Volkswagen CEO visits Malaysia for the Proton brand
According to a Volkswagen spokesman, Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn is planning a trip to Kuala Lumpur in the weeks ahead to settle a possible deal with Malaysia over state-owned automaker Proton.
Winterkorn is said to be meeting Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to discuss a possible sale of a stake in revenue-shrinking Proton. If to be remembered, Volkswagen has already been in previous talks with the Malaysian government, but no final decisions have been made thus far.
An insider among the discussions of the two parties has divulged that Volkswagen is interested to take an initial 20 percent stake in Proton and could even increase its share to a 50 percent share within five years. Furthermore, the source cited that the working idea is for the Malaysian government to gradually pull out while taking on any losses during the starting phase of Volkswagen’s entrance.
If said plans would successfully materialize, this would be a highly beneficial partnership between Europe’s biggest automaker and Malaysia’s struggling car firm. Volkswagen would be able to utilize the Proton enterprise as a product for Southeast Asia, a region that the German carmaker has long been interested in strengthening its position. On the other hand, the Malaysian firm wants to partner with a global automaker in order to boost its sales, which is in its dwindling stage due to an increasingly competitive domestic market.