For the past couple of days, the Malaysian Press took out the bugles dusted them off and proclaimed, "Hear Ye, Hear Ye, Proton is on the road to recovery. They have established a strategic partnership with Volkswagen." Via NSTP, Proton gets to produce some VW models. Reading further you get the sense that this is nothing more than an opportunity for Proton to assemble and distribute SOME Volkswagen models. Could this be two desperate companies holding on to each other for dear life? Via Bloomberg, VW reports 7th quarterly drop in profit. Is this the best saviour Proton could come up with? Probably, considering Proton's mandate that they must have control. Imagine your friend encountering some problems. He asks you for help and you oblige. He then gives you a list of mandates that you must adhere to while you are helping him. Make sense? It does in M'sia.
The MG Rover, the last British-owned car manufacturer, which has been struggling for a long time are dealing with a Chinese firm to help it survive. Why go to West when most are looking East?
Posted by: Pu-yi | 29/10/2004 at 05:07