The Malaysian government hopes to finalise a foreign alliance for national car maker Proton by the end of March as planned even after the withdrawal of PSA Peugeot Citroen, a minister was reported as saying on Monday.

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PSA last week called off talks about possible industrial collaboration with Proton, saying the “right conditions for a successful project weren’t in place”, the Associated Press (AP) noted.


It reported that Proton was still in talks with Volkswagen and General Motors about a possible partnership.


“We gave the time at the end of March. We (will) try to stick to that timeframe,” second finance minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop was quoted as saying by national news agency Bernama, AP said.


Talks included areas such as equity and technical ownership, he said in the report.

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“We are still discussing. We will come out with the resolution soon,” he added but gave no other details.


Dealers told the Associated Press that Nor Mohamed’s comments would help assuage market concerns that a partnership deal for Proton may be delayed.


AP noted that Malaysian weekly The Edge recently reported that talks between Proton’s 42.7% shareholder, government investment arm Khazanah Nasional, and Volkswagen were not going well either.


Quoting unnamed sources, the report said Volkswagen may be questioning some conditions imposed by Proton’s major shareholders, but gave no details. It said if the alliance with Volkswagen does not pan out, U General Motors could become the partner of choice, AP added.


The news agency also noted that GM chief executive Rick Wagoner last week said that there was still “a lot of work to be done” in working out a possible partnership with Proton.