KUALA LUMPUR: DRB-Hicom has taken quite a beating in the four years since it reacquired Proton Holdings, Malaysia’s embattled national carmaker, and the automotive conglomerate is now running out of time and money for a turnround.
The government has thrown the company a lifeline in the form of a 1.5bn ringgit ($362m) soft loan, but it is conditional on DRB-Hicom finding a foreign partner willing to invest in Southeast Asia’s sole indigenous automotive marque by March 2017.
Syed Faisal Albar, DRB-Hicom’s group managing director, sounded a confident note at the launch of Proton’s latest model, the Saga, a 1.3-litre sedan, on September 28. “Today is the turning point where the future of Proton turns in our favour,” he assured more than 1,000 guests at the event.
