If everything goes according to plan, new models coming out from national car maker Proton Holdings Berhad will incorporate technologies from the Japanese giant Nissan. This would be the result of the recent signing of an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) between Proton and Nissan where they will had jointly conducting a feasibility study to look at any potential or new opportunities to increase the mutual competitiveness in the highly dynamic international automotive market.
This means that the next generation models from Proton would come with certain Nissan technologies as well as manufacturing expertise from the makers of the Teana, Sylphy and other popular models. According to Datuk Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir, the Group Managing Director of Proton, they will be embarking on the study which will focus purely on sharing of technology and platform. This he said is with the aim for global competitiveness which have since become quite a common practice among manufacturers around the world. He also said that with the collaboration, they would save time and cost in coming up with new products and surely save more in development while allowing better flexibility where more components could be made.
The recent announcement of the signing also marked a positive sign for Edaran Tan Chong Motors (ETCM) the Malaysian distributor and assembler of Nissan cars. According to analysts, Tan Chong would surely benefit from the collaboration as there could be a possibility that the upcoming global compact car, Proton EMAS could well be the first model to result from this partnership. Rumour has it that it could be borrowing the platform and platform from Nissan’s Micra or March, which have been launched recently and is reported to be coming to our shores.
This must be some very uplifting news for Proton who had just came off from a rocky Q3 when they reported a 14 month low or RM60.1million loss. The third quarter ended on December 31, 2010 and Proton’s shares also traded at its lowest at RM3.86. Furthermore, they are also looking to restructure their subsidiary brand, Lotus which will surely need more funding. Top exectuvies from Proton however have remained confident that the company is not facing any crisis but is actually on the road towards improvement.
