The driving force behind Proton

Win-win deal: With Geely intending to hit sales of three million cars and 500,000 Proton vehicles in South-East Asia by 2020, there is every likelihood that more models apart from the maiden SUV will be made available for rebadging by Proton.

Geely plans to make the car maker the No.1 brand in Malaysia and leading marque in South-East Asia

ABOUT 10 years ago, the decision on whether to sell a controlling stake in Proton’s manufacturing business to Volkswagen AG (VW) was nixed at the last minute. The decision confounded many who expected the decision of pairing Proton with VW to be a formality but a final political manoeuvre killed the deal, and that directly sealed Proton’s fate.