Paris — Car maker PSA Peugeot Citroen said on Tuesday it hoped to become a strategic partner of struggling Malaysian group Proton. "We’ve made an offer to Proton that fits in with the process that Proton has embarked on and is in line with the exchanges we have had with them," said a company spokesman. Proton wanted a "foreign strategic partner" for its turnaround. The spokesman said PSA expected Proton to reply "within a number of weeks," without providing any details on the size of the investment to which the French group had committed. Chinese group Geely, which owns Volvo, is also in the running to take a strategic stake in Proton, according to Bloomberg Business News. Geely declined to comment. Proton was formed in 1983 by then-premier Mahathir Mohamad as part of an ambitious national industrialisation plan, but it has been hit by its reputation for unimaginative models and poor quality. It is owned by Malaysian group DRB-HITCOM and its brands include the British sports-car mak...
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