11 August 2010 - The second national carmaker Perodua (Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd) is open to talks and discussions with the national car maker Proton Group Bhd. According to Aminar Rashid Salleh, the managing director of Perodua, they welcome any form of collaboration with Proton of whom they already share the same vendors as well as being the supplier of cylinder heads to the company.
“As you know, we are already a supplier of cylinder heads to Proton and we share some common vendors,” he said after the signing of a memorandum of understanding on supply-chain financing programme between Perodua and CIMB Group. “There are definitely areas for us to collaborate,” he added.
This came in the wake of reports where the government called on local automotive companies to collaborate in order to remain competitive and to better their chances in the global market. The PVA (Proton Vendors Association) had recently said that a collaboration between Proton and Perodua would very much benefit the industry. Datuk Dr Wan Mohamed Wan Embong, the president of the association said that such a collaboration would e timely where both the national car makers could work together and boost the automotive industry to be more competitive in the global market.
Perodua, which was set up in 1993, is a joint venture between Malaysian and Japanese partners. Perodua was a joint venture between local and Japanese companies which include UMW Corporation Sdn Bhd who holds the major shares with 38%, MBM Resources Bhd, Daihatsu Motor Co Ltd who hold 20% share respectively, PNB Equity Resource Corporation Sdn Bhd, Daihatsu (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd Mitsui & Co Ltd and Mitsui & Co (Asia Pacific) Pte Ltd.
Aminar added that as yet, there has been any official notification or requests from either side for further discussions and that they were at first not sure if it would be a merger or a consolidation and hence, the final decision will be made by the shareholders. Perodua has been and still very much focused on the compact car segment which is not the areas which Proton competes in but the areas of collaboration would still be possible.
