Proton-Geely aims to turn profitable after five years

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SHAH ALAM: Proton Holdings Bhd aims to turn around its operations and expects to be profitable after five years.

Chairman, Datuk Seri Syed Faisal Albar, said developing a new product consisting of designing and production, among others, would take about three years.

“In the next three to four years, we hope to achieve break-even when we start producing new car models. We expect the company to be profitable again only after five years,” he said at the DRB-Hicom Bhd and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely) joint press conference yesterday.

Syed Faisal, who is also DRB-Hicom Group managing director, said although Proton would like to produce new cars as soon as possible, it needed explore and examine all possible options as this would involve a lot of investment.

“That is why we needed a strategic partner – Geely. With their global experience, a lot of sharing could be done such as technology sharing, thus enabling us to sell cars at lower prices,” he said.

He added that Proton aimed to reach the top three automotive makers in Asean and regain the top position in the local automotive sector.

Syed Faisal also said that Proton would be using as much local components as possible to obtain higher government incentives.

“This move is taken by Proton in order to obtain higher government incentives, and at the same time,  encourage the local automotive sector, which is part of the government’s policy,” he said.

DRB-Hicom holds a 50.1 per cent stake in Proton, which in turn holds a 100 per cent stake in Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Sdn Bhd, which is in charge of the automotive group’s main production, operations, manufacturing and marketing.

The remaining 49.9 per cent stake in Proton is held by Chinese automaker, Geely, which also owns Sweden’s Volvo Car Group.

Meanwhile, on Geely’s role in reviving Proton, Geely Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Daniel Li Donghui, said that its main focus would be on providing the latest technology such as engines and energy solutions.

“For example, we will be supplying the latest advanced engine which is the Euro 6 and beyond. As of now, Proton is using Euro 4 engine.

“We also intend to introduce new hybrid and electric cars to Proton, besides producing normal fuel cars,” he said.

On Proton’s operations, Daniel Li said it would concentrate more on production, plant upgrading, introduction of new products, as well as, technology transfer effort. — Bernama