BACKGROUND

Proton is a Malaysian automobile manufacturer headquartered in Subang Jaya and Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia, with a manufacturing plant in Tanjung Malim, Perak. Founded in 1983, it was Malaysia's only carmaker until the establishment of its competitor and arch-rival, Perodua, in 1993. Its name is a Malay acronym for PerusahaanOtomobil Nasional (English: National Automobile Enterprise).

It is a core member of Proton Holdings Berhad, the holding company which is listed on Bursa Malaysia. Majority of its equity is owned by a government-owned company Khazanah Nasional Berhad, making it government-linked company (GLC). For more than 2 decades since its establishment, this stake was jointly owned by Mitsubishi Motors and parent Mitsubishi Corp. which each held a 7.93% stake in Proton until they sold it in March 2004. Mitsubishi disposed its entire 15.86% stake in Proton, most of which were picked up by Khazanah Nasional, which holds 42.7% of Proton shares now. The Mitsubishi-Proton partnership was deemed a failure because of the lack of technology transfer.

It was established in 1983 under the direction of the former Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. Since then, it was Malaysia's dominant carmaker until the establishment of Perodua in 1993. Based on technology and parts from Mitsubishi Motors, production of the first model, the Proton Saga began in September 1985 at its first manufacturing plant in Shah Alam, Selangor. Initially the components of the car were entirely manufactured by Mitsubishi but slowly local parts were being used as technologies were transferred and skills were gained. The 100,000th Proton Saga was produced in January 1989.

Until the end of the 1990s, the car's logo featured the crest from Malaysia's coat of arms, featuring a crescent and a fourteen-pointed star. The new Proton logo features a stylized tiger head, as well as the change from the lowercase italic text "proton" to uppercase "PROTON". In 1993, a model called Proton Wira was introduced based on the Mitsubishi Lancer/Colt. More than 220,000 units were sold between 1996 and 1998.Proton Perdana, based on the Mitsubishi Galant/Eterna, was first produced in 1995, intended for higher end market. The Proton Waja (Proton Impian in UK), which launched early 2001, is the first car model designed internally by Proton. By 2002 Proton held a market share of over 60% in Malaysia, which was reduced to barely 30% by 2005 and is expected to reduce further in 2008 when AFTA mandates reduce import tariffs to a maximum of 5%.

With the acquisition of Lotus technologies in 1996 from ACBN Holdings (a company owned by Volkswagen), Proton has gained an additional source of engineering and automotive expertise. This led to the production of Proton Gen-2 which was code name Wira Replacement Model (WRM) before the launch. The Gen-2 is the first of cars to be manufactured and assembled at the new manufacturing plant in Tanjung Malim, Perak which is part of Proton City development project. The plant was opened in 2004. On 8 June 2005 Proton introduced the second model to be manufactured in Tanjung Malim, the 1,200 cc 5-door supermini, the Proton Savvy. Both the Gen-2 and Savvy, were models that MG Rover was looking to rebadge when the British firm entered into collaboration talks with Proton. However these joint-venture talks were unsuccessful and MG Rover subsequently collapsed.

In 2007, Proton launched its new sedan as a replacement version for the Wira Sedan but with a new name, Persona, which was previously used as an export name for models outside Malaysia. The new Proton Saga replacement model (codenamed Proton BLM) was launched on 18 January 2008. The new Saga is based on the Savvy platform, but using a Campro 1.3L instead of a Renault engine. In addition, Proton has entered into talks with Mitsubishi Motors once again, and talks are going positive. This includes the Waja replacement based on the Mitsubishi Lancer and the rebadging of Proton Persona and Proton Exora as Mitsubishi vehicles in certain markets. As of 3 August 2008, Proton has produced 3 million cars since 1985, where the 3 millionth car is a second-generation Saga.

Conclusion

·         Proton is the first and only carmaker company in Malaysia and also abroad.

·         Cooperate with foreign car maker, early stage is with Mitsubishi.

·         It was established 1983 under the direction of the Pre-Prime minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.

·          With the acquisition of Lotus technologies in 1996 from ACBN Holdings

·         Get help from Japan technology.

SWOT

STRENGTH: Market expand to abroad, It’s sells at Europe, Japan, China and etc. It’s known as Malaysia’s Biggest Local carmaker brand.

WEAKNESSES: Proton is not completely using their own technology and design, they took the technology and design from the company Mitsubishi, Proton is depend on Japan technology. The car product is still using petroleum as an energy source, in this era petroleum is not environmentally friendly, petroleum will replaced by electric or solar.

OPPORTUNITY: Proton has high yield, It may be a big company by collect large amount of exchange.

THREAT: Proton’s car covered with mild shell, not enough toughness, client didn’t have confidence to buy Proton’s car because of unsafe.

                                           

                                            

                                           

                                              OLD LOGO
　　　　

                         

Old logo of Proton, combine a 14horns-star and a crescent into a logo (left), design idea came from traditional symbol of Malaysia, to show that Proton is Malaysia product. The middle and the right logo, is other variety of Proton logo design in the old period. 

                      NEW LOGO

                    

New logo of Proton, Using a tiger head image for logo, design idea came from Malaysia tiger, to shows that Proton’s automobile is rapid and Proton company is growing fast. In pace with new era, the design is more trend than old design.

Reference: www.wikipedia.org