Proton is considering hiring former DaimlerChrysler Malaysia Sdn Bhd president and CEO Datuk Frank Steinleitner as its consultant or head of international marketing according to sources quoted in a local newspaper report.

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“The plan is fresh from the oven,” one source said in the Business Times.


The source pointed that the idea was discussed during Proton’s board meeting this week.


Steinleitner is a German but has been in Malaysia for many years now.


The newspaper noted that he was sent to Malaysia by DaimlerChrysler AG (now Daimler AG) to first work with Cycle & Carriage Bintang Bhd when the company was still the distributor for Mercedes-Benz vehicles. When CCB’s status changed, Steinleitner, who had been in charge of a Mercedes-Benz unit in China, was given the task of setting up DaimlerChrysler Malaysia (now known as Mercedes-Benz Malaysia Sdn Bhd).


Among the more significant contributions he has been involved in has been the move by DaimlerChrysler to invest in a more substantial local assembly operation in Malaysia at the DRB-HICOM Bhd automotive complex in Pekan, Pahang.


Sources said Steinleitner had set up a motor industry consulting firm in Malaysia.

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