GM open to collaboration with Proton

KUALA LUMPUR: General Motors Company (GM), the world’s largest automotive group, is open to any future collaboration with Proton Holdings Bhd and its new owner DRB-HICOM Bhd.


GM international operations communications manager Jonathan Rose said in order to strengthen its business, the group is constantly
in talks and discussions with possible partners and original equipment manufacturers.

“Proton is one of them, but we have nothing else to say at this point in time,” Rose told Business Times in an e-mail.

Rose was representing GM Southeast Asia operations president Stephen K. Carlisle.

DRB-HICOM bought Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s 42.7 per cent stake

in Proton earlier this month for RM1.3 billion and is expected to pay another RM1.7 billion for the remaining Proton shares under a general mandatory offer.

GM is not the only party interested in a pact with Proton or DRBHICOM.

Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd managing director Datuk
Aminar Rashid recently said the country’s number one car company by sales is open to working with DRB-HICOM or Proton.

DRB-HICOM group managing director Datuk Seri Mohd Khamil Jamil had said it will initiate partnerships between Proton and the group’s foreign strategic partners to assist the national carmaker in its foray into the global market.

DRB-HICOM’s current foreign partners include Volkswagen AG, Isuzu, Suzuki and Honda, among others.

GM’s name has always been linked as a potential strategic partner for Proton for the past few years but to date, nothing has actually materialised.