Malaysian carmaker sponsors British team to boost sales

Malaysian carmaker sponsors British team to boost sales

Agence France-Presse
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Malaysia's national carmaker Proton will sponsor English first
division football club Norwich City next season and offer
discounts in a bid to boost sales, a report said on Wednesday.

With some 35,000 club supporters, the sponsorship would give
Proton cars the brand awareness and recognition they lack in
Britain, Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Bhd. (Proton) chief
executive Mahaleel Ariff told The Star newspaper.

"What better way to do this than through football as we are
the biggest investor in Norfolk," Mahaleel was quoted as saying.

To spur sales, a Proton spokesman said club members would be
given a discount if they purchased Proton cars.

Proton in 1996 bought an 80 percent stake in Britain's Lotus
Engineering Ltd. to boost its technological capabilities, and
last year purchased the remaining 20 percent.

The deal, the biggest sponsorship in the club's history, was
signed by Mahaleel and club chairman Roger Munby in Norwich on
Tuesday, the newspaper said, adding the sponsorship was worth a
seven-figure sum in pounds.

A statement from Lotus later confirmed the three-year deal.

"We are looking forward to building our name within the UK and
our association with The Canaries will help us to do this," said
Brian Collier, managing director of Proton Cars U.K.

Under the pact, the club will carry the Proton logo on its
traditional yellow and green colors while the away kit in racing
green will bear the Lotus brand, it said.

Norwich finished the current season in eighth position,
missing out on a play-off for a place in the country's top
division, the English Premier League.

News of the sponsorship boosted Proton shares by 6.15 percent
to 6.90 ringgit (1.82 dollars) on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange
Wednesday as investors bought the stock on the belief that it
would boost sales, dealers said.

The sponsorship programme is part of Proton's efforts to
expand exports ahead of the opening of the Malaysian car market
in 2005 under the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Free Trade Area (AFTA).

Britain is Proton's single largest export market but sales
overseas have been poor so far as it strives to establish its
presence alongside other bigger, more established carmakers.

Proton has jointly with Lotus developed its own Campro engine
to cut production costs by 20 percent.

It has recently ventured into China to sell commercial
vehicles and is bidding for a licence to sell passenger cars
there. It has a factory in Iran and plans to set up a plant in
North Africa and possible South America.

Proton currently holds some 60 percent of the Malaysian market
due to high tariffs on imported cars.

This protection will largely disappear under AFTA where
tariffs fall to below five percent in January but Malaysia has
obtained a reprieve for its auto industry until 2005 on the
levies.