Proton to speed up revival plan Teamcar - PROTON Holdings Bhd will have a concrete plan before the year ends on how to turn itself around, and decide on whether it will have local or foreign investors as a partner.

The manufacturer of Proton cars is speeding up efforts to finalise its revival plan, Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said.

Nor Mohamed said the Government has not seen any proposal from either the Naza Group or DRB-HICOM Bhd to buy the 43 per cent stake owned by Khazanah Nasional Bhd in Proton as reported in the Edge weekly recently.

"No, I have not seen any," he told reporters after launching Bursa Malaysia's Corporate Social Responsibility Framework for public-listed companies in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

The report said there was talk that the Naza Group has submitted a proposal to buy Khazanah's stake in Proton as early as last year and that DRB-HICOM had also put in a similar plan recently.

Proton recently lost its pole position as Malaysia's top car seller to Perodua and has since come under pressure to release new models to compete and return to profitability.

Its net loss widened to RM58.7 million in the first quarter to June, from RM12.4 million the same period last year.

It blamed the loss to a decline in total car sales and the lack of new models during the period, as it transitions to several new models starting in 2007.

Sales were further affected by stricter loan terms, higher interest rates and lower used-car values which means potential customers have had to come up with more cash upfront to purchase new cars.  ¶ 4:43 PM