Malaysia’s first national car company, Proton Holdings, is seeking government funding for the development of its next generation of passenger cars, including electric vehicles, according to local reports.
The carmaker, now owned by local conglomerate DRB-Hicom, unsuccessfully applied for MYR3bn (US$917m) in grants from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry last year as it faces mounting competition in its home market.
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The carmaker has reapplied for the government grants, saying it needs the support to help implement its ambitious turnaround plan of selling 350,000 cars per year by 2018. It is said to be committed to spending MYR1.8bn by 2015 and MYR3.8bn by 2017.
The company continues to lose market share at home, however, despite the launch of the new Saga SV small car last year. Its market dropped to around 18% in the fourth quarter of 2013, compared with 24% in the second quarter of the year.
While Proton is set scheduled to launch its new “global” small car in the second quarter of this year, its financial performance has continued to deteriorate. It is estimated to have made an operating loss of MYR105m in the October-December 2013 period.
This pushed DRB-Hicom’s automotive division into a net loss of MYR67.2m while the DRB-Hicom group as a whole made a profit of MYR141.6m for the quarter.
