Alfa Romeo got away but only because Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne wouldn't sell –though, with the Italian group facing its fair share of trouble, if the Germans make them an offer, you never know...
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Today, DRB-Hicom, which acquired a 42.7 percent stake in Proton earlier this year, said that it had received an offer from an unnamed foreign company to buy Lotus for £1 (US$1.6 / €1.3) and take over the British company's debts that amount to more than £200 million (US$311 million / €257 million).
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Analysts hailed this movement as a win-win situation for both parties. They obviously didn't factor in Lotus CEO Danny Bahar who, according to a report from The Sunday Times citing unnamed sources, is looking for a partner to join him in bidding for a buy-out of the British automaker.
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Last week, Proton released an official statement saying that it was negotiating with General Motors about selling a stake in its Tanjuing Malim factory.
Its board of directors also confirmed that the company’s chariman, Datuk Mohd Nadzmi Mohd Salleh, was interested in buying the 42.7 percent stake held by the state-owned investment company Khazanah Nasional Bhd.
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After certain reports on GM's interest in one of the firm's Malaysian plants appeared on the local media, Proton came out with an official statement confirming that it is in preliminary talks with General Motors to sell it a stake in its Tanjuing Malim factory.
"The Board of Directors of PROTON Holdings Berhad wishes to inform that talks with GM are only at a preliminary stage and as such warrants no announcement at this point in time," the Malaysian firm said in a statement.
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Lotus Cars, which was founded by the ingenious Colin Champan in 1952, was acquired in 1996 by Malaysia's Proton. Since then, it has introduced many variations of the lightweight Elise, its first new car in 12 year, the Evora, and showed no less than five new models in concept form at the 2010 Paris Motor Show.
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"Our city car has been confirmed and will be launched in October 2013," Mr. Bahar told the British magazine. "We are doing this together with Proton and another OEM [original equipment manufacturer, or car maker]. We will build three versions: one for the Asian market, one for Europe and a sportier one."
The Lotus flavored Concept City Car is based on one of the three Giugiaro-penned Proton EMAS design studies, which were first shown in Geneva earlier this year.
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As you may remember, the Inspira is a rebadged Mitsubishi Lancer sedan and is the result of an OEM collaboration between the Malaysian automaker and Mitsubishi Japan. However, we're not so sure if Mitsubishi had this in mind when it was signing the agreement with Proton.
In any case, the Jebat study, which could very well lead to a similar production model, features a wide body kit with blistered wheel arches and splashes of matte black paint all around the car. Power is provided by a turbocharged 4-cylinder MiVEC engine producing 237HP (177kW) at 6,000 rpm and 343Nm of peak torque at 3,000 rpm.
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The new model is the result of an OEM collaboration (the word "rebadge" sounds nastier...) between PROTON and Mitsubishi Japan, the latter providing the mechanical and design basis and the former tweaking the model for the Malaysian market.
Among those changes are the signature Proton grille and -according to the Malaysian company- the incorporation of Lotus DNA in the Inspira's ride and handling.
For those of you fooled by the *cough* deceptive *cough* restyling Proton has done, the Inspira (from the Bahasa Malaysia word 'Inspirasi' which means 'Inspiration') is based on the current generation Mitsubishi Lancer.
For reference, the silver 5-door is the Emas Comfort, the orange one is the Emas Country, and the white 3-door is the Emas3 City.
The shared platform was designed in-house by Italdesign Giugiaro, and with its hybrid system's layout the seating position the Emas family retains a crossover-ish ride height. Thanks to their nifty packaging, interior space is at a maximum.
Malaysian national automaker Proton has formed an alliance with Japan's Mitsubishi for the development and production of a new car. Although details were not disclosed, it is reported that the two companies are working on a small hatchback that will enter the market after 2010. Furthermore, under the new agreement that was signed between the two companies, the Japanese carmaker will grant a non-exclusive license to the Proton to manufacture a new Mitsubishi vehicle based product. In a joint statement, the two companies said that they are also continuing "to study other mutually beneficial avenues of collaboration".
Malaysian automaker Proton has expanded its GEN-2 range in the Proton says that the GEN-2 ecoLogic starts on petrol and then switches to LPG when it’s most efficient to do so, which is usually after about 20 seconds. The only visible addition to the interior is a switch on the centre console that shows the fuel level while on the outside, there is a second filler cap next to the petrol cap, which is matched to the exact colour of the car. As for the LPG tank, it is located in the spare wheel well.
Malaysian carmaker Proton has announced the arrival of the revised and to be quite frank, oddly named, GEN-2 hatchback, which is now available in dealerships across the 
Malaysian national carmaker Proton has announced its plans to enter the burgeoning Indian market that currently supports annual sales of about 1.5 million passenger vehicles. Initially, the Malaysian company will market three models, the Savvy, the Saga and the Persona with sales expected to begin in early 2009. Proton is also negotiating with a joint-venture partner in 
Chrysler and its “Let’s Refuel America” campaign which locks gas prices at $2.99 for three years isn’t alone in its gas incentive battle. In According to Proton’s calculations based on the Satria’s avg. fuel consumption (7.2 lt / 100km) on an annual usage of 20,000 km with fuel cost of $1.50 AUD per liter ($5.4 USD per gallon), the $1,200 will cover the equivalent of 55% of their annual fuel costs during the first year. The way prices are hiking up, in a few years, petrol stations will probably offer us a free car for every tank of fuel we buy…
At the Melbourne International Motor Show on February 29, Malaysian carmaker Proton will reveal a pre-production version of the R3 Satria hot hatch. The R3 Satria has been developed by Proton's special vehicles and motorsport arm - R3, which stands for Race, Rally, and Research - at its headquarters in Shah Alam in At this stage the R3 Satria is still in development and no on sale date has been decided however the R3 division is working to bring the performance model to market as soon as possible.
Pics via: zerotohundred
