at all Proton Edar showrooms nationwide.
The first generation of the Perdana was introduced to the public in 1992 and to date about 77,000 units of the Perdana have been purchased.
From now until end-2017, Ahmad Fuaad said, the fourth generation Perdana will only be sold in the domestic market due to restrictions by Honda under the platform sharing agreement.
Under the agreement, he said, Proton is allowed to produce a maximum of 7,000 units per year, limited by the number of production kits which Honda has committed to supply for the project.
However, he said, Proton plans to introduce an improved variant with a homegrown engine once the agreement ends in end-2017, enabling it to enter foreign markets.
Meanwhile, despite the late introduction of the Perdana model, which was earlier scheduled for January this year, Ahmad Fuaad expressed optimism that Proton could still achieve 150,000 unit sales this year.
“The Perdana was supposed to be launched in January.
“By right, the whole year sales (of Perdana) would give us around 6,000 units but now since it was launched in the second half, the forecast has been reduced to half.” — Bernama