The Malaysian car ‘playing field’ is about to change. For the better!
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, which controls Hong Kong-based Geely Automobile and Sweden’s Volvo Car Group has just acquired a 49.9% stake in Proton Holdings Berhad. This is good news for Proton and Malaysia as Geely’s track record with Volvo Cars shows profits and more jobs coming in to its partner. With Geely’s part ownership of Proton we predict a bigger regional push for Proton vehicles, which will most probably be Geely made vehicles being rebadged as Proton for sale in the ASEAN region. This will increase capacity in Protons facility, bring in more jobs for Malaysians and move Protons presence in the ASEAN region and probably further.
Having Geely as a partner will also bring a new range of Geely vehicles (pictured above), spare parts pricing will move down and will push quality up to compete stronger against the direct competitors. Proton sales locally might move back up strongly.
Geely also acquired 51% of iconic British based sports car company Lotus Cars, which now allows Lotus Cars to get much needed research and development funds to produce new exciting models and take Lotus Cars into new markets and compete head on with Lamborghini and even Ferrari at some point.
Geely currently owns The London Taxi Company which in March this year (2017) opened a new £300 million factory in Coventry, UK. The plant has already created 1,000 jobs and Geely will have 5,000 electric powered black cabs rolling off production lines each year by 2019.
The classic design has also been given an update as a new electric model, the TX5, replaces older diesel versions. Geely, the owner of LTC, said the new greener cabs will go on sale around the world in 2018. This electric car technology could be shared with Proton and bring electric taxis to Malaysia.
All this shows Geely’s commitment to its automotive partners and Malaysians should look positively at this purchase. It is about time that Proton moved on and forward and bring back profits and jobs to Malaysian soil.
