Proton (Perusahan Otomobil Nasional) Berhad is a Malaysian car company incorporated in 1983 under the guidance of the Malaysian Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Mahathir Mohamed (Proton, 2011). Proton was established to manufacture, assemble and sell motor vehicles and related products, including accessories, spare parts and other components through 11 subsidaries and associate companies in Malaysia (Proton, 2011).
Proton introduced the first Malaysian car, Proton Saga in 1985 and manufactured various model line-up includes the Waja, Satria GTi, Wira, Iswara, Arena, Perdana and Juara (Proton, 2011). Besides manufacturing, Proton is involved in research and development, sales and service activities all of which 42% of the shares are owned by Khazanah National Berhad (Proton, 2011).
Proton has a solid base built up for more than 25 years as the Malaysian car manufacturing industry progressed vigorously. Hence Proton is vision to strive and become a successful Malaysian automotive manufacturer by being customer oriented company and producing competitively priced and innovative quality products in the global arena (Proton, 2011).
Since the inception, Proton have gained a significant international presence in 27 countries across South-East Asia to the Middle-East, China, South Africa, Australia and the United Kingdom with a net profit of RM 84.7 million on RM 2.29 billion revenue for the first quarter of 2010 (Sooi, 2010).
Proton has set to venture to the Indian automotive market, competing with well established brands such as Toyota, Honda and Tata Motors in India. With the rapidly growing middle class population reaching up to 450 million in 2007 (ImaginMor, 2011), the Indian car industry has transformed to one of the world largest and fastest growing industry which produced about 17.5 million vehicles, exported about 2.33 million and an annual sale exceeding USD 8.5 million in 2010 (ImaginMor, 2011). The lucrative market has triggered Proton to plan the venture and invest into the Indian automotive market.
