Ford to renew pitch for tie-up with Malaysia's Proton: Report
Ford to renew pitch for tie-up with Malaysia's Proton: Report
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): U.S giant Ford Motor Co. is interested in a partnership with Malaysian national carmaker Proton in a move to improve its global positioning, according to a report Monday.
A presence in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was crucial for Ford, its ASEAN operations president Jerry Kania was quoted as saying by the Business Times. "Proton can offer us a lot as a partner," he said.
"It is the biggest car producer in the region with the most advanced research and development capability, two advantages that can give it a massive head start in any liberalized market scenario that will come."
In turn, Kania said Ford could offer Proton the manufacturing experience and marketing clout of a global player.
"We want an alliance that will preserve the Proton name and brand and the 15 years of development that the government and the people of Malaysia have invested in it," he was quoted as saying. Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has said the government is prepared to authorize the sale of up to 30 percent of Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Bhd. (Proton) and that a U.S. car manufacturer had expressed interest.
The Business Times last month reported Ford was keen on an alliance with Proton, which is on the look-out for foreign partnerships in preparation for a liberalized market.
High tariffs on imported cars currently give Proton a 65 percent share of the local market but these will be largely eliminated by 2005.
Kania said he believed Proton would be ready for regional competition under the ASEAN Free Trade Area. This will come into force in 2003 but Malaysia won a two-year deferment for its auto industry.
"People are worried about Thailand swallowing up all the demand in the region but that is not going to happen because no one manufacturer in its right mind would put everything into one basket," Kania said.
"We will always manufacture where the market is ... for Malaysia it will be the passenger cars and in Thailand it will be trucks."
Ford has plants in Thailand and the Philippines as well as an assembly plant in Malaysia.
Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corp. now owns 16 percent of Proton. The New Straits Times quoted industry observers as saying Ford was seen as a favorite partner for Proton, due to a culture of "not meddling too much" in the affairs of its affiliates.