Proton-Lotus Elise production
Date: Fri, 29 Nov 1996 14:11:56 +0000
>From *The Star*, Kuala Lumpur
Sunday, November 24, 1996
Plan to produce Proton-Lotus variant
MANILA : Perusaahaan Otomobil Nasional Bhd (Proton) will
produce a Proton-Lotus variant, an upmarket model within
Proton models, its chairman Tan Sri Yahaya Ahmad said.
He said the variant, following Proton's recent
acquisition of an 80 per cent majority stake in the
United Kingdom-based Lotus, would have Lotus inputs of
the same quality, performance and road handling.
He stressed that the car would not merely be a product
of badge engineering.
"We cannot just make a Proton and put a Lotus badge on
it," he told newsmen after speaking as a panelist at the
Apec Business Forum, held in conjunction with the Asia
Pacific Economic Co-Operation (Apec) meeting here.
He said the variant would generate the image of the
national cars in both the domestic and foreign markets.
The model's introduction emulates the mid-60s Ford
Cortina's success in the United Kingdom where an
upmarket Cortina-Lotus variant had boosted the image and
sales of low-end Cortinas, he said.
"It is not a matter of badge engineering . . .
Improvement takes time. But of course we are pushing for
that idea," he added.
He said the target markets would determine as to which
of the national car's current domestic distributors
would be selling and handling the after-sales-service of
the car.
On the planned production of Lotus Elise in Malaysia,
Yahaya said a subsidiary would be set up to handle the
marketing, which would be Proton's global strategy in
marketing Lotus. - Bernama