Forbes has the story. . . http://tinyurl.com/2henfb
In summary. . . Proton has courted both GM and VW, but now it appears both have turned away. Without a partner -- or a government bail-out, which the Malay government says isn't going to happen -- it appears that Proton may be doomed.
Why do we care? Because Proton is the corporate owner of Lotus Engineering and Lotus Cars.
Now, it's too early to panic. As Proton's value plummets, GM or VW or somebody else might take another look and pick up the company for a song. And if Proton does go belly up, presumably their assets would be sold off. . . and Lotus is among those assets. The question then becomes, would anybody want to buy Lotus? It hasn't exactly been a profit center for Proton, unfortunately.
We'll just have to hang on and see how things go, I guess.
In summary. . . Proton has courted both GM and VW, but now it appears both have turned away. Without a partner -- or a government bail-out, which the Malay government says isn't going to happen -- it appears that Proton may be doomed.
Why do we care? Because Proton is the corporate owner of Lotus Engineering and Lotus Cars.
Now, it's too early to panic. As Proton's value plummets, GM or VW or somebody else might take another look and pick up the company for a song. And if Proton does go belly up, presumably their assets would be sold off. . . and Lotus is among those assets. The question then becomes, would anybody want to buy Lotus? It hasn't exactly been a profit center for Proton, unfortunately.
We'll just have to hang on and see how things go, I guess.
