Topic: Proton and GM: An Ungainly Union?

[articsteve]

It's hard to guess what's on the minds of GM (GM) leaders these days. You'd think they have enough problems at home, but now the company has said it's considering a stake in the Malaysian carmaker Proton. It would seem the last thing GM needs is to invest in an ailing company 8,000 miles away.

And while the tie-in is anything but a done deal—GM's Chief Financial Officer Fritz Henderson merely told reporters in Dearborn on Jan. 16 that the company is "legitimately" interested in buying a stake in Proton—it's difficult to gauge where he sees the upside to such a partnership. Peugeot and Volkswagen are also possible suitors for Proton.

GM and Proton do have a couple of things in common: they are both steadily losing market share. At its height in the mid 1990s, Proton sold two out of every three passenger cars in Malaysia. Now its market share has shrunk to about 24%

[Scaerio]

Daewoo was a mess and thanks to GM, it's doing much better today.  I think they could do the same for Proton. 

http://www.proton.com/about_proton/proton_world/proton_worldwide.php

Remember, this is the group that owns Lotus.

[ghost]

Proton is a brainchild of the ex-Malaysian PM. Via governmental 'regulations', Proton gained strong market share by err... tacking a 300% tax on all import cars. So what can the public do? Pay $110,000 for a Honda Civic or $30,000 for a Proton Wira?
BTW, most of the model line-ups are old Mitsubishi lancers/colts/galants. GM is gropping on its threads. It is obvious they are not doing well in developed countries, so they have to market their wares (using past historical success) on developing nations.