Proton has dismissed claims that the company is weak and dying amid reports it is seeking a foreign partner.
The Malaysian firm has been linked with striking a deal with Volkswagen and Proton chairman Nadzmi Mohd Salleh claimed the firm was hoping to partner with an unnamed foreign firm by the end of the year.
Nadzmi, who was speaking at Lotus’s Hethel HQ as part of a visit by the king and queen of Malaysia, said the company didn’t need a “walking stick” and any deal would be based on increasing market share and developing new products.
Proton managing director Syed Zainal said: We would have to make a decision that is good in taking the company forward. There’s a lot at stake and the decision is not easy to make. That’s why we’re taking our time.”
Proton has been Lotus’s parent company for more than ten years and Zainal claimed the Malaysian firm has yet to fully utilise its partnership.
“Today, we have reassessed the interaction between the two companies,” he said. “No doubt there are gaps and weaknesses that need to be improved upon, but we are quite determined to make the collaboration stronger,
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