Over at austinrover.mg-rover.org/ (go to the news flash 18 Feb 04), they say that a Letter of Intent has been signed between Proton and Rover for potential collaborations.
As Proton are working on a few new models at the moment(some look very good), it might be the partner they are after ?
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I hope not, if you go by their cars of today. The driving positions are for a small person, not europeans. And the production finish is far worse than CR.
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It's not the first time that Proton have been talks with with MGR. John Towers led a delegation in the early 90s to sell K-series engines also they offered Proton a 20% stake in MGR after BMW departed. Prof. Garel Rhys thought it was a good idea at the time and it's very rare he's wrong on these matters.
I'm not sure how far reaching the deal would be as it is only a letter of intent but there is a good fit. MGR need a medium saloon, Proton need a large saloon. Rover has the 75 which as a platform has proved itself beyond doubt. Proton has a new medium saloon that judging by the spy pics looks very nice indeed. These aren't flying bricks. Proton also have a nice looking small car undergoing testing and trials. Both companies are looking to a product led recovery as Proton did suffer in the Asia financial crisis of the last few years.
Personally, I'd rather see platform sharing aka the Honda deal than more badge-engineering like Tata.
If the deal is for a collabouration it could be quite a good deal for both companies especially with Lotus engineering and Rover in-house working together it would make for quite a mouth watering prospect. Lotus are also working on breaking into the US market as well and it's no secret that MGR are working on US versions of their Z-cars.
Also Proton own Lotus cars which has been an important customer of Powertrain's for a number of years for K-series engines so it's not as if these companies are strangers to each other.
Sounds crazy but the economics make sense, short term and long term, the products fit, coupled with MGR now as the sole bidder for the ex-Daewoo plant in Poland it might just work.
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i hope it works out.
would be nice to have a small rover with the reliability only far-eastern groups seem to bring.
hope proton release a new Wira soon, the current model my friends company where going to purchase 8 as a sort of mini fleet, they had a great bargain and just before the deal was about to be sorted out - her company must have looked at the insurance group and the order was cancelled. apparently they are just awful with poor locks, doors, immobiliser.
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