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.


“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).

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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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