Chinese brand Hawtai to partner Proton after Saab failure?

Chinese brand Hawtai to partner Proton after Saab failure?

AUGUST 17, 2011 AT 12:08 PM BY DANNY TAN FILED UNDER CARS, CHINA, LOCAL NEWS,MALAYSIAN MAKES, PROTON

When Youngman recently bought a stake in troubled Swedish brand Saab, we raised the question on the former’s relationship with Proton. Youngman has been Proton’s partner for quite some time now – Proton provides models for Youngman to rebadge as ‘Lotus’ in China – but does it need the Malaysian anymore, now that it has Saab?

Chinese carmakers are all looking to expand, and acquiring foreign brands is a short cut of sorts to absorb better design, quality and QC. Before the Youngman-Saab deal, another Chinese carmaker was in the picture. Beijing based Hawtai threw in US$172 million for a 29.9% stake in Saab back in May, only for the deal to fall through as they did not obtain all the necessary consents.

This swingers club story has now been updated with reports from China saying that Hawtai will work with Proton, which is no longer the apple of Youngman’s eyes, remember?

According to “inside sources” the two companies (Hawtai and Proton) may be pairing up to take on the Indonesian market and have had “multiple high level meetings” at Hawtai’s HQ in downtown Beijing. While no one knows what’s going on in the boardroom, Hawtai bosses did let slip in a media interview last month that they were in contact with an overseas company regarding a possible joint venture.

Logo of China’s Hawtai Motor, not to be confused with the Malaysian biscuit maker

“In one respect, Proton has to improve its development in the Chinese market, and Hawtai are planning to enter the Indonesian market to expand overseas sales,” China Car Times quoted a source as saying.

There’s bound to be more flirting and proposals to come, and we’ll keep track of the goss (damn, I feel like Perez Hilton now!). Anyway, we dropped by Hawtai’s stand at Guangzhou 2010, click here to see what they had on display. To see, the fruits of Proton’s union with Youngman, click here.