VW to take over Proton?
Financial wire services are reporting VW's purchase of 51 per cent of ProtonChinese news wire service XFN Asia has reported that Volkswagen has bought into Proton.
Though details are sketchy, it appears the German giant which already owns Audi, Skoda, Seat, Lamborghini and a 20 per cent shareholding in Porsche, has purchased 51 per cent of the manufacturing arm of the Malaysian carmaker.
Various news and wire services have picked up the report, some suggesting that with the shareholding comes British sportscar brand, Lotus. Proton reportedly owns an 80 per cent stake of Group Lotus (the company within which Lotus Cars sits), however, it is not clear whether the Lotus shareholding rests with the manufacturing section of Proton.
XFN Asia claims there will be an announcement regarding the purchase/takeover on February 8.
Malaysia's largely government owned carmaker, Proton, previously enjoyed a long-time collaboration with Mitsubishi. More recently it was claimed the carmaker would join with PSA (Peugeot and Citroen) to build cars for the SE Asian market.
The latest Volkswagen announcement follows news early last year that the German marque would cooperate with Proton to develop "environmentally friendly" powerplants.
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