General Motors Looking to Aquire Proton (Lotus)

Yeo

Originally Posted by LLN.com
General Motors is considering acquiring Malaysian automaker Proton, according to reports by the Business Times and Reuters. Auto enthusiasts in North America may be most familiar with Proton as the company that acquired Lotus in 1996.

"Let me put it this way; GM has shown interest in Proton, and if they put in a bid we will consider it," finance minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop told reporters. "There are three of them now who are foreign companies that are interested and they come in different forms and proposals. Now we are finalising the discussions and the comparisons, they are not identical interests," he said.

Analysts say the problems at loss-making Proton could be solved by a foreign partnership. There is speculation GM could use Proton's state-of-the-art production facilities to build low-cost cars. Proton is valued at as much as $1.6 billion.
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www.ttonline.org

Plex · Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:00 pm Post subject:

Proton cars were not that popular; interesting move by GM..

MG Man · Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:11 pm Post subject:

FORK NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
When GM owned LOtus, they bought them cheap and forked them up good and proper. All they did was do a lacklustre styling revamp of the Esprit, with no real mechanical improvements.

Sad thing is, it is rumored that Lotus is seeing financial trouble as a result of Proton siphoning their profits! GM think they can do better with Proton? Bleh
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I know it's so, for I told me so

worksux101 · Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:42 pm Post subject:

No please...bad history we don't want repeated...

Wish FIAT or somebody would buy them instead...keep some sort of tradition...
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Eating meh Zauce doubles...

MG Man · Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 7:26 am Post subject:

^^^^that would suck just as bad
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worksux101 · Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:01 am Post subject:

at least it wud stay in europe....
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Eating meh Zauce doubles...

MG Man · Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:18 pm Post subject:

^^^^it would stay in Europe with GM
don't be fooled.............origin means nothing today...it is about who can make your company viable. What;'s the point of staying in Europe and failing miserably? Don't be naive. Check FIAT's history and you'll see it's riddled with scandal, mismanagement, dirty politics, financial mismanagement, you name it
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I know it's so, for I told me so

Plex · Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:47 pm Post subject:

And look at the subsidaries Fiat own:

-Alfa Romeo
-Ferrari
-Fiat
-Lancia
-Maserati

Who owns who?

MG Man · Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 4:05 pm Post subject:

and under Fiat, Alfa, Lancia and Maserati pulled out of the US market due to miserable sales. Maserati's revival is due to it's benefitting from Ferrari engineering......Alfa and Lancia are renowned for poor fit and finish, indifferent build quality etc........IMHO, Toyota would be a good home for Lotus
why?
they have had a very long partnership, with Toyota making the most of Lotus Technologies.....Toyota is smart enough to leave Lotus alone and just benefit from what Lotus is famous for, ie Automotive R&D and suspension tuning.
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I know it's so, for I told me so

Plex · Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 4:52 pm Post subject:

Good brand cars just going down...Alfa Romeo is a very good brand of car..Lancia u hardly hear any news...What the jail going on Confused

worksux101 · Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 7:10 pm Post subject:

have a good point there...with the parternships in teh past with toyota..may be the best way....
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Eating meh Zauce doubles...

MG Man · Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2007 8:05 am Post subject: